Thiết kế bài tập về tính mạch lạc và liên kết dựa trên các bài luận ielts mẫu và nghiên cứu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -*** NGUYỄN THỊ MINH DESIGNING EXERCISES ON COHERENCE AND COHESION ON THE BASIS OF IELTS MODEL ESSAYS AND EXPERIMENTING THEM IN TEACHING AND LEARNING IELTS WRITING (THIẾT KẾ BÀI TẬP VỀ TÍNH MẠCH LẠC VÀ LIÊN KẾT DỰA TRÊN CÁC BÀI LUẬN IELTS MẪU VÀ NGHIÊN CỨU THỬ NGHIỆM TRONG DẠY HỌC VIẾT LUẬN IELTS) M.A THESIS (Program II) Major: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Hanoi, August 31st, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT -*** NGUYỄN THỊ MINH DESIGNING EXERCISES ON COHERENCE AND COHESION ON THE BASIS OF IELTS MODEL ESSAYS AND EXPERIMENTING THEM IN TEACHING AND LEARNING IELTS WRITING (THIẾT KẾ BÀI TẬP VỀ TÍNH MẠCH LẠC VÀ LIÊN KẾT DỰA TRÊN CÁC BÀI LUẬN IELTS MẪU VÀ NGHIÊN CỨU THỬ NGHIỆM TRONG DẠY HỌC VIẾT LUẬN IELTS) M.A THESIS (Program II) Major: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân Hanoi, August 31st, 2010 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of Authorship i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Abbreviation iv List of Tables and Diagrams v Table of content vii Introduction 1 Rationale of the Study Aims and Objectives 3 Scope of the Study Significance of the Study Methods of the Study Organization Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Cohesion versus Coherence 1.2 Cues for Coherent Representation 1.2.1 Cohesion 1.2.1.1 Grammatical Cohesion 1.2.1.2 Lexical Cohesion 10 1.2.2 Structure 13 1.2.2.1 Essay Structure 14 1.2.2.2 Patterns of Essay Organization 16 1.2.3 Grammar and Mechanics 1.3 An Overview on IELTS Writing Tasks 20 21 Chapter 2: Exercises on Coherence and Cohesion Built on the Basis of IELTS 22 Model Essays 2.1 Subjects of Using the Exercises 22 2.2 Aims and Objectives of the Exercises 22 2.3 Uses of the Exercises 23 2.4 Approaches to Designing the Exercises 23 viii 2.4.1 Product Approach 23 2.4.2 Process Approach 24 2.4.3 Product vs Process Approaches- Features Applied for 25 Designing the Exercises 2.5 Data for Designing the Exercises 27 2.6 Procedures of Designing the Exercises 27 2.7 Specifications of the Exercises 27 2.7.1 Organization of the Exercises 27 2.7.2 Types of the Exercises 30 2.7.4 Sources of the Exercises 33 2.8 Exercises 39 2.8.1 Presenting an Opinion 39 2.8 Examining Causes and Effects 53 2.8 Outlining Problems and Solutions 58 Chapter Experimental Study 64 3.1 Methodology 64 3.1.1 Participants 64 3.1.2 Design of the Study 64 3.1.3 Data Collection Instrument 65 3.1.4 Data Collection Procedures 67 3.1.5 Data Analysis 68 4.2 Results Conclusion 70 72 Summary 72 Contributions 72 Recommendations 73 Limitation of the Study 74 Suggestions for Further Studies 75 References 77 Appendices I iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IELTS International English Language Testing System HCSs Holistic coherence scores α Level of significance H0 Null hypothesis H1 Alternative hypothesis v LIST OF DIAGRAMS AND TABLES Diagrams Page Diagram “Block” Organization- Cause & Effect Organization Pattern (Exercise 13) 54 Diagram “Chain” Organization- Cause & Effect Organization Pattern (Exercise 13) 54 Tables Page Table Argument Patterns 17 Table 2: The Writing Process 25 Table 3: Product Approach vs Process Approach 25 Table Structure of an Essay (Exercise 3) 43 Table Conjunctions and References/ Transition Signals (Exercise 9) 48 Table Lexical Cohesive Devices (Exercise 10) 49 Table Signposts of Arguments and Opinions 50 Table 8: Checklist 51 Table Conjunctions and Markers of Causes and Effects (Exercise 19) 57 Table 10 Lexical Cohesive Devices (Exercise 20) 57 Table 11 Sentence Structures of Cause and Effect (Exercise 21) 58 Table 12 Collocations (Exercise 30) 62 Table 13 Quasi-experimental Design 65 Table 14: Experimental group: paired samples statistics (n=10) 70 Table 15: Control group: paired samples statistics (n=11) 70 Table 16: Differences between the experimental and control groups’ mean scores 70 (n=21) Table 17 Structure of an Essay (Key to Exercise 3) VII Table 18 Organization Pattern of Model Essay (Key to exercise 5) IX Table 19 Organization Pattern of Model Essay (Key to exercise 5) X Table 20 Organization Pattern of Model Essay (Key to exercise 5) XI Table 21 Conjunctions and References/ Transition Signals (Key to Exercise 9) XIII Table 22 Lexical Cohesive Devices (Key to Exercise 10) XV Table 23 Grammatical and Mechanic Mistakes (Key to Exercise 18) XVII Table 24 Lexical Cohesive Devices (Key to Exercise 20) XIX vi Table 25: Holostic Coherence Scores on the Pre- and Post-tests of the Experimental and Control Groups Table 26: Experimental and Control Groups’ Pre-tests: F-test Two Sample for Variances Table 27: Experimental & Control Group’ Pre-tests: T-test Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances XXII XXII XXIII Table 28: Experimental Group’s Pre-test and Post-test: T-test Paired Two Sample for Means XXIV Table 29: Control Group’s Pre-test and Post-test: T-test Paired Two Sample for Means XXIV Table 30: Differences between the Experimental and Control Group’ Mean Scores: F-test Two-sample for Variances Table 31: Differences between the Experimental and Control Group’ Mean Scores: T-test Two-sample Assuming Unequal Variances XXV XXVI INTRODUCTION Rationale of the Study The choice of this study was prompted by both theoretical and practical inspirational sources Theoretically, designing exercises on cohesion and coherence on the basis of IELTS model essays was inspired by a matter of necessity Cohesion and coherence are actually regarded as the important aspects of language use The knowledge of cohesion and coherence is very essential in discourse construction and comprehension for communication According to McNamara and Kintsch (1996), text cohesion is a driving factor of comprehension, and moreover, text characteristics critically interact with readers‟ abilities In other words, the awareness of these two elements may help writers to construct good essays with coherence and cohesion so that readers can understand it more easily Many researchers also affirm that coherence backed by cohesion is an important factor in determining essay writing quality (Stein and Albro, 1997; Shapiro and Hudson, 1997; Hoover, 1997; Grabe and Kaplan, 1996) In addition, the preference for this study was also prompted by the fact that theory of coherence and cohesion and IELTS model essays can be found in a variety of books, namely Cohesion in English by Halliday and Hasan (1976), What makes a text coherent? by Bamberg (1984), Coherence, Cohesion, and Writing Quality by Witte and Faigley (1980), or in studies such as Conjunctions as Devices of Grammatical Cohesion in English Written Discourse by Thái Thị Bạch Yến (1998), An Analysis of Topical Cohesion in English Socio-Political news Discourse, Exploring the Role of Model Essays in the IELTS Writing Test: A Feedback Tool by Makoto Abe (2008), and on websites like http://www.wretch.cc/blog/sdrex/29671929 Nevertheless, there have not been any works that build and experiment a system of exercises on coherence and cohesion based on IELTS model essays in the context of Vietnamese learners The writing section in the websites or books designed for IELTS usually comprises exercise questions, useful resources of vocabulary and expressions, practice tests and the answer keys Remarkably, the website http://ilsielts.blogspot.com/2009/05/ielts- essays-exercise-in-coherence-and.html, the book Writing Academic English by Oshima, A and Hogue, A (1999) have some exercises on cohesion and coherence in IELT essays, but they are too few, not systematic, and especially they not cover the ones that help students recognize and know how to achieve these two elements in different functions of IELTS essay writing, which are often asked in the IELTS Besides, the study on Japanese students named An Analysis of Topical Cohesion in English Socio- Political news Discourse, Exploring the Role of Model Essays in the IELTS Writing Test: A Feedback Tool by Makoto Abe (2008) shows that model texts (sample answers) as a source of feedback in second language writing play a substantial role Nevertheless, it does not deal with the role of exercises on coherence and cohesion in IELTS essays Therefore, this thesis was conducted with the aims of building a system of exercises on coherence and cohesion in different functions of IELTS writing based on IELTS model essays and experimenting them in the teaching and learning of IELTS writing Practically, more and more students attend IELTS courses in Vietnam, and the writing task of this test system requires coherence and cohesion to be an important criterion in marking However, can Vietnamese students write IELTS essays coherently? After years of study, Vietnamese learners have been capable of writing an English composition with few grammatical or spelling mistakes, but the overall coherence have not been satisfactory This may result from the fact that many Vietnamese teachers of English still value the grammatical correctness of sentences over the appropriateness of organising and linking rules in a written text or speech under the many years‟ influence of Bloomfieldian and Chomskian schools of linguistics, while Discourse Analysis is still a new subject to most Vietnamese linguistics though there has been attention from linguistics to this new branch with several works on Vietnamese discourses such as the ones by Hoang Van Van (2006), Nguyen Hoa (2000) and this fact, as Hoang Van Van (2006) states, is the result of „lack of a systematic theoretical framework‟ Besides, students have concentrated only on learning as much grammar and vocabulary as possible, ignoring the question of how to build a persuasive speech or writing Similarly, being familiar with looking at the sentence level, they seem only to focus on writing correct sentences and learning new words and phrases from sample essays but not to pay attention to the coherence and cohesion of essays As a result, they may have a good knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, and they may be very good at making correct separate sentences, but they cannot write IELTS essays coherently as required to get good scores The systematic exercises on coherence and cohesion in IELTS model essays could be a solution to this problem of teaching and learning English writing Aims and Objectives This thesis mainly aims at designing exercises on coherence and cohesion on the basis of model IELTS essay for intermediate students, who start an IELTS course to prepare for taking IELTS to study abroad To achieve this major goal, the following objectives are set for exploration: - reviewing theoretical background of coherence and cohesion, - building a system of exercises on the basis of IELTS model essays that can help intermediate students to become aware of coherence and cohesion and to write coherent essays, and - testing the hypothesis that a system of exercises on coherence and cohesion built on the basis of IELTS model essays would have great effects on students‟ performance to write their own IELTS essays coherently Scope of the Study This thesis focuses on building exercises on coherence and cohesion on the basis of IELTS model essays and experimenting them in teaching and learning IELTS essay writing The exercises are only concerned with the most common IELTS essays of Writing Task 2, in which writers present opinions, examine causes and effects, and outline problems and solutions because of their important role in IELTS writing and also owing to the constraints of time and page number of this thesis Besides, the experiment only checks whether these exercises have an effect on students‟ performance of writing coherent IELTS model essays in order that further researches can be decided to be carried on or not XII (2) A like B, C, and D are not chosen here because they all need a comma before them Therefore, if we use “for example”, “for instance”, and “e.g”, we need to write as follows: …because of the length of time we live compared to laboratory animals, for example, rats and rabbits …because of the length of time we live compared to laboratory animals, for instance, rats and rabbits …because of the length of time we live compared to laboratory animals, e.g, rats and rabbits Furthermore, “like” makes the sentence more fluent than the others (3) C In addition, opponents of animal testing claim that the results are not applicable to humans A, B, and D are incorrect in spelling The words must be written as “Furthermore”, “Additionally” and “Besides” (4) C in spite of Its meaning is the same as “despite” Both of “in spite of” and “despite” go before a noun phrase or a gerund A and B are incorrect because “although” and “though” introduce a clause of concession as in: “She walked home by herself, although/though she knew that it was dangerous” D is not correct, either “Yet” means despite that, and it is a coordinator used to add something that seems surprising because of what have just been said It goes after a comma and joins two independent clauses to form a compound sentence E.g He's overweight and bald, (and) yet somehow, he's incredibly attractive (5) D Nonetheless (6) B (An) additional Except A, all B, C, and D can go before a singular noun like “point” However, they cannot replace “a further” “The other” means the second of two things or people, or the item or person that is left in a group or set of things E.g I've found one earring - you know where the other one is? “Farther” is not used with a point or an idea, although both “farther” and “further” are the comparative forms of “far” XIII (7) C Moreover Its meaning and use is the same as “furthermore”, which introduces a similar additional idea A, B, and D are incorrect because “on the other hand”, “indeed” and “next” have meanings and functions that are different from “furthermore” “On the other hand” introduces an opposite idea “Indeed” indicates a restatement or explanation: For such creatures, speed is not important - indeed it is counterproductive I am happy, indeed proud, to be associated with this project “Next” signals chronological order: First, fry the garlic Next, add the ginger (8) D To sum up (9) C … suffering, on the one hand On the other hand, … A is not correct “On the one hand” have to be used with “on the other hand” as a pair when two different facts or two opposite ways of thinking about a situation are stated B is incorrect, either “In other words” is used to expressed what have been said in another way D is not a right answer here, either “In contrast” is used to contrast with what has been said, but not to refer to an alternative to what has been said as in this case Exercise 9: Meaning/Funtion Sentence Connectors Clause Connectors Coordinators To introduce an additional idea To introduce an opposite idea Also,… …,too Besides,… Furthermore,… Moreover, … In addition, On the other hand,… However In contrast Instead Nevertheless Nonetheless To introduce an example For example For instance To introduce a Indeed Subordinators And But Yes Others Another (+noun) An additional (+noun) Although Though Even though Whereas While in spite of (+noun) despite (+noun) An example of (+noun) Such as (+noun) e.g i.e XIV restatement or explanation To introduce a conclusion or summary To clarify chronological order To indicate order of importance To introduce an alternative To introduce a cause or reason that is In conclusion In summary To conclude To summarize First, (second, third, fourth, etc.) Next Last Finally First of all Meanwhile After that Since then More important(ly), most important(ly) Above all Otherwise Before After While Until As soon as The first (+noun) The second (+noun) Before the (+noun) In the year Since the (+noun) The most important (+noun) Or For If Unless Because Since As To introduce a comparison Similarly Likewise Also Too And As Just as To introduce a concession However Nonetheless But Yet Although Though Even though To introduce strong contrast However In contrast In (by) comparison On the other hand On the contrary But Because of As a result of As a consequence of Due to to result from the result of the effect of X on Y the consequence of like just like alike similar (to) the same as both and not only but also to compare with/to Despite (+noun) In spite of (+noun) Different from Dissimilar Unlike To differ from To compare to To compare with Table 21 Conjunctions and References/ Transition Signals (Key to Exercise 9) XV Exercise 10: Key words Animals & phrases Test repeated Animal testing Synonyms vivisection those against or near- Test dispensable Needed, animal testing synonyms Animal testing Opponents of experiment, of… Experiments on animal testing, (investigatio necessary animals, medical n, check, research involving trial) animals, tests on animals Antonyms humane indispensable of… Inhuman, cruel Unnecessary, (brutal, ruthless, heartless, merciless, callous, cold- non-essential blooded, harsh, unsympathetic, insensitive, unkind, inconsiderate) Hyponyms scientific those against animals products new medical of… research animal treatments and testing procedures testing, Animal rights monkeys cosmetics, new operating experiment, campaigners , rabbits shampoos, techniques, pilot testing, (mice, soaps, transplants, medical dogs…) cleaning newly products developed research drugs A general animals word of… (Our fellow) creatures Table 22 Lexical Cohesive Devices (Key to Exercise 10) XVI Exercise 11: Look for these sentences in model essays 1, and to check your answers 1) The first sentence of the third paragraph of model essay 2) The first sentence of the fifth paragraph of model essay 3) The first sentence of the second paragraph of model essay 4) The first sentence of the fourth paragraph of model essay 5) The first sentence of the fourth paragraph of model essay 6) The second sentence of the fifth paragraph of model essay 7) The first sentence of the sixth paragraph of model essay 8) The third sentence of the third paragraph of model essay 9) The third sentence of the fourth paragraph of model essay 10) The second sentence of the sixth paragraph of model essay 11) The second sentence of the final paragraph of model essay 12) The second sentence of the fourth paragraph of model essay 13) The second sentence of the fourth paragraph of model essay 14) The final sentence of the fifth paragraph of model essay 15) The second sentence of the second paragraph of model essay Exercise 15: 5) - 4) – 2) – 1) – 5) – 3) Exercise 16: Youth drug abuse 1) The main focus or a specific topic of the essay is stated by the phrase: “reasons for this behaviour”, which indicates the causes of youth drug abuse Although only one of three specific topics or three aspects of the essay theme (causes and effects of youth drug abuse and solutions to this problem) is mentioned, the final sentence of the introduction leads naturally into the first body paragraph because the first body paragraph discusses the cause set by chirlden‟s elders which is stated in that sentence This makes a fluent flow 2) The second and the third paragraph are about causes of youth drug abuse: examples set by elders in the second paragraph and the pressure on young people to perform well at school combined with the widespread availability of drugs in the third XVII The fourth paragraph is about the effects of youth drug abuse: the young people‟s talents wasted, the cost to a user‟s life, fatal road accidents, and the great cost to society The concluding paragraph is about solutions to youth drug abuse, all of which are drawn from the causes and effects stated in the body paragraphs: to educate young people about the dangers of drug use, and to take steps to reduce the pressure of competition placed upon them 3) Yes The question requires an account of causes, effects and solutions as an answer, so the writer describes and explores them objectively and does not emphasise on giving opinions 4) This essay is organized in „block‟ as one of the cause-effect patterns Exercise 18: Errors of… Line Incorrect Correct Not only illegal drug use is on Not only is illegal drug use on the rise, but… the rise, but… in affect in effect 14 Drugs are used as a mean… Drugs are used as a means… 23 competition competition 3-4 The reasons for this behaviour The reasons for this behaviour are unclear but … are unclear, but … Consequently children may… Consequently, children may … 8-9 In addition drug use shown on In addition, drug use shown on television and in films … television and in films … 12 Also the widespread… Also, the widespread… 17 Furthermore those who drink… Furthermore, those who drink No Inversion Spelling Punctuation and drive… …is great and enormous …is great, and enormous amounts of money are … amounts of money are … 20 To conclude I recommend… To conclude, I recommend… 19- …on convicting drug dealers …on convicting drug dealers 19 Parallel XVIII structures 20 and education programmes and on education programmes Prepositions The reasons of this … The reasons for this … on excess to excess …even if their parents are for …even if their parents are their use against their use 13 the temptation of experiment the temptation to experiment 17 …and addiction with hard …and addiction to hard drugs… drugs… Articles 18 … be involved to… … be involved in… 18 The cost of society is great The cost to society is great …the children as young as 10 …children as young as 10 years years old… old… … is a possible cause of … is a possible cause of the problem problem The effect of drug abuse are The effects of drug abuse are well known well known 11 Plural or 16 singular nouns S-V agreement Verb forms 22 …the widespread availability of …the widespread availability of drugs mean… drugs means… ….the only sensible way to the only sensible way to solve solve this problem is educate this problem is to educate young young people about the dangers people about the dangers of drug of drug use, and to take steps… use, and to take steps… Word forms 12 … and feel a sense of hopeless Relative clauses Pronouns Parents drink and smoke… … and feel a sense of hopelessness Parents who drink and smoke… 11- Many believe you cannot live Many believe they cannot live 12 up to expectations of your up to expectations of their parents‟ expectations… parents‟ expectations… Table 23 Grammatical and Mechanic Mistakes (Key to Exercise 18) XIX Exercise 19: (1), (2) consequently, in effect (3), (4) a cause of, the effect of Exercise 20: Key words & phrases repeated drug use ( x 3), drug abuse (x 3), drugs (x 3) Synonyms or near-synonyms of… use abuse Antonyms of… legal illegal Hyponyms of… youth use drugs Children, drink, smoke teenagers A general word of… youth drug use, drug abuse (young) people (this) behaviour Table 24 Lexical Cohesive Devices (Key to Exercise 20) Exercise 21: The pressure on young people to perform well at school in order to compete for jobs causes the problem The pressure on young people to perform well at school in order to compete for jobs is a possible reason for/behind the problem The problem is possibly caused by the pressure on young people to perform well at school in order to compete for jobs The problem is possibly due to the pressure on young people to perform well at school in order to compete for jobs The problem is the possible result/consequence of the pressure on young people to perform well at school in order to compete for jobs Exercise 25: Paragraph 1: From “The increasing amount of violence….” To “ …in our society” Paragraph 2: From “First of all, those who…” to “… throughout the world.” Paragraph 3: From “What is needed …” to “… to realise that violence is real.” Paragraph 4: From “To conclude, …” to “… such violence brings.” XX Exercise 26: 1) Violence in films 2) The main focus or a specific topic of the essay is stated by the clause “this development is causing problems in our society”, which indicates the social problems caused by violence in films Although only one of the two specific topics or aspects of the essay theme (problems caused by violence in films and solutions to them) is mentioned in the thesis statement, the final sentence of the introduction leads naturally into the first body paragraph because the first body paragraph discusses problems caused by violence in films, which is introduced in that sentence This makes a fluent flow 3) The second paragraph is about problems caused by violence in films: lose their sense of reality and no longer take violence seriously or have any sympathy for the victims, and copy the behaviour of violence The third paragraph is about solutions to the problems caused by violence in films: regulate the film industry, provide better education, prevent showing meaningless violence as „fun‟ in films, emphasise the tragic consequences of violent acts through films The concluding paragraph summerises the problems and solutions discussed in the body: viewing violence as entertainment may indeed causes serious social problems; the only way to improve this situation is by regulating the industry and educating the public about the real human suffering that such violence brings 4) Yes The question requires an account of causes, effects and solutions as an answer, so the writer describes and explores them objectively and does not focus on giving opinions 5) This essay is organized according to problem-solution pattern This pattern divides information into two main sections, one that describes a problem and one that describes a solution Exercise 28: (1) Such (2) However (3) this (4) First of all (5) such (6) therefore (7) their (8) or (9)This (10) both (11) Another (12) these (13) even though (14) This (15) they (16) this (17) so (18) these (19) on the other (20) Instead (21) and (22) To conclude (23) indeed (24) and (25) the Exercise 29: aggressive behavior, violent acts XXI Exercise 30: Problems: lose their sense of reality, (no longer) take violence seriously (or) have (any) sympathy for the victims, Solutions: regulate the film industry, provide better education, emphasise the tragic consequences of violent acts, educate people, combat these problems, improve this situation, take actions, take measures, find ways Others: to reduce this problem, to stop/reverse this trend Exercise 31: To reverse this trend, to stop this trend, to reduce this problem Exercise 32: 1) To reverse this trend schools need to teach children about the health consequences 2) To reduce this problem local communities might be able to take responsibility for cleaning their areas 3) To improve this situation rich countries should increase their international aid budgets 4) To reduce this problem alternative pest controls have to be introduced 5) To stop this trend the authorities must increase the police force in urban Exercise 33: 1) The government should regulate the film industry in the one hand, and provide better education on the other Producers must be prevented from showing meaningless violence as „fun‟ in their films Instead, films could emphasise the tragic consequences of violent acts and this would educate people, especially young people, to realise that violence is real a) a strong obligation: must b) a possibility: could c) a strong suggestion: should 2) must – have to – need to – should – could – may be able to XXII APPENDIX Table 25: HOLISTIC COHERENCE SCORES ON THE PRE- AND POSTTESTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS EXPERIMENTAL GROUP pretest posttest 1 2.5 4 1 2 1.5 3.5 CONTROL GROUP pretest posttest 2.5 1 2 1 2.5 2.5 1.5 3.5 2.5 1 APPENDIX Table 26: EXPERIMENTAL & CONTTROL GROUPS’ PRE-TESTS: F-TEST TWO SAMPLE FOR VARIANCES EXPERIMENTAL GROUP CONTROL GROUP pretest 2.5 1 pretest 2 2.5 1.5 1.5 2 F-Test Two-Sample for Variances α Mean Variance Observations df F P(F 0.05 Two-tail Accept Null Hypothesis because p > 0.05 CONCLUSION: Since F < Fcrit (0.371 < 3.02) and p value > α ( 0.371> 0.05, we can accept the null hypothesis that the variances are equal Therefore, we can run the t test assuming equal variances XXIII APPENDIX 10 Table 27: EXPERIMENTAL & CONTTROL GROUPS’ PRE-TESTS: TTEST: TWO-SAMPLE ASSUMING EQUAL VARIANCES EXPERIMENTA L GROUP CONTROL GROUP pretest pretest 2.5 1 2 2.5 1.5 1.5 2 t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances Unequal Sample Sizes Mean Variance Observations Pooled Variance Hypothesized Mean Difference df t Stat P(T 0.05) , we can accept the null hypothesis that there is not a significant difference between the two groups XXIV APPENDIX 11 Table 28: EXPERIMENTAL GROUP’S PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST: TTEST: PAIRED TWO SAMPLE FOR MEANS pretest 2.5 1 1.5 posttest 4 2 3.5 EXPERIMENTAL GROUP t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means  pretest Mean Variance Observations Pearson Correlation Hypothesized Mean Difference df t Stat P(T