A survey on the application of the genre based approach to the teaching of writing skills to twelfth graders hau nghĩa high school in long an province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCIES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE A SURVEY ON THE APPLICATION OF THE GENRE-BASED APPROACH TO THE TEACHING OF WRITING SKILLS TO TWELFTH GRADERS AT HAU NGHIA HIGH SCHOOL IN LONG AN PROVINCE Submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature In partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI HUYNH NHU Supervised by Prof Dr DO HUY THINH DOAN HUE DUNG, Ph D HO CHI MINH CITY, APRIL 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my former thesis supervisor, Prof Dr Do Huy Thinh, who had great contribution for the very beginning of the thesis I owe a great deal to my supervisor Doan Hue Dung Ph D., for her patient guidance, thoughtful comments, and valuable assistance from the embryo to completion of the thesis Without her help and encouragement, I could not have finished the thesis I would like to express my sincere thanks to all my lecturers for their helpful instructions during the Master course at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and to all of my classmates who have inspired and encouraged me during the study process and completion of the thesis My special thanks go to Mrs Nguyen Thi Kim Van, Principal of Hau Nghia High School and Mrs Hoang Thi Hong, leader of English Teacher Staff, for their enthusiastic help in approving me to carry out the research I would also like to thank all teachers and students at Hau Nghia High School for their help and cooperation in completing the questionnaires Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my parents, my two younger sisters, my colleagues at the Reunification Palace, especially my husband, Majority Tran Dinh Luong, who always encourage and stand by me during the course Without their suggestions, support and kindness, I would never have been able to pursue this work to the end i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: “A survey on the application of the Genre-based Approach in the teaching of writing skills to twelfth graders at Hau Nghia High School in Long An Province” in terms of the statement of Requirements for Thesis in Master’s Programs issued by Higher Degree Committee This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, October 17th 2012 Nguyen Thi Huynh Nhu ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Nguyen Thi Huynh Nhu, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis 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 the purpose of the study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, October 17, 2012 Nguyen Thi Huynh Nhu iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Statement of originality ii Retention and use of the thesis iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of figures ix List of tables x Abstract xi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Background to the study 1.1.1 The need of teaching writing in high school 1.1.2 Description of English language program at HNHS 1.1.3 Teaching writing in HNHS 1.2 Purpose of the study 1.3 Significance of the study 10 1.4 Delimitations and limitations 10 1.5 The organization of the study 10 Summary 11 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 13 2.1 Common approaches to the teaching of writing skills 13 2.1.1 Approaches to teach writing 13 2.1.1.1 The Controlled-to-Free Approach 13 2.1.1.2 The Product/Pattern Approach 14 2.1.1.3 The Communicative Approach 14 2.1.1.4 The Process Approach 14 2.1.2 From the Process Approach to the Genre-based Approach 15 2.2 The Genre-based Approach in the teaching of writing skills 17 iv 2.2.1 The connection of Genre, Texts and Grammar 17 2.2.1.1 The nature of genre 17 2.2.1.2 Texts 20 2.2.1.3 Function of grammar 21 2.2.1.4 Cohesion and Coherence 23 2.2.2 Pedagogical principles of the Genre-based Approach 24 2.2.3 The benefits and problems of the Genre-based Approach to teaching writing 26 2.2.4 The Curriculum Cycle 27 2.2.4.1 The building knowledge of the field 28 2.2.4.2 Modeling of the text 28 2.2.4.3 Joint construction of texts 29 2.2.4.4 Independent construction of texts 29 2.3 The Genre-based approach as an integrated approach 31 2.3.1 The relationship between writing and reading 31 2.3.2 The relationship between writing and speaking 32 2.3.3 The GBA as an integrated approach 34 Summary 36 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 37 3.1 Research contexts 37 3.2 Research questions 38 3.3 Research design 39 3.3.1 Participants 39 3.3.1.1 Students 39 3.3.1.2 Teachers 39 3.3.2 Instruments 40 3.3.2.1 Questionnaires 40 3.3.2.1.1 Student Questionnaire 41 3.3.2.1.2 Teacher Questionnaire 42 3.3.2.2 Interviews 43 v 3.4 Data collection 44 3.4.1 Student Questionnaire 44 3.4.2 Teacher Questionnaire and interviews 44 3.5 Data analysis 45 Summary 45 CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 46 4.1 Students’ responses 47 4.1.1 Students’ views on the learning of writing skills 47 4.1.2 Students’ attitudes to teachers’ ways of conducting writing period……………………………………… 51 4.1.3Students’ writing activities 54 4.1.4 Students’ suggestions 59 4.1.5 Discussion of the results of student questionnaire 60 4.2 Teachers’ responses 63 4.2.1 Teachers’ attitudes to the teaching of writing skills 63 4.2.2 Teachers’ attitudes to the application of the GBA 67 4.2.3 The learning – teaching cycle 70 4.2.4 Teachers’ suggestions on the use of the GBA 74 4.2.5 Discussion of the results of teacher questionnaire 75 Summary 77 CHAPTER FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION 79 5.1 Summary of findings 79 5.2 Suggestions 81 5.2.1 To teachers 81 5.2.2 To students 85 5.2.3 To the lesson plan 87 5.3 Suggestions for further research 88 5.4 Conclusion 88 vi REFERENCES 91 APPENDIX Student Questionnaire 97 APPENDIX Teacher Questionnaire 102 APPENDIX Student Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 107 APPENDIX Teacher Questionnaire (English Version) 112 APPENDIX Interview transcript 117 APPENDIX Interview transcript 120 APPENDIX Interview transcript 122 APPENDIX Interview transcript 124 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GBA Genre-based Approach GBI Genre-based Instruction HNHS Hau Nghia High School EFL English as Foreign Language ESL English as Second Language ESP English as Specific Purpose ELT English Language Teaching L2 Second Language MOET Ministry of Education and Training USSH University of Social Sciences and Humanities HCMC Ho Chi Minh City viii LIST OF TABLES Table Writing genres for 12th graders Table 3.1 Teachers’ general information 38 Table 4.1 Teachers’ ways of conducting the writing class 52 Table 4.2 Information students want to know before starting to write 54 Table 4.3 Students’ ideas about the assistance of genre analysis 56 Table 4.4 The ways students deal with materials from teachers 57 Table 4.5 Students’ suggestions to teachers 59 Table 4.6 Students’ suggestions on writing activities as adopting the GBA 60 Table 4.7 Teachers’ teaching experiences 63 Table 4.8 Students’ mistakes in writing 65 Table 4.9 Attentions drawn in designing the lesson plan 66 Table 4.10 Frequency of using activities in teaching writing 68 Table 4.11 Ways of conducting the second stage of the learning – teaching cycle 72 ix b Không đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hồn tồn đồng ý 18 Theo bạn giáo viên làm để giúp bạn học kỹ viết tốt hơn? a Cung cấp tài liệu mẫu minh hoạ kèm theo giải thich hướng dẫn rõ ràng b Dành nhiều thời gian cho thực hành viết lớp c Dành nhiều thời gian để dạy lý thuyết d Thiết kế tài liệu bổ sung giúp bạn hiểu rõ thể loại viết e Hướng dẫn nhiều cách xếp nội dung, sử dụng ngữ pháp từ vựng f Hướng dẫn bạn viết dàn ý g Khác:………………………………………………………………… 19 Theo bạn hoạt động giúp ích cho bạn học viết với phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại? a Thảo luận nhóm b Học người/ Học nhóm c Trị chơi từ vựng ngữ pháp d Hoạt động hỗ trợ mơn nói đọc e Hoạt động khác: ……………………………………………………… Cảm ơn đóng góp bạn! 111 APPENDIX CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT (dành cho giáo viên) Bảng câu hỏi khảo sát thực để lấy ý kiến giáo viên việc học dạy môn writing trường THPT Hậu Nghĩa nhằm nâng cao chất lượng dạy học viết trường Kết khảo sát để phục vụ cho công tác nghiên cứu Rất mong nhận đóng góp ý kiến quý thầy cô Thầy/Cô dạy tiếng Anh trường rồi? áp dụng phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại .? Thầy/Cơ thấy kỹ khó dạy nhất? a Viết b Đọc c Nói d Nghe Theo Thầy/Cơ tiết có đủ để học sinh thực hành viết lớp khơng? a Có b Khơng Học sinh thường mắc lỗi nhiều viết a Ngôn từ b Từ vựng c Ngữ pháp d Diễn đạt ý e Sắp xếp nội dung f Chính tả chấm câu Bạn có sử dụng nhiều hoạt động khác để thu hút quân tâm học sinh học viết hơn? a Không b Hiếm c Thỉnh thoảng 112 d Thường xuyên e Rất thường xuyên Thầy/ Cô cảm thấy việc ứng dụng phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại dạy viết cho học sinh trường Hau Nghĩa nào? a Rất thuận lợi b Thuận lợi c Không thuận lợi d Không ý kiến Theo thầy/cô việc giúp cho học sinh nhận thức thể loại viết thì: a Rất cần thiết b Cần thiết c Bình thường d Khơng cần thiết Khi thiết kế giảng với phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại, Thầy/ Cô thường quan tâm đến: a Ngôn từ b Từ vựng c Ngữ pháp d Diễn đạt ý e Sắp xếp nội dung f Yếu tố khác: …………………………… Phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại giúp học sinh nâng cao việc học từ vựng ngữ pháp a Hoàn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hoàn toàn đồng ý 113 10 Phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại giúp thầy/cô nhiều dạy kỹ viết kỹ khác a Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hồn tồn đồng ý 11 Phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại nhiều thời gian để dạy lý thuyết cấu trúc đặc trưng, học sinh có thời gian để tự viết a Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hoàn toàn đồng ý 12 Phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại hạn chế sáng tạo học sinh học sinh khơng tạo mới, theo mẫu cấu trúc giáo viên cung cấp để viết thơi a Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hồn tồn đồng ý 13 Bạn có cho Phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại làm cho học sinh quên quy trình viết khơng? a Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý 114 e Hoàn toàn đồng ý 14 Trong giai đoạn phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại giai đoạn khó nhất? a Làm quen với chủ đề b Tìm hiểu sâu đặc điểm đặc trưng thể loại c Tiến hành viết với hỗ trợ giáo viên d Viết độc lập 15 Trong giai đoạn “Làm quen với chủ đề” “Tìm hiểu kiểu đoạn văn đặc trưng” Thầy/ Cơ đưa mẫu thể loại để minh hoạ, sau thì: a giải thích rõ ràng đặc điểm ngôn ngữ thể loại b để học sinh đọc, tự khám phá, sau giải thích c đặt câu hỏi định hướng thể loại chia học sinh thành nhóm nhỏ, thảo luận d khơng giải thích, u cầu học sinh dựa vào để bắt chước 16 Theo Thầy/Cơ mức độ mà học sinh vận dụng kiến thức cung cấp để viết giai đoạn viết độc lập nào? a Rất nhiều b Một chút c Không có ích 17 Phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại có hiệu quả, khơng cần phải kết hợp với phương pháp khác a Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hoàn toàn đồng ý 18 Các tập hỗ trợ bạn sách giáo khoa thiết kế phù hợp với phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại khơng? 115 a Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý b Khơng đồng ý c Bình thường d Đồng ý e Hồn tồn đồng ý 19 Theo Thầy/Cơ loại hoạt động thích hợp để hỗ trợ cho phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại việc dạy kỹ viết cho học sinh? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 20 Xin Thầy/Cơ vui lịng cho biết biện pháp để sử dụng phương pháp tiếp cận thể loại tốt …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Cảm ơn đóng góp thầy cô! 116 APPENDIX Interview transcript (with Mrs Le Thi Xuan Truc) Researcher: How long have you been applying the Genre-based Approach? Mrs Truc: Almost years In 2008, the Ministry of Education in Long An Province provided teachers with a training package for teaching and learning English in high schools in which some teaching methods were recommended Among them was the Genre-based Approach I have been using this approach in teaching English especially “Writing skills” Researcher: Why you use this approach to teach writing? Mrs Truc: Among four language skills, writing is the most difficult Students find hard to learning this skill Therefore I pay much attention to teaching approaches to improve students‟ writing ability Researcher: Have you had any advantages in using this approach in teaching writing skills? Mrs Truc: Honest to say I faced with much pressure at the very beginning because this approach is a bit new in teaching English to students in high schools As I know, this approach has been widely using by teachers in other countries and has strong effects As for my experiences, some advantages of this approach are found as follow: - The use of genre samples is helpful in the way of providing students with genre knowledge that makes students more confident and easier to produce their writing It is understandable that students would know what they will write and how it looks like - To deal with samples given by teachers, students are supposed to work together to discover the writing genre In doing so, students have chances to learn from each other as well as share their opinions and correct their mistakes Learning interaction is, hence, increased - This approach helps students contribute more ideas to the lessons with much confidence 117 - This approach shows its strength in assisting teachers to design the lesson plan I find much easier I not need to focus on writing steps just like before I save time for guiding students to grasp the generic structures, specific linguistic features and grammatical points More activities for students are also included Researcher: What disadvantages you are facing as adopting this approach? Mrs Truc: As I mentioned, this approach helps me much in designing the lesson plan but I really spend much of time for it such as design in-class activities, samples and materials illustrating for the writing genre The main concern here is the time 45 minutes in class is really not enough for both teachers and students to satisfy the needs of in-class lessons - Students seem to be passive Their imagination is limited because they think that teachers will give them samples, instruction, explanation They just wait for their teacher - The final purpose of this approach is to help learners achieve professional style As for students in high schools, the adopting of Genre-based Approach requires much time and must be simpler Researcher: What are the most difficult points that you focus on in your lesson plan as using this approach? What kinds of activities you suggest for this approach? Mrs Truc: I am very interested in the learning-teaching cycle which has strong effects in teaching writing and facilitate the process of designing the lesson plan A deep understanding of the four stages in that cycle may help me a lot in selecting the samples and in-class activities to get students involved in learning writing Of the four stages, I pay much attention to the second stage “modeling of texts” in which I am supposed to get students familiar with the writing genre More specific, I give students samples for them to analyze the genre such as the generic structures, linguistic features Besides that, writing tasks in the textbook also provide students basic points 118 In-class activities vary in different classes I prefer group work and games to get more new words Researcher: Thank you for your contribution Mrs Truc: You‟re welcome 119 APPENDIX Interview transcript (with Mr Truong Lien Hung) Researcher: How long have you been applying the Genre-based Approach? Mr Hung: I knew this approach when I was a student I find it very helpful in teaching writing I have been adopting this approach for years Researcher: Can you share some advantages of this approach? Mr Hung: In my experiences in teaching, I think that the adopting of this approach is not very difficult It lies in the way teachers design the writing periods in class I not only use this approach alone I flexibly combine it with other traditional approach like Process Approach so that these approaches can mutually work It is the fact that I can not deny the advantages that this approach bring to me, especially the use of stages in the learning-teaching cycle Every stage has its own purpose but the main target is to provide students information about the writing genre In each stage, students always know what they should first or later I would know what kinds of activities are suitable for students Generally speaking, this approach should be recommended in teaching writing for many reasons Firstly, it makes students more confident in writing after they are equipped with genre knowledge from teacher Secondly, students can produce a piece of writing featured by its specific generic or grammatical structures and distinctive language for the genre Thirdly, students seem interested in dealing with the samples before writing The process of analyzing the writing genre in the samples does help students learn more about the vocabulary and grammar and how to generate the vocabulary for their own writing In doing so, students can improve their reading skills Researcher: Do you have any difficulties in using this approach? Mr Hung: In my opinion, this approach erodes students‟ creativities because students and teachers save much time for theory and genre conventions, little time for practice Teachers spend more time for explanation and students are passive 120 Another point is the use of the teaching-learning cycle Time in class is not sufficient so I often skip stage I almost have no time to give comments on students‟ writing Although the fact that this approach aims at helping students gain the knowledge of genre, especially achieve the communicative purpose, students not pay enough attention to this issue They just want to know what to write and how to write Researcher: What are the most important points that you focus on in your lesson plan as using this approach? What kinds of activities you suggest for this approach? Mr Hung: Genre is featured by a typical type of texts It means the texts reflect distinctive linguistic features So I care much about linguistic features in which vocabulary and grammar are stressed I think I should focus on the first two stages of the teaching - learning cycle “Building the field” and “Modeling of text” because they are very important to students in the way of giving basic information about writing genre students are dealing with As in this approach, students are supposed to learn linguistic conventions (generic structures, vocabulary, text types, and communicative purpose) and the tasks Therefore group work is the best activities Students work together comfortably, quickly and effectively without any pressure Researcher: Thank you so much for your help Wish you luck in your career! Mr Hung: Thank you The same to you 121 APPENDIX Interview transcript (with Mr Cao Anh Vu) Researcher: How long have you been applying the Genre-based Approach? Mr Vu: About years Researcher: What advantages you have as adopting this approach? Mr Vu: In my opinion, the effect of this approach is decided by the way teachers use it Teachers should consider the situation and students‟ different levels for the best results This approach is very helpful for students who are not good at English writing I myself totally support this approach in teaching writing Students will be more confident in writing after they have full knowledge of genre given by teachers such as explanation of linguistic features Their vocabulary knowledge and grammar is enhanced Then they would know how to make the right thing in their writing More advantage comes from the use of tasks in the textbook Those tasks also make help for both teachers and students In general, I find this approach very suitable for teaching writing skills Writing is not a compulsory subject in exams Therefore this approach meets students‟ needs of basic things in writing such as generic structures, language, activities to create comfortable learning environment for students They not focus on writing steps like before Every approach has its own strengths I think this approach should be combined with other teaching approaches to develop its strengths Researcher: What disadvantages you think in this approach? Mr Vu: Honestly, I find more difficulties than advantages as using this approach I just mention the basic difficulty Firstly, the use of samples for students before students produce their own writing has two sides of a coin Students would know about the genre but they almost rely on teacher They face difficulties without the samples for the next time or we can say the samples limit 122 students‟ creativities Secondly, I myself spend much time on selecting samples and materials that truly reflects the distinctive features of genre students are dealing with to help them understand easier You see, students pay less attention to writing because they think writing is not important, and it is not a subject in exams Researcher: What are the most important points that you focus on in your lesson plan as using this approach? What kinds of activities you suggest for this approach? Mr Vu: At the moment, I am in charge of four 12 th classes Students have different levels Students want to have a look at the samples for genre information before writing So as design the lesson plan, I try to help students how to gain necessary information and analyze linguistic features in those samples with the help from activities I also guide students how to organize logically their content to achieve the purpose communicative purpose As for in-class activities, I often ask students to the writing tasks in the textbook to help them familiar with linguistic features of writing genre I often let students work in groups of 3-4 Besides that I also use information gap activities and discussions Researcher: Thank you very much for sharing your experiences Have a nice day! Mr Vu: It‟s my pleasure 123 APPENDIX Interview transcript (with Mrs Hoang Thi Hong) Researcher: How long have you been applying the Genre-based Approach? Mrs Hong: I have been using this approach to teach writing skills in almost five years Researcher: What so you think about this approach? Mrs Hong: As using this approach, teacher is to give students knowledge of genre to help them facilitate their writing After gaining genre information, students will find it easier to produce their writing even much better For example, in writing letter, teacher first explains the generic structure of a letter (how many parts there are in a letter, functions of each part, who is the audience…) Then teacher continues to guide students to learn and choose suitable vocabulary and grammatical structures for that kind of letter Teacher joints students to produce the texts and organize the texts in the letter, then giving comments on their work so that they can it independently Researcher: Can you explain more about the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? Mrs Hong: Regarding the advantages, this approach helps teacher in teaching not only writing but also other language skills, in designing the lesson plan with stages clarified in the teaching-learning cycle This approach brings students the understanding of genre in term of grammar, vocabulary Students may gain knowledge in different writing genres Students may know how to organize the texts logically, how to generate vocabulary for different genres and different kinds of readers It means they can recognize the social functions or the communicative purposes in their writing Therefore, students can enhance their writing ability Concerning the advantages, I find that students save much time for theory, discovering the genre, no more time for independent practice and comments 124 from teacher It is the fact that students just wait for teacher to tell them what to because in this case teacher is the center, not students Teacher is supposed to give explicit instruction to help students understand the lesson That also means students‟ creativities and imagination is limited because instead of using samples to discover the genre, students just follow the samples given by teacher Researcher: What kinds of activities you suggest for this approach? Mrs Hong: For every approach, teacher always uses activities to help students feel interested and understand the lesson better I suggest some activities as follow: - Skills integration including reading, speaking and listening skills - Group discussions - Pair work/group work - Vocabulary/ grammar games - Filling the gaps Researcher: What are the main points in your lesson plan as using this approach? Mrs Hong: I follow the stages in the teaching-learning cycle Four stages have different purposes The most important thing is to provide enough basic elements such as generic structures, linguistic features and the communicative purposes I often give explicit instruction to help students recognize the role of their audiences I come from the general points to specific points Researcher: Thank you for your ideas Mrs Hong: You‟re welcomed 125 ... and disadvantages of the application of the Genre- based Approach in the teaching and learning of writing skills to 12th graders at Hau Nghia High School This research also tries to find out the. .. as using the GBA in teaching writing The last part mentions the GBA as an integrated approach in teaching writing in which the relationship between writing and reading, writing and speaking are... social situation and analysis of recommended rhetorical patterns of each genre 17 2.2 The Genre- based Approach to the teaching of writing skills Basically, the GBA is teaching language based on