Using peer feedback on enhancing writing paragraph skills for students at grade 12 in luong the vinh high school, ha noi action research

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM THỊ LAN HƢƠNG USING PEER FEEDBACK ON ENHANCING WRITING PARAGRAPH SKILLS FOR STUDENTS AT GRADE 12 IN LUONG THE VINH HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI: ACTION RESEARCH Sử dụng hình thức “sửa lỗi đồng đẳng” nhằm nâng cao kĩ viết đoạn cho học sinh lớp 12 trƣờng THPT Lƣơng Thế Vinh, Hà Nội: Nghiên cứu hành động M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hà Nội - 2017 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM THỊ LAN HƢƠNG USING PEER FEEDBACK ON ENHANCING WRITING PARAGRAPH SKILLS FOR STUDENTS AT GRADE 12 IN LUONG THE VINH HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI: ACTION RESEARCH Sử dụng hình thức “sửa lỗi đồng đẳng” nhằm nâng cao kĩ viết đoạn cho học sinh lớp 12 trƣờng THPT Lƣơng Thế Vinh, Hà Nội: Nghiên cứu hành động M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr ĐỖ MINH HOÀNG Hà Nội - 2017 DECLARATION I, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Using peer feedback on enhancing writing paragraph skills for students at grade 12 in Luong The Vinh high school, Ha Noi - Action research” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master at the University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees Ha Noi, 2017 Phạm Thị Lan Hương i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like primarily to thank Dr Đỗ Minh Hoàng for helping me complete this study This paper would not have been possible without his constant support and encouragement His patience and helpful criticism helped me confidently express my ideas into this paper I regard myself extremely fortunate in having him as my dissertation supervisor I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures which have helped me a great deal in gaining a lot of theoretical as well as practical knowledge My special thanks go to my dear students at grade 12V3, Luong The Vinh high school, Hanoi who has helped me enthusiastically in writing lessons by applying the new technique and doing questionnaire carefully Finally, I would also like to express my deep gratitude and love to my devoted parents, my brother, my husband and my friends who gave me time and encouraged me to complete this study ii ABSTRACT This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of peer feedback in writing lessons of the grade 12 students at Luong The Vinh high school and the student‟s attitudes towards using this new technique The participants included one English teacher who is also the researcher and 10 non-major English students from the class 12V3 The participants took part in the intervention stage in an action research which the new technique was applied in the first semester of grade 12 The data were collected through the student‟s feedback form in weeks and survey questionnaire for students The results showed that peer feedback improved considerably students‟ writing skills in the frequency of making mistakes In addition, the study also indicated that most of the students had positive attitudes toward this new technique Some pedagogical implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies were included in this study iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT .iii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS vii LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS .viii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study 3 Research questions The scope of the study The method of the study Significance of the study The structure of the thesis PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW The nature of writing Writing approaches 2.1 The product approach 2.2 The process approach 2.3 The genre approach .9 2.4 Summary 11 Attitudes .11 Peer feedback .12 4.1 Overview 12 iv 4.2Advantages of using peer feedback 4.3Disadvantages of using peer feedbac 4.4Related studies on using peer feedba 4.5Summary CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 1.Research method 1.1Rationale 1.2Nunan‟s action research model 1.3Action research procedure for this st 2.Data collection instruments 2.1Questionnaire 2.2Student‟s feedback form 3.Participants 3.1The students 3.2The teacher – the researcher 4.The procedure of data collection 5.Summary CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 1.The effectiveness of peer feedback in writing skill 1.1The result of pre-test and post - test 1.2Frequency of making mistakes 2.Attitudes of students towards using peer feedback in writing lesson 2.1Student‟s general attitude towards us 2.2Student‟s attitude towards the benefi 2.3The student‟s view on the use of pee v Discussion 38 PART III: CONCLUSION 42 Summary of the study 42 Pedagogical implications .43 Limitations and suggestions for further research 43 REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: PRE- QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX 2: POST- QUESTIONNAIRE III APPENDIX 3: DATA ON PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE V APPENDIX 4: DATA ON POST – QUESTIONNAIRE VII APPENDIX 5: STUDENT FEEDBACK FORM IX APPENDIX 6: DETAILED ACTION PLAN X vi LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English Second Language L2: Second language vii LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Figure 1: Action research cycle 20 Table 1: Schedule of data collecting procedure 29 Chart 1: Total number of mistakes in pre-test and post- test 31 Table 2: Total number of mistakes identified by teacher and students 32 Chart 2: Student‟s interest in peer feedback 35 Table 3: Student‟s attitude towards the benefits of peer feedback 36 Chart 3: Student‟s attitudes towards benefits of peer feedback 36 Chart 4: Student‟s view on using peer feedback in the future 37 viii Ting , M (2010) A case study of Peer feedback in a Chinese EFL writing classroom Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistic, Vol.33 No 4, pp 87 – 98 Vygotsky, L (1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press White, R and Arndt, V (1991) Process Writing London: Longman White, E M (1994) Teaching and assessing writing: Recent advances in understanding, evaluating and improving student performance (2nd rev ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Yan, G (2005) A Process Genre Model for Teaching Writing In English Teaching Forum, Vol 43 No 3, pp 18 – 26 Yang, M., Badger, R., & Yu, Z (2006) A comparative study of peer and teacher feedback in Chinese EFL writing class Journal of Second Language Learning, Vol 15, 179-200 Zhang, S (1995) Reexamining the Affective Advantage of Peer Feedback in the ESL Writing Class In Journal of Second Language Writing, Vol No 3, pp 209 –222 Zamel, V (1976) Teaching composition in the ESL classroom: What we can learn from research in the teaching of English In TESOL Quarterly, Vol 10, pp 67 – 76 Zamel, V (1983) The composing process of advanced ESL students: Six case studies In TESOL Quarterly, Vol 17, pp 165–187 49 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: PRE- QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed to collect data for my study about using peer feedback in improving the writing skill for the students at high school The information provided by you will be extremely meaningful to my research The information is strictly confidential and used for research only Do you often spend a certain period of time each day to practice writing? Yes No (Reason :…………………………………………………………… ) Does your English teacher operate peer feedback in writing lessons? Yes No Do you complete all writing exercises? You are motivated to write when you participate in the writing class activities Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree How you feel during the writing lessons? Comfortable Excited Good Sleepy Bored Stressful I Other:……………………………………………………………… The classroom atmosphere during writing lessons is good Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree How often you work in groups or pairs in writing lesson? Always Usually Sometimes Never What are reasons for which many students have no interest in writing? Lack of vocabulary and structure Being afraid of making mistakes/ getting bad mark Having no interest with recent learning activities Other:…………………………………………………………………… Adapted from Murtagh and Baker (2009) and Al-Jamal (2009) Thank you for your co-operation! II APPENDIX 2: POST- QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed to collect data for my study about using peer feedback in improving the writing skill for the students at high school The information provided by you will be extremely meaningful to my research The information is strictly confidential and used for research only How often did you use peer feedback in writing lessons in the last weeks? Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never Question 2-6: Please indicate your (dis)agreement with each statement by putting a tick (V) in the appropriate column 1= Strongly disagree agree Items autonomous in judging the quality of learning and knowledge lessons more interesting than before Peer feedback confident to write Peer feedback motivated you to write Peer feedback helped you to avoid the mistakes which you had made What kind of feedback you prefer: Teacher‟s feedback or peer feedback? Please give reasons for your choice ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… III ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Adapted from Murtagh and Baker (2009) and Al-Jamal (2009) Thank you for your co-operation! IV APPENDIX 3: DATA ON PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed to collect data for my study about using peer feedback in improving the writing skill for the students at high school The information provided by you will be extremely meaningful to my research The information is strictly confidential and used for research only Do you often spend a certain period of time each day to practice writing? Yes (3) No (7) Reason: Hate writing, No time/ little time for English, Prefer doing grammar or reading exercises Does your English teacher operate peer feedback in writing lessons? Yes (0) No (10) Do you complete all writing exercises? Yes (4) No (6) Reasons: Being afraid of teacher’s punishment, only if they are compulsory exercises You are motivated to write when you participate in the writing class activities Strongly disagree (0) How you feel during the writing lessons? Comfortable (0) Excited (0) Good (1) Sleepy (2) V Bored (5) Stressful (2) Other:…………………………………………………………………… The classroom atmosphere during writing lessons is good Strongly disagree (1) How often you work in groups or pairs in writing lesson? Always (0) What are reasons for which many students have no interest in writing? Lack of vocabulary and structure (1) Being afraid of making mistakes/ getting bad mark (3) Having no interest with recent learning activities (6) Other: …………………………………………………………………… Adapted from Murtagh and Baker (2009) and Al-Jamal (2009) Thank you for your co-operation! VI APPENDIX 4: DATA ON POST – QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed to collect data for my study about using peer feedback in improving the writing skill for the students at high school The information provided by you will be extremely meaningful to my research The information is strictly confidential and used for research only How often did you use peer feedback in writing lessons in the last weeks? Always (9) Usually (1) Sometimes (0) Rarely (0) Never (0) Question 2-6: Please indicate your (dis)agreement with each statement by putting a tick (V) in the appropriate column 1= Strongly disagree agree Items autonomous in judging the quality of learning and knowledge lessons more interesting than before confident to write Peer feedback motivated you to write Peer feedback helped you to avoid the mistakes which you had made What kind of feedback you prefer: Teacher‟s feedback or peer feedback? Please give reasons for your choice Teacher’s feedback only: Reasons: Peer feedback is sometimes incorrect Teacher’s feedback is more reliable Peer feedback only: VII Reasons: - peer feedback is less stressful than teacher’s feedback - learning from friend’s mistakes - having a chance to review grammar and vocabulary when correct student’s mistakes Both teacher’s feedback and peer feedback: Reason: - first using peer feedback, then using teacher’s feedback to revise Adapted from Murtagh and Baker (2009) and Al-Jamal (2009) Thank you for your co-operation! VIII APPENDIX 5: STUDENT FEEDBACK FORM Writer:…………………… Commenter:……………………………No: Writing Mechanics Does every sentence begin with a capital letter? Do all of the sentences end with a punctuation mark? Do some sentences seem too long? Do they run on and on? If yes, did you make changes to break the sentence up? Are all of the words spelled correctly? Did you change or mark the words spelled incorrectly? Do all of the sentences use the correct verbs in the past, present, or future? In writing mechanics, the writer needs the most help in Capitalization In writing mechanics, the writer is the best at Capitalization Writing Content Does the paragraph meet length requirements? Does the paragraph make sense? What could be added to make the paragraph better? Sum up Capitalization Punctuation Spelling Verbs Length of paragraph (Ok or not) Unclear meaning sentence Adapted from Hanson (2006) IX APPENDIX 6: DETAILED ACTION PLAN Time Topic Week Writing about the rules of Day Week Day Week Day Week Day Week Day your family Writing about your family daily routines Describing a Vietnamese conical leaf hat Describing a festival in Vietnam Writing a paragraph on the formal school education system in Vietnam Week Describing your class Day Week Day Week Day Describing a job you want to in the future Describing the world in which you would like to live in the year 2026 Week Day Week Day Week Day Week Writing about measures to protect endangered species and possible results Writing about measures to reduce the air pollution in Hanoi Describing your favorite book Describing XI your favorite movie Day Week Describing your favorite sport Day Week Describing a person you love most Day XII ... that the thesis entitled ? ?Using peer feedback on enhancing writing paragraph skills for students at grade 12 in Luong The Vinh high school, Ha Noi - Action research? ?? is the result of my own research. .. ? ?Using peer feedback on enhancing writing paragraph skills for students at grade 12, Luong The Vinh high school, Hanoi: Action research? ?? for my thesis Aims of the study The researcher carries out... through their peer? ??s errors Therefore, using peer feedback may make the writing lessons more interesting and effective Since 2014, the National high school graduation examination for students at grade