Dạy học viết văn bản cho học sinh tiểu học định hướng phát triển năng lực tt tiếng anh

THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION LE NGOC TUONG KHANH TEACHING WRITING FOR PUPILS AT PRIMARY LEVEL TO ORIENTATE COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT Specialisation: Theory and method of teaching pupils at primary level Code: 9.14.01.10 SUMMARY EDUCATION OF DOCTORAL THESIS OF HANOI – 2020 The thesis is completed at Hanoi National University of Education Thesis supervisor: Dr Phan Thi Phuong Dung Dr Dang Thi Kim Nga Examiner 1: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Hanh Vietnam National Institute Of Educational Science Examiner 2: Assoc Prof Dr Chu Thi Thuy An Vinh University Examiner 3: Assoc Prof Dr Trinh Thi Lan Ha Noi National University of Education The thesis will be defended at the university-level Panel of the PhD thesis examiners held at Hanoi National University of Education at … hours … dated The thesis may be accessed at: The National Library, Hanoi or the Library of Hanoi National University of Education LIST OF AUTHOR’S PUBLISHED ARTICLES WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE THESIS’ TOPIC Scientific articles Le Ngoc Tuong Khanh (2014), Teaching writing according to samples, from a primary education perspective, Scientific Journals, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, No 62 2014, pp 129-136 Le Ngoc Tuong Khanh (2015), Orientation toward assessment of writing competency of pupils at primary level, Scientific Journals, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, No 6(71) 2015, pp 177- 185 Le Ngoc Tuong Khanh (2016), Teaching writing for pupils at primary level: Schools of thought and orientation for the program after 2015, Journal of Educational Sciences, No 134 – November 2016, pp 75 – 78 Le Ngoc Tuong Khanh (2017), Integrating writing in teaching other linguistic skills for pupils at primary level, Journal of Educational Sciences, No 140 – May 2017, pp 73 – 77 Le Ngoc Tuong Khanh (2018), Measures to optimise creative writing activity for pupils at primary level, Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, June 2018, pp 70 – 74 Le Ngoc Tuong Khanh (2018), Development of creative writing competency for pupils at primary level toward the orientation of the new general education program, Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, November 2018, pp 75 -79 Scientific research Principal investigator at university level: Measures to overcome the issue of copying samples in writing in a number of primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education (2017) INTRODUCTION Rationale 1.1 In the context that the Education sector is implementing Resolutions No 29/NQ-TW dated November 4, 2013 on fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education, the Education sector has transformed education orientation from “focusing on the contents” to “forming the quality and competency of learners” and thus introduced the issue of renovating teaching method to meet the social requirements Primary education – considered to be the foundation education – the question on how should it be changed in terms of teaching methods, learning methods in order to obtain the objectives attracts a lot of attention by scientists and researchers, especially in respect of language teaching due to its essential nature to pupils at primary level 1.2 The linguistics program of the general education 2018, which is developed in the opening direction, is an opportunity and also a challenge to teachers Teachers are given the opportunity to become more proactive and thus, they are also required to become more confident in delivering lessons A study to propose diversified teaching methods so as to help teachers to have more options for methodologies, technique is essential and practical 1.3 Writing is one of the linguistic skills which is considered to be the most difficult In addition, it is also closely linked to the remaining linguistic skills In the international integration era, writing skill gets higher attention as people have to write more such as writing emails, messages, writing a letter to make acquaintance with an unknown friend, writing to express intention or interest, etc Hence, the question on how to develop writing competency for pupils at primary level to meet the contemporary renovation requirements remains an interest research question to be addressed 1.4 In 2006 linguistics program of the general education, the writing subject’s assignment is to develop text (written and verbal forms) for pupils However, the program, coursebooks (the writing section) reveals certain restrictions The question on how to take up and use the strong points of 2006 teaching linguistics program of the general education while supplementing, altering to meet the requirements of the new teaching program in teaching writing texts for pupils at primary level is a problem to be researched Deriving from the requirements to renovate education, and the importance of teaching writing for pupils at primary level, we selected and studied the topic “Teaching writing for pupils at primary level to orientate competency development” 2 Aims of the study The thesis is conducted with the aim to propose the ways to organise teaching writing toward orientating competency development for pupils at primary level The ways to organise teaching is developed on the basis of theoretical system and assessments on teaching writing for pupils at primary level in practice Object of the study The object of the study is the theoretical basis related to teaching writing text for pupils at primary level and such practice in reality Assignments of the study 4.1 To understand the theoretical basis of text, approaches, viewpoints on teaching writing at primary education level 4.2.To study the current status of writing teaching at primary education level 4.3.To propose recommendations to organise teaching with the aim to teach writing for pupils at primary level to develop competency 4.4.To experiment teaching writing for pupils at primary level with the aim to affirm the feasibility and efficiency of the proposals Scientific hypothesis If modern approaches in teaching of text writing are successfully studied, and as a result of which, principles are proposed and appropriate and scientific teaching methods are applied in teaching writing for pupils at primary level, pupils will be able to learn writing in accordance with processes, create texts which are interpersonal, and representing creativity; while it will concurrently contribute to the implementation of renovation in teaching writing methodology in particular and literature in general at schools with the aim to meeting the requirements for education reform at present Scope of the study The thesis focuses on organising teaching to guide pupils to write texts in a process on the basis that pupils have already had appropriate knowledge in letters, grammars, and vocabulary Hence, this thesis does not cover the formation of such knowledge Methods of the study: Theoretical study method; practical study method; and information processing method Expected contributions of the study - Systemization and expansion of the theory on guiding pupils at primary level in writing skills development - Describing the current status of teaching and learning writing of pupils at primary schools - Proposing a number of solutions for application in teaching writing for pupils at primary level Arguments to be protected - Pupils should be given opportunities to practise writing process right at the first class - Integrated and differentiating teaching, especially differentiating targeted groups of pupils in providing guidance subject to writing process - It is necessary to provide criteria and demonstrations in commentation and evaluation of pupils’ writings and pupils need to develop their self evaluation capability and create their own evaluation criteria 10 Structure of the study Apart from the introduction, conclusion, appendices and table of contents, the main contents of the thesis include chapters: Chapter Overview of the study Chapter Theoretical basis and actual status of teaching writing for pupils at primary level in competency development orientation Chapter Organising teaching writing to orientate competency development for pupils at primary level Chapter Pedagogical experiment Chapter OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Study teaching toward competency development orientation 1.1.1 International studies - According to various documents, teaching toward the competency development approach is eclectic in using, coordinating various theories, viewpoints on teaching, and in frequently updating teaching tendencies and collaborating to use them in an appropriate way under the reallife context (Mike Brown (1994), Steven Hodge (2007), Yelena Butova (2015)) - In addition, researches also strongly stress on the role of teachers Teachers are people who analyse demand, the designers, the organisers and guiders of pupils, and not knowledge transmitters as previously defined Competency approach places an importance on the presentation of behaviour in learners at the “output”, the content is divided into different sections and thus, “combining separate objectives if comparing to the logical and complex nature of language” [100] This is also the difficulty in teaching language towards competency approach 1.1.2 Local researches Currently, there are various researches on teaching in accordance with learners’ competency This is considered inevitable because of the Project namely Fundamental and comprehensive renovation of teaching programs and coursebooks Topics on competency based teaching are mentioned by a number of researchers: Authors such as Hoang Thi Tuyet (2013), Nguyen Thu Ha (2014), Le Dinh Trung (2016), Do Ngoc Thong (2018) mentioned that, learners’ competency-based teaching program is the “output standardisation” oriented programme of the teaching process Competency oriented teaching may be facilitated with various teaching viewpoints: behavioural approach (Le Dinh Trung (2016)); Integrated approach (Bui Manh Hung (2014), Hoang Thi Tuyet (2013)); differentiating and personalising teaching (Bui Manh Hung (2014), Hoang Thi Tuyet (2013)); constructivism theory as the foundation (Bui Manh Hung (2014)), Teachers have the opportunity to maximise professional competency by being proactive in selecting teaching methods/technique, teaching modes, development of friendly learning environment (Bui Manh Hung (2014), Hoang Thi Tuyet (2013), Le Dinh Trung (2016)) Furthermore, authors also stress on the role of learners, the subjects of the cognition process and have the capability to create knowledge and form self-study method to learn their entire lives 1.2 Study on teaching writing at primary level 1.2.1 International studies There are a number of approaches and viewpoints on development of text writing competency for learners which have been mentioned by authors such as NSW Department of Education and Training (1999), Arthur Brookers and Peter Grundy (2001), Richard & Rodgers (2001), Gordon Winch (2004), Tony Martin (2008), Steve Graham (2012), Henrietta Dombey (2013), etc Such approaches are genre approach, process approach, communication approach, integrated writing, parallel based writing (Cheri J Lee (2011)) 1.2.2 Local studies Although they not name different approaches as international studies, local studies also mention writing teaching methods in accordance with similar approaches and viewpoints Typically, studies by author Nguyen Quang Ninh (1996), Nguyen Tri (1998), Le A (2005), Phan Phuong Dung-Dang Kim Nga (2011), Le Phuong Nga (2014), Do Ngoc Thong (2018) Apart from this, the studies also mention the use of methodologies, techniques in teaching, solutions on self-review and assessment of pupils, solutions with respect to psychological influence in order to promote the motive and intertest in learning However, there are yet studies focusing on teaching writing for pupils at primary level in the competency development orientation Inheriting the previous studies and deepening the teaching of writing for pupils at primary level in the competency development approach is the focus of this thesis Chapter THEORETICAL BASIS AND ACTUAL STATUS OF TEACHING WRITING FOR PUPILS AT PRIMARY LEVEL IN COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION 2.1 Theoretical basis 2.1.1 Text and teaching writing in primary schools 2.1.1.1 The definition of text Compiling from local studies, the thesis introduces the definition: Text is both the product and means of linguistic communication activities; with completeness in terms of content, structure and form; and certain target communication purposes (target on cognition influence, emotional influence or behaviour influence) 2.1.1.2 Typical features of text Texts have conjunction and cohesion to create a complete form and comprehensive in terms of content and form Texts has internal and external relations 2.1.1.3 Features of verbal versus written text: the most distinctive features between verbal and written texts are the context of creation and transmitted to the recipients Such context influences and governs the internal and external relation of the text 2.1.1.4 Types of texts in teaching writing in schools The linguistics program of the general education (2018) introduces the system of text categories in accordance with areas and purposes of communication [17, pp 88]: VB expressive text, multimodal text, descriptive text, deliberating text, daily life text, informative text, explanatory text, and narrative text Regarding primary education level, the linguistics program of the general education (2018) requires pupils to “be able to write paragraphs, storytelling text, description of feelings and capability to connect ideas” [17, pp 9]; daily life texts such as timetables, postcards, messages, appreciation expressions and apologies, etc [17] 2.1.2 Concept and approach in teaching writing 2.1.2.1 Concept on teaching writing at schools The linguistics program of the general education (2018) has the requirement on criteria for writing skill at primary level [17, pp.13]: Writing technique and writing sentences, paragraphs and texts With the purpose that writing text is formation of a creative text, writing text is a process of thinking, self-cognition and also a process of communication 2.1.2.2 Approaches in teaching writing Genre approach: focus mainly on the correct genre of text by the learners Process approach: stresses on: “writing as the system of acts to create a writing text Such acts include pre-writing (planning); writing (drafting, revising); publishing and feedback from readers Social approach: stresses on “strong linkage between language and social context” [93, pp 273] Communication approach: stresses on the purposes and objects of the writing Parallel Writing: a combination of genre approach and process approach Workshop based writing focuses on the objective that learners are trained to be independent writers 2.1.3 Integration and differantiation in teaching writing to orientate competence development for pupils at primary level 2.1.3.1 Integrating teaching: Succeeding from the 2006 linguistics program of the general education; and realising the viewpoint of the linguistics program of the general education 2018, integrating teaching in Vietnamese language will be implemented at a more specific and indepth level: continue integrating subjects in teaching language skills; continue with more specific integration of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary; espcially, integration of language skills will be further promoted In teaching writing, close connection among teaching skills such as reading, speaking and listening will be applied 2.1.3.2 Differentiation teaching: Pupils go to school with their certain understanding and knowldege about their mothertongue; inlfuence from local culture; geographical features, etc These are not the same from pupil to pupil, and thus, differentiation teaching is essential Besides, individualization – a form of differentation teaching should also be adopted In order to apply differentiation teaching, teachers may apply to the contents, process/procedures of teaching, and the learning products 2.1.4 Teaching writing toward competency development orientation for pupils at primary level 2.1.4.1 The concept of writing competency In teaching linguistics at primary schools, writing competency is construed as learners having the competency to write independently when required and the texts represent all criteria of a creative text; the capability to be aware of benefit of writing; and to know when to write and how to write to address the requirements; readers will have cognition, attitude and action as writers wish 2.1.4.2 Structure of writing competency Based on theoretical basis and viewpoints on text formation, the author of the thesis proposes a writing competency structure for pupils at primary level It is subject to class levels that component criteria may be reduced, especially for pupils of the first class, so as to be compatible with the requirements of the linguistics program of the general education (2018) Similarly, the difficulty of component criteria is increased or decreased depending on the pupils’ ages Table 2.2 Structure of writing competency of pupils at primary level Structure of writing competency 10 COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT FOR PUPILS AT PRIMARY LEVEL 3.1 Some requirements in teaching writing to develop competency for pupils 3.1.1 Ensuring the objectives of the subject 3.1.2 Suitable to pupils’ psychological characteristics 3.1.3 Attention to the flexibility of the writing process 3.1.4 Ensuring that pupils are the subjects of the writing process 3.1.5 Diversifying methods and techniques of teaching writing 3.2 Some teaching solutions to develop competency for pupils at primary level With the aim to further clarify the linkage among solutions, before detailing the solutions, the author presents the following chart of 3.1 1.Create Createmotivation motivationfor forwriting writing Design learning environment Design learning environment to to 3.Organise Organiseteaching teachingtext text writing writingaccording accordingto toprocess process encourage encouragewriting writingactivity activity Make Make writing writing content content be be inin pupils’ pupils’ Organise Organise activity activity brainstorming brainstorming knowledge knowledge Design Design writing writing topic topic to to promote promote pupils’ creativity pupils’ creativity Organise Organise activity activity for for experience: experience: visual, visual,games, games,role roleplaying playing Organise Organise games games to to help help pupils pupils to to obtain joy in learning to obtain joy in learning to write write texts texts for for idea idea Free Freewriting writing Group Groupdiscussions discussions Organise Organise activity activity idea idea arrangement arrangement Creating Creatingidea ideadiagram diagram Drafting Drafting 2.Link Linkwriting writingteaching teachingwith with reading readingactivity activity Link Link reading reading text text inin the the course course Organise Organisetext textamending amendingactivity activity Practise the habit of Practise the habit of 4.Evaluate Evaluate pupils’ pupils’writing writing competency competency Evaluate via Evaluate via learning learning diagram diagram Evaluate Evaluate learning learning results results by by rubric rubric (text (text checklist) checklist) proofreading proofreadingfor forpupils pupils Use Usechecklists checklists book book Link Link with with supplementary supplementary reading reading activity activity Before learning to write a During the learning After creation content process for text writing of text Chart 3.1 Solutions for competency-based teaching of writing texts for pupils at primary level 3.2.1 Creating writing motivation 3.2.1.1 A learning environment is designed to promote wiring activities: 11 proposing influence on objective environment (external environment) and subjective environment (internal environment) of pupils in order to help pupils to be more confident and become interested in learning such as creating the class atmosphere enriched with writing language, creating friendly learning atmosphere, diversifying ways of feedback to writings, and cooperating and sharing with pupils’ parents 3.2.1.2 Writing contents must be adjusted to be covered within pupils’ knowledge: (1) With the topic covered within the knowledge: connecting the topic of writing with different sub-divisions of the Vietnamese language study and other subjects and paying as well as having a deep understanding about the matters that the majority of pupils are interested in so as to create positive feeling and attitude toward writing objects (2) With regard to topics that are beyond pupils’ knowledge: making them become the attention, interesting topics for pupils so as they will learn and pay attention to such topics 3.2.1.3 Design writing topic to promote pupils’ creativity To the extent of the thesis and with the objective to create motivation to write for pupils by influencing on the topic of the writing task, the author proposes the design of the writing topic so as to promote pupils’ creativity In order to promote pupils’ creativity toward the self-presentation such as their viewpoints, thinking and emotion; provide writing with contents close to real life and suitable to the psychology of their ages Pupils may imagine a solution for a problem, explain their problem/matter, or personalise into a character to retell a story, or personalise into a thing/an animal to tell, describe itself, etc The author proposes two directions of design to promote creativity of pupils: (i) Design new writing topic based on the current writing topics The current writing topics are understood as those are presented in the course books of the 2006 linguistics program of the general education and normally contain two main factors being genre (how to write) and the contents to be written (what to write) To create writing motivation in pupils, teachers may personalise the writing topics by adding the purpose of writing and the target readers The personalised writing topic must ensure the following factors: (1) sufficient of communication factors: content, purpose, target readers, method of presentation (text genre) and context; (2) the communication situation must be familiar with pupils’ life For pupils at the first and second classes, personalisation should not be adopted while the same must be applied from the third class upward and it depends on the text topics that they should be personalised or not An example of personalisation of a writing text is presented below 12 Original topic Write a letter to a penfriend in a Southern province (or Central region, or Northern region) to make friend and ask him/her to compete in learning well (the Educational Publishing House, Linguistic 3, Volume 1, week 13, p.110) Describe your table at your class or at home (the Educational Publishing House, Linguistic 4, Volume 2, week 20, p.18) Personalised topic You watch television (or read newspaper, or news on the internet) and know a friend who has similar hobbies like you, for instance: you both like learning to make robots, experimenting, playing basketball, etc Write a letter to him/her to make friend and ask him/her to exchange and find out more about the hobbies of you both Let’s assume you not have a table Think about a table that you like and describe it to your dad or mom Also, show them you wish to have such table Hints: The table you like may be from your own imagination or you may have seen it somewhere (on the internet, magazine, or at your friend’s house, etc.) Describe the school that you You represent your class to participate in an have been learning at for the past exchange session with pupils from other years schools at a camp festival of the province / city (Volume 5, Volume 1, week 11, At the camp festival, you are requested to p.100) speak about your school Describe your dear school that has been very closely related to you for years and invite your friends to visit (ii) Design the writing topic in an open direction Instead of writing topics with familiar genre and contents, teachers may motivate pupils to learn writing via topics with contents closely related to the pupil’s lives The topics should not require specifically genre so as pupils are free to create with their own ideas Such topics will influence on the pupils’ psychology, giving them the desire to express themselves The topics should satisfy the following requirements: (1) the contents should be closely related to the pupils’ lives; (2) not rigidly requires for genre; (3) highly personalised (pupils will write about their own lives, their thought and dreams); (4) ensure creativity of pupils Teachers may arrange for the writing task of such topics on the second lesson, during experiencing activity of the subject, club activity or (if possible) course book authors to design “free writing” class lessons to create favourable condition for pupils to writ Below are some topics: Theme Topic 13 Write about three things that impress you on the first day at school What is the most important thing to you? Write reasons to explain why it is that important to you Write three words to express your wishes on the start of a new Pupils themselves/ Likes school term (first and second classes) Why you select such three words (third, fourth and fifth class)? Write a list from three to five things that you on your day off (first and second classes) Why you select such things to (third, fourth and fifth classes)? Favourite activities of your family? Describe shortly such Family activities (For instance: going to the supermarket together at weekends; travelling in the summer; or cooking together, etc.) Are you in charge of any job in your family? If so, describe such job If children did not go to schools, what would happen? Imagination Write what you think If you were a character in a story, what character would you be? In what story? What would you change? 3.2.1.4 Organise games that help pupils to be motivated in writing Game organising is one of the methods that motivate pupils to learn, promote the learning of writing for pupils In teaching writing, games also place pupils in a context to create texts, and concurrently practise awareness activities such as memorising, imagining, and guessing With the purpose to motivate and create joy in learning writing, games may be arranged during extra curricula activities With respect to teachers, in order to organise games to help pupils to become more interested in learning writing, teachers must pay attention to the following: - Clearly identify the objective of the games - Identify the clear and easy-to-understand rules of the games for pupils - Develop specific and clear instructions, and model when necessary - Ensure that the game is suitable to the pupils and that it helps pupils to create texts which are appropriate with their capability Below is an illustrative example: Name of the game: Read the pictures, write a story - Describe the game: Teachers will prepare a set of systematic pictures for pupils to create a story from such pictures There are two ways for the game: (i) Pictures may be actions of characters, together with “talking balloons” or “thought balloons” Pupils will read the pictures and write conversations or thoughts for such “talking balloons” or “thought balloons” (ii) Pictures are in form of drawings and pupils write illustrations for such pictures - Objective: Pupils will practise logical thinking via reading and linking the set of pictures in a systematic way and write in a creative way a story based on such set of pictures Pupils practise writing and expressing a sentence, linking sentences to create a Schools/Teachers/ Friends 14 story Pupils will become aware that each person when reading pictures will have similar/different thoughts, imagination From such knowledge, pupils will learn to respect the differences - Preparation: Teachers will prepare on A4 size papers a set of pictures - Method of playing:  Each pupil will receive one piece of paper with such pictures  Teacher will explain the way to play such game to the pupils  The Pupils will start the game and may exchange with the teacher, and their classmates to understands further and diversify their own ideas  After writing, the pupils will discuss with their classmates their created stories The teacher may arrange so as the pupils will select their classmates for discussions by themselves and encourage as many discussions as possible or the teacher may arrange disscusions in groups  The teacher arrange presentations and may organise voting of the “best story” or the “most funny story” Such kind of games is suitable with first class pupils (at the stage after learning tones/pronunciation) to fifth class pupils Depending on each class, teachers may provide specific instructions and set time limit Teachers must ask pupils to write short, able to express dialogues and thought of the characters When writing illustrative narration for picture, pupils need to write full sentences and linking sentences to create a story Order of pictures Picture Picture Picture Picture Pupil Oh no! Why didn’t you call me up mom? Bye mom, I’ll be off for school Dad! Hurry up, I’m late Finally What a close shave! Thought I would be late Oh! No! I forgot my school bag Pupil Pupil Oh no! I’m late for school Ahh! Late again, huhu! againi Dad! Please take me to Hurry up! Daddy!Hurry school up! Wow! I’m Wonderful! not late! Lucky me! Just in time, and not being late Huh! I forgot shoes Why aren’t anybody? I misread the clock again 3.2.2 Linking teaching writing to reading activities Writing and reading have a reciprocal relationship In the past, reading and 15 writing were often taught separately Recently, studies have shown that reading and writing are more interdependent than we think 3.2.2.1 The relationship between reading and writing - Reading and writing are cognitive processes - Reading and writing are communication activities - Reading and writing are both constructing meaning - Reading is a prerequisite for writing - The writer is the first reader 3.2.2.2 Some reading and writing connection measures In the thesis, we consider reading activity to be the premise for writing The thesis proposes a number of ways to link reading with writing such as: connecting text content (reading texts suggest knowledge, content, thus, helping pupils to have materials for their writing), organizing text (reading documents suggest pupils the ways to organize their writing according to the characteristics of each genre), linguistic knowledge (reading helps students accumulate vocabulary, ways to use rhetorical measures in expressing ideas and opinions) These three linkage directions are designed by the thesis into study cards to guide pupils to write through the following two forms: (i) Connecting with reading exercises in coursebooks For instance: Before teaching the writing exercise of week 26 with the topic “Tell us about a festival you know” (Vietnamese language coursebook 3, volume 2, page 71), Teachers will instruct pupils to first read again the reading exercise again “Parading with lanterns.” to get a better idea on how to describe a festival Teachers may design study cards for pupils to learn sample reading texts Study Card Read the text “Parading with lanterns” (Vietnamese language coursebook 3, volume 2, page 71) and complete the following diagram: When and where was the ho participated in the festival? festival held? How were the attitude of the participants? The text is about the festival: ………… What were activities at the night? special How was the atmosphere of the festival festival like? If you join the festival night together with your friends, how will you feeling be? State your feelings in around three sentences ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………… (ii) Connecting with extra learning activities For instance: Teachers guide pupils to accumulate vocabulary: i.e., words that 16 indicate colours Study Card Assignment: Read the essay and answer the following questions: Late seasonal rain At midnight, the little girl woke up suddenly because of the rumbling noise It rained torrentially The trees in the garden tilted back and forth in the flash of lightning and near and far rumble of thunder Cool steam flooded the room Rain and wind intentionally invited the little girl to get out of the room and play with them For moments she intended to get up, but she finally decided not to She pulled the blanket over her neck, felt dreamy with sleepiness and then fell asleep The next morning when she got up, she happily picked up the bright yellow bodhi leaf that fell right next to her bed She ran to the window, looked up to the top of the Bodhi tree Now she can be sure that the leaf in her hand is the only gold leaf Over the past a few days, the little girl has seen it, wished to take it down but there is no way to take it Among the hundreds of thousands of ordinary green leaves, there suddenly is a so bright yellow leaf that moved the little girl After the heavy rain that night, and during the next few weeks, it was clear without a trace of cloud Even with desperate hope, the rain did not return Only then that the little girl suddenly realized that the rainy season had ended It turned out that the rain that night was the last rain for a new start of the dry season The little girl feels so regretful She loved it when it rains and the rain that night just passed by to say goodbye The rain had invited her for hours, yet she refused to get out of her little room to meet it The golden Bodhi leaf glittered from above that the rain had taken down as a present to the little girl but whether she did not realise it was the rain’s little gift? (by Tran Hoai Duong) Find words that describe colours and sounds in the above text: Words of colours in the text Write additional words of colour E.g.: golden that you know: …………………………… ……………………… ……………………… Words describing the sound of rain in Write additional words that the text describe the sound of rain that E.g.: rumbling you know: …………………………… ……………………… …………………………… ……………………… Find sentences that adopt impersonation in the above text: E.g.: Rain and wind intentionally invited the little girl to get out of the room and play with them ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………… 3.2.3 Organizing teaching process writing 3.2.3.1 Organising the search of ideas In order to develop competency for pupils, teachers may organise the following activities: (i) experiencing activity: via the uses of methods such as intuition, games and roleplay (ii) Free writing: after experiencing activity, pupils have already obtained ideas 17 and vocabulary for their writing, teachers will organise quick drafting for pupils to formulate outlines for their writing (iii) Group discussion: this activity helps pupils to exchange their ideas, develop further as well as screening unnecessary points For instance: Arranging for pupils to roleplay the story “An-dray-ca's torment” (Vietnamese language coursebook 4, volume 1, pp 55) preparing for the essay “Retell the story of An-dray-ca's torment with his own words or his mom’s words” Teachers may organise: - Before roleplaying: Pupils read the story again – dividing into groups subject to different roles in the story (the grandpa, the mom and An-dray-ca) – teachers will meet with groups of pupils who play the same tole to guide or will discuss the questions in the study cards to guide the pupils to express their attitude/behaviours of the characters – Pupils will then return the their groups to play their roles The pupils who act as the grandpas will be divided into two groups to discuss those who play the role of the mom or An-dray-ca After discussions, the pupils will be guided to discuss in front of the class so as the have correct conclusions Discussion cards are also prepared for each role in the play: 18 - When playing roles: Pupils will act their roles and express attitude, behaviour as discussed previously An-dray-ca The mom - After playing the role, teachers may organise another play role of interview If 1/ An-dray-ca’s attitude in the 1/ The mom’s attitude in the the pupils have difficulty, teachers may suggest by asking them several questions following circumstances: following circumstances: 3.2.3.2 Organising outlines - When his mom asked him to - When she heard her dad say The thesis proposes a number of methods to help pupils to practise their buy medicines: ……………… “I can’t breathe! ”: …… outlining: (i) Make diagram ideas: Teachers design diagrams to help pupils to arrange ……………………………… …………………………… ideas inWhen a systemised way like aplaying detailed outline There are two told typesher of the diagram: he saw his friends When An-dray-ca soccer anddiagram asked him to join: with suggestions whole story: completely empty and diagram (not………… completely empty) (ii) ………………………… ……………………… Drafting: this may be considered as the idea explanation stage When drafting, once When he found that his When her dad passed away: again pupils consider arranging ideas in an appropriate way Teachers will guide grandpa passed away: ……… ……………………… pupils to……………………………… think about impressive introduction and……………………………… conclusions, the first points and the latter points asAn-dray-ca, well as the linkages 2/ If to youinput were what among 2/ them If you were the mon, what Anwould example of diagram with suggestions you or say when your would you when you found mom comforted you………… ……………………………………………… ……………… An-dray-ca sit under the apple tree the whole night crying: …………………… 3.2.3 Organising revision of essays Pupils need to develop the competency for self-review and assessment to be proactive and independent in revising their own writing In order to so, the thesis 19 proposes: (i) Pupils should practise formulating their habit of proofreading their writing: Pupils need to build the habit of proofreading with critical thinking Teachers will guide pupils to ask questions about the contents, presentation and answers by themselves so as to have their own impression about their essays (ii) Using comment and assessment cards (checklist) to help pupils to obtain clear and specific directions with respect to the criteria to comment and assess The important thing is not to lead the pupils to a checklist for them to use but also help them to develop competency to use checklists and be able to create their own checklists in the future Such process is divided into 03 stages: Teachers to Pupils to Pupils to act interact with interact with independently – interact with other pupils to other pupils pupils Chart 3.1 The process to develop the self-review and self-assessment revise competency with respect to essays 3.2.4 Assessment of writing competency of pupils 3.2.4.1 Principles: ensuring the comprehensiveness, objectiveness, reliability, systematic element and development element 3.2.4.2 Assessment tools (i) Assessment via pupils’ learning records: to establish and file essays over a period of learning (a semester or a school year) Teachers will review pupils’ products throughout a process of development, in combination with periodical tests and evaluations in order to be able to provide comments and recommendations for pupils Teachers will also need to develop a criterion for transparent and convincing comment, assessment (ii) Evaluation of learning result using rubric (comment cards, essay evaluation): rubric is a criteria table and levels to show the requirements to be obtained for an assay Teachers will base on the requirements to develop such rubric Chapter PEDAGOGICAL EXPERIMENT 4.1 The purpose for experiment: Identify the feasibility of solutions and demonstrate theoretical hypothesis of the thesis; provide relevant comments and recommendations 4.2 Targets and locations of experiment: Teachers at primary schools and third-class pupils in 03 primaries schools (Tran Hung Dao, District 1; Vo Truong Toan, District 10; Kim Dong, Binh Tan District) 4.3 The contents and scope of experiment: Experiment with solutions proposed by the thesis, such solutions are used to design and organise teaching writing essays for third 20 class pupils in their second semester 4.4 Principles for experiment: ensuring objectivity, scientific and systematic features 4.5 Organising experiment process: 4.5.1 The experiment process comprises of 03 stages: preparing experiment, implementing experiment, analysing and evaluating the results of experiment 4.5.2 Tools used in the experiment: lesson plan, self-review cards, checklist, learning records, comment sheets, and rubric 4.5.3 Description of the experiment process - Training teachers who participate in the experiment teaching: (1) Briefly presenting the theoretical basis of the thesis, and the plan for teaching; (2) Organising model teaching; (3) Discussing and agreeing on the lesson plan - Pupils’ writing results prior to the experiment: The thesis surveyed the writing competency of pupils via analysing week 32 essays of pupils with the topic: Talk and write about a white-collar person of pupils at the experimented group and the control group The thesis uses Microsoft Excel and SPSS to provide statistics and analysis of data The results show that pupils are better at the presentation criteria than that of the content criteria and there is no significant difference between the experimented group and the control group when comparing them against one type of criteria The thesis will focus on the impact on the content criteria and attention to nurturing pupils’ attitude - Organising teaching writing essays: each class which participated in the experiment will implement the solutions proposed in the thesis at different levels and after each lesson, the researcher and experimenting teachers will discuss to draw out lessons for the follow up class hours 4.6 Experiment results 4.6.1 The pupils’ attitude toward writing: The thesis uses questionnaire and use Microsoft Excel for the purpose of data statistics The result obtained: Pupils like writing but there are a few pupils who are not confident in performing certain writing related activities although in comparison with the results of prior experiment, the interest of pupils and their confidence have been improved The author is confident that when pupils become interested in writing, their writing competency will be improved if the solutions are still maintained 4.6.2 The evaluation results of writing competency The thesis has evaluated pupils’ writing competency through analysis of their essay exercise in week 32 with the topic: Write about the environment; the essay is 21 analysed in accordance with the Essay evaluation and comment sheet (rubric) and Microsoft Excel is used to provide statistics and calculate the frequency of the results per each criterie while SPSS is used to calculate median value of the criteria The author compared and cross checked the frequency and median value of the control group and the experimented group after experiment, the experimented group before and after experiment Level Good Level Very good 70 120 62.6 60 50 40 30 20 10 02.9 41.9 37.4 36.6 56.1 47.8 51.2 36.6 35.3 28.6 26 22.7 19.8 16.9 18.7 18.4 100 99.2 97 80 72.8 60 40 44.7 50 26 2.4 Control Level Failed Column1 Level Passed 120 2.2 2.2 1.5 0.8 0.5 40.6 34.5 34.5 1.6 Column1 2.5 60.2 20 Control 77.2 68.3 64.7 65.4 58.5 52.8 100 99.2 97 80 1.5 0.8 0.8 72.8 60 0.8 40 0.8 44.7 77.2 68.3 64.7 65.4 58.5 52.8 34.5 34.5 60.2 40.6 26 20 00 Control 0 Column1 1.6 Control 50 2.4 Column1 22 Figure 4.8 Frequency comparison charts of criteria of the same levels between the control group and the experimented group VTT School THD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 THD 1.2 Column1 VTT 1.2 Column1 KD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 KD 1.2 Column1 Figure 4.9 Average value comparison charts of the control group before and after experiment THD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 VTT School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 THD 2.1 Series VTT 2.1 Series 23 KD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 KD 2.1 Series Figure 4.10 Average value comparison charts of the experimented group before and after experiment The results obtained: There are differences between the frequency values and median values with respect to the content criteria between the control group and the experimented group; with respect to the presentation criteria, the difference is not significant Essays prepared by pupils under the experimented group show more ideas and diversified expressions 4.7 General comment and assessment of the experiment process - The thesis uses linguistic materials from coursebooks of the current teaching program yet teaching activities are carried out in accordance with the proposed solutions The experiment results have proven that the proposed solutions in this thesis are feasible and effective; the scientific hypothesis of the thesis is correct - With regard to teachers: They have overcome initial reluctance to assume new teaching method, even though becoming more hard working, the teachers have gradually become adaptable, accept, have positive attitude and become familiar in organising teaching activities - With regard to pupils: they become interested and are very active participating in writing activities; they have initially become proactive in finding materials for writing, gradually become more confident in giving ideas and viewpoints, and present their essays to people The number of essays has become more diversified with more ways to express themselves and ideas CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS The thesis studies teaching writing for pupils at primary level toward competency development orientation to help pupils to develop their competency to write independently and find interest in learning This is not only very significant in teaching Vietnamese in primary schools but also very important to other subjects 24 The thesis has compiled and systemised studies on teaching toward competency development orientation for learners and teaching writing On such basis, the thesis has proposed teaching writing toward competency development for pupils at primary level The thesis has identified the practical basis through understanding the relevant problems On such basis, the author has realised that teachers are not flexible in using teaching methods and approaches of process writing, pupils’ essays are therefore not diversified in terms of expressions and ideas The thesis has proposed a number of requirements and solutions in organising teaching writing for pupils at primary level In each solution, the thesis proposes various ways of implementation to bring about to teachers various choices to use in one lesson Although each solution is presented separately, in teaching, they should be combined in a harmonious and appropriate way with the contents as well as the target of teaching being pupils The thesis has experimented at 03 primary schools and during the entire second semester of third-class pupils The results of the experiment have confirmed the feasibility and efficiency of the thesis Especially, pupils are very excited, confident and bold with respect to writing activities as compared to the preexperiment results RECOMMENDATIONS Enhancing teachers’ attitude toward proactiveness and confidence in selecting and implementing their teaching activities Paying attention to the typical features of the subject as well as the targeted pupils to distribute appropriate timelines and teachers can be more proactive in terms of time management Paying more attention to self-review, assessment of pupils’ essays This activity only practises the pupils’ self-review skill and assessment but also indirectly train pupils in improving their writing skills Topic for writing should be designed in an open direction, avoid too specific topics regarding subjects of the writing or scope of the writing Too specific topics may fall beyond the knowledge of pupils The process for pupils to create a text may be a lesson or more Course books may consider the same when allocating time to obtain the objective of the teaching method ... between the control group and the experimented group VTT School THD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 THD 1.2 Column1 VTT 1.2 Column1 KD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 KD 1.2 Column1 Figure... the control group before and after experiment THD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 VTT School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 THD 2.1 Series VTT 2.1 Series 23 KD School 4.5 3.5 2.5 1.5 0.5 KD 2.1 Series Figure 4.10... class attendance: the author attended writing classes of the third class, first semester of teachers in Ho Chi Minh City 2.2.4 Writing competency of pupils at primary level 2.2.4.1 Pupils attitude