The effectiveness of using creative writing in warm-up activities to motivate first-year English major students at national economics university in integrated skills lessons

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM THỊ THU TRANG THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING CREATIVE WRITING IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO MOTIVATE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY IN INTEGRATED SKILLS LESSONS MA MINOR THESIS English Methodology 601410 Hanoi - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM THỊ THU TRANG THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING CREATIVE WRITING IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO MOTIVATE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY IN INTEGRATED SKILLS LESSONS (Hiệu việc sử dụng viết tiếng Anh sáng tạo để tạo khơng khí học tập đầu buổi học cho mơn thực hành tổng hợp sinh viên năm thứ chuyên ngành tiếng Anh thương mại - Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Phan Thị Vân Quyên , MA Hanoi - 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii ABBREVIATIONS ix Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Contribution of the study 1.7 Design of the study Chapter 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Warm-up activities 2.1.1 Definitions of warm-up activities 2.1.2 The importance of warm-up activities 2.2 Motivation 2.2.1 Definitions of motivation 2.2.2 Sources of motivation 2.3 Creative writing 2.3.1 Definitions of creative writing 2.3.2 Types of creative writing 2.3.3 Benefits of creative writing 10 2.3.3.1 For language learners 10 2.3.3.2 For language teachers 12 2.3.4 How to make creative writing work in the classroom 12 2.3.4.1 What to write in the classroom 12 v 2.3.4.2 Starting up 13 2.3.4.3 Writing 13 2.3.4.3 Presenting and feedback 13 Chapter 3: THE APPLICATION OF SOME CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES IN THE WARM-UP STAGE TO MOTIVATE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT NEU IN INTEGRATED SKILLS LESSONS 14 3.1 Subjects 14 3.2 The Integrated Skills course 14 3.3 Procedures for applying creative writing activities 14 3.4 Schedule of applying creative writing activities 15 3.5 Descriptions of activities applied and students’ selected works 16 3.5.1 In another’s shoes (Autobiography) 16 3.5.2 Love poems (Collaborative poem) 17 3.5.3 “Bosses never say …” 17 3.5.4 Truth telling cards 18 3.5.5 Pizza recipe 18 3.5.6 Messages in a bottle 19 3.5.7 Diamante poems 20 3.5.8 Mailbox 21 3.5.9 Round robin (Collaborative stories): An unforgettable weekend trip 22 Chapter 4: THE STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES IN THE WARM-UP STAGE TO MOTIVATE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT NEU IN INTEGRATED SKILLS LESSONS 23 4.1 The instruments 23 4.1.1 Questionnaire 23 4.1.2 Classroom observation 24 4.2 Procedures for the study 24 4.3 Data analysis and findings 25 4.3.1 Questionnaire 25 4.3.2 Classroom observation 35 4.4 Summary of the findings 35 Chapter 5: PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 37 vi 5.1 Available sources of creative writing activities 37 5.2 How to make creative writing activities fit in the warm-up stage 37 Chapter 6: CONCLUSION 39 6.1 Summary of the study 39 6.2 Limitations of the study 39 6.3 Suggestions for further research 39 REFERENCES I APPENDIX IV iii ABSTRACT This study adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the effectiveness of creative writing activities in the warm-up stage to motivate English major students at National Economics University in Integrated Skills lessons Additionally, it aims to investigate the change in students’ attitude towards writing with the introduction of these activities to the Integrated Skills course Sixty English major students from Department of Business English – Faculty of Foreign Languages were selected to complete a sixteen-item questionnaire reflecting their assessments of the creative writing activities that they had participated in Class observation was also recorded during the teaching The data revealed that creative writing enhanced students’ motivation in Integrated Skills lessons and made positive changes in their opinions on writing Based on the findings, significant pedagogical implications and suggestions were provided for future applications of creative writing It is hoped that the results of this research are of some uses for further explorations in the field Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF Merger! To remove this page, please register your program! Go to Purchase Now>> AnyBizSoft PDF Merger  Merge multiple PDF files into one  Select page range of PDF to merge  Select specific page(s) to merge  Extract page(s) from different PDF files and merge into one