(Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm) to help grade 11 students in mai anh tuan high school write better personal pecount the ggenre based approach

TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE I ABSTRACT 01 II AIMS OF THE RESEARCH Aims 01 Definitions of terms 02 III RATIONALE AND JUSTIFICATION 03 - 04 IV LITERATURE REVIEW 04 - 05 V METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH SCHEDULE Independent and Dependent Variables 06 Research Design 06 - 07 Data Collection Procedures 08 - 11 3.1 Selection of Subjects 09 3.2 Lesson Plans 09 - 10 3.3 The Writing Tests 10 3.4 Student Questionnaire 10 3.5 Teacher’s diary 11 Data analysis 4.1 Quantitative Method 11 4.2 Qualitative Method 11 Research Schedule 12 VI EXPECTED FINDINGS 13 VII CONCLUSION 13 APPENDICES BIBLIOGRAPHY 14 QUESTIONNAIRE 15 Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School I ABSTRACT Writing is the most difficult skill out of the four, which is challenging the students in Mai Anh Tuan high school Most of them have difficulty in identifying the structure as well as language features that each text type should have This project outlines an action research study on using the genre approach to teach grade 11 students to write personal recounts They will receive the instruction from the researcher using the genre-based approach over weeks The study will explore the effects of the new approach on the overall performance of students writing recount texts and students’ feeling about the use of that approach The findings of this study will be based on data collected from the pre and post tests, the questionnaire before and after the treatment, and the diary written by the teacher I hope that the students’ personal recount writing will improve after the period of treatment They will be provided with clear structure, language features and given step-by-step scaffolding in four stages Furthermore, the new method may positively change the students’ attitude towards writing, and make them feel more confident in writing personal recount essays II AIMS OF THE RESEARCH Aims: The goal of this research is to investigate whether the teaching with genrebased approach will help students overcome the difficulties in writing personal recount Therefore, the researcher’s first objectives are to find out the difficulties his students are facing, and how much the new method helps improve their writing A number of lessons which are planned based on the steps of this approach will be applied in classroom for a period of time to answer that question Besides, through questionnaires the researcher will explore the students’ feeling about the use of genre approach in teaching writing personal recount In short, the research is designed to investigate the following questions: 1.1 What difficulties grade 11 students in Mai Anh Tuan High School face in writing personal recount? Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 1.2 To what extent does teaching with genre-based approach help the students improve their personal recount writing? 1.3 How the students feel about the use of genre-based approach in writing personal recount? Definitions of terms Genre: A genre, for Martin (1984) is “a staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity in which speakers engage as members of our culture” Less technically, genres are the ways people make meaning with one another in stages to achieve their purposes (Callaghan & Rothery, 1988) Derewianka (1992, cited in Gwee, 1997 p.9) defined “genre” as the schematic structure of a text which helps to achieve its purpose Genre-based approach: Genre-based approach is fundamentally underpinned by a socially-based theory of language According to Halliday’ (1985), genre-based approach is a systemic-functional model of language which see grammar as a “resource for making meaning” This approach focuses on the communicative purpose of writing in a specific social context Therefore, different text types have different purposes and audiences, and practitioners of the genre approach attempt to make students aware of the differences between the genres to aid their writing Recount: A recount is a piece of text that retell past events, usually in the order in which they occurred Its purpose is to provide the audience with a description of what occurred and when it occurred (e.g blogs, diaries, eyewitness recounts, historical recounts, etc.) (Anderson, M & Anderson, C., 1998) Personal recount: retelling of an activity that the writer or speaker has been personally involved (e.g oral anecdotes, letters, diaries) (Derewianka, 1992) III RATIONALE AND JUSTIFICATION Although genre-based approach has been a controversial topic, it was stated to be very effective in teaching and learning English in EFL classroom Teachers use models can help free students from the fears of writing (Kay & Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School Dudley-Evans, 1998) Moreover, with the knowledge of recount genre, students are familiar with the linguistic skills and can produce the right text type to achieve their intended communicative purpose (Gwee, 1990) Genre-based approach has been widely used to teach writing in many schools as well as universities worldwide, and positive results have been attained The findings from the study of Chandrika (2001) was a typical example In Thanh Hoa, particularly in my school, most of the teachers and students who use English as a foreign language find that writing is the most laborious of the four language skills The current curriculum requires my colleagues, who have been used to traditional teaching methods, to use numerous strategies to help the students develop those skills only in three classes a week Although our students have some background knowledge of general English in the last five years, their writing ability is at a very low level They are only able to write at sentence levels, while the syllabus demands them to produce essays When being asked to write a personal recount, most of them not know how to make ideas well organized, and even produce texts with an inappropriate genre As a result, their scores are unsatisfactory even though they are hard-working Furthermore, the students are not highly motivated to learn English except for preparing for tests or examinations English is one of the compulsory subjects in their schoolleaving exam whose questions are multiple choice With those issues in mind, I would like to help my students lessen the difficulties in writing personal recount which is required in the textbook of grade 11 students I think that the genre-based approach may be effectively applied to teach my students, who have been rarely exposed to authentic writing, to create better personal recounts IV LITERATURE REVIEW Teaching and learning writing has been challenging English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and learners This skill is still considered to be the most onerous and demanding out of the four In spite of those permanent problems, there are ways to refine the teaching of the skill to help language students better Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School their wording and writing Over the last 20 years, much of the teaching of writing that occurs in the EFL classroom has been dominated by product and process approaches On the other hand, genre approach also became quite popular in the 1980s, yet it did not gain many supporters until the beginning of the last decade It was noted that student writers could benefit from studying different types of written texts Although the literature exposes us to some different approaches and various genres, this review is concentrated in the use of genre-based approach to teach personal recount Genre approach is still a controversial issue though it is never a dull one According to Kay and Dudley-Evans (1998 p.310), genre approach enables students to improve their writing skill and produce the right text that suits their intended goal of communication It also helps expose them to the knowledge of the surrounding world so that they can take part in it Being provided with models, learners are able to be unbridled from the fears of writing Furthermore, the approach empowers them to comment on the effectiveness of their products After analyzing and comparing the three approaches, Badger and White (2000 p.155-157) found that genre approach has been criticized as it undervalues the processes needed to produce a text and sees learners as largely passive However, they strongly agreed that the approach emphasizes that writing happens in a social context whose heart is the purpose It was noted that learning can take place through imitation and analysis Students are encouraged to explore different samples of a text type to comprehend the rules, features and the structure in order that they improve their ability to create their own writing Up to the present, many studies have been carried out inside and outside Viet Nam which are related to the use of genre-based approach in teaching text types, including recount Sidaway (2006) found that students’ writing often goes wrong because they are not familiar with generic structure of genres While analyzing genres used by her students in their writing, Gwee (1990, cited in Chandrika, 2001) suggested that generic structures ought to be taught; then confirmed that when learners catch on with narrative and recount genres, they Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School will pay more attention to the required linguistic skills It was shown by Chandrika (2001) that teaching using genre-based approach positively affects the recount writing of students By comparing the pre and post tests, she found that 88.6% of the students’ writing got better after the treatment period The average percentage score rose by 15% and the students had better apprehension of the features which were examined In the light of the literature reviewed above, this research is aimed at investigating whether teaching with genre-based approach positively impacts the personal recount writing of students in Mai Anh Tuan High School, Nga Son V METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH SCHEDULE Independent and Dependent Variables The use of genre-based approach To help students write better personal recount Independent variable Dependent variable Teacher uses genre approach to teach students to write personal recounts Students’ improvement in writing personal recounts This is measured by pre-test and post-tests Research design This study is designed to discover if the genre-based approach would positively affect students’ writing and how it does so One class of grade 11 students are given writing instruction using the genre approach Pre and post tests Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School are delivered to assess any change in personal account writing performance as a result of the use of the new method A questionnaire is administered to find out whether the approach impact students’ feeling about composing personal recounts based on the genre approach Research questions Research Subjects instruments Tools of analysis What difficulties - Teacher’s - Grade 11 - Critical grade 11 students in lesson plans students Discourse Mai Anh Tuan High - Writing pre-test - Age: 17 Analysis - English - Mean ability: pre- - Frequency intermediate count School face in writing personal recount? - Writing post-test To what extent does teaching with genre- - Teacher’s diary - School: based approach help - Student Mai Anh Tuan the students improve questionnaire - Sample size: their personal recount classes ( 84 writing? students) - Percentage How the students feel about the use of genre-based approach in writing personal recount? Data collection procedure Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School The data collection procedure is indicated in the following flow chart Pre-intermediate grade 11 students Writing Pre-test Student questionnaire The use of genre approach Writing post-test The use of genre approach Writing post-test Comparing the results of the pre-test and post-tests Student questionnaire 3.1 Selection of subjects This study is carried out in Mai Anh Tuan high School with two classes of grade 11 students Most of them are interested in learning English, especially writing because of their love for writing diaries, letters, emailing, and so on Furthermore, the current English Syllabus requires them to learn to write personal recounts However, their writing ability is still at a low level, and their prior test Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School scores were below teacher’s expectation My students often make mistakes in using vocabulary, sentence structures and verb tenses Besides, some of them cannot identify the text type, particularly the structure and language features of a personal recount 3.2 Lesson plans During the course of the research, six lesson plans will be designed based on the genre-based approach They will be utilized to teach students to compose personal recount essays A lesson plan includes stages such as Building the field, Modeling, Joint construction and Independent Writing Each of the stages will be taught in a 45-minute class + Building the field - Teacher introduces the topic by asking questions, showing a video clip, playing a recording of it, etc - Students are familiarized with the subject matter by doing some preactivities (expanding headlines, adding detail, using emotive language, etc.) + Modeling In this stage, teacher designs and provides a detailed scaffold for the text type, personal recount by: - explicitly introducing a model text - identifying how the text is structured (3 parts: Introduction, Sequence of events, conclusion) - identifying what “language features” should be included - identifying the function of each part of the recount + Joint Construction Before writing independently, students are asked to participating in group writing The class is divided into groups of or to construct texts that are similar to the model based on the topic given The teacher walks around to help the groups by making suggestions or correcting their mistakes + Independent Writing Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School Students are asked to independently write their own essays based on one of the topics given by the teacher 3.3 The writing tests The research will design one pre-test and two post-tests, which are used for different purposes Students will take the pre-test days before the actual use of the genre-based approach in teaching personal recounts Each of them will be asked to write an essay about 150 words to tell about his or her happiest experience The results of this placement test will be used for data analysis After weeks of using the new method, the first post-test will be delivered to the students They will write about their most embarrassing experiences The second post-test will be given at the end of the treatment period The students will be asked to produce personal recounts about their unforgettable experiences The researcher will mark the test papers and make a comparison between the scores of the pre and post tests to see if the new treatment positively impact the students’ personal recount writing 3.4 Student questionnaire The questionnaire will be used to explore the students’ feelings about the use of genre-based approach in teaching writing personal recounts This questionnaire consists of 11 items which are related to students’ knowledge, performance and attitude There are some forms of statements with a 5-point Likert scale, some Yes-No questions and some open-ended ones The questionnaire is not only delivered at the beginning but also the end of the treatment period, so that the researcher can discover whether there are changes in students’ attitude or not 3.5 Teacher’s diary The strength and weakness of each lesson plan will be taken notes after the lecture is conducted This activity will let the researcher know what he has done well and what needs correcting and adding to make the following lessons more effective In addition, the researcher will keep writing in the diary about the students’ feeling about the application of the new approach in teaching writing Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 10 personal recounts The progress of the students will also be recorded frequently in the teacher’s diary Data analysis 4.1 Quantitative method After marking the students’ writing tests, the researcher will have the scores analysed by using a counting method called Frequency Count and The mean The results will then be reported in a table as frequencies and percentages This quantitative will also be utilized to deal with the responses to the closeended questions From these the researcher can have a general view on students’ prior ability and their improvement after applying the genre approach They will also help the researcher make sense of the changes in the students’ attitude towards the use of the new method 4.2 Qualitative method Critical Discourse Analysis will be used to analyze students’ test papers, teacher’s lesson plans, open-ended questions and teacher’s diary This analysis will help the researcher identify the problems the students face as well as their proficiency level It will also help the researcher with an understanding of his students’ progress and attitude towards the genre approach used in teaching personal recount writing Research schedule Number Activities Choose the subjects Design a placement test Date to carry out October, 2018 – week Design a questionnaire Deliver the test and mark test October, 2018 – week papers Deliver the questionnaire and get the responses Design lesson plans October, 2018 – week Teach writing recounts using November, 2018: October, 2018 – week Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 11 genre approach from week – week Design and deliver post-test November, 2018: week Mark test papers and give December, 2018: week comments Teach writing recounts using February, 2019: genre approach Design and deliver post-test from week – week March, 2019: week 10 Mark test papers April, 2019: week 11 12 Deliver the questionnaire Data analysis Write a report December, 2010: week with December, 2010: week conclusion VI EXPECTED FINDINGS The genre approach is quite unfamiliar to my colleagues and students Therefore, they may not support me or may refuse to apply it in teaching writing Besides, most of the tests not require students to write essays, so they might not be interested in the use of the new approach However, with the detailed schedule and procedure above, the researcher hopes that the Action Research will result in positive changes in students’ personal recount writing They can follow the correct structure, the language features as well as selectively use vocabulary and verb tenses The new method will probably make the students feel more confident and more interested in writing recounts That may help them better their ability to written tests VII CONCLUSION In this proposal, the researcher has identified the research problem, reviewed the literature, planned the data collection procedure and research schedule, and anticipated some positive results as well as challenges The researcher is going to implement the research plan Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 12 It is hoped that the research’s findings will help to improve the teaching and learning writing, especially writing personal recounts in my school Xác nhận hiệu trưởng trường THPT Mai Anh Tuấn Thanh hóa, ngày 22 tháng 05 năm 2019 Tơi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, không chéo nội dung người khác Người viết SKKN Lê Hồng Phong REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, K & Anderson, M (1995) Text Types in English Australia: Macmillan Education Badger, R & White, G (2000) A Process Genre Approach to Teaching Writing Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 13 ELT Journal, 54, 153-160 Chandrika, G (2001) Teaching The Recount Genre Using The Genre Based Approach SEAMEO Regional Language Centre Cope, B & Kalantzis, M (Eds.) (1993) The Powers of Literacy: A Genre Approach to Teaching Writing Pittsburgh, PA: University Pittsburgh Press Gwee, S (1997) Teaching The Recount Genre Using The Genre Approach A Project Presented to SEAMEO Regional Language Centre Kay, H & Dudley-Evans, T (1998) Genre: What Teachers Think ELT Journal, 52, 308-313 McNiff, J & Whitehead, J (2005) Action Research For Teachers London: David Fulton Sidaway, R (2006) The Genre-Based Approach to Teaching [Online] Available: http://www.britishcouncil.org/portugal-ie2006s-richardsidaway.pdf The text book of English 11 APPENDICES QUESTIONNAIRE Do you like writing compositions of the personal recount (e.g diaries, letters, etc.)? Very much Much A little Not at all - Give reasons: ……………………………………………………………………………… Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 14 How you rate your ability to write personal recount essays? Very good Good Average Bad Very bad How important are the following for improving your writing? Very importan t Importan t Not very importan t Not importan t A Learn the grammar terms (e.g nouns, verbs, adjectives, clauses, etc) B Learn to use synonyms and antonyms C Learn the language features (e.g tenses, transition signals, etc) D Be exposed to different model texts E Learn to analyze texts F Do a lot of grammar correction Which of the following writing tasks you prefer? Tick () the appropriate boxes (you can choose as many as you want) Writing about a free topic without clues given Following a given model Writing a composition with a series of pictures and key words/ phrases given Writing a composition with words/ phrases provided In questions – 7, tick () the column with the heading that best summarizes your reaction to each statement Statements Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagree Before I start writing, I should take time to think about who my writing may be intended for Before I start writing, I should ask myself what my piece of writing is expected to do? Before I start writing, I should be sure that what are the structure and language features Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 15 of the expected writing How many parts can a typical piece of writing of the personal recount be divided into? What are they? ……………………………………………………………………………… Are you able to identify these parts in a model essay? Yes No 10 During the modeling stage, I comment on: always usually seldom never A B C The purpose of the writer The main idea of the model The structure and language features 11 Are you confident about writing personal recount essays? Very confident Not very confident A little confident Not confident Give reasons: ……………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Đề tài nghiên cứu khoa học, Sáng kiến kinh nghiệmcua cá nhân Tên đề tài Sáng kiến Thiết kế dạy tiếng Anh phần mềnmPowerpoint Năm Xếp Số, ngày, tháng, năm cấp loại định công nhận, 2010 B quan ban hành QĐ Số 12, ngày 5/1/2010 – Giám đốc sở GD&ĐT Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 16 Một số cách sử dụng hiệu Classroom Enghlish 2011 B Thanh hóa Số 539, ngày 18/10/2011 học Tiếng Anh – Giám đốc sở GD&ĐT Một số phương pháp sử dụng hoạt động nhóm Thanh hóa Số 871, ngày 18/12/2012 – 2012 B giời học Tiếng Anh Giám đốc sở GD&ĐT Mốt tập giúp học sinh nhớ cách dùng câu điều 2013 B Thanh hóa Hiệu trưởng trường THPT kiện lớp 11 Mai Anh Tuấn Using of the pic tures to improve my grade 11 2015 B students’s listening comprehension Using cooperative learning to motivate the 10 Số 988, ngày 3/11/2015 – Giám đốc sở GD&ĐT th 2016 B Thanh hóa Số 972, ngày 24/11/2016 – form students at Mai Anh Tuan high school Giám đốc sở GD&ĐT Some ways teaching listening grade 12th Thanh hóa Hiệu trưởng trường THPT 2017 B at Mai Anh Tuan high school Mai Anh Tuấn Using the word formation to develop vocablary for 2018 the grade 11 gifted students at Mai Anh Tuan high school A TO HELP GRADE 11 STUDENTS IN MAI ANH 2019 TUAN HIGH SCHOOL WRITE BETTER PERSONAL RECOUNT USING THE GENRE-BASED APPROACH A Đang gửi hội đồng khoa học ngành Đang gửi hội đồng khoa học ngành Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 17 ... Tuấn Using the word formation to develop vocablary for 2018 the grade 11 gifted students at Mai Anh Tuan high school A TO HELP GRADE 11 STUDENTS IN MAI ANH 2019 TUAN HIGH SCHOOL WRITE BETTER PERSONAL. .. difficulties grade 11 students in Mai Anh Tuan High School face in writing personal recount? Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 1.2 To what extent does teaching with genre -based approach. .. writing in the diary about the students? ?? feeling about the application of the new approach in teaching writing Prepared by: Le Hong Phong - Mai Anh Tuan High School 10 personal recounts The progress