(Luận văn thạc sĩ) 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 2.4 Summary 11 Attitudes 11 Peer feedback 12 4.1 Overview 12 iv 4.2 Advantages of using peer feedback 13 4.3 Disadvantages of using peer feedback 15 4.4 Related studies on using peer feedback in writing lesson 16 4.5 Summary 18 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19 Research method 19 1.1 Rationale 19 1.2 Nunan‟s action research model 20 1.3 Action research procedure for this study 22 Data collection instruments 24 2.1 Questionnaire 24 2.2 Student‟s feedback form 26 Participants 28 3.1 The students 28 3.2 The teacher – the researcher 28 The procedure of data collection 29 Summary 30 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 31 The effectiveness of peer feedback in writing skill 31 1.1 The result of pre-test and post - test 31 1.2 Frequency of making mistakes 32 Attitudes of students towards using peer feedback in writing lessons 34 2.1 Student‟s general attitude towards using peer feedback in the writing lessons 34 2.2 Student‟s attitude towards the benefits of using peer feedback in writing lessons 35 2.3 The student‟s view on the use of peer feedback in the future 37 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 Li, M , Steckelberg, L & Liu, J (1998) Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach Studies in Higher Education 23 (2), 157–72 Liu, J & Hansen, J (2002) Peer response in second language writing classrooms The University of Michigan Press: Michigan Liu, N & Carless, D (2006) Peer feedback: The learning element of peer assessment Teaching in Higher Education 279-290 Long, M & P Porter, (1985) Group work, interlanguage talk, and second language acquisition TESOL Quarterly, 19/2 305–25 Mangelsdorf, K., & Schlumberger, A (1992) ESL student response stances in a peer-review task Journal of Second Language Writing, Vol1, 235–254 McDonough, J & Shaw, C (2003) Materials and Methods in ELT A Teacher’s Guide Malden: Blackwell Mill, G.E (2003) Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall Mittan, R (1989) The peer review process: Harnessing students‟ communicative power D M Johnson, & D H Roen (Eds.), Richness in writing: Empowering ESL students New York: Longman Mogahed, M (2009) The Effectiveness of Using the Process Writing Approach in Developing the EFL Writing Paper presented at the conference of the American Professional Society San Diego, CA Murtagh, L., & Baker, N (2009) Feedback to feed forward: Student response to tutors` written comments on assignments Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 3(1), 20-28 Narciss, S (2006) Informative tutorials feedback Münster: Waxmann Nicol, D (2004) Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education, 31:2, 199-218 Nunan, D.(1992) Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching (ed) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 47 Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching and Learning Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers Orsmond, P., Merry, S and Reiling, K (2002) The use of exemplars and formative feedback when using student derived marking criteria in peer and selfassessment Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol 27, 309-323 Paulus, T (1999) The effect of peer and teacher feedback on student writing Journal of Second Language Writing, Vol 8(3), 265–289 Pincas, A (1982) Teaching English Writing London: Macmillan Pol, J Berg, B A M., Admiraal, W F & Simons, P J R (2008) The Nature, Reception and Use of Online Peer Feedback in Higher Education In Journal of Computer and Education, Vol 51, pp 1804 – 1817 Richards, J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rivers, W.(1968) Teaching foreign language skills Chicago: Chicago University Rollinson, P (2005) Using Peer Feedback in the ESL Writing Class ELT Journal, Vol 59 No 1, pp 23 – 30 Swales, J M (1990) Genre Analysis English in academic and research settings New York: Cambridge University Press Schneider, D.J (1988) Introduction to Social Psychology, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York Tithecott, J (1999) Peer Response in ESL Writing TESL Canada Journal, Vol 16 No Spring 1999 Tsui, A B M & Ng, M (2000) Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer comments Journal of Second Language Writing, Vol 147- 170 Tsui, A.B (1993) Helping Teachers to Conduct Action Research in Their Classrooms In D Freeman & S Cornwell (Eds), New Ways in Teacher Education Alexandria VA: TESOL 48 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? Yes No 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 2= Disagree 3= Neutral 4= Agree 5= Strongly agree Items Peer feedback made you more autonomous in judging the quality of learning and knowledge Peer feedback made your writing lessons more interesting than before Peer feedback gave you more 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) Disagree (1) Neutral (1) Agree (2) Strongly agree (6) 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) Disagree (8) Neutral (1) Agree (0) Strongly agree (0) How often you work in groups or pairs in writing lesson? Always (0) Usually (0) Sometimes (8) Never (2) 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 2= Disagree 3= Neutral 4= Agree 5= Strongly agree Items Peer feedback made you more 5 2 2 Peer feedback motivated you to write 1 Peer feedback helped you to avoid the 1 autonomous in judging the quality of learning and knowledge Peer feedback made your writing lessons more interesting than before Peer feedback gave you more confident to write 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? Yes No Do all of the sentences end with a punctuation mark? Yes No Do some sentences seem too long? Do they run on and on? Yes No Yes No If yes, did you make changes to break the sentence up? Are all of the words spelled correctly? Yes No Did you change or mark the words spelled incorrectly? Yes No Do all of the sentences use the correct verbs in the past, present, or future? Yes No In writing mechanics, the writer needs the most help in Capitalization Punctuation Spelling Verbs Spelling Verbs In writing mechanics, the writer is the best at Capitalization Punctuation Writing Content Does the paragraph meet length requirements? Yes No Does the paragraph make sense? Yes No What could be added to make the paragraph better? Sum up Mistakes Number 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 your family Day Objectives Learning and teaching activities - Obtain the rules of capitalization and punctuation - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback - Learn how to write a description , stages of a description Week Writing about your family daily routines Day - Revise how to write a description, stages of a description - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback - Use present simple tense to write about daily routines Week Describing a - Understand the Vietnamese structure of a conical leaf hat paragraph Day - Revise how to write a description, stages of a description - Classroom activities and writing Week Describing a festival in Vietnam Day - Revise how to write a description, stages of a description - Classroom activities and writing Week Writing a paragraph on the formal Day school education system in Vietnam - Be able to write the topic sentence - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback - Peer feedback - Peer feedback - Be able to write the school education system in Vietnam X Week Describing your class Day - Revise how to write a description, stages of a description - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback - Be able to write the supporting sentences Week Describing a - Revise BE GOING job you want to TO and WILL in the future Day - Revise how to write a description, stages of a description - Classroom activities and writing Week Describing the world in which you would like Day to live in the year 2026 - Revise writing topic and supporting sentences - Classroom activities and writing Week Writing about measures to protect Day endangered species and possible results - Use some expressions to illustrate the cause and effect - Classroom activities and writing Week Writing about measures to reduce the air Day pollution in Hanoi - Revise some expressions to illustrate the cause and effect - Classroom activities and writing Week Describing your favorite book Day - Revise writing topic and supporting sentences - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback - Peer feedback - Use conjunctions to link the sentences - Peer feedback - Peer feedback - Peer feedback - Revise tenses Week Describing - Revise how to write XI - Classroom activities and writing Day your favorite movie a description, stages of a description - Peer feedback - Be able to use some feeling expressions Week Describing your favorite sport Day - Revise writing topic and supporting sentences - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback - Revise the linking words Week Describing a person you love most Day - Be able to describe the appearance and personality XII - Classroom activities and writing - Peer feedback ... 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