Teaching essay writing to english language specializing student at le hong phong specialised secondary school, nam dinh city

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** BY : TRẦN THỊ HÀ TEACHING ESSAY WRITING TO ENGLISH Language specializing STUDENTS at LÊ Hồng Phong specialised secondary school, Nam ĐịNH city (nghiên cứu việc dạy viết luận cho học sinh chuyên Anh trường Trung học Phổ Thông chuyên Lê Hồng Phong, Nam Định) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 40 MA course 16 HA NOI – 2010 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** BY : TRẦN THỊ HÀ TEACHING ESSAY WRITING TO ENGLISH Language specializing STUDENTS at LÊ Hồng Phong specialised secondary school, Nam ĐịNH city (nghiên cứu việc dạy viết luận cho học sinh chuyên Anh trường Trung học Phổ Thông chuyên Lê Hồng Phong, Nam Định) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 40 MA course 16 Supervisor: Le Van Canh, M.A HA NOI – 2010 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Abstract List of tables, figures and appendices Chapter One: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 State of the problem 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Method of the study 1.7 Design of the study Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 An overview of writing 2.1.1 Academic writing and essay writing 2.1.2 Place of writing in foreign language programs 2.2 Major approaches to teaching writing 2.2.1 The product approach 2.2.2 The process approach 10 2.3 Essay writing as a form of Academic writing 12 2.4 Challenges of teaching and learning essay writing 13 2.5 Conclusions 14 iv Chapter Three: The Study 3.1 The context of the study 15 3.2 Methodology 16 3.2.1 Participants 16 3.2.2 Instruments 17 3.3 Data collection procedures 18 3.4 Data collection and data analysis 19 Chapter Four: Conclusions 4.1 Summary of the major findings and discussion 37 4.2 Implications 38 4.3 Recommendations and suggestions 38 4.4 Limitations of the study 40 4.5 Suggestions for further studies 41 REFERENCES 42 v LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: The frequency of using classroom activities by teachers in writing lessons Table 2: The students’ perception of the activities used by teachers in terms of their usefulness Table 3: The teacher’ perceived value of classroom activities used in terms of their usefulness Table 4: The students’ satisfaction of teachers’ classroom activities Table 5: Teacher’s perceived value of students’ satisfaction of the classroom activities Chart 1: The frequency of writing essay by students vi APPENDICES APPENDIX A ( A questionnaire completed by the students) APPENDIX B( A questionnaire completed by the teachers) APPENDIX C ( Questions for the interview) APPENDIX D ( Observation classroom) CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In terms of opportunities, nationally, it can be seen that, foreign language education policy and accompanying student attitudes and motivation have become crucial issues in the national development of Vietnam and in the personal advancement of individual Vietnamese over the last twenty years Social changes have resulted in foreign language changes, and thus, attitude and job changes This choice of English, in particular, has greatly influenced education, especially higher education, and has continued to leave its impact on the society Now English is introduced into the lower secondary curriculum from grade 3, and it is one of the national examinations that students have to pass for the general education Diploma Foreign languages, especially English, began to be used widely in education and in daily-life activities As a matter of fact, the status of foreign languages, particularly English, was reconfirmed by an Order, signed by the Prime Minister (August 15, 1994), in which government officials would be required to study foreign languages, mainly and favorably English It is obviously seen that the objectives of new textbook provides adequate contribution to language skills, but in fact, for many Vietnamese students presenting written work is a substantial challenge They have little experience of writing and may be very anxious about having to write essays marked by a tutor To the best of my knowledge, our English language specializing students are not very keen on essay writing tasks, their performance in writing test is unsatisfactory, and I would like to understand why the situation as it is That is the reason why I am going to conduct this research 1.2.State of the problem Nurturing and training the talents is a burdensome and primary mission of the system of specialized schools through the nation In order to train the language specializing students for the nation, nurturing the excellent requires a special education that differentiates from one for the normal students Due to this crucial mission, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has been implementing the renovation of textbooks on English on a large scale since 2006 and “ Tieng Anh 10, 11, 12 nang cao” have been used to teach language specializing pupils In addition, MOET does not intend to fix specific curricula used for language specializing students but suggest and constructs a frame of content and skills for the whole grade and for each of the classes basing on the abovementioned syllabi This flexibility of the curriculum for the language specializing students provides teachers at language specializing schools in general and at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school in particular with more chances to collect materials suitable for their teaching Besides, according to MOET’s regulations, from 2000 the annual national tests for language specializing students need to be designed consistently in structures which are coincident with the required teaching contents and writing essays is one of the compulsory parts in the test (in the writing part) This is a rather difficult task as it contains exact measurements and the students have to present them objectively In addition, writing essay has been considered a difficult and boring subject for both foreign language teachers and students It also takes much time and energy to make progress in this skill Approaches to teaching writing have long been classified by many researchers and applied in many classrooms, modified by many teachers of writing Teaching essay writing is one of these above approaches but to Vietnamese learners, teachers of writing are supposed to three key factors: Motivation, Rhetorical patterns and Coherence It is mainly mentioned that a teaching approach to essay writing for Vietnamese learners focuses on a rhetorical idea development in which teachers guide learners to be independent to expand the supporting ideas and use specific examples to make ideas persuasive For the above mentioned reasons, the researcher would like to study essay writing procedure, teacher’s activities in writing lessons to find out students’ opinions on as well as attitudes towards learning and writing essays Therefore, the intention in doing this research the researcher will help teachers of writing, students in some way find appropriate methods, techniques to write a better essay 1.3.Aims of the study This study is aimed to: (1) Examine kinds of approach of the teaching of essay writing used by teachers of writing at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school (2) Explore common activities used by teachers at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school to develop students’ essay writing skill and students’ attitudes towards those activities 1.4 Research questions The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to research questions (1) What are the common activities teachers use to develop students’ essay writing skills? (2) What are the students’ perceptions of the usefulness of those activities to their writing proficiency? (3) To what extent those activities satisfy the students’ expectations? 1.5 Scope of the study The study is focused on only students from the 11th grade, an English language specializing class at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school Because it is the first time they have officially been taught how to write an essay Yet, the study results cannot be true to all Vietnamese students Thus, my suggestions for essay teaching and learning writing might work well only groups of language specializing students at secondary school 1.6 Method of the study This study is conducted in the combination of quantitative and qualitative method Data were collected by means of survey questionnaires, classroom observation and interview The researcher believes that the combination of different methods to collect data could provide more reliable and valid information for analysis Questionnaires of small groups of English language specializing students and semi-structured interview are used to discover their perception of classroom activities used by the teacher in terms of their usefulness and their learning needs and expectations towards teachers Questionnaire and post-classroom observation interview with teachers of writing are to explore their common activities used in the way that help their students with essay writing skill as well as their perceived value of those activities 1.7 Design of the study The research consists of four chapters The first chapter presents the rationale, the statement of the problem, the aims, research questions, the scope of the study, research methods as well as the design of the study The second chapter conceptualizes the framework through the discussion of issues and ideas on theories for academic writing, approaches to essay writing teaching, challenges of teaching and learning essay writing The third chapter presents the context of the study and explains the methodology used in the study including population information, instrumentation, data collection, data procedures, data analysis and findings The last chapter summarizes major findings and discussion, implications, limitations and provides recommendations for further study III g Writing your own thesis statement h Writing topic for each paragraph i Writing drafts k Giving a writing task in a limited time m Teacher’s feedback/correction l Peer’s feedback/correction How much those activities satisfy your expectations? Classroom activities a Giving structures and vocabulary related to given topic b Generating ideas through group brainstorming c Asking students to work in pair or group to make outline d Giving and guiding how to use cohesive devices e Using a model essay and analyzing it f Using other aids (pictures, maps, music, reading texts) g Writing your own thesis statement h Writing topic for each paragraph i Writing drafts very much not much little very little not at all IV k Giving a writing task in a limited time l Teacher’s feedback/correction m Peer’s feedback and correction List three things you are satisfied with the way teachers help you with essay writing 1) 2) 3) List three things you are not satisfied with the way teachers help you with essay writing 1) 2) 3) List three changes you want the teachers to make in the way they help you with essay writing 1) 2) 3) Thank you for your cooperation V APPENDIX B (A questionnaire completed by the teachers) SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for teachers) This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into The teaching essay writing for English language specializing students at secondary school Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Instructions The questionnaire is in parts, please put a tick (v) in the appropriate box: circle the letter a, b, c or given short answers in the provided space I Personal information Your gender: a  male b  female Your age: How long have you been teaching English? How long have you been teaching easy writing for English language specializing students? II Your evaluation of common activities used to develop students’ essay writing skill How often you use the following activities in the essay writing lessons in the classroom? Put a tick (v) in an appropriate column Classroom activities a Giving structures and vocabulary related to given topic b Generating ideas through group brainstorming c Asking students to work in pair or group to make outline d Giving and guiding how to use cohesive devices e Using a model essay and analyzing it f Using other aids (pictures, maps, music, reading texts) very often often occasionally rarely never VI g Writing your own thesis statement h Writing topic for each paragraph i Writing drafts k Giving a writing task in a limited time l Giving students your feedback/ correction m Giving students their classmate’s feedback/ correction How useful are those activities to your students’ essay writing? Classroom activities very useful useful don’t know not useful not useful at all a Giving structures and vocabulary related to given topic b Generating ideas through group brainstorming c Asking students to work in pair or group to make outline d Giving and guiding how to use cohesive devices e Using a model essay and analyzing it f Using other aids (pictures, maps, music, reading texts) g Writing your own thesis statement h Writing topic for each paragraph i Writing drafts k Giving a writing task in a limited time VII l Teacher’s feedback/ correction m Peer’s feedback/ correction How much those activities satisfy your students’ expectations? Classroom activities very much not little very little not at all much a Giving structures and vocabulary related to given topic b Generating ideas through group brainstorming c Asking students to work in pair or group to make outline d Giving and guiding how to use cohesive devices e Using a model essay and analyzing it f Using other aids (pictures, maps, music, reading texts) g Writing your own thesis statement h Writing topic for each paragraph i Writing drafts k Giving a writing task in a limited time l Teacher’s feedback/ correction m Peer’s feedback/ correction List three major challenges you face with in teaching essay writing VIII How have you dealt with those challenges? a Giving feedback regularly by marking giving comments on students’ writing b Giving a pattern of essay organization c Offering new structures and special vocabulary used in the writing task d Assigning the task for students to write in a limited time e Swapping Students’ writing product so that they can check each other’s writing f Brainstorming or making outlines in the class g Asking students to write drafts in the class and then finish it at home h Others (please specify) Thank you very much for your cooperation IX APPENDIX C ( Questions for students interview) Em gặp khó khăn học viết luận tiếng Anh ? Em có thường xuyên viết luận tiếng Anh không ? Bao nhiêu lâu lần ? Theo em việc giáo viên chữa luận lớp có giúp cho em khơng ? Em có thích giáo viên u cầu viết lớp khơng Vì sao? Em có thấy việc giáo viên phân tích mẫu lớp cần thiết khơng ?Vì sao? Em thấy hoạt động mà giáo viên đưa dạy viết hữu ích ? Hoạt động lớp khiến em hài lịng nhất? Vì sao? Em có thích làm việc theo cặp , theo nhóm với bạn lớp không ? Em nhận xét việc chữa theo cặp, nhóm lớp? 10 Theo em giáo viên nên làm để viết thực có hiệu ? 11 Nhận xét em việc feedback từ phía thầy cô giáo? 12 Nhận xét em tài liệu mà giáo viên cung cầp thêm ? 13 Em mong muốn điều giáo viên dạy viết nhằm giúp em viết luận tốt hơn? X APPENDIX D (classroom observation) Classroom observation Date: 8th May 2010 Grade: 11th Number of students: 30 Lesson: essay writing Period: Time: 45 minutes Purpose of the lesson: The teacher introduces student’s basis format essay and a type of essay (argumentative essay) Teacher’s activities I - Lead- in Students’ activities - Ss greet the teacher - Ss listen to the teacher’s Teacher comes in , greets the students and asks them about the previous lesson II New lesson Task 1: The teacher introduces Ss the format of an essay - An essay includes parts: Introductory paragraph , Body and the concluding paragraph + The introductory paragraph: lecture and give questions The attention getter : a sentence that gets the reader interested The main idea: the topic or thesis of the composition The guide/thesis statement ( the last sentence of the introductory paragraph) : A list of the points that will be discussed , thus showing the organization of the composition + Body: The Body consists of everything between your whenever they are not clear enough XI intro and conclusion and it is where you discuss your three main points A good starting place is to envision that each point is a separate paragraph (or in a long paper, each point might be a section) In each paragraph you: · Introduce your point · Explain your point · Give supporting evidence (this is where quotes go!) · Explain how the point and evidence relate to your thesis + The concluding paragraph : A summary repeats the main points of the composition A prediction discusses what will happen in the future An evaluation compares the main points and states what is best Task 2: The teacher gives Ss an essay model and asks them to read the essay and complete the outline - Ss work in pairs to the given task Essay: “ Care about what you wear” - Introduction + Attention getter: + Topic: + Thesis statement: Body: Paragraph XII + Topic sentence: Paragraph + Topic sentence: Paragraph + Topic sentence: Conclusion ( choose the right answer) a a summary b an evaluation c a prediction Task 3: The teacher introduces a type of essay: - and what is required argumentative essay - Ss listen to the teacher Firstly, the teacher gives Ss an essay model to read silently - Secondly, The teacher tells about the type of argumentative essay ( definition, format ) - Thirdly , The teacher provides some phrases, expression used to write an argumentative essay Task 4: Homework: - The teacher assigns homework - Ss learn the lesson - Prepare the next lesson - Do the given exercises XIII Classroom observation Date: 15th May 2010 Grade: 11th Number of students: 30 Lesson: essay writing Period: Skill: practice Time: 45 minutes Teacher’s activities Students’ activities I Warm-up : The teacher comes in, greets the students - Ss greet the teacher II Introduction - The teacher presents the topic to the students Topic: Education is the single most important factor in the development of a developing country Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer” III Discuss the topic - The teacher asks students to read the essay topic carefully and then identify the task - - Ss identify the task in essay type The teacher asks students to work in groups to write an outline - The teacher reminds students of the essay - Ss work in groups of four , format/ introduction paragraph/ thesis statement/ discuss the topic , make notes body paragraph and topic sentence about general ideas, and write an - After 10 minutes, The teacher asks two outline in 10 minutes students to write their outlines on the board, then teacher gives comments, chooses the best ideas or corrects mistakes - The teacher helps students to organize ideas, add general or supporting details - Two Ss from the two groups go to the board and write their own outlines XIV IV Practice - The teacher asks individuals to write their own essay in 20 minutes - The teacher movers around the class and provide help if necessary - The teacher has students exchange the essay for reference( peer- correcting) -Ss think of the thesis statement first, try to write the outline in brief - The rest of the class attend to the outlines, give comments - The teacher checks a few essays , gives comments - Ss decide which outlines is best or combine both of them V Homework: - The teacher asks Ss to rewrite the essay writing task at home - Write complete essay in 20 minutes - Ss exchange their essays, read and correct mistakes, ideas, format XV Classroom observation Date: 20th May 2010 Grade: 11th Number of students: 30 Lesson: essay writing Period: Skill: practice essay writing Time: 45 minutes Teacher’s activities Students’ activities I Warm- up - The teacher has students crosswords to check the - vocabulary of the previous lesson and crossword in II New lesson Ss greet the teacher group of four Task The teacher introduces the topic for writing Topic: “ Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed by human activity Others feel the human activity makes the Earth a better place to live What is your - opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support topic silently and your answer” Ss read the essay identify the task - The teacher asks Ss to read the essay topic carefully and then identify the task + The task is making an argument Task 2: - The teacher asks Ss to work in group of four to organize the essay by making notes about general ideas, brainstorming vocabulary, ideas, adding supporting details - At the same time, the teacher provides Ss with some - vocabulary, phrases, structures related to the essay topic group brainstorming After 10 minutes, The teacher calls Ss from groups to go to the blackboard and write down their outline while Ss generate ideas by XVI the others attend and prepare to give comment Two students from the two - The teacher helps Ss to add or delete the ideas and then groups go to the blackboard give a complete outline and write the outline - The teacher then asks Ss to write their own thesis statement in minute , some of Ss read aloud the thesis statement , the teacher corrects and chooses one or two better thesis statement - Ss write their own topic Task sentence The teacher gets Ss to write the topic sentence for each paragraph individually Task - Ss exchange their writing - The teacher chooses two students’ paper and give paper to correct for one comment in front of the class another III Homework: The teacher asks Ss to finish essay writing tasks at home - Ss finish an essay writing paper at home XVII Questions for teacher interview Thầy/cơ có thường phân tích mẫu cho học sinh khơng? Thầy/cơ có thường xuyên cho em học sinh thảo luận theo tổ,nhóm trước bắt tay vào tập viết không? Thầy/cô thấy em phản ứng trước hoạt động lớp mà giáo viên đưa ra? Thầy/cơ có thường cung cấp cho em đọc tham khảo tài liệu có liên quan nhằm cung cấp cho em kiến thức vốn từ vựng phong phú khơng? Các thầy/cơ có thấy việc phân tích mẫu yêu cầu học sinh viết tương tự cần thiết không? Các thầy/ thường làm trước chủ đề đưa cho học sinh viết? Các thầy/ gặp khó khăn dạy viết luận cho học sinh chun? Các thầy/cơ có ý kiến đề xuất ý tưởng muốn chia sẻ với đồng nghiệp dạy kỹ viết luận cho học sinh chuyên? Là giáo viên dạy chuyên, thầy/cô thấy cần phải làm giúp cho dạy viết luận thực đạt hiệu quả? ... essay writing used by teachers of writing at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school (2) Explore common activities used by teachers at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school to develop students’... includes 30 eleventh English language specializing students at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school in Nam Dinh The proportion of schools boys to girls was 3/30 (the number of male students... recommendations and suggestions to the teachers of essay writing at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school 39 First of all, in order to develop students’ essay writing skill, it is advisable that