Methods to increase the english magazine project power in the study of the english written language for english major students at faculty of foreign languages,

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ̃ NGUYÊN THI B ̣ ÍCH NGOC ̣ METHODS TO INCREASE THE ENGLISH MAGAZINE PROJECT POWER IN THE STUDY OF THE ENGLISH WRITTEN LANGUAGE FOR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, THAINGUYEN UNIVERSITY (Phương pháp gia tăng hiêụ quảcủa Đềán tap ̣ chíTiếng Anh viêc ̣ học bút ngữ cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Tiếng Anh taịKhoa NgoaịNgữ, Đaịhoc ̣ Thái Nguyên) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 HANOI-2011 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ̃ NGUYÊN THI B ̣ ÍCH NGOC ̣ METHODS TO INCREASE THE ENGLISH MAGAZINE PROJECT POWER IN THE STUDY OF THE ENGLISH WRITTEN LANGUAGE FOR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, THAINGUYEN UNIVERSITY (Phương pháp gia tăng hiêụ quảcủa Đềán tap ̣ chíTiếng Anh viêc ̣ học bút ngữ cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Tiếng Anh tại Khoa Ngoại Ngữ, Đaịhoc ̣ Thái Nguyên) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor: Phạm Thị Hạnh, M.A HANOI-2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………………… Abstract……………………………………………………………………… Table of contents…………………………………………………………… List of charts and tables……………………………………………………… PART A: INTRODUCTION Background of the study …………………………………………… Problem identification………………………………………………… Aims of the study…………………………………………………… Methodology………………………………………………………… Scope of the study…………………………………………………… Significance of the study……………………………………………… Structure of the study………………………………………………… Definitions of concepts ……………………………………………… Conclusion …………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Project-based learning ………………………………………………… 1.2 Different types of project in learning written language ……………… 1.3 The necessity of English Magazine Project to the study of written language……………………………………………………………… 1.4 Challenges of project-based learning …………………………………… 1.5 Portfolios in writing …………………………………………………… 1.6 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Rationale for the use of an action research……………………………… 2.2 Background of the study………………………………………………… 2.3 Instruments……………………………………………………………… 2.4 Research program……………………………………………………… v 2.5 Procedures……………………………………………………………… 25 2.6 Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 25 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS 26 3.1 Possible problems for students and teachers which prevented the project from effective implementation …………………………………………… 26 3.2 Students‟ problems in the two first week magazine columns ………… 33 3.3 Comparison of the students‟ writing performance before and after using 35 portfolios.…………………………………………………….… ………… 3.4 Conclusion ……………………………………………….… ………… 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Discussion of research questions……………………………………… 37 Pedagogical implications……………………………………………… 40 Limitations of the study………………………………………………… 42 Suggestions for further study…………………………………………… 42 Conclusion……………………………………………………………… 43 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………… 44 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………… Questionnaire ………………………………………………………… Interview ……………………………………………………… …… Overview of the research program …………………………… …… Group action plans …………………………………………… …… I I II IV Wr itin g col lec tio ns … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … V XII vi LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Table 1……………………………………………………………………… 18 Table 2……………………………………………………………………… Table 3…………………………………………………………………… Table 4……………………………………………………………………… Table 5……………………………………………………………………… Chart 1……………………………………………………………………… Chart 2……………………………………………………………………… Chart 3……………………………………………………………………… Chart 4……………………………………………………………………… Chart 5……………………………………………………………………… Table 6……………………………………………………………………… Table 7……………………………………………………………………… Part A: INTRODUCTION This part will briefly state the background of the study, the problem initiating the study, the aims of the study, methodology of the study (including participants and procedures), its scope, significance and structure Background of the study Currently, project-based learning is applied in a rather large scale of language teaching worldwide and is considered to be a new effective approach to L2 learning and teaching The types of project can vary according to certain purposes of teaching, of which some popular ones are magazine project, excursion project, culture project and television show Among these, English Magazine project (EMA) is to develop students‟ four integrated skills but particularly focuses on written English (reading and writing) In this kind of project, students are required, in groups, to design their own magazines with typical columns as professional ones Topics are varied depending on the magazine themes and students‟ interests Students perform their ability and creativeness on the writing of different styles and topics The teacher acts as a guide for providing feedback and advice to students‟ work Over the last few years, there have been a number of studies on project-based learning Most of them focus on the benefits or advantages of PBL in teaching English as a second language (North, 1990; Vincent, 1990; Alan and Stoller, 2003; Yan Guo, 2007); others concern the steps in a project work (Stoller, 1995), Project-based learning and assessment (Mansoor, 1997) or Project-based Learning Activities (Foss, Carney, McDonald and Rooks, 2007) However, it is hard to know how many teachers have been tried out this approach and how they implement it in the actual context of classroom There are few studies on the implementation of certain project reported by language teachers and there are not many papers stating their satisfactions or their wishes to change the method of teaching The application of the EMA is not an exception since there seems not to have any paper discussing it in detail It is, therefore, necessary that the idea of looking into the actual experience of teachers in implementing projects in general and EMA project in particular needs further investigation English Magazine project has been applied as a part of the curriculum at Foreign Languages Faculty, Thai Nguyen University (FLF-TNU) for approximately five years The project was developed from the cooperation between Vietnam and Netherland in Education Eight selected universities in Vietnam have been taking part in the ProfessionOriented Higher Education (POHE) since 2005 The FLF-TNU was the first experiment of this Project It aimed at delivering better-trained graduates with a professional attitude Different from the old methods, this project focuses on students‟ competencies needed at workplace and takes them to be center of learning Therefore, it will provide students with a professional higher education necessary for their career During the time of taking part in the project, the students have to various compulsory projects in which they role-play different careers, such as actors, journalists, advisers, tour guides, and master of ceremony These projects help them improve their linguistic skills and the ability to produce English in real life The students are free to choose one of the obligatory projects to finish within a term or a school-year Beside some necessary skills, working-in-group competence was appreciated The teachers play as supervisors, observers and evaluators of the students‟ process and products At the end of the year, the students have to make presentations to introduce and convince the audience of their products EMA is one of the projects aiming at developing students‟ writing competence in English It has been officially included in the training program and students can register to take part in the course The prerequisite of the course is that students have completed their course in English Written Proficiency at intermediate level EMA is conducted at the same time with students‟ course in Advanced Writing The Project is done on registered groups of students within one semester of 15 weeks During the first two weeks, teachers will guide students to work together to decide on the themes and main content of the magazine as well as break down their work into weeks (See Appendix 3) During the following weeks, students work in their group to write the magazine columns They may set their group meeting time, go out to collect data and conduct peerfeedback within the group The class meets once a week so that teachers can give feedback to his/her students‟ writing The class consists of around 35 students broken down into five to seven smaller groups Therefore; the teacher would have at least seven drafts to revise each week The feedback is conducted during the class time of 100 minutes (2 periods) per week The teacher reads the drafts, detects students‟ problems in organization, punctuation, word choice, spelling and grammar He or she then suggests choices for better writing Problem identification Taking the role of an instructor for several groups of students during her three years of working with the project, the researcher has found some problems that prevent the project from taking its effectiveness One of the problems is that students‟ team work seems to be not quite effective They rarely group-editing as required and rely too much on teacher‟s feedback Some even commit plagiarism As a result, little improvement was displayed in their writing Another problem is time pressure on the part of teacher to give feedback to all groups of students The actual time for class contact seldom meets the need of editing The teacher, therefore, did a hard work not only in class but also at home so as to give essential feedback to students‟ articles Inspired by those obstacles, ideas for changes were outlined and an action research was done in the researcher‟s class A new teaching plan was designed to increase students‟ activeness and their effectiveness in group work The plan was intended to consist of two parts: increasing the students‟ group-editing before handing in the paper to teacher for feedback and controlling students‟ work of writing, editing and reading through weeks by portfolios Aims of the study The study on “Methods to increase the English Magazine Project (EMA) power in the study of English written language for English major students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University: An action reseach” was carried out with a view to: - Finding out the main obstacles toward the empowerment of the project for both teachers and students Bringing the effective intervention to help improve students’ performance in the project The research focused on the following research questions: What problems teachers and students face when working with the project? What changes that might help enhancing the project revealed from the problems? Can the teacher‟s interventions help save her time and improve students‟ performance in EMA project? If yes, to what extend? Methodology 4.1 Participants The subjects of the study were 30 students of English major at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University They have all achieved the intermediate proficiency level after their two years at the college These 30 students were in the same class and the researcher was the guide of the group during the project work During the study, the researcher acts as a participant observer and other teachers cooperate with the researcher in the study 4.2 Procedures * Data collection: The full period of data collection covered the whole term The effect of interventions is viewed via the following instruments: - Classroom observation - Students‟ journals - A questionnaire - Informal interviews with students and teachers * Data analysis: Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively Some parts of the questionnaire were converted into statistics, numbers and percentage in the form of tables and charts for the purpose of comparing and analyzing The number of errors in students‟ writings was also calculated for comparison and contrast Students and teachers‟ responses to interviews were collected in the form of notes; extracts from students‟ journal writings and collected readings were quoted as evidences for the analysis; classroom activities and students‟ reactions were observed and described by teacher‟s diary * Procedures: I APPENDICES Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE The following questionnaire is conducted to investigate issues relating to the English Magazine Project for advanced students at the Foreign Languages Faculty, Thai Nguyen University, Thai Nguyen Please tick the most appropriate options according to you Part 1: Personal Information What is your name? ………………………………………………… What is your GPA score? A 3.5 - 4.0 What is your average score in EWI 242 (English Written Proficiency – Intermediate 2)? A 8.5-10 B 7.0-8.4 C 5.5-6.9 D 4.0-5.4 How many credits have you registered for this semester? ………………………………………………… Part 2: Attitude and problems with the English Magazine Project How you think about the English Magazine Project in your study? A I think the project is important in comprehensively developing language competence B I think the project is interesting but not very important C I think the project does not bring much benefit and therefore unimportant to students Please choose the frequency of the problems you have encountered during your work in EMA project by circling the number 1, 2, 3, or in the column corresponding to the problems always usually sometimes rarely never II 6.1 I had troubles with group-work (work distribution, group work effectiveness) 6.2 Technology caused me a lot of difficulties (I had troubles finding sources on the Internet; I was not very skillful in graphic design; I not have a computer or available internet connection, etc) 6.3 It was hard for me to deal with the language of magazine It was confusing and difficult for me to find suitable words/phrases to express my idea 6.4 The project brought me financial problems It required much expenditure and I found it difficult to handle this 6.5 I had trouble with time management to fulfill the project There were too much tasks to complete and I had to rush over the tasks Others:……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your co-operation! Appendix 2: INTERVIEW (For students) SECTION 1 Specify the reason for your choice in question of the questionnaire Clarify the reasons for the frequencies you chose in question of the questionnaire What conditions you think will ensure a more effective implementation of the project? SECTION How was your group work distributed in order to complete weekly portfolios? III What benefits of portfolios you see during your work with EMA project? Are there any disadvantages or inconvenience of portfolios? (For teachers) What lesson procedures you often take while working with an EMA class? Do you think that the actual implementation of the project meets the requirements of the course? What obstacles you think are the most serious in preventing students‟ good performance? What problems you have in working with EMA classes? What suggestions you have for a better performance of students? IV Appendix 3: OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROGRAM Timeline Week Activities Introduction to the course Sample magazines Week Choosing topics Week Final draft of Column Week Final draft of Column Week Final draft of Column Week Final draft of Column Week Final draft of Column Week … … Week 12 -Cover and Contents - Rehearsal Week 13 - Proof-reading Rehearsal V Week 14 Completion Week 15 Evaluation Group 1: ACTION PLAN Group members: Pham Thi Chien Nguyen Thi Dung Dinh Thi Huong Magazine theme: BLUE SKY Mag No B S F 10 11 12 G * Group member: Ma Thi Bong (leader) Luong Thi Tuyet Chinh *Magazine theme: Sun flowers No Colum Funny a short sto Fashion Culture Quizzes Sport Food co Docume * Work breakdown: Timeline Activi Weeks Collecting magazines 1+2 Choosing topic Week Writing your own stor Writing first and seco Week Interviewing some stu fashion Writing draft and o Week Finding more material and Week Continuing correcting information for colum Week Writing draft and Week Creating and collectin questions Week Recording some news reporting Week 10 Writing draft and co Taking some photo re VIII Week 11 Find some methods to foods on Vietnamese n Week 12 Correcting draft 1,fini Week 13 Going around the city clothes shops, mobile find some necessary in Week14 Collecting all the wr the content, decorating Week 15 ACTION PLAN Group: Group members: Đinh Thị Hiền Hoàng Phương Trang Trần Thị Út Trâm Trần Thị Trang Nguyễn Thị Thương Đỗ Thu Dung Magazine theme: Channel 4Teen Magazine outline: Columns Food corner Culture Fashion Short stories Sport Handing our newspap IX Work breakdown Timeline Week Week Week Week Week 5, 6 Festival Language learning and teaching Entertainment corner Horoscope X Week Week Week … Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Group 4: Action plan * Group members: Pham Bac Thanh Pham Van Vu Le Thi Hoai Thanh Nguyen Thu Thuy Do Thi Thuy Trang Ngun BÝch Diªp * Magazine theme: Vietnam - country and people Magazine outline: No Columns Vietnam, country and human Education Culture corner XI Fashion Advertisements Music box Entertainment corner Foods corner Famous landscape Group members: Magazine theme: Action plan: No Thai Nguyen Students Columns Famous person Horoscopes News in brief XII Problem- solving Sport Short story Food corner Quizzes Advertisements 10 Fashion 11 Language learning and teaching ... of the study The study is limited to investigating the methods to increase the EMA project power in the study of English written language for English major students at Faculty of Foreign Languages,. .. study The study on ? ?Methods to increase the English Magazine Project (EMA) power in the study of English written language for English major students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen... view to: - Finding out the main obstacles toward the empowerment of the project for both teachers and students Bringing the effective intervention to help improve students? ?? performance in the project