An application of the thematic structure progression to enhance coherence in writing for in service english majored sciences and humanities in ho chi minh city m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE  AN APPLICATION OF THE THEMATIC STRUCTURE PROGRESSION TO ENHANCE COHERENCE IN WRITING FOR IN-SERVICE ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics and Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By VƯU TIẾN VĨ Supervised by NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUẤN, PHD HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2013 STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled AN APPLICATION OF THE THEMATIC STRUCTURE PROGRESSION TO ENHANCE COHERENCE IN WRITING FOR INSERVICE ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY in terms of the Statements of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee This thesis has not previously been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, April 20th, 2013 VUU TIEN VI i RETENSION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, VƯU TIẾN VĨ, 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 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 care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, April 20th, 2013 VƯU TIẾN VĨ ii ACKNOWLEDGE I wish to acknowledge my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr Nguyen Hoang Tuan Without his patient guidance and constant encouragement, my thesis would not have been consummated on time Along the odyssey of the completion of the work, his willingness to discuss the concerned issues shed light of hopes unto the route on which I make every effort to advance Furthermore, I am greatly indebted to his generosity and kindness He often offered me valuable feedback, line-by-line comments, insightful discussion and constructive criticisms from the preliminary draft to the completed work Without his insightful suggestions, the thesis would be far from completed I would like to thank all the lecturers of the TESOL graduate program at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their dedication and helpful instruction during the course I would also like to express my warmest gratitude and appreciation to the first-year English majored students at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities who actively participate in the pilot study in attempts to test the validity of thematic progression in students’ writing Without their participation, the final results of the thesis may not have been satisfactory Last but not least, my wholehearted gratitude also goes to my beloved family who encouraged, supported tremendously in the completion of the study iii ABSTRACT Among four skills, writing is considered one of the most difficult skills Previous research on EFL and ESL learners’ writing has revealed that some advanced language learners may have difficulties in creating a well-organized writing paper Among all criteria to assess a good writing, coherence is claimed to be the most abstract but essential, whose subcomponents and characteristics are difficult to analyze and describe since many learners, even with a good command of grammatical knowledge, still lack the ability to compose wellorganized essays They have deficiency in the knowledge of coherence and display limited ability to write effectively and successfully Therefore, it drives the researchers the imperative need to uncover a heuristic tool which could help our learners handle coherence problems such as cohesive devices, conjunction… However, few of them have been examined empirically on their effects so far The study aims to investigate effectiveness of thematic structure progression in improving the students’ writing for English majored freshmen at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City Students’ essays before and after the revision were rated and compared to see which group gain more score in general writing quality as well as in coherence after the revision The experimental group’s essays were analyzed additionally to examine whether they improve coherence and whether they develop their ideas in a more logical way In addition, the group was required to apply the strategy to their next assignment and it was compared with the first essay written at the beginning of the study, which aimed to examine if our previous instruction was sufficient for the students to apply the strategy independently Besides students’ essays, questionnaires were distributed to survey students’ perspectives on the revising strategy and whether it promoted their awareness of their own idea progressions and of the elements of textual coherence iv The results demonstrated that the experimental group not only improved the general impression of unity, but also achieved better performance in the coherence internal to each paragraph than their peers in control group They became clearer about the paragraph main idea they intended to convey, and were better able to modify ill-developed supporting ideas by further providing necessary information to complete the development Furthermore, some ambiguously- connected ideas were pinpointed and the gaps among their meaningful relations were bridged by giving transitional sentences These improvements were reflected in the different patterns of thematic progressions in students’ two versions of writing In addition, the questionnaire response also revealed students’ general positive perception of the strategy Most students agreed that thematic progression helped them to be better aware of the coherence in their writing and that it gave them a tangible way for self-revision in which they can approach the coherence problem level by level The followup interviews showed the somewhat different opinions on the technique held by writers of different writing proficiency On the grounds of the findings, some recommendations are made to the students, the teachers, the syllabus on teaching and learning writing as well as the teaching methods of writing to improve the students’ coherence in their writing paper v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No Certificate of originality i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract iv Table of contents vi List of tables xiii List of charts xvi List of diagrams and figures xvii Abbreviations xviii Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale to the study 1.2 Background to the study 1.3 Purpose of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Limitation of the study 1.6 Organization of the study Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Thematic progression 2.1.1 Simple linear thematic progression 2.1.2 Thematic progression with continuous/ constant theme 2.1.3 Thematic progression with derived theme 2.2 Coherence in writing 10 2.3 Types of coherence in writing 12 vi 2.4 Coherence and cohesion 12 2.5 Rhetorical pattern in English written discourse 14 2.6 Metafunction of language 16 2.6.1 Experiential/Ideational Meanings 16 2.6.1.1 Material process 16 2.6.1.2 Behavioural process 16 2.6.1.3 Mental process 17 2.6.1.4 Verbal process 17 2.6.1.5 Relational process 17 2.6.1.6 Existential process 18 2.6.2 Interpersonal Meanings 18 2.6.3 Textual Meanings 18 2.7 Theme and Rheme 19 2.7.1 Theme 19 2.7.2 Rheme 19 2.7.3 Classification of theme 20 2.7.3.1 With regard to its complexity 20 2.7.3.1.1 Single theme 20 2.7.3.1.2 Re-entry theme (multi-theme) 20 2.7.3.1.3 Sentence entry theme (sentence theme) 20 2.7.3.2 With regard to its meta-function 21 2.7.3.2.1 Topical theme 21 2.7.3.2.2 Interpersonal theme 21 2.7.3.2.3 Textual theme 22 2.7.3.3 With regard to its position 23 2.7.3.3.1 Unmarked theme 23 vii 2.7.3.3.2 The marked theme 24 2.7.3.4 With regard to its function in a paragraph 24 2.7.3.4.1 Hypertheme 24 2.7.3.4.2 Hypernew 24 2.7.3.4.3 Macrotheme 25 2.4 Summary 27 Chapter RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 28 3.2 Research design 29 3.3 Participants 30 3.3.1 The teacher subjects 30 3.3.2 The student subjects 30 3.3.3 The raters 30 3.3.4 The researcher 31 3.4 Instruments and materials 31 3.4.1 Instruments 31 3.4.1.1 The experimental teaching 32 3.4.1.2 The tests 32 3.4.1.3 The questionnaires 32 3.4.1.3.1 The teachers’ questionnaires 32 3.4.1.3.2 The students’ questionnaires 33 3.4.1.4 Class observations 33 3.4.1.5 Interviews 34 3.4.1.6 Procedure of doing research 34 3.5 Data analyzing method 36 3.6 Data collection procedure 36 viii 3.6 Stages in writing teaching for experimental group …………………………37 3.6.1 Pre-writing stage 39 3.6.2 While-writing stage 40 3.6.3 Revision stage 40 3.7 Summary 42 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Responses to the questionnaires 43 4.1.1 Responses to the students’ questionnaires 43 4.1.1.1 Responses for background information 43 4.1.1.1.1 Students’ years of age 43 4.1.1.1.2 Students’ gender 44 4.1.1.1.3 Where the students studied before entering the USSH 44 4.1.1.1.4 The time the students studied English as a foreign language 45 4.1.1.1.5 Students’ participation in extra-curricular writing activities 46 4.1.1.2 Data on participants’ viewpoints on writing 46 4.1.1.2.1 Role of writing in language acquisition 46 4.1.1.2.2 Students’ opinions on learning writing 47 4.1.1.2.3 Students’ self-evaluation of their writing skill 48 4.1.1.2.4 Summary 49 4.1.1.3 Responses for the learning of writing and knowledge of thematic structure 4.1.1.3.1 Students’ strategies of writing 49 4.1.1.3.2 The difficulties that students may face in writing 50 4.1.1.3.3 Students’ knowledge of thematic progression 51 4.1.1.4 Responses for students’ attitude towards the roles of thematic progression 52 4.1.1.5 Summary 53 ix LESSON PLAN Teaching point: thematic analysis in a paragraph Subject: Writing Time allocated: 45 minutes Class: 10E (experimental group) Date of teaching: 05/08/2012 A Prior knowledge: - The students (abbreviated to Ss) have already learnt Theme and Rheme, kinds of Theme, thematic progression, thematic diagram B Objectives: Knowledge: Provide the students with the knowledge of thematic diagram Skills: Enable Ss to analyze the coherence of the text with thematic diagram C Teaching aids: a handout, chalks and a blackboard Students’ activities Time Teacher’s activities Purposes 5’ LEAD-IN - T asks Ss about thematic progression - To review the previous lessons - Ss answer the questions - Ss may forget the previous lesson 30’ PRESENTATION -To understand how thematic diagram helps to identify incoherence in Ss’ papers - Ss listen and the tasks Ss may not know whether the paragraph is coherent or not - Use an authentic sample to analyze thematic development by using thematic diagram so that Ss can follow Anticipations - Identify the incoherence in this paragraph based on 144 thematic diagram 10’ PRACTICE(*) - Encourage Ss to work in group and analyze a paragraph (see Handout 3) - To help Ss to correct their own writing - Ss the task - Exchange the answer with the other groups - T gives comments HANDOUT Draw thematic diagram in the following paragraph Hemp’s environmental credentials are indisputable It grows better inorganic systems than in conventional ones Its smothers weeds and controls pests, cleaning the land for other crops It improves the structures of the soil, with strong roots to prevent erosion If processed in the field, it returns nutrients to the land and purports to “clean up” soil contaminated with heavy metals It is one of a minority of textile-fibre crops that can be grown in temperate climates So why, given its potential, is so little hemp used today? Pattern: Japan kills around 600 whales per year When the Japanese hunters arrived in boats to kill some whales Greenpeace went into action Greenpeace went in inflatable boats close towards the Japanese boat to prevent the killing Greenpeace managed to save 60 whales, but unfortunately the Japanese did kill 24 The Japanese claim that whale meat is apart of their culture Pattern: There are four basic types of clowns Whiteface clowns cover their face with white makeup and they a lot of physical stunts like leaping and tumbling Auguste clowns wear colorful, ill fitting clothing and oversized shoes They also have bulbous noses and brightly colored wigs Character clowns make fun of the human condition and they may impersonate character such as a cow boy, fireman, tramp or policeman The more recent “New Vandeville” clowns involve the audience in the show Pattern: 145 LESSON PLAN Teaching point: thematic analysis and cohesive devices Subject: Writing Time allocated: 45 minutes Class: 10E (experimental group) Date of teaching: 05/08/2012 A Prior knowledge: - The students (abbreviated to Ss) have already learnt Theme and Rheme, kinds of Theme, thematic progression, thematic diagram B Objectives: Knowledge: Provide the students with the knowledge of cohesive devices Skills: Enable Ss to analyze the coherence of the text with the help of thematic diagram and cohesive devices C Teaching aids: a handout, chalks and a blackboard Students’ activities Time Teacher’s activities Purposes 5’ LEAD-IN - T asks Ss about thematic diagram - To review the previous lessons - Ss answer the questions - Ss may forget the previous lesson 30’ PRESENTATION - Help Ss to identify thematic progression into diagram with cohesive devices - Ss listen and the tasks Ss may feel hard to connect the ideas - Give a authemtic sample and ask SS to identify some connectors -introduce lexical cohesion which goes with examples - Explain the usage of each kinds of cohesive devices Anticipations 146 10’ PRACTICE(*) - Encourage Ss to work in group and analyze a paragraph and identify some cohesive devices used in the paragraph (Handout 4) - To help Ss to correct their own writing - Ss the task - Exchange the answer with the other groups - T gives comments HANDOUT Identify theme and rheme and then write the thematic diagram Sample 1: An old saying goes “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” If we always judge people by their appearance, we would never understand people thoroughly or even worse, we might misunderstand other people, or bring ourselves unpredictable problems Therefore, we should avoid judging people by their appearance, because the way to judge people will lead to problems such as understanding others unfairly and bringing us into dangerous situations And only when we observe all the things carefully could we claim that we know a person Sample 2: People from other countries have different reasons for wanting to come to live in the United States For example, some might want higher-paying jobs than they can get in their own countries Some want the freedom to change jobs or professions Some might want the chance to get more education for themselves and their families Perhaps one of the most important reasons would be the desire to own and 147 operate a business For these reasons, many people wait a long time for the chance to live in the United States Sample 3: There are different ideas about pets in different parts of the world In most cultures, animals have an inferior position to human beings In some instances, however, people treat their pets like members of their families, or perhaps better In the United States, there is a very rich cat who inherited one hundred thousand dollars when his owner died Moreover, the owner left the cat a very beautiful mansion to live in Of course, in most parts of the world, pets don’t live in such wealth and luxury There is a more practical and functional attitude toward pets…… The samples are adopted from: Integrating reading, writing, and grammar skills Belmont, CA: Wadsworth 148 LESSON PLAN Teaching point: thematic analysis in an essay Subject: Writing Time allocated: 45 minutes Class: 10E (experimental group) Date of teaching: 05/08/2012 A Prior knowledge: - The students (abbreviated to Ss) have already learnt Theme and Rheme, kinds of Theme, thematic progression, thematic diagram B Objectives: Knowledge: Provide the students with the knowledge of advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city Skills: Enable Ss to analyze a complete essay with the help of thematic diagram C Teaching aids: a handout, chalks and a blackboard Time Teacher’s activities 5’ LEAD-IN - review the - T reviews the knowledge previous of thematic progression lesson and thematic diagram 10’ PRESENTATION - Show an authentic essay (see Handout 5) – Identify theme and rheme,hypertheme, hypernew – Draw thematic diagram Purposes - Do a good model to thematic analysis for students to follow Students’ activities Anticipations - Ss listen - Ss listen and the tasks Ss may feel hard to analyze the essay 149 - Check whether the essay is coherent or not - Revise the irrelevant sentence or incoherent part 30’ PRACTICE(*) - Divide the class into group Each group prepare an essay to analyze - They analyze the essay, identify theme and rheme, draw the thematic diagram - Exchange their paper with the other group to check the mistake - Give comments to the essay and check whether it is coherent or not - To help Ss to correct their own writing - Ss analyze the essay which were prepared before -Work in Group and the task - Give comment - Exchange their paper to check whether it is coherent or not - Revise the draft - Give comments - Revise the draft 150 HANDOUT The importance of examinations Life today has become so complex that examinations have come to play an important part in one’s educational career Examinations are considered so important that moststudents are afraid of them The ability to pass an examination is indeed a valuable quality It shows that the student is able to express his thought and ideas to a manner others can understand It also shows that the student has acquired a certain amount of knowledge in some branches of study Besides, the mind of a student, even if he is dull, receives good exercise when he prepares for an examination A student’s success in an examination, therefore, helps employers and others to assess his mental or general ability Some people, however, argue that examinations test only a certain kind of skill They say that many people have a good memory and a special ability to pass examinations and achieve brilliant results, though they have no capacity for original thought or imagination But it should be realized that today the syllabuses are so extensive that a student cannot expect to pass an examination by relying entirely on his memory The student of today must not only have a fair knowledge of the subjectmatter but also be able to show his intelligence and power of reasoning, especially if he is sitting for a higher examination Therefore, a student’s ability to pass an examination must indicate some of his mental powers as well as his grasp of the subjects that he has studied If there were no examinations, most scholars would have been less informed than they are today Examinations compel students to read as mush as they can, and as they so, they absorb knowledge unconsciously Further, because of examinations; teachers have to confine themselves to the syllabuses which are aimed at imparting knowledge in a systematic manner, and thus develop mental discipline Examinations are therefore an important part of academic studies (extracteed from http://language123.blogspot.com/2008/05/importance-ofexaminations.html) 151 LESSON PLAN Teaching point: write a complete essay and revise it with thematic progression Subject: Writing Time allocated: 45 minutes Class: 10E (experimental group) Date of teaching: 12/08/2012 A Prior knowledge: - The students (abbreviated to Ss) have already learnt Theme and Rheme, kinds of Theme, thematic progression, thematic diagram B Objectives: Knowledge: Provide the students with the knowledge of advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city Skills: Enable Ss to write a complete essay with the help of thematic diagram and cohesive devices C Teaching aids: a handout, chalks and a blackboard Time Teacher’s activities Purposes 5’ LEAD-IN - T write down the word “ a big city”, - Ss have to write all of the words related to the topic - to brainstom the ideas related to the topic 10’ PRESENTATION - Classify the words into two areas: advantage and disadvantage - ask Ss to discuss the advantage and disadvantage of living in a big city Students’ activities Anticipations - Ss write down the words - Ss listen and the tasks Ss may feel hard to connect the ideas 152 - Identify the hypertheme and hypernew 30’ PRACTICE(*) - Divide the class into group and start to write a composition - To help Ss to correct their own writing - Ss write the composition - Use thematic diagram to revise the draft - Exchange their revised paper to check whether it is coherent or not by drawing thematic diagram - Give comments 153 Appendix 12: OVERALL WRITING PROFICIENCY SCORES OF THE CONTROL GROUP AND THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Pre-test Studen t code R1 R2 Control group Post-test M1 R1 R2 Experimental group Pre-test Post-test M2 M2 M1 R1 R2 M1 R1 R2 M2 M2 M1 6 7 5.5 7.5 2 5.5 6.5 5.5 7.5 7 7.5 1.5 6.5 5.5 -1 5 5.5 1.5 2.5 5.5 5 0.5 2.5 4.5 3.5 5 1.5 5.5 7.5 4.5 4 -0.5 6 5.5 -0.5 4.5 4 -0.5 5 5 4.5 2 2.5 0.5 6 10 1.5 2.5 4.5 2.5 7.5 6.5 8 0.5 11 5.5 7.5 4.5 3.5 -1 12 4.5 -1.5 6.5 7 0.5 13 5.5 6 8.5 1.5 14 3 -1 3.5 6 2.5 15 7.5 6.5 7.5 0.5 5 5 4.5 -0.5 16 4.5 3 -1.5 3.5 2.5 4.5 1.5 17 6.5 7 0.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 5.5 18 8 7 -1 3.5 6.5 19 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 4.5 3.5 2.5 20 5 5 4.5 -0.5 3.5 4 0.5 21 6.5 7 0.5 4.5 4 -0.5 22 4.5 3.5 4 4 4.5 2.5 23 5.5 0.5 2 3.5 1.5 154 24 8 -2 1.5 2.5 5.5 3.5 25 7.5 5.5 -2 5.5 2.5 26 5.5 0.5 7 7.5 1.5 27 2.5 2.5 2.5 5.5 2.5 6 28 4 5.5 1.5 5.5 0.5 29 8 8 7.5 -0.5 5 -1 30 3.5 5.5 1.5 5 5 31 3.5 4.5 6.5 2.5 32 2.5 3.5 4 2 4.5 2.5 33 7.5 8 0.5 4.5 4.5 2.5 34 3 3.5 0.5 5.5 7.5 35 6.5 7 0.5 8.5 2.5 36 3.5 2.5 3 2.5 -0.5 6.5 7.5 37 4.5 4.5 4.5 5.5 3 5 38 3.5 4.5 6 7.5 1.5 39 3.5 4.5 3.5 3 -0.5 4 3.5 -0.5 40 5.5 6.5 2.5 3.5 5.5 2.5 41 5.5 6 8 9 42 6.5 -0.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 43 2.5 3 0.5 7 8.5 1.5 44 2.5 4 1.5 6.5 7 0.5 45 4.5 5.5 1.5 5.5 7.5 46 5 6 4.5 1.5 47 6.5 4.5 -2 4 7.5 3.5 48 3.5 4 0.5 8 2.5 49 3 4.5 1.5 3.5 6 2.5 Notes: R1: the first rater R2 : the second rater M 1: the mean overall proficiency scores of the pre-test M2 : the mean overall proficiency scores of the post-test M2-M1: the improvement overall proficiency scores between the pre- and post-tests 155 Appendix 13: COHERENCE SCORES OF THE CONTROL GROUP AND THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Studen t code Pre-test R1 Control group Post-test R2 M1 R1 R2 Experimental group Pre-test Post-test M2 M2 M1 R1 R2 M1 R1 R2 M2 M2 M1 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 1.5 1.75 2.5 2.75 1 2.5 1.5 1.5 1.75 3 1.25 3 2.5 2.75 2.5 2.75 1.5 3.5 1.5 1.25 1.5 0.25 1 1.5 1.75 0.75 1.5 1.75 2.5 0.75 1 1.5 1.75 0.75 1.5 1.75 2.5 2.25 0.5 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 2.5 2.25 2.5 0.25 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.75 1.25 2 2 2.5 2.25 0.25 0.5 0.75 2 1.25 1.5 1.75 1.5 1.75 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 10 2.5 1.75 2.5 2.75 0.5 0.5 0.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 11 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 1 1 2.5 1.5 12 2 2.5 2.25 0.25 2.5 2.25 3.5 2.75 0.5 13 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 1.5 2.5 14 1.5 1.75 1.5 1.75 2.5 3 0.5 15 1.5 2.25 2.5 2.75 0.5 2 2.5 1.75 -0.25 16 1.5 1.75 1.5 1.75 1.5 2.5 17 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 1 2.5 1.5 18 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 2.5 3.5 2.5 0.5 19 1.5 1 -0.5 1 2.5 1.5 20 1 2 1 1 2.5 1.75 0.75 21 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 2.5 2.75 2.5 2.25 -0.5 22 1 1 1 2.5 2.25 2.5 0.25 23 1.5 2 0.5 1 1.5 1.75 0.75 24 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 2.5 2 -0.5 25 1 2.5 1.5 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 26 2.5 2.75 2.5 2.75 1 3.5 3.25 2.25 156 27 1.5 1.75 2.5 2.75 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 28 1.5 1.75 2.5 0.75 1 2.5 1.5 29 1.5 3.5 2.5 2.75 2.5 2.75 30 1 1.5 1.75 0.75 1.5 1.25 2.5 2.25 31 1.5 1.5 1.75 0.25 1.5 1.75 2.5 0.75 32 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 1.5 1.75 2.5 2.5 2.5 0.75 33 1 1 1 1.5 1.25 1.5 1.75 0.5 34 1.5 2 0.5 2 2 2.5 2.25 0.25 35 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 1.5 1.75 2.5 2.25 0.5 36 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1 2.5 1.75 2.5 2.75 37 1 2.5 1.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 1.5 38 2.5 2.25 3.5 2.75 0.5 3 2.5 2.75 0.75 39 1.5 2 0.5 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 40 2.5 3 0.5 1.5 1.75 2.5 3.5 1.25 41 2 2.5 1.75 -0.25 1.5 2.25 3.5 3.25 42 1.5 2 0.5 1.5 1.75 2.5 0.75 43 1 2 2 2 1.5 1.75 -0.25 44 2.5 2.5 1.75 -0.75 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 45 1 2.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 46 2 2.5 1.75 -0.25 1 3.5 3.5 3.5 2.5 47 2.5 2.75 2.5 2.25 -0.5 2.5 2.25 3 0.75 48 2.5 2.25 2.5 0.25 1 3.5 3.25 2.25 49 1 1 1.5 1.25 0.25 1.5 2 0.5 Notes: R1: the first rater R2 : the second rater M 1: the mean coherence scores of the pre-test M2 : the mean coherence scores of the post-test M2-M1: the improvement in coherence socres between the pre- and post-tests 157 Appendix 14: POST-TEST: ANALYTICAL WRITING 45 minutes Instruction: Present your perspective on the issue below, using relevant reasons and/ or examples to support your views You are free to accept, reject or qualify the claims made in the topic, as long as the ideas you present are clearly relevant to the topic Support your views with reasons and examples drawn from such areas as your reading, experience, observations, or academic studies You may want to take a few minutes to think about the issue and to plan a response before you begin writing Be sure to develop your ideas fully and organize them coherently, but leave time to read what you have written and make any revisions that you think are necessary Write a composition with either of the following topics: It is a good idea to replace state schools with private schools Do you agree or disagree? Give examples to support your opinion Teamwork contributes greatly to the development of human Give examples to support it 158 ... from which ? ?the theme and the intent of the author” are inferred (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996:71) By analyzing the information structure such as topic-comment, theme and rheme, given and new information,... published including factors affecting the teaching and learning of English writing, research related to the methods of teaching writing especially in Vietnam, and the effectiveness of thematic structure. .. English majored freshmen at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, sets the aim of the study, and frames the research questions Also included in this chapter are the methodology