Applying peer feedback in letter writing: Challenges and suggestions for improvement

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* NGUYỄN HÀ NGỌC ÁNH APPLYING PEER FEEDBACK IN LETTER WRITING: CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT (Áp dụng hình thức nhận xét bạn học luyện tập kỹ viết thư: Những khó khăn giải pháp đề xuất) Field: English Teaching Methodology (applied program) Code: 8140231.01 HANOI - 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* NGUYỄN HÀ NGỌC ÁNH APPLYING PEER FEEDBACK IN LETTER WRITING: CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT (Áp dụng hình thức nhận xét bạn học luyện tập kỹ viết thư: Những khó khăn giải pháp đề xuất) Field: English Teaching Methodology (applied program) Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr Pham Lan Anh HANOI, 2018 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I am aware of and understand the University's policy on plagiarism and I declare that this thesis is my own work in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master at Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, except for quotations, and citations which have been acknowledged NGUYỄN HÀ NGỌC ÁNH i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not be carried out and possible without the massive support and on-time encouragements of my professors, colleagues, students, and my family First of all, I would be grateful to my supervisor – Dr Pham Lan Anh who is a dedicated and inspired professor for making my study possible I would like to deeply thank Dr Huynh Anh Tuan, support staffs and librarians at the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies who are kind and helpful I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my colleagues who helped me to find the necessary materials and gave me constructive comments I would like to show my appreciation for our students involved in my study for their enthusiasm and patience Finally, from bottom of my heart, I thank my parents, my beloved sister and my friends for their love and encouragements ii LIST OF FIGURES/ TABLES Figure 1: Students’ perceptions on peer feedback in general Table 1: Students’ perceptions on the benefits of peer feedback Table 2: Students’ perceptions on the disadvantages of peer written feedback Table 3: Difficulties that students encounter when they peer written feedback Table 4: Students’ follow – up activities after receiving peer feedback Table 5: Students’ expectations of using peer feedback in the future Table 6: Students’ opinions about solutions to overcome difficulties in giving peer feedback iii ABSTRACT Although writing is an important component of language, it is not easy for learners to achieve the high level of writing and review other's work Therefore, a number of studies were done for peer feedback in writing Nonetheless, this thesis is concerned with student's difficulties in giving peer feedback in writing letters of application because it is regarded as the initial step to show their talent and experience as well as to leave the first impression on recruiters This thesis was conducted in an English center in Hanoi with 50 pre-intermediate university students The data of the research were collected by means of questionnaires, and interviews The results revealed the attitude of students toward peer feedback as well as some difficulties they had when they gave peer feedback in letter writing Some solutions to the problem were also suggested in the study with the hope that students could overcome those problems Keywords: peer feedback; letter writing; letter of application iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF FIGURES iii ABSTRACT iv PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 The rationale Research objectives and aims Research questions The scope of the study The significance of the study Methodology Organization of the thesis PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: The Literature Review I Theoretical framework 1.Teaching writing skills Teaching letter writing skills and letter of application Feedback and feedback in writing Peer feedback in writing 10 4.1 The importance of peer feedback in writing 10 4.2.Types of feedback in writing 10 v 4.2.1 Verbal feedback 10 4.2.2 Written feedback 11 Potential difficulties in giving peer written feedback 12 II Review of previous studies 13 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15 Research setting 15 Participants 15 Data collection instrument 16 3.1 Questionnaire 16 3.2 Interview 16 Data collection procedure 17 Data analysis procedure 18 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 20 Findings 20 1.1 Results from questionnaire 20 1.1.1 Students’ perceptions on peer feedback 20 1.1.1.1.Students’ perceptions on feedback in general 20 1.1.1.2 Students’ perceptions on the benefits of peer feedback 21 1.1.1.3 Students’ perceptions on the disadvantages of peer feedback 22 1.1.2 Students’ difficulties that they encountered when giving peer written feedback 23 1.1.3 Students’ follow – up activities after receiving peer feedback 27 vi 1.1.4 Students’ expectations of using peer feedback in the future 28 1.1.5 Students’ opinions about solutions to overcome difficulties in giving peer feedback 28 1.2 Results from interview 30 Discussion 34 2.1 The reasons for these difficulties of giving peer feedback in writing were recognized 37 2.2 Recommendations for improving peer feedback as well as writing skills 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION 42 Recapitulations of main findings 42 The implication for teaching 43 Limitations of the study 43 Suggestions for further studies 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES I APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS V APPENDIX III: THE RESULT OF INTERVIEW VI APPENDIX IV: SAMPLE OF STUDENT’S INTERVIEW VIII vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale English seems to have been adopted as the language of globalization these days as the language of global culture and the international economy (Graddol, D 1997) Therefore, fluency in the four English macro skills seems to be one of the important factors in order to meet those requirements and to master the language More specifically, two productive skills (speaking and writing) will be the main factors to decide the ability to use language and writing skills are regarded as the most difficult ones Numan (1989) argues that writing is an extremely difficult cognitive activity which requires the learner to have control over various factors Moreover, the writing is viewed in terms of isolated units such as orthography, sentence structure, and discourse level structure (Matsuda, 2006) It comprises numerous skills and all types of knowledge from critical thinking, comprehension, problem – solving, reflection to revision In other words, writing is a way to help people express their own thought, define themselves and the world, and clarify their ideas and knowledge as well as reinforce their grammar structure and vocabulary Although strong writing skills may enhance students' chances for success (Alexander, 2008), the majority of Vietnamese students lack proficiency in language to become successful upon graduation Despite the fact that they spend years studying English, from primary to tertiary level, they are not capable of being fluent in English As a consequence, fresh graduate students cannot create good impressions for recruiters because of their English proficiency More specifically, they may fail from the profile selection round and a letter of application is always considered the first It can be said that letter writing skills play an essential role in contributing to students' initial success in the society of modernization and industrialization However, writing a letter does not seem an easy task for most students A lack of letter writing Cheah, J & Tee, K (2016) Effectiveness of Written Feedback in ESL Writing Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews, Retrieved from http://pjsrr.upm.edu.my/index.php/pjsrr/article/download/29/28 Cole, P G., & Chan, L (1994) Teaching principles and practices The United Kingdom: Prentice Hall Fawcett, S (2005) Essential Letter Writing Strategies Retrieved from http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shaun_Fawcett Farrah, M (2012) The impact peer feedback on improving writing skills among Hebron University students Humanities Vol 26 Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257138717_The_Impact_of_Peer_Fee dback_on_Improving_the_Writing_Skills_Among_Hebron_University_Student s Grabe, W and Kaplan, R.P (1996) Theory and Practice of Writing: An Applied London: Longman 10 Graddol, D (1997) The Future of English? The British Council http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-elt-future.pdf 11 Hasan, M.K., Akhand, M.M (2010) Approaches to Writing in EFL/ESL Context: Balancing Product and Process in Writing Class at Tertiary Level Journal of NELTA Vol 15 No 1-2, Retrieved from https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NELTA/article/view/4612 12 Hedge, T (1988) Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press 13 Hong, P T (2016) The practice peer written feedback in paragraph writing skills among the third-year students Vietnam: University of Language and International Studies 45 14 Hong, F (2006) Student’s perceptions of peer response activity in English writing instruction CELEA Journal (Bimonthly) Vol 29, No.4 Retrieved from http://www.celea.org.cn/teic/68/68-48.pdf 15 Hyland, K (2003 ) Second Language Writing New York: Cambridge University Press 16 Keh, C (1990) Feedback in the writing process: a model and methods for implementation ELT Journal 17 Kumar, R (1999) Research methodology: a step – by – step guide for beginner SAGE Publications Ltd 18 Kurt, G & Atay, D (2007) The effects of peer feedback on the writing anxiety of prospective Turkish of EFL Journal of Theory and Practice in Education., Retrieve from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED502015.pdf 19 Lee, I (2007) Feedback in Hong Kong secondary writing classrooms: Assessment for learning or assessment of learning? Assessing Writing, 180-198 20 Lee, I (2008) Student reactions to teacher feedback in two Hong Kong secondary classrooms Journal of Second Language Writing Retrieved from http://www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/~aflwrite/article/Student%20reactions%20to%20tea cher%20feedback.pdf 21 Lin, G.H.C & Chen, P.S.C (2009) An Investigation into Effectiveness of Peer Feedback Journal of Applied Foreign Languages Fortune Institute of Technology, Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED506179.pdf 22 Liu, E Z., Lin, S S., Chiu, c H., & Yuan, S M (2001) Web-based peer review: The learner as both adapter and reviewer IEEE Transactions on Education 46 23 Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: University Press 24 MacDonald, D (n.d.) Learning & Teaching Office’s Professional Development in Teaching Program http://ryerson.ca/lt/taga/pdp/ 25 Mangeldorf (1992) Peer reviews in ESL composition classroom ELT Iournal 26 Matsuda, P K (2006) Second–language writing in the Twentieth Century: A situated historical perspective New York: Bedford 27 Meysam, H (2012) The effect of teacher, peers, self-editing on improving grammatical accuracy in EFL learners’ writing Retrieved from http://www.diacronia.ro/ro/indexing/details/A4026/pdf 28 Min, H (2006) The effects of trained peer review on EFL students' writing Journal of Second Language Writing, 118 -141 29 Nunan, D (1989) Designing tasks for the communicative classroom United Kingdom.: Cambridge University Press 30 Pincas, A (1982) Teaching English Writing London: Macmillan 31 Robinson, P (2002) The Philosophy of Punctuation Chicago University of Chicago Press 32 Rollinson, P (2005) Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class ELT Journal 33 Shepherd (2005) Teachers‟ and students‟ belief about responding to ESL writing: A case study TESL Canada Journal 34 Sultana, R (2015) The Survey on Using Oral Corrective Feedback in ESL Classroom in Bangladeshi Context BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh 47 35 Tompkins, E (1990) Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product Ohio: Menu 36 Tribble, C (1996) Writing Oxford: Oxford Universiy Press 37 Tsui, A B M & Ng, M (2000) “Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer comments” Journal of Second Language Writing 147 Retrieved from https://mite.edu.hku.hk/f/acadstaff/399/Do_Secondary_L2_Writers_Benefit_fro m_Peer_Comments.pdf 38 Ur, P (1996) A course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory Cambridge: University Press 39 Walsh, K (2010) The importance of writing skills: Online tools to encourage success Retrieved from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/11/theimportance-of-writing-skills-online-tools-to-encourage-success/ 40 Wash, E (1997) Teaching the Letter of Application College Composition and Communication, Vol 28, pp 374-376 41 Wride, M (2017) Guide to Self-Assessment Academic Practice, University of Dublin Trinity College, Retried from https://www.tcd.ie/CAPSL/assets/pdf/Academic%20Practice%20Resources/Gui de%20to%20Student%20Self%20Assessment.pdf 42 Zamal (1982) Writing: The Process of Discovering Meaning TESOL Quarterly 48 APPENDICES APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES This survey questionnaire is designed to investigate student’s difficulties experienced in giving peer feedback in letter writing Your responses are incentive help to the success of the survey The data will be used only for the aim of the study, not for the other purposes Your contribution is highly appreciated For all questions, please answer by ticking one or more of the boxes or writing in the given spaces I Personal information *Your gender: Male Female: *How long have been learning English? year(s) *How long have you been learning writing?: year(s) * Have you ever written a letter of application to apply in a company? YES NO II Attitude toward peer feedback In your opinion, is peer feedback is helpful to you? YES NO If you tick NO, please skip question If you tick YES, please skip question In your opinion, the benefits of peer feedback in practicing letter writing is to……… I Students can revise their writings effectively based on their friends’ correction and suggestion Students can avoid all the corrected mistakes next time Students can enhance their confidence in writing thanks to their friends’ encouraging feedback Students can develop critical thinking thanks to the peer’s feedback Students can know how to self-revise their writing in general Why you think it is unhelpful to you? Peer’s feedback contradicts my ideas Peers’ feedback is not reliable Peers’ feedback is too vague and difficult to understand The peer’s feedback is unclear/ too general The peer’s feedback discourages me The peer’s feedback cannot help my writing improve III Difficulties of giving peer feedback Put a tick in the column of your choice with the rank from to Strongly agree Agree 3.Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Level of agreement Aspects Form (organization, full of parts, address and date II of writing) Content ( ideas and expression) Cohesion and coherence (organization and liking devices) Lexical resource (vocabulary, word choice, word form) Grammar rage (structures, verb tenses, article) Accuracy (Spelling, Punctuation) 10 Giving general comments IV Follow – up activities after receiving peer feedback 11 Did you understand your peer’s comments? YES NO 12 Do you have any argument or discussion after receiving feedback? YES NO 13 Do you often revise your mistakes that your peer commented on your writing and rewrite at home? YES NO 14 Do you see your progress in writing when using peer feedback? YES NO 15 Do you expect to use peer feedback in the future? YES NO III V Solutions to peer feedback difficulties Asking teacher/ peer for help Searching for information on the internet Using reference books/ dictionary Using learning application on the smartphone Establishing group discussion Using a model text to compare Reviewing some vocabulary, grammatical aspects needed before giving feedback Thank you very much for your cooperation! IV APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS Do you like peer feedback? Why/ why not? Do you prefer the checklist or written feedback? Why? Do you think giving peer written feedback is difficult or not? If yes, which are criteria that you have difficulties the most? (Lexical resource (word choice, word form, collocation), grammar aspects (structures, tenses, article) or giving general comments? Why was giving general comments difficult to you? What did you to solve these problems? Do you understand your peer’s feedback? Do you have any argument or discussion after receiving feedback? Do you often revise your mistakes that your peer commented on your writing and rewrite at home? Do you see your progress in writing when using peer feedback? If yes, you expect to use it in the future? V APPENDIX III: THE RESULT OF INTERVIEW Questions Do you like peer feedback? Why/ why not? The result Like: 12 Don’t like: Reason: peer feedback help Reason: their skills did not both their peers and them improve much discover their strengths and weaknesses in letter writing Do you prefer the checklist or written feedback? Why? Checklist: 14 Written feedback: Reason: brief, convenient, Reason: both apply and time – saving extend her knowledge to improve her skills Do you think giving Grammatical Lexical resource Giving general peer written feedback is aspects (verb (word form, word comment: 10 difficult or not? If yes, tenses, choice, which are criteria that subject – collocation): 15 you have difficulties the verb most? (Lexical resource agreement, (word choice, word article): 12 form, collocation), grammar aspects (structures, tenses, article) or giving general comments? Why was giving Low level of Writing long VI Giving positive general comments learning: sentences: comments: What did you to Asking Using internet: Mobile apps: solve these problems? teachers/ No: Uncertainty: 11 difficult to you? peers: Do you understand Yes: your peer’s feedback? Do you have any argument or discussion after receiving feedback? Do you often revise your mistakes that your peer commented on your writing and rewrite Yes: 10 No: Making clarification and Accepting the feedback and required an explanation from having no response peers Yes: No: 12 Rewriting the new version Reason: no patience and without looking at the motivation corrected one at home? Do you see your Yes: 12 No: progress in writing when using peer feedback? If yes, you expect to use it in the future? VII APPENDIX IV: SAMPLE OF STUDENT’S INTERVIEW Do lực sử dụng ngôn ngữ sinh viên hạn chế, để đạt kết vấn cách tối ưu tác giả nghiên cứu xin phép vấn tiếng việt sau tổng kết kết cơng trình nghiên cứu tiếng Anh T: teacher S: student T: Cảm ơn Thương không ngai tham gia trả lời vấn để giúp hồn thành đề tài S: Dạ khơng có T: Bắt đầu S: Vâng T: Em có thích hình thức phản hồi bạn học không? Và sao? S: Tất nhiên có Em cảm thấy cách hữu ích cho em bạn em T: Em giải thích rõ khơng? Sự lợi ích qua lại cho bạn em nào? S: Em nhận thấy lần sửa cho lúc em tìm hiểu kỹ mảng kiến thức để lần sau không mắc phải T: Thế so với hình thức checklist, em thích dùng viết hay đánh dấu ý hơn? S: Mặc dù checklist nhanh thân em lại thích viết vì em mở rộng kiến thức lúc tìm sửa lỗi cho bạn em T: Thế sử dụng phản hồi viết em có gặp phải khó khăn khơng? S: Nhìn chung em thấy khó Mỗi lúc lại khó kiểu VIII T: Vậy khía cạnh: ngữ pháp, từ vựng, liên kết – mạch lạc độ xác em cảm thấy khó sửa phần cho bạn S: Vâng Thế từ vựng em cảm thấy khơng tốt cho Em cảm thấy vốn từ em cịn hạn chế từ hay hay em toàn sử dụng từ đơn giản mà nhiều muốn kết hợp từ với cho câu phong phú thời gian T: Thế ngữ pháp em sao? Cơ thấy hầu hết bạn kêu khó khăn với mảng S: Thực khơng hẳn Vì em biết nắm từ ngày học cấp T: Thế ví dụ động từ, chia động từ với chữ ngữ số cấu trúc, mạo từ a/a/the em có vướng phần khơng? S: À có Chính a/an/the Em tồn khơng có thơi Với em hay nhầm chia động từ cấu trúc kiểu not only… but also S: Thế việc đưa nhận xét chung có khó với em nào? T: Thực em viết nhận xét khơng khó mà viết cho tinh tế khéo léo khó Đại loại khơng dùng từ tiêu cực khiến cho bạn nhận xét nản chí, chán học S: Cảm ơn em câu trả lời Từ đâu mà em lại có suy nghĩ vậy? T: Trước em học cô giáo cho nhân xét qua lại kiểu Em nhận điều chê em biết ngày em thật Nhưng mà nhận xong mà em chả buồn đọc, xong cảm thấy chả biết nên đâu Vậy cô IX S: Cảm ơn Thương chia sẻ Cơ lưu ý rèn luyện cho bạn khác học cách Thương T: Thế gặp khó khăn em làm để vượt qua nó? S: Em hỏi ln cách nhanh Ngồi em có tra google mà nhiều thời gian với điện thoại em bị dồ *cười* T: Thế em có sử dụng sách, từ điển hay tham gia diễn đàn tiếng Anh để hỏi người không? S: hầu hết em làm nhà thơi lớp khơng có thời gian Mang sách nặng Hơn mạng phát triển rồi, dùng sách mệt T: Thế sau nhận nhận xét từ bạn học, em có hiểu hết bạn em viết khơng? S: Em có Chỗ em thấy khơng ý em hỏi lại bạn hỏi cô T: Thế em có tranh luận hay thắc mắc cần giải đáp sau nhận phản hồi khơng? S: Chủ yếu tồn em hỏi Vì em hay thắc mắc Em bạn giải đáp thắc mắc cho em cảm thấy hợp lí thơi Cịn khơng thống em lại hỏi T: Thế trước nhờ em có hỏi bạn khác lớp hay tra cứu google không? S: Hầu khơng Vì em nghĩ hỏi ln cho nhanh T: Thế nhà, em có xem lại nhận xét bạn học viết lại không? S: Chắc chắn Practice makes perfect cô X T: Câu hỏi cuối Em có thấy tiến kĩ viết sử dụng hình thức phản hồi viết từ bạn học khơng? Nếu có tương em có mong muốn tiếp tục áp dụng hình thức chứ? S: Có Đơi bên có lợi mà T: Xong Cảm ơn Thương chia sẻ hữu ích XI