An investigation into the impact of reading on writing skills implications for efl teaching at binh thuan community college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPACT OF READING ON WRITING SKILLS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EFL TEACHING AT BINH THUAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL) RESEARCHER NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC HẠNH SUPERVISOR LÊ THỊ ANH PHƯƠNG, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2009 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of this thesis entitled “An Investigation into the Impact of Reading on Writing Skills: Implications for EFL Teaching at Binh Thuan Community College” in terms of the requirements for Masters’ theses stated by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City, December 2009 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS Accepting the requirements of the University for the Retention and Use of Masters’ theses deposited in the library, I agree that my thesis can be used as a reference for studying and researching Ho Chi Minh City, December 2009 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to show my great gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Le Thi Anh Phuong, who played an extremely important role in guiding, encouraging and helping me to plan, write and complete this thesis Thanks to her sharp and interesting questions and comments, I could understand the problems investigated and find out the appropriate solutions to these problems in the course of conducting my study In addition, I would like to express my profound thanks to all the teachers who taught me in the course of TESOL The knowledge I acquired through their teaching also contributed to helping me generate good ideas to write this thesis Also, I am thankful to all my willing colleagues and students at Binh Thuan Community College, who, with their informative and truthful responses to the questionnaires, their keen collaboration, and their sincere support, also helped me a lot in data collection for my thesis Especially, I would like to show my deep appreciation to Mr Trépanier, who contributed ideas and proofread my thesis Furthermore, I would also like to show my honest thanks to all the staff of the Department of Postgraduate Studies as well as of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, who created favorable conditions for the fulfillment of my thesis Finally, I am really grateful to my family and my best friends for their love, sympathy and support, without which I could hardly address a lot of difficulties to finish my thesis iii ABSTRACT This thesis is an investigation into the impact of teaching reading on students’ writing skills and its implications in the teaching and learning of reading and writing skills at Binh Thuan Community College The study aims at investigating the difficulties second year English majored students encounter in writing skills, finding out the ways in which the reading course can help to improve these students’ writing skills to draw implications for teaching Reading and Writing courses The results of the study were gained from an experiment with an experimental class and a control one and student and teacher questionnaires This experiment consisted of three stages: preexperiment, experiment and post-experiment In the experiment, the students’ difficulties in writing were investigated, and a series of supplementary passages and exercises was provided to the students in the experimental class in the reading course The results of the whole study indicated that the students usually had problems with vocabulary, grammar, coherence and content in writing and that providing the students with the supplementary passages and exercises in the reading course could help them improve their reading and writing skills Based on these results, this thesis suggests (1) Providing students with supplementary reading passages and exercises in the reading course to address the difficulties they encounter in writing, (2) Integrating the syllabus of the reading course with that of the writing course, (3) Teaching reading and writing by the same teacher, and (4) Building and boosting students’ awareness of the positive impact of reading on writing These suggestions and recommendations can be applied in Binh Thuan Community College, where the impact of reading on writing skills has not been taken into account in enhancing learners’ immediate as well as long-term significant improvements in their reading and writing skills in particular and in their language competence in general iv ABBREVIATIONS BTCC Binh Thuan Community College EAP English for Academic Purposes EFL English as a Foreign Language ELL English Language Learner L1 First language/ Mother tongue L2 Second language/ Foreign language LSBF London School of Business and Finance M.A Master of Arts TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages v LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS List of tables Table 3.1 Study design………………………………………………………… 22 Table 4.1 Writing is difficult ………………………………… …………………… 29 Table 4.2 Difficult aspects in writing……………………………………………… 30 Table 4.3 Difficult genres of writing ……………………………………………… 31 Table 4.4 Difficult topics ………………………………………………………….….32 Table 4.5 Difficult grammar points ………………………………………………… 32 Table 4.6 The ten control students’ pretest and posttest scores ……………….…… 40 Table 4.7 The ten experimental students’ pretest and posttest scores ……………… 41 Table 4.8 Improvements in an experimental student (Y 4)’s writing ……….……… 46 Table 4.9 Helpfulness of the Reading course on writing as perceived by the students …………………………………………………………………………………………51 Table 4.10 Specific influence of the Reading course on writing as perceived by the students ……………………………………………………………………………….52 Table 4.11 Usefulness of the Reading course as perceived by the teachers …………………………………………………………………………… …….…….53 Table 4.12 Specific influence of the Reading course as perceived by the teachers ………………………………………………………………………………54 Table 4.13 Improvements in the experimental students’ writing skills …… …… 57 List of charts Chart 4.1 Writing is difficult ……………………………………………….……… 30 Chart 4.2 Difficult aspects in writing ………….……………………………… ……31 Chart 4.3 Helpfulness of the Reading course on writing as perceived by the students…………………………………………………………………………… .51 vi Chart 4.4 Specific influence of the Reading course on writing as perceived by the students …………………….………………………………………………………….52 Chart 4.5 Usefulness of the Reading course as perceived by the teachers …………………… …………………………………………………………….…….54 Chart 4.6 Specific influence of the Reading course as perceived by the teachers…………………… …………………………………………………………55 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ………………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………………… iii ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………… iv ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………………………………… v LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS …………………………………………… vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSE 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1.1 WRITING CRITERIA 2.1.2 WRITING CHALLENGES 2.1.3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING AND WRITING 10 2.1.4 IMPACT OF READING ON WRITING 12 2.1.4.1 READING AND VOCABULARY 12 2.1.4.2 READING AND GRAMMAR 12 2.1.4.3 READING AND IDEAS .13 viii 2.1.4.4 READING AND EDITING 13 2.2 EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 14 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY .21 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .21 3.2 METHODOLOGY .21 3.2.1 SUBJECTS 23 3.2.1.1 THE STUDENTS 23 3.2.1.2 THE TEACHERS 24 3.2.2 INSTRUMENTS 24 3.2.2.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRES 24 3.2.2.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRES 25 3.2.2.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS 26 CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 29 4.1 DATA ANALYSIS 29 4.1.1 STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING 29 4.1.1.1 STUDENTS’ IDEAS .29 4.1.1.2 TEACHERS’ IDEAS 33 4.1.1.3 PRE-TREATMENT TEST 34 4.1.2 IMPACT OF THE TREATMENT ON THE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS 39 4.1.2.1 THE SCORES .39 4.1.2.2 THE WRITINGS 41 ix Which class students who attend expensive private secondary schools come from in the United Kingdom? Which class half of the students at Oxford and Cambridge University come from? 10 Do students have to take a national exam for entrance to high schools in the United States? 11 Why old people also have the opportunity to attend college in the United States? 12 What are the disadvantages of education in the United States? Key: Because each culture is different and the educational system is a mirror that reflects the culture The social structure and the values of its culture 90% Because they cannot pay tuition They need to work or because their society doesn’t see the relevance of a formal education to real life - The Japanese value education highly - Public schools are free and egalitarian; all students are considered equal and learn the same material - They have to pass difficult exams - They need great discipline All state schools – primary, secondary and universities are free and the first nine years are egalitarian College preparatory, vocational, and comprehensive The upper-class The upper-class 10 No, no national exam determines this 11 Because Americans believe that “you’re never too old to learn.” 87 12 - There are problem with lack of discipline, drugs and crime in many secondary schools - Public schools don’t have enough good teachers or laboratory equipment, and the buildings are often not in good condition V Make comprehension questions and give answers to these questions in complete sentences VI Follow-up activities: Discuss the following questions in small groups Do you think that education is a reflection of society? Why? Where will you choose to study, in Kenya, Japan, Britain or the United States if you have the opportunity to go abroad to study? VII Follow-up activities: Think of the questions you could ask your class, using these words or phrases a number of be identical to be startled by to place the importance on to make time for one’s study to attend college/ university be available to VIII Summarize paragraph E 88 APPENDIX SAMPLES OF ADDITIONAL PASSAGES AND EXERCISES I Put the verbs in brackets in the following passages in correct tenses and voices * Passage GREENWICH COMMUNITY COLLEGE WELCOME Our aim at Greenwich Community College (be) - to offer you an exciting opportunity to live and learn in London-widely recognized as one of the world’s most fashionable and exciting capital cities Greenwich Community College (offer) - you all the academic, social, sporting and welfare facilities required to make your stay in the UK exciting and successful International students (be) - an important part of our student community and over 120 nationalities (represent) - among our 12,000 students If you (study) - at Greenwich Community College, you (study) in a dynamic academic environment, in a cosmopolitan community reflecting the international make-up of today’s city of London It (be) a fantastic time to be studying at Greenwich Community College as London (prepare) - to host the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2012 Greenwich Community College (receive) - accolades for its international work across the globe It (have) partnerships with colleges abroad in China, Vietnam, Russia, Thailand, USA, and Saudi Arabia Working with our partners (involve) - student and staff exchanges and joint curriculum projects to ensure that our students (be) familiar with the latest international trends and different cultures from around the world 89 Student results (be) - on an upward trend for many years and our success rates in all areas (be) - above the national average for the UK Our International Department (pride) - itself on providing a holistic support service for all our international students and (respond) - positively and quickly to all requests for assistance Our International Department (support) by a general college support service that has been awarded the Matrix Award This (be) a nationally recognized measure of quality for student support and few UK colleges have received this award Geoff Pine, Principal Greenwich Community College (Greenwich Community College Be a part of it) II Make sentences, using the phrases, expressions or structures from the passage to be a part of to be familiar with to be on an upward trend to be above the average to pride oneself on + V-ing to respond to Answer Key: I GREENWICH COMMUNITY COLLEGE WELCOME Our aim at Greenwich Community College is to offer you an exciting opportunity to live and learn in London-widely recognized as one of the world’s most fashionable and exciting capital cities 90 Greenwich Community College offers you all the academic, social, sporting and welfare facilities required to make your stay in the UK exciting and successful International Students are an important part of our student community and over 120 nationalities are represented among our 12,000 students If you study at Greenwich Community College, you will study in a dynamic academic environment, in a cosmopolitan community reflecting the international make-up of today’s city of London It is a fantastic time to be studying at Greenwich Community College as London prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2012 Greenwich Community College has received accolades for its international work across the globe It has partnerships with colleges abroad in China, Vietnam, Russia, Thailand, USA, and Saudi Arabia Working with our partners involves student and staff exchanges and joint curriculum projects to ensure that our students are familiar with the latest international trends and different cultures from around the world Student results have been on an upward trend for many years and our success rates in all areas are above the national average for the UK Our International Department prides itself on providing a holistic support service for all our International students and responds positively and quickly to all requests for assistance Our International Department is supported by a general college support service that has been awarded the Matrix Award This is a nationally recognized measure of quality for student support and few UK colleges have received this award Geoff Pine, Principal Greenwich Community College (Greenwich Community College Be a part of it) 91 III All the underlined words and phrases in the passage below contain tense errors Read the passage and correct the mistakes * Passage WHY STUDY IN GREENWICH? London was one of the greatest cities in the world and at Greenwich Community College you will be studying in one of its most historic areas London is a dynamic and exciting place to be, full of history and culture It had many famous places to visit as well as many parks, museums and art galleries London is also a commercial and financial city of global importance bridging the USA and European markets It had had a thriving and diverse economy providing a wide range of career opportunities There is so much to in London, the range of entertainment available is second to none, whether it is visiting its many attractions, dining out, shopping and watching or playing sports London was often referred to as ‘the World in one city” because so many of the world’s different communities represented within it Over 300 languages had been spoken in London and it is host to a dazzling range of different cultures Reflecting this diversity London has a wonderful calendar of multicultural events such as the Notting Hill Carnival and the London Mela London is not just a place of study, it is also an experience and education in itself London is moving east Greenwich is already there! Greenwich has a lively social and cultural scene and boasted its own World Heritage Site and yet it is only minutes away from the London’s West End, with its theatres, clubs and shops Greenwich now boasts Europe’s premier entertainment arena- The O2- and is soon to 92 be host to major events for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Greenwich is a great place to live, to work, to learn and to enjoy (Greenwich Community College Be a part of it) IV Make sentences, using the phrases, expressions or structures from the passage to be one of + the + plural noun noun + full of as well as to be second to none to be referred to as Answer Key: III WHY STUDY IN GREENWICH? London is one of the greatest cities in the world and at Greenwich Community College you will be studying in one of its most historic areas London is a dynamic and exciting place to be, full of history and culture It has many famous places to visit as well as many parks, museums and art galleries London is also a commercial and financial city of global importance bridging the USA and European markets It has a thriving and diverse economy providing a wide range of career opportunities There is so much to in London, the range of entertainment available is second to none, whether it is visiting its many attractions, dining out, shopping and watching or playing sports London is often referred to as ‘the World in one city” because so many of the world’s different communities are represented within it Over 300 languages are spoken in London and it is host to a dazzling range of different cultures Reflecting this diversity London has a wonderful calendar of multicultural events such as the Notting Hill Carnival and the London Mela 93 London is not just a place of study, it is also an experience and education in itself London is moving east Greenwich is already there! Greenwich has a lively social and cultural scene and boasts its own World Heritage Site and yet it is only minutes away from the London’s West End, with its theatres, clubs and shops Greenwich now boasts Europe’s premier entertainment arena- The O2- and is soon to be host to major events for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Greenwich is a great place to live, to work, to learn and to enjoy (Greenwich Community College Be a part of it) V Give yourself five minutes to look for and correct tense mistakes in the following passage Read the whole passage before you make changes * Passage LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE Through educating the world’s most creative, talented and ambitious, London School of Business and Finance aimed at bridging international boundaries and providing individuals around the globe with an opportunity to achieve academic, personal and professional success Inspiring leaders around the world is not a task to be taken lightly Yet with the right blend of students, unique specially tailored programmes, and experienced highlytrained educators, London School of Business and Finance was developing globally minded business pioneers who will make a difference in today’s fast changing economy At LSBF we believed that each individual had a talent that can be nurtured to achieve success We are working to identify your unique skills and help you develop new ones This personalized approach has helped you attain your goals while achieving academic and professional success 94 Our strong academic team and multiple ties across the globe had created a favourable environment for you to develop and express yourself You will make invaluable contacts with experienced professionals, leaders and innovators to enhance your future development (London School of Business & Finance Shaping Success in Business and Finance) VI Make sentences with the following words or phrases from the passage above To provide someone with an opportunity to something Highly-trained To achieve academic and professional success To develop and express oneself To make invaluable contacts with To enhance your future development Answer Key: V - The passage with the underlined errors: LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE Through educating the world’s most creative, talented and ambitious, London School of Business and Finance aimed at bridging international boundaries and providing individuals around the globe with an opportunity to achieve academic, personal and professional success Inspiring leaders around the world is not a task to be taken lightly Yet with the right blend of students, unique specially tailored programmes, and experienced highlytrained educators, London School of Business and Finance was developing globally minded business pioneers who will make a difference in today’s fast changing economy At LSBF we believed that each individual had a talent that can be nurtured to achieve success We are working to identify your unique skills and help you develop 95 new ones This personalized approach has helped you attain your goals while achieving academic and professional success Our strong academic team and multiple ties across the globe had created a favourable environment for you to develop and express yourself You will make invaluable contacts with experienced professionals, leaders and innovators to enhance your future development (London School of Business & Finance Shaping Success in Business and Finance) - The passage with the corrected errors: LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE Through educating the world’s most creative, talented and ambitious, London School of Business and Finance aims at bridging international boundaries and providing individuals around the globe with an opportunity to achieve academic, personal and professional success Inspiring leaders around the world is not a task to be taken lightly Yet with the right blend of students, unique specially tailored programmes, and experienced highlytrained educators, London School of Business and Finance develops globally minded business pioneers who will make a difference in today’s fast changing economy At LSBF we believe that each individual has a talent that can be nurtured to achieve success We work to identify your unique skills and help you develop new ones This personalized approach helps you attain your goals while achieving academic and professional success Our strong academic team and multiple ties across the globe create a favourable environment for you to develop and express yourself You will make invaluable contacts with experienced professionals, leaders and innovators to enhance your future development (London School of Business & Finance Shaping Success in Business and Finance) 96 APPENDIX THE EVALUATION CRITERIA OF THE STUDENTS’ WRITING TESTS Content marks Coherence 2,5 mark Vocabulary 2,5 marks Grammar marks 97 APPENDIX 10 CONTROL STUDENTS’ PRETEST AND POSTTEST SCORES Control student X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 X11 X12 X13 X14 X15 X16 X17 X18 X19 X20 X21 X22 X23 X24 X25 X26 X27 X28 X29 X30 X31 X32 Pretest Score 3 4 5 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 Posttest Score 4 5 7 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 98 X33 X34 X35 X36 X37 X38 X39 X40 X41 Mean 5 5 5 5 4.46 5 5 5 5 4.56 99 APPENDIX 11 EXPERIMENTAL STUDENTS’ PRETEST AND POSTTEST SCORES Experimental student Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 Y13 Y14 Y15 Y16 Y17 Y18 Y19 Y20 Y21 Y22 Y23 Y24 Pretest Score 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Posttest Score 4 6 7 8 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Y25 Y26 Y27 4 6 100 Y28 Y29 Y30 Y31 Y32 Y33 Y34 Y35 Y36 Y37 Y38 Y39 Y40 Y41 Mean 5 5 5 5 5 5 4.44 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6.41 101 ...CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of this thesis entitled ? ?An Investigation into the Impact of Reading on Writing Skills: Implications for EFL Teaching at Binh Thuan Community College? ??... suggests adopting an integration of the process approach and the product approach, a form of the integration of reading and writing, into the teaching and leaning of writing In the process approach,... Building and boosting students’ awareness of the positive impact of reading on writing These suggestions and recommendations can be applied in Binh Thuan Community College, where the impact of reading