Vinh university Foreign languages department Ngun ThÞ Th An investigation into the effects of brainstorming and giving a text as model on phan dinh phung high school student’s attitude and writing ability (Điều tra ảnh hởng HOT NG TèM í cung cấp văn mẫu đến khả viết thái độ học sinh trung học phổ thông Phan đình phùng ) Graduation thesis Field: methodlogy Vinh, 2010 Vinh university Foreign languages department An investigation into the effects of brainstorming and giving a text as model on phan dinh phung high school student’s attitude and writing ability (§iỊu tra vỊ ảnh hởng HOT NG TèM í cung cấp văn mẫu đến khả viết thái độ học sinh trung học phổ thông Phan đình phùng ) Graduation thesis Field: methodlogy Supervisor: Vũ Thị Việt Hơng, M.A Student: Nguyễn Thị Thuý Class: 46 E1- English Vinh, 2010 Acknowledgements For this completion of this work I have received invaluable contributions from many people First of all, I would like to express my special words of thanks to Vũ Thị Việt Hơng, M.A, of Vinh University of Foreign Language Department, my supervisor for her valuable corrections during the reading of this work in manucript without which the work would not have been completed I own a special debt of gratitude to Ngun Thị V©n Lam, M A who provides the knowledge of reseach for me In addition, I should also like to extend my deep thanks to all my teachers in the Department of Foreign Language for their endless enthusiasm and undeniably useful lectures I also repeat my thanks to the students who have participated in classes reported in this thesis as well as teachers of Phan Dinh Phung high school If with out their cooperation the study will be far from perfect My warmest thanks to my loving parents and my close friends for their uncondition love,encouragements and the support about finance to my doing this thesis Finally, I hope that my reseach will become useful for readers who want to become a good teacher of English Vinh, May 2010 Ngun ThÞ Thóy List of Abbreviation EFL: English as a foreign language ESL: English as a second language ELT: English language teaching e.g : For example LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: The detail of the subject assignment Table 2: The steps of a writing lesson of control group Chart 1: The experimental group’s general feelings about brainstorming Chart 2: The experimental group’s general feelings about the cooperation in Brainstorming Chart 3: The experimental group’s opinion about the effects of brainstorming Chart 4: The experimental group’ view on the use of brainstorming Table 8: The reasons of approval of the application of brainstorming in the future Table 9: The reasons for disapproval of application of brainstorming in the future Chart 5: The control’s group feelings about giving a text as a model Chart 6: The control’s group feelings about reading a text as a model Individually Chart 7: The control group’s opinions about the effects of giving a text as a model Chart 8: The control group’s views on the use on the use of giving a text as a model Tables 10: The reasons for the approval the application of giving a text as a model in the future Table 11: The reasons for the disapproval of application of giving a text as a model in the future TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDEGEMENT…………………………………………… i LIST OF ABBVIATION……………………………………………… ii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS ………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………… iv ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………… vi PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………………… 1.1 Rationale of the Study ……………………………………………… 1.2 Aims of the Study ………………………………………………… 1.3 Scope of the study ………………………………………………… 1.4 Methods of the Study ……………………………………………… 1.5 Design of the sSudy ………………………………………………… PART II: CONTENT……………………………………… CHAPTER I: THEORICAL BACKGROUND………………………… 1.1 Overview of Writing ………………………………………… 1.1.1 Writing ……………………………………… 1.1.2 What Makes an Affective Piece of Writing …………………… 1.1.3 The Component of Skilled Writing Ability…………………… 1.1.4 Factors Affecting Student’s Writing Ability ………………… 1.1.4.1 Psychological difficulties……………………………………… 1.1.4.2 Linguistic difficulties………………………………………… 1.1.4.3 Cognitive difficulties………………………………………… 1.1.5 Improving Student’s Writing Ability ………………………… 1.2 Teaching Writing in Language Classroom …………………… 1.3 Overview of Pre-writing Activities …………………………… 1.3.1 Importance of Prewriting Activities ………………………… 1.3.2 Types of Prewriting…………………………………………… 1.3.2.1 Clustering and Mindmaps…………………………………… 1.3.2.2 Free writing…………………………………………………… 1.3.2.3 Journal writing………………………………………………… 1.3.2.4 Giving a short text as a model ………………………………… 1.3.2.5 Brainstorming ………………………………………………… 1.4 Attitude……………………………………………………… 1.5 Summary……………………………………………………… CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY……………………………………………… 2.1 Real Situation…………………… ……………………………… 2.2 Subject and Subject Assignment………………………………… 2.2.1 Subject…………………………………………………………… 2.2.2 Subject Assignment……………………………………………… 2.3 Describe Questionnaires ………………………………………… 2.4 Procedures of the Study………………………………………… CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ………………………… 3.1 Results of student questionnaire………………………………… 3.1.1 Questionaire ………………………………………………… 3.1.2 Questionnaire 2………………………………………………… 3.2 Summary of findings ……………………………………………… PART III : CONCLUSION …………………………………………… Recapitulation of the Study…………………………………………… Suggestions for Teaching Prewriting Activities at Phan Dinh Phung high school……………………………………………………………… Implications of the Atudy…………………………………………… Suggestions for further Study………………………………………… REFERENCES………………………………………………………… APPENDIX…………………………………………………………… 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 13 15 17 19 20 20 20 20 20 21 23 25 25 25 31 37 39 39 39 41 41 43 ABSTRACT This study investigated the different effects of brainstorming and giving a text as a model In this study, these were called types of prewriting activities The experiment lasted weeks In one class, the control group, the teacher applied giving a text as a model for teaching prewriting stage She presented the model to student’ reading first, then discussed and analyzed the model to increase students generate their own parallel essays on a suggested topic In the other groups, the teacher carried out brainstorming at prewriting stage Teacher stated the topic and wrote it on the black board and then gave any explanations that might be needed Students worked from a student group to whole group The topic to brainstorm could also come from a single student or a student group Then students generated ideas by asking their own suggestions usually by collaborating with the people around them or following teacher’s suggested criteria Next, they cleared up ideas by discussing the relevant and clear of ideas on the board Finally, they choose ideas for their writing Data was collected by comparing the student’s questionnaire result within the groups A significant improvement in grades and positive attitude were found in both groups, but, there was a difference between their improvement levels The writing ability and positive attitudes of the experimental group were more noticeably enhanced That would reveal that brainstorming is more beneficial for the students Consequently, it can be concluded that brainstorming should be used in writing lessons at Phan Dinh Phung highschool regularly Part I: Introduction 1.1 Rationale of the Study English is the language of international communication There are skills in English: speaking, reading, writing, and listening Of the four skills, writing is a necessary one because it helps students develop other language skills Writing has a key place in an English program Thus, teaching English would not be considered to be completed without teaching writing skill It is worth indicating that prewriting has proved its important position in the whole process of teaching writing skill in an English program Applying prewriting activities in the classroom gives each student a repertoire of techniques for getting started on writing or overcoming writer’s block As a result of this, students start writing their papers easily If prewriting activities would not be carried in some writing classes, this would lead to student’ difficulties in dealing with worrying about nothing to write or to express ideas clearly Besides, both the Vietnamese teachers and learners of English at high school facing many difficulties in teaching and leaning writing is true Obviously, at the higher level, written expression is so hard to attend in a foreign language For learners, it is sometimes very difficult to write a complex sentence or a paragraph in English because of their limited vocabulary, grammar, ideas and skills Thus, it is necessary to carry out an investigation into the prewriting activities, specially, into brainstorming and giving a text as a model to find out ways to make student’s writing better and give some practical strategies to help students to write successfully For the reasons as above, the author has decided to choose the topic “An Investigation into the Effects of Brainstorming and Giving a Text as a model on high school Vietnamese Student’s Attitudes and Writing Ability” 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Study The study was designed to investigate the effects of brainstorming on high school Vietnamese students’ attitudes and writing ability in comparison with giving a text as a model at Phan Dinh Phung high school To fully achieve these aims, the study will answer following questions: Does brainstorming help high school major students write more effectively in term of a wide range of vocabulary and richer relevant ideas than giving a text as a model ? What of the students’ attitude towards these two types of prewriting activities is more positive? What are suggestions for teaching and learning English writing ? 1.3 Scope of the Study There are many kinds of prewriting activities which are used in teaching writing However, the study only focused on the different effects of two prewriting activities used in teaching writing of the grade 11 at Phan Dinh Phung high school They are brainstorming and giving a text as a model 1.4 Methods of the Study To meet the aims of the study, we apply the following methods: Firstly, the author collects and analyses the material which refer to writing Secondly, she chose two classes 11A12 and 11A13 at Phan Dinh Phung high school to practise teaching English Then, the author administered questionnaires to two classes 11A12 and 11A13 Finally, she has analysed the collected data and reported results 1.5 Design of the Study There are parts in this research paper: Part I is “INTRODUCTION” Which consists of the author’s reasons for choosing the study, aims, methods and design of the study Part II is “ CONTENT” which concludes chapters: Chapter1, “Theoretical background” provides an in-depth review of the relevant literature related to the issue under investigation Specially, a review of the sections relating to writing, teaching writing in language classroom, prewriting activities and attitude of the students, Chapter 2, “ The study” presents the methodology adopted to collect data for the research, which includes the description of research questions, setting, instrumentation, and data collection techniques This chapter also presents and discusses the results and findings of the study, Chapter is Results and Discussions In this chapter, the recommendations on the application of brainstorming and giving a text as a model to writing teaching at Phan Dinh Phung high school will be made on the basic of the major findings from the study Also, the last section gives a brief summary the thesis and some suggestions for further research Part III is “CONCLUSION” summarizes what have been presented in the thesis The study ends with the “ REFFERENCES ” which lists all the materials and sources of information used in this research, and the “APPENDIX” in which the samples of questionnaires of teachers and students are mentioned Part II: Content Chapter1: Theoretical background 1.1 Overview of writing This section discusses the general understandings of writing, what make an effective piece of writing and the components of skilled writing ability 1.1.1 Writing There have been a large number of definitions about writing made by researchers, methodologies who have failed to reach a unanimous definition of ... as a model Tables 10: The reasons for the approval the application of giving a text as a model in the future Table 11: The reasons for the disapproval of application of giving a text as a model. .. languages department An investigation into the effects of brainstorming and giving a text as model on phan dinh phung high school student’s attitude and writing ability (Điều tra... the application of brainstorming and giving a text as a model to writing teaching at Phan Dinh Phung high school will be made on the basic of the major findings from the study Also, the last