Mistakes in integrating information from articles into essay writing of sophomores at felte ulis vnu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER MISTAKES IN INTEGRATING INFORMATION FROM ARTICLES INTO ESSAY WRITING OF SOPHOMORES AT FELTE, ULIS, VNU Supervisor: Dr Vũ Hải Hà Student: Trần Nguyễn thục Trang Anh Course: QH2012.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2016 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP MỘT SỐ LỖI THƯỜNG GẶP KHI ĐƯA THÔNG TIN TỪ BÁO CHÍ VÀO BÀI VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI TẠI KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI Giáo viên hướng dẫn: TS Vũ Hải Hà Sinh viên:Trần Nguyễn Thục Trang Anh Khóa: QH2012.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2016 DECLERATION I hereby state that I: Trần Nguyễn Thục Trang Anh, QH2012.F1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date: June 3th 2016 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT As a trainee researcher, this study is not only a long, challenging but also rewarding and fantastic experience for me Referring back, I am extremely grateful for the plentiful assistance and support that I have received, without which this paper would have never been completed First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dedicated supervisor, Dr Vu Hai Ha In the position of the teacher and a supervisor, he has delivered precious instructions and guides to help me in every stage of doing this research Also, his attentive care and sharing stories from his own experience are the tremendous sources of motivation and encouragement that push me through the difficulties I encounter to complete the research Secondly, I would also like to thank all the participants including 154 sophomores from eight classes at University of Languages and International Studies in Hanoi for their cooperation, their time and patience in my research With their contribution in the questionnaires, the interview, and, especially, their willingness to submit the essays, I can gather the essential data for my research I appreciate their warm wishes for my research Last but not least, I want to send my most sincere thanks to my family and friends for their love and support in the whole process of doing the research Without them, the past couples of months would have been more stressful and challenging ii ABSTRACT The research aims at investing the second – year students’ mistakes when they integrate information from articles into their essay writing from two aspects: (1) the students’ perception; (2) the judgment of their essays In order to achieve the established targets, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was adopted for data collection and analysis Specifically researchers utilized three data collections instruments including questionnaire, interview and writing collection Then the data from each tool was analyzed with different methods what were suitable with the type of data After all, conclusions drawn from the research were that the students still struggled with their integration From the students’ viewpoints, their biggest problem was the ineffective paraphrasing of the information from the original sources, which belonged to the language aspect They also claimed to provide inadequate explanation for the information they used in their writing From their essays, format appeared to be the trouble of the majority of the students because of their carelessness and the unclear instruction from the teachers Referring to students’ belief, the students’ awareness about their mistakes was quite good in term of the content but, on the contrary, the students were still ignorant of the required format of integrated information iii TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Table of content iii List of figures iv List of tables iv Abbreviations iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE RESEARCH Rationale of the research Aims of the research and research questions Research goals and objectives Significance of the study Scope of the study Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Connection between Reading and Writing 1.1 Historical background about the connection between Reading 6 and Writing 1.2 Studies on the connection between Reading and Writing in L2 The integration of information from articles into essay writing 7 2.1 Information from articles 2.2 Essay writing of sophomore at FELTE, ULIS 2.3 Studies about the integration of information from articles into essay writing Common mistakes in integrating information from articles reading 10 into essay writing iv Previous research and research gap 12 4.1 Previous research 12 4.2 Research gap 13 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY Participants and the selection of participants: 14 A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods 14 Data collection instruments 16 3.1 Questionnaire 16 3.2 Writing collection 17 3.3 Interview 18 Data collection procedure 17 4.1 Questionnaire 19 4.2 Writing collection 19 4.3 Interview 20 Data analysis instrument 21 5.1 Quantitative method – Survey 21 5.2 Qualitative method 22 5.2.1 Interview 22 5.2.2 Writing analysis 22 Data analysis procedure 23 6.1 Questionnaire 24 6.2 Interview 24 6.3 Writing analysis CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Findings from data analysis 1.1 Second – year students’ perception towards their mistakes 26 26 v when integrating information from articles into essay writing 1.1.1 Content mistakes 26 1.1.2 Language mistakes 28 1.1.3 Format mistakes 29 1.2 Second – year students’ mistakes when they integrated 30 information from articles into essay writing judging from their essays 31 1.2.1 Content mistakes 33 1.2.2 Language mistakes 34 1.2.3 Format mistakes 37 Major findings and Discussions 41 Suggestions for limiting the mistakes when the students integrate information from articles into essay writing CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION Summary of major findings 43 Conclusion 45 Contribution of the study 46 Limitations of the study 46 Suggestions for further studies 47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDICES Questionnaires 51 Writing analysis sheet 57 Transcript of interview 61 Sample of students essay 63 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1- Mistakes related to content that students think they have made when integrating information from articles in their essay……………………………25 Figure - Mistakes related to language that students think they have made when integrating information from articles in their essay………………….…27 Figure 3- Mistakes related to format that students think they have made when integrating information from articles in their essay……………………………28 Figure - Mistakes related to content that students made when integrating information from articles in judging from their essay…………………….……30 Figure 5- Mistakes related to language that students made when integrating information from articles in judging from their essay……………………….…31 Figure - Mistakes related to format that students made when integrating information from articles in essay writing judging from their essay… ……33 LISTS OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ mistakes when integrating information from articles into essay writing…… ……………………….…………………………………………… …10 Table 2: The essays collected from sophomores……………………………….16 ABBIEVATIONS FELTE: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University L1: First language vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE RESEARCH This chapter presents an introduction about the study including the research questions, the goal, the scope of the study and the significance of the study Rationale of the research Nowadays, it is easy for us to get access to a huge source of information related to any field with a click of mouse, thanks to the Internet However, at the same time, plagiarism is an increasingly considerable phenomenon in the academic settings, especially in writing Visiting the webpage of almost every university, typing the key word ―plagiarism‖, thousands of results can be reached In Vietnam, the problem has been quite serious According to Nguyen (2015), in his article, he stated that 84% of the students cited the whole documents without citations and considered it as normal Giang (2015) reported that the more the Internet developed, the more frequently plagiarism occurred He also put emphasis on the fact that the ratio of plagiarism in Vietnamese universities was even higher than that in other universities in the world From these opinions, it can be notified that plagiarism has been more and more severe in Vietnam Realizing the issue, universities have included the knowledge about citation, integrating information in their curriculum University of Languages and International Studies is one of them The students are taught and given the opportunities to practice this unit in their second – year of studying The students can get familiar with the writing in the academic style, which is definitely beneficial when they conduct a research Also, besides from getting the background data, the students can use the information to consolidate their ideas in a proper manner However, during the practicing, the students are prone to making mistakes as they are inexperience in this field Teachers, school authorities should notice these problems to support their students If the integration skill is improved, the outcomes of students’ writing will surely be advanced, avoiding plagiarism Ex: Author X (2000) claim that … Spelling mistakes Ex: Author Y (1999) gave her explaination on … Ineffective paraphrasing (having the same sentence structures/ only rearranging the order of key terms …) Ex: (Original) including the president's standing on a fishing boat (Paraphrasing) including the president standing on a fishing boat Others (please specify) ………………………… …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Form Yes Plagiarism (No source/ no reference/ no citation when using others’ ideas) Opening paragraphs with quotations or citations Ex: First of all, “it is not a good idea to…” (Author B, year) Dropped quotes (with no lead ins or introductions) Ex: "Public transportation has not caught on in most California cities due to their geographic sprawl" (Briggman 10) Too many quotes Ex: In this issue, author A said “…” and author B agreed by adding “…” Author C supported the idea and claimed “…” Introducing authors with no reference (Lacking the information in Reference page) Mismatch between the in-text references and the references on Reference page Ex: - (In-text) They pollute the rivers and streams that run through the Yellowstone Ecosystem (Grizzly War) - (Reference page) Wilkinson, T (1998) Grizzly War High Country News Retrieved 27 June 2000 from http://www.hcn.org/1998/nov09/dir/Feature_Grizzly_wa.html Not following the alphabetical order (in the Reference page) 54 No Ex: Wood, A (2000)… Dao, A, T (2005)… Smith, T (2002)… Spacing Ex: Author,(year).Title of the chapter Title of book Punctuation Ex: Author, year, title of the chapter, title of the book Formatting (incorrectly italic, underline, bold phrases) Incorrect referencing Ex: Author (year) Title of the chapter Title of the book Order of information Ex: Title of the book Author’s name Retrieved from….Title of the chapter Lack of required information Ex: Author Title of the article…  No date of publication mentioned Others (please specify) ………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Question 5: How you often realize your mistakes when integrating information from articles reading into your essay writing? Put a tick () in the box that matches your choices You may choose MORE THAN ONE answers  You find out the mistakes yourself  Your peer points out the mistakes when they the peer checking  Your teacher points out the mistakes when marking your writing  You use the checking tool on the Internet  Others (please specify) 55 ……………………… …………………………………………………… Question 6: What are the possible causes that lead to your mistakes in integrating information from articles reading into essay writing? Put a tick () in the box that matches your choices You may choose MORE THAN ONE answers  The teacher does not give you any instruction  The instruction from teacher is not effective  You cannot find the information you need  You not know how to evaluate the sources  Your language proficiency is not good enough  The rules of referencing and in-text citation are too difficult  Others (please specify) ……………………… …………………………………………………… That’s the end of the questionnaire Thank you for your cooperation! 56 Sophomore’s writing analysis Participant’s name: Class: Topic of the essay: *Note: S: Student/ T: Teacher/ R: Researcher Mistakes Evidence Identifi Correc ed by ted by Content Poor choice of Irrelevant to the topic quotes/ Outdated information Too much description of the information, not analyzing Only listing the quotations/ information without analyzing or explaining Unreliable source 57 Limited number of sources Others ………………………………………………… Language Inappropriate introductory verbs Double subject Poor structure (linking words, transition, etc.) Wrong register (informal/ spoken language) Grammatical mistakes Spelling mistakes 58 Ineffective paraphrasing Others ………………………… ………………………… Form Plagiarism Opening paragraphs with quotations or citations Dropped quotes (with no lead ins or introductions) Too many quotes Introducing authors with no reference Mismatch between the in-text references and the references on Reference page Not following the alphabetical order (in the Reference page) 59 Spacing Punctuation Incorrect referencing Formatting Order of information Lack of required information Others ………………………………………………… 60 Transcript of the interview Sample interview in stage 1: Refer to the questionnaire: Student 99: Researcher: In your questionnaire, you thought you made all the language mistakes What are the possible reasons for that? Student 99: I am not quite confident about my grammar and vocabulary repertoire The academic structures may confuse me, well, not quite often, sometimes only Student 129: Researcher: From your paper, you thought you have no mistakes related to the sources Can you explain more? Students 129: Well, I did follow all the checking steps Hmm, I used Google Scholar, mostly, I think It is introduced by the teachers to search for the writing this type Researcher: What about the format? No problem at all? Student 129: I think so My friend and I are quite careful about the information about how to cite, APA, I mean So, no problem to me Student 105: Researcher: Why is language your only problem when writing the assignment? Student 105: Well, I think that as I am not very careful Besides, I just read for information and used one or two sources that I could understand from my first look, huh 61 Sample interview in stage 1: Refer to the writing: ES6 (Essay 6): Researcher: I found this in your essay: 1- In a report published in 2009, Goulding indicated that the upsurge of people aged over 65 years causes the growth of health-care costs But I can’t find the reference for the author Can you show me? Student: Wait, I have to look again … Oh, this source, as I remember, I took from an online article I did not read the original, just that in the article Researcher: What about this one, based on the time you wrote it, it just a few months ago but I could not access it again 2- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, (2003) Trends in aging—United States and worldwide MMWR.Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 52(6), 101 U.S Census Bureau State and national population projections Available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/popproj.html Student: oh, I don’t remember I cannot see it either Maybe there is some problem I don’t know, sorry Researcher: So, did you cross check the source with your friends? Student: Yes, we did, but maybe there were some mistakes here I might ignore it when I checked Sorry 62 ES8 READING AND WRITING ASSIGNMENT Topic: Compare the influence of family and friends on teenagers Teenagers are commonly compared with developing green trees the growth of which depends on fertile soil and an ideal weather condition Indeed, family and friends invariably play essential roles in youngsters’ development Although these two sources of influence on teens are both beneficial and adverse, there are three significant differences in terms of academic achievement, communication and behaviors First of all, with regard to academic performance, family’s impacts are totally at variance with peers’ It is a conventional belief that peers who interact with adolescents most school time enormously contribute to scholastic achievement For instance, the students who initially had comparatively modest achievement were inclined to increase their educational outcomes due to making friends with high-achieving ones (Epstein, 1983, p 391) However, significantly, the young are also likely to mimic the bad behaviors or distraction from their fellows like cheating in exams, addiction to games and so on, which is the culprit of lower educational results Actually, the principal reason why juveniles have better performances at school is family’s robust influence (William, December 2005) Indeed, parents are the first information resource to give the young background 63 knowledge Moreover, parents’ supervision and encouragement to students’ studiousness as well as their high expectation for teenagers’ educational attainment become strong motivations for their better academic performances Jacobs and Bleeker (2004) provided a typical example which is ―elementary students whose parents offered them math and science learning materials showed greater inclination toward and interest in math and science activities‖ Consequently, these students made more achieved outstanding success in learning those subjects In short, Zarina (2001) claimed that parents’ involvement is a more positive and powerful source of impact for learning result of young adults, when compared to peers’ effect Secondly, another dramatic dissimilarity between family’s influence and friends’ on teens is associated with their communication It is obvious that adolescence is a stage of life, which comes with full of changes known as physical, psychological, emotional or sexual transformations These changes may lead to a variety of teenagers’ problems Therefore, the young would like to confide troubles to their close people Actually, parents generally use authority to communicate with teenagers and manage their changes, according Damon (1977) and Huard (1980) whereas mates naturally share and encourage each other with deep empathy Plus, peers usually provide support to build co-construction and promote co-operation For that reason, the youth tend to spend more time on conversing with their friends than with family 64 Ultimately, behavior is another fundamental aspect in which parental involvement and peers’ impact are sharply distinguished In the opinion of Simons, Whitbeck and Conger in 1991, parents who give long-lasting influence are models towards their children For example, if fathers or mothers behave in a wrong way, youngsters are more likely to imitate their parents’ negative attitude One explanation for this phenomenon is the fact that during the pre-school period, the children’ lives are simply around family, siblings and their living environment with not fully cognitive development On the report of Virginia Commonwealth University, there is a good possibility that kids inheriting a particular variant of the CHRM2 gene display problematic behavior In contrast, companions seem to slightly change teenagers’ conducts Indeed, Thomas and Lonna (2002) pointed out that when an old friendship comes to the end, kids are likely to make new friends It proves that not only is fellows’ impact insignificant, but it also varies for different attitude and behavior in short periods Taken into consideration, although both family and peers’ involvement on teenagers play crucial roles, these two sources of influence are differentiated in terms of scholastic success, communication and way of acting References: Epstein, R (1983) Resurgence of previously reinforced behavior during extinction Behaviour Analysis Letters, 3, 391-397 65 ―The students who initially were relatively high in achievement but who had friends relatively low in achievement decreased in their achievement Conversely, the students who initially were relatively low in achievement but who had friends relatively high in achievement increased in their achievement.‖ Jacobs, J E and Bleeker, M M "Girls' and Boys' Developing Interests in Math and Science: Do Parents Matter?" New Direction for Child and Adolescent Development, Vol 106 (2004), pp 5-21 ―Elementary students whose parents offered them math and science learning materials showed greater inclination toward and interest in math and science activities‖ Simons, Ronald L., Les B Whitbeck, Rand D Conger, and Katherine J Conger (1991) ―Parenting Factors, Social Skills, and Value Commitments as Precursors to School Failure, Involvements with Deviant Peers, and Delinquent Behavior.‖ Journal of Youth and Adolescence 20(6): 645-64 ―Research on modeling has shown that when parents are held in high esteem and are the main sources for reinforcement, they child is more likely to model them.‖ Thomas J B., Lonna M M (2002) Influences of friends and friendships: myths, truths and research recommendations Indiana ―Friends influenced the changes in children's characteristics over the short period between times of measurement Moreover, because some children must have ended 66 old friendships and made new friends during that period, those estimates must certainly be too low.‖ William H J (December 2005) "Parental Involvement and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis," Harvard Family Research Project, Family Involvement Research Digests Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publications-resources/ parental-involvement-and-student-achievement-a-meta-analysis (September 1, 2008) ―The academic achievement score distribution or range of scores for children depends on parents were highly involved in education.‖ Youniss, J and Smollar, J (1987) Adolescent Relations with Mothers, Fathers and Friends London: University of Chicago Press ―When asked to comment, they say that parents use their authority to teach and help the children come to know what is right and wrong so that they can become better persons (cf., Damon 1977; Huard 1980).‖ ―The authoritarian parents seek to control their children through rules they use reward and punishment to make their children follow the rules They gave orders and are not likely to explain them.‖ 67 Zarina A., Ph.D and Shamsa A., Ph.D The Effect of Peer and Parent Pressure on the Academic Achievement of University Students Volume 11 : June 2011 ―Parent’s pressure effects academic achievement positively whereas peer pressure effects academic achievement of university students negatively.‖ ―The findings of the study showed that parent pressure has significant positive effect on academic achievement.‖ 68 ... sophomore at FELTE, ULIS 2.3 Studies about the integration of information from articles into essay writing Common mistakes in integrating information from articles reading 10 into essay writing iv... and Writing 1.2 Studies on the connection between Reading and Writing in L2 The integration of information from articles into essay writing 7 2.1 Information from articles 2.2 Essay writing of. .. when integrating information from articles in judging from their essay? ??………………….……30 Figure 5- Mistakes related to language that students made when integrating information from articles in judging