An investigation into teachers and students beliefs and attitudes about the application of of the process genre approach to teaching business writing to second year enghlish majored students at ba

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE   AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS GENRE APPROACH TO TEACHING BUSINESS WRITING TO SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH - MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE  Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master‟s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI THANH DIEU Supervised by NGUYEN DINH THU, PhD HO CHI MINH CITY, MARCH 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE   AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS GENRE APPROACH TO TEACHING BUSINESS WRITING TO SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH - MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE  Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master‟s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI THANH DIEU Supervised by NGUYEN DINH THU, PhD HO CHI MINH CITY, MARCH 2014 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On completing this M.A thesis, I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of people, without whose contribution and spiritual support, I would not have accomplished this research paper First and foremost, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Dinh Thu, for his scholarly instruction, insightful comments, warm encouragement, and reading my manuscripts with great care, without which my thesis could not have been possible My special thanks also go to the teachers and students at BRVT Teacher Training College who were very responsive to the survey questionnaires In particular, I wish to thank Tran Thi Thanh Tu, M.A., whose thought-provoking talks got me to think of new and useful ideas; Mr Trinh Huu Huong, who spent hours sharing with me his experience as a writing teacher at BRVT Teacher Training College; Michaela Van Christine, who was particularly of great help in searching for relevant references Last but not least, my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude are expressed to my family, my husband, my daughter, Bui Dieu Thao – Mickey whose intense encouragement, support, sympathy, devotion were a source of motivation that fostered me to overcome difficulties emerged throughout the past four years of undertaking my thesis and to complete this study to the best of my ability ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS GENRE APPROACH TO TEACHING BUSINESS WRITING TO SECOND - YEAR ENGLISH - MAJORED STUDENTS AT BA RIA VUNG TAU TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE in terms of the statement of the Requirements for the Theses in Master‟s Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institutions Ho Chi Minh City, March 2014 NGUYỄN THỊ THANH DIỆU iii RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, NGUYEN THI THANH DIEU, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master‟s theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis Ho Chi Minh City, March 2014 NGUYỄN THỊ THANH DIỆU iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY iii RETENTION OF USE iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF CHARTS x ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Rationale 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Objectives of the study 1.5 Significance 1.6 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Definitions of key terms 2.2.1 Writing 2.2.2 Definitions of genre 2.3 The main approaches to teaching writing in ESL classes 2.3.1 The product approach v 2.3.2 The process approach 10 2.3.3 The genre-based approach 12 2.3.3.1 A brief overview of genre theory 12 2.3.3.2 Genre-based pedagogies .13 2.3.3.3 Comparison of the genre approach with product and process approaches 15 2.3.3.3.1 Genre approach: An extension of the product approach 15 2.3.3.3.2 Process approach: A supplement to the genre approach 17 2.3.4 A process genre approach 18 2.3.4.1 The adapted model of process writing and genre (Tribble, 1996) 18 2.3.4.2 A genre process model (Badger and White, 2000) .19 2.3.4.3 The adapted model from Badger & White (2000) 21 2.4 Advantages of the process genre model 22 2.4.1 Awareness of form and function of language 23 2.4.2 Improvement in writing skills 23 2.4.3 Awareness of social nature of writing 23 2.4.4 Awareness of readership 24 2.4.5 Motivation 24 2.4.6 Critical thinking 24 2.5 Potential difficulties of the implementation of the process genre approach to teaching ESP Writing 25 2.5.1 New realms of knowledge 25 2.5.2 Appropriate input 26 vi 2.5.3 Feedback giving 26 2.6 Business Writing 26 2.7 Previous studies of the process genre approach in writing teaching 27 2.8 Chapter summary 31 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 32 3.1 Participants 32 3.1.1 Student subjects 32 3.1.2 Teacher subjects 33 3.1.3 Teacher-researcher 34 3.2 Research design 34 3.3 Data collection instruments 35 3.3.1 Rationale for triangulating data collection instruments 35 3.3.2 Questionnaires 36 3.3.2.1 Student Questionnaire 36 3.3.2.2 Teacher Questionnaire 37 3.3.3 Interviews 38 3.4 Data collection procedure 39 3.5 Methods of data analysis 39 3.6 Summary 40 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 41 4.1 Introduction 41 4.2 Data analysis 41 4.2.1 Students‟ and teachers‟ beliefs and attitudes towards using the process genre approach to teaching Business Writing 41 vii 4.2.1.1 Students‟ and teachers‟ attitudes towards different aspects of the trial process genre-based instruction in Business Writing teaching 41 4.2.1.2 The level of “interesting” of the application of the process genre approach into Business Writing teaching 56 4.2.1.3 The positive effect of the application of the process genre approach on students 62 4.2.2 The difficulties in implementing of the process genre approach into teaching Business Writing 65 4.3 Summary 66 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 67 5.1 Findings 67 5.2 Implications 67 5.3 Limitations 70 5.4 Recommendations 70 REFERENCES 72 APPENDIX 1A: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE 84 APPENDIX 1B: TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE 88 APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE LESSON PLAN 92 APPENDIX 3A: APPLICATION LETTER AN INTRODUCTION 97 APPENDIX 3B: APPLICATION LETTER (Analyzed) 98 APPENDIX 3C: HANDOUTS FOR ROLE-PLAYING 99 APPENDIX 3D: APPLICATION FOR A POST 101 APPENDIX 4D1: APPLICATION ANSWERING 102 APPENDIX 4D2: APPLICATION AN ADVERTISEMENT 103 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BRVT : Ba Ria Vung Tau CUP : Cambridge University Press EAP : English for Academic Purposes EBP : English for Business Purposes EFL : English as a Foreign Language ELT : English Language Teaching ESL : English as a Second Language ESP : English for Specific Purposes FL-IT : Foreign Languages – Information Technology GBI : Genre-based Instruction L2 : Second Language OUP : Oxford University Press SFL : Systemic Functional Linguistics SPSS : Statistics Package for the Social Sciences Ss : Students T : Teacher ix communicative nature of writing It 4is essential for students to think of their intended reader during the writing process Students feel more motivated if they are asked to produce a piece of writing for a real situation Students can improve their writing ability thanks to comments from friends and the teacher Students become more critical thinkers thanks to reflecting on their drafts and their friends‟ Students like the teacher and friends to give both praise and criticism about their drafts Students‟ creativity in writing is not encouraged 89 In your opinion, how interesting students find the application of the process genre approach in Business Writing teaching? No Stages Not at all (1) Slightly Interesting Rather Particularly interesting (3) interesting interesting (2) (4) (5) 1Analyzing genres before writing Planning Drafting Conferencing Revising 6Publishing In what ways does the application of the process genre approach into Business Writing teaching positively affect students? (Please number them in the decreasing order with 6= the most positive effect and 1= the least positive effect.)  Critical thinking  Awareness of writing  Writing competence  Awareness of audience  Motivation  Creativity  Others: …………………………… What kinds of difficulties do/ might you encounter during the course in which the process genre approach is applied? 90 What is/ are the suggestion (s) that you want to make for the better implementation of the process genre approach in future Business Writing teaching? ……………………………………….………………………………… Thank you for your time and cooperation! 91 APPENDIX SAMPLE LESSON PLAN I Objectives Get students to grasp of the knowledge of genre analysis Raise students‟ awareness of readership Teach students how to analyze the rhetorical structure of the genre „cover letter‟ through the identification of move sequence Help students develop a sense of a coherent text Make them identify the underlying functions of each move Help students get some linguistic features of “cover letter” II Teaching procedure Stages Preparation Measures Content Teacher (T.) asks Ss list some things they think should be Situation: included in a cover letter I am a shorthand-typist with two years‟ Students (Ss.) read the situation and answer the questions experience at a small company Once below one of my friends, who is working for a 92  Whom should you write to? big company, told me that her company  What is included in your writing? has a vacancy for a shorthand-typist My desire is to work for a big company  Why are you writing? to widen my experience and sharpen profession Modeling and reinforcing Students read the model letter (See Appendix 2A) and answer Generic Structure the below questions Move 1: Objectives  What kind of information in the letter matches your Step 1: Source of information previous thought? Step 2: referring the post  Which information have you never thought of? Move 2: Analyze the reader Teacher (T.) helps students analyze the generic structure of Step 1: Education background the sample letter (See Appendix 2B) Step 2: Experience T asks Ss to identify the generic structure in the Model 93 Cover Letter in the textbook “Business Correspondence” Step 3: Reason of change (Lougheed, 2003: 2) Step 4: Referring enclosed document T gets Ss to compare the generic structure in two analyzed Step 5: Introducing referees letters Step 6: Restating the desire to change Teacher reminds students of the common generic structure of Move 3: Expectation a cover letter A follow-up interview T helps Ss elicit some useful vocabulary and identify grammatical features (tense/modal, passive/active voices, sentence types, etc.) employed in two texts T introduces three basic rule of business letter writing: See Appendix C courtesy, clarity, conciseness and gets Ss to examine these features in the analyzed letters T guides students to exercises in their textbook (Lougheed, 2003: 4-7) To get students to have a sense of reader awareness, T guides Ss to the activity role-playing  Students work in pairs One will be an applicant (writer) while the other will take the role of a recruiter (reader) The 94 See Appendix 2D1 and 2D2 applicants will follow the instruction in handouts A1, A2 whereas the recruiter the handout B1, B2 T gives them the model letter (See Appendix 2C) to compare what they planned and what to be written in the letter To raise students‟ awareness of a coherent text, teacher gives students the scrambled letter (Appendix 2D1) and gets individuals to make this letter logical T shows the logical letter (Appendix 2D2) Joint T works with students to make an outline and produce a constructing cover letter from this outline Independent T asks students to choose one of job ads (Lingheed, 2003: 8) See the job ads (Lingheed, 2003: 8) constructing and then make an outline for a job cover letter Revising and T asks students to choose their favorite partners and gets Responding them to email their papers with their friends for commenting based on the GUIDELINE Guideline Is the organization of the writing logical? T reminds students of critical evaluation of the feedback Are there any points to make the letter incoherent? What kinds of information does 95 the letter include? (i.e background education/ experience/ referee(s)/ personal information for further contact) Is it easy for you, as the reader, to comprehend the writer‟s intention? Could you give any suggestions for bettering the papers? Editing & After Ss receive feedback from their partners, T asks them to publishing check minor mistakes related to grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and the like T asks Ss to upload their final products to the wikipage: businesswriting so that other students can see their papers T praises good writings to increase their interest in business writing module 96 APPENDIX 3A APPLICATION LETTER USING AN INTRODUCTION Dear Sir, Mrs Phyllis Naish, secretary to one of your directors, has told me that you have a vacancy for a shorthand-typist and I should like to offer myself for the post I am twenty-one years of age and a former pupil of Wanstead County High School, where I completed a two-year six-form course I left school with a good academic record, with A‟ level in English, geography and French and then took an intensive one-year secretarial course at the Walthamstow College of Commerce, passing the examinations of the Royal Society of Arts in English (advanced), office practice (intermediate), shorthand (120 words a minute) and typewriting (50 words a minute) I am now a shorthand-typist with Enterprise Cables Ltd and have spent two very happy years there, but the office is small and I wish to widen my experience My former headmistress has written the enclosed testimonial and has kindly agreed to give further details should they be needed If, as I hope, you are interested in my application, you will of course be able to get more information about me from my present employers I enjoy the kind of work I am doing, but wish to continue it in circumstances that offer better prospects I shall be glad to call for an interview at any time Yours faithfully, 97 APPENDIX 3B APPLICATION LETTER USING AN INTRODUCTION (Analyzed) Dear Sir, Salutation Mrs Phyllis Naish, secretary to one of your directors, has Source of information told me that you have a vacancy for a shorthand-typist and I should like to offer myself for the post Referring the post I am twenty-one years of age … and typewriting (50 Education background words a minute) I am now a shorthand-typist …… very happy years there, Referring experience but the office …… I wish to widen my experience Reason of change My former headmistress …… further details should Referring enclosed they be needed document If, as I hope, you are interested … about me from my Introducing referees present employers I enjoy …… continue it in circumstances that offer better Restating the desire to prospects change I shall be glad to call for an interview at any time Expecting a follow-up interview Yours faithfully, Complimentary close Daniel Signature 98 APPENDIX 3C HANDOUTS FOR ROLE-PLAYING HANDOUT A1 (For Applicant) You want to apply for a post as foreign correspondent Note them down what will you write in your cover letter ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………  -Handout A2 (for applicant) Instruction: As an applicant, complete the letter below so as to make it coherent and satisfy your recruiter Application for a post as foreign correspondent Dear Sir, ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… I was born of English parents in Paris and have spent several years in different parts of Germany I speak and write both French and German fluently and also have a good working knowledge of Spanish I am thirty-two years old and married and for the past six years have been on the staff of Messrs Lambert & Co., shipping and forwarding agents, London, E.C 2, with full responsibility for their foreign correspondence ………………………………………………………………………………… I enclose a copy of a testimonial from Messrs Dickens & Wood of Southampton from whom I worked for two years in a similar post ………………………………………………………………………………… Yours faithfully, James Harvey  -HANDOUT B1 (For Recruiter) Your company want to find a well-qualified foreign correspondent Note them down what you expect from your applicants 99 ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………  -Handout B2 (For Recruiter) Instruction: As a recruiter, read the letter below and write down what should be included in the blank Application for a post as foreign correspondent Dear Sir, As soon as I saw your advertisement in Today‟s Times for a foreign correspondent I felt it was just the kind of post for which I have the qualifications and for which I have been looking for some time ………………………………………………………………………………… I am thirty-two years old and married and for the past six years have been on the staff of Messrs Lambert & Co., shipping and forwarding agents, London, E.C 2, with full responsibility for their foreign correspondence ………………………………………………………………………………… I enclose a copy of a testimonial from Messrs Dickens & Wood of Southampton from whom I worked for two years in a similar post ………………………………………………………………………………… I hope I may be invited to call for an interview Yours faithfully, James Harvey 100 APPENDIX 3D APPLICATION FOR A POST AS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT Dear Sir, As soon as I saw your advertisement in Today‟s Times for a foreign correspondent I felt it was just the kind of post for which I have the qualifications and for which I have been looking for some time I was born of English parents in Paris and have spent several years in different parts of Germany I speak and write both French and German fluently and also have a good working knowledge of Spanish I am thirty-two years old and married and for the past six years have been on the staff of Messrs Lambert & Co., shipping and forwarding agents, London, E.C 2, with full responsibility for their foreign correspondence The firm is not a large one and the amount of foreign correspondence is often not enough to keep me fully occupied on the kind of work I really enjoy It is for this reason that I wish to get a similar post with a larger firm, with more work of the kind for which I am well qualified and better prospects I enclose a copy of a testimonial from Messrs Dickens & Wood of Southampton from whom I worked for two years in a similar post Mr Lambert, the senior partner in my present firm, sympathizes with my wish to make a change and has kindly agreed to my giving his name for reference I hope I may be invited to call for an interview Yours faithfully, James Harvey 101 APPENDIX 4D1 APPLICATION ANSWERING AN ADVERTISEMENT Dear Sir, 1 Both Mr C Drury, my headmaster, and Mr R Carr, director of the Chingford Youth Center, have agreed to act as referees 2 I shall shortly be leaving school and, wanting to find work in an office, was very interested in your advertisement in yesterday‟s The Times for a junior clerk in your accounts department 3 For the past year I have been a perfect and have helped with the running of the school bank, which is linked with the national savings scheme I am very interested in commercial work, especially on the accounting side, and will be attending evening classes next session in book-keeping and related subjects 4 If appointed I could begin work any time after the end of July and hope you will grant me an interview 5 I have been a pupil at the Chingford Secondary School since 200… and in the examinations of the College of Preceptors last year gained certificates at the elementary stage in English language, arithmetic, geography and elements of commerce I remained at school for an extra year to improve my general education and next month shall be taking the Stage I examinations of the Royal Society of Arts in English and principles of accounts Yours faithfully, 102 APPENDIX 4D2 APPLICATION ANSWERING AN ADVERTISEMENT Dear Sir, I shall shortly be leaving school and, wanting to find work in an office, was very interested in your advertisement in yesterday‟s The Times for a junior clerk in your accounts department I have been a pupil at the Chingford Secondary School since 200… and in the examinations of the College of Preceptors last year gained certificates at the elementary stage in English language, arithmetic, geography and elements of commerce I remained at school for an extra year to improve my general education and next month shall be taking the Stage I examinations of the Royal Society of Arts in English and principles of accounts For the past year I have been a perfect and have helped with the running of the school bank, which is linked with the national savings scheme I am very interested in commercial work, especially on the accounting side, and will be attending evening classes next session in book-keeping and related subjects Both Mr C Drury, my headmaster, and Mr R Carr, director of the Chingford Youth Center, have agreed to act as referees If appointed I could begin work any time after the end of July and hope you will grant me an interview Yours faithfully, 103 ... ? ?An investigation into teachers’ and students? ?? beliefs and attitudes about the application of the process genre approach to teaching Business Writing to second? ? ?year English -majored students at. .. ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS? ?? BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS. .. aimed at gathering data to solve the second part of the first research question teachers‟ beliefs and attitudes toward applying the process genre approach to the teaching of English Business Writing