Research on journal writing as an extra activity to improve lac hong university second and third year english student formal writing skill

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES [”\ RESEARCH ON JOURNAL WRITING AS AN EXTRA ACTIVITY TO IMPROVE LAC HONG UNIVERSITY SECOND AND THIRD YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ FORMAL WRITING SKILL A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL) Submitted by Supervisor: LE DUC THINH PETER LEONARD, M.A HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2008 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: RESEARCH ON JOURNAL WRITING AS AN EXTRA ACTIVITY TO IMPROVE LAC HONG UNIVERSITY SECOND AND THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ FORMAL WRITING SKILL In terms of the Statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, December 29, 2008 LE DUC THINH i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Le Duc Thinh, 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 the purposes of study and research, in accordance with normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan or reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City, December 29, 2008 LE DUC THINH ii ACKNOWLEGEMENTS Firstly, I, the author of this thesis, would like express my great gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Mr Peter Leonard, M.A., who has wholeheartedly and enthusiastically given me numerous useful instructions and comments for the preparation and completion of this research Secondly, I wish to thank Dr Tran Hanh, the rector of Lac Hong University and Associate Professor Tran Thi Hong, Ph.D., the dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages for encouraging me to complete this thesis Thirdly, I would like to express my special thanks to my colleagues who were willingly responsive to my survey questionnaire Especially, I wish to thank Mr Nguyen Hoang Khanh M.A., Mr Le Tuan Dat M.A., and Ms Nguyen Thi Kim Chung, M.A, who have helped me mark the students’ pre-trial and post-trial tests, and given me valuable ideas and advice for my research to come into being Fourthly, I highly appreciate Mr Nguyen Van Tan, Ph.D., the head of the Research and Post-university Training Department of Lac Hong University, for showing me how to analyze the statistics on the collected data during the research Fifthly, I also feel obliged to all of my 161 students who have ardently taken part in this study because without their full cooperation, certainly this research would have been impossible Sixthly, I especially acknowledge all the authors whose books served as a precious guide that gave me insights during the time I worked on this paper I know I owe them a lot for the fulfilment of this thesis as well as my professional advancement in the future Finally, my special thanks are for my family, especially for my wife and my son, who have encouraged and supported me with all their hearts from the beginning to the completion of this study iii ABSTRACT Accuracy and fluency are the usual problems in writing in English as a foreign language (abbreviated to EFL) with the students of English in Lac Hong University (abbreviated to LHU) in particular and with Vietnamese students of English in general The frequent lack of motivation with which they often engage in the writing activities is another problem This research will show how journal writing, as an extra activity, can improve students' accuracy and fluency in their academic writing and how such an activity can enhance students’ writing motivation Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to analyze the collected data, to generate the results, and to interpret the outcomes iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of Originality i Retention and Use of the Thesis ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Table of Contents v List of Abbreviations vii List of Tables viii List of Figures ix Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Statement of the Problem 1.2 The Purpose of the Research 1.3 Hypotheses 1.4 The Research Questions 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 The Definitions of the Key Terms 1.7 The Assumptions and Reliability 1.8 The Limitations of the Research 1.9 The Delimitations of the Research 1.10 The Organization of the Thesis Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Students’ EFL Writing Problems 2.2 What Can Be Done to Solve Students’ EFL Writing Problems? 10 2.3 Conclusion of the Literature Review 16 Chapter 3: THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 17 3.1 The Research Methodology 17 3.2 The Background and the Subjects of the Research 17 3.3 The teachers and the syllabi for the writing courses 18 3.4 The Instruments of the Research 19 3.5 The Procedures of the Research 21 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF THE FINDINGS 25 4.1 Reports on the Results of the Pre-trial and Post-trial Tests and Interpretations of the Results 25 4.1.1 Report on the Levels of Fluency 30 4.1.2 Interpretations of the Levels of Fluency 31 4.1.3 Report on the Levels of Accuracy 33 4.1.4 Interpretations of the Levels of Accuracy 34 v 4.1.5 Report on the Average Marks 35 4.1.6 Interpretations of the Differences on the Average Marks 36 4.2 Summary of the Results of the Pre-trial and Post-trial Tests 37 4.3 Reports on What Happened during the Research and on the Students’ Writing Motivation 37 4.3.1 The First Phase of the Research 37 4.3.2 The Second Phase of the Research 41 4.3.3 The Third Phase of the Research 49 4.4 Summary of the Report on What Happened during the Research and the Students’ Writing Motivation 52 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 53 5.1 Summary of the Findings 53 5.2 Closing Remarks 54 5.3 Recommendations 54 5.3.1 Recommendations to Students of English 54 5.3.2 Recommendations to Teachers of Writing 55 5.3.3 Recommendations for Further Research 56 REFERENCES 57 APPENDIX 1: The Contents and Procedures for Writing 60 APPENDIX 2: The Contents and Procedures for Writing 61 APPENDIX 3: Questionnaire to Teachers of Writing 62 APPENDIX 4: Pre-Questionnaire to Students 64 APPENDIX 5: The Pre-trial Tests 66 APPENDIX 6: The Post-trial Tests 67 APPENDIX 7: The Sheet of Instructions 68 APPENDIX 8: Correction Symbol Checklist 70 APPENDIX 9: Marking Criteria 72 APPENDIX 10: Post-Questionnaire to the Students in the two EGs 73 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CG : Control Group CUP : Cambridge University Press EFL : English as a Foreign Language EG : Experimental Group ESL : English as a Second Language FFL : Faculty of Foreign Languages HCMC : Ho Chi Minh City LHU : Lac Hong University M.A : Master of Arts OUP : Oxford University Press P.G : Post Graduate Stdev : Standard Deviation TESOL : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages USSH : University of Social Sciences and Humanities vii LIST OF TABLES Page Chapter Table 4.1: The results of the pre-trial and post-trial tests earned by the students in CG1 26 Table 4.2: The results of the pre-trial and post-trial tests earned by the students in EG1 .27 Table 4.3: The results of the pre-trial and post-trial tests earned by the students in CG2 .28 Table 4.4: The results of the pre-trial and post-trial tests earned by the students in EG2 .29 Table 4.5: The statistics on the levels of fluency 30 Table 4.6: The statistics on the levels of accuracy .33 Table 4.7: The differences in the average marks .35 Table 4.8: The results of the pre-questionnaire to the students 39 Table 4.9: The results of the post-questionnaire to the students in the two EGs 50 viii LIST OF FIGURES Page Chapter Figure 4.1: The differences in the average number of words 31 Figure 4.2: The differences in the levels of task completion 31 Figure 4.3: The differences in the levels of accuracy 34 Figure 4.4: The differences in the average marks 36 ix Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis Reid, J.M (1993) Teaching ESL Writing U.S.A.: Prentice Hall Regents Rentz, M.D (1992) The Reader’s Journal – Authentic Readings for Writers U.S.A.: Prentice Hall Regents Richard, J.C et al (1993) Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Singapore: Longman Inc Rosenberg, V.M (1989) Reading, Writing, & Thinking New York: Random House Spaventa, S (2000) Essay Writing Cambridge: C.U.P Tan Jee Ngoh (2002) From Journals to Weekly Papers GUIDELINES Vol 24 June 2002 Tin, T.B (2004) Creative Writing in EFL/ESL Classrooms Universiti Putra Malaysia Press Thanh, T.M & Hoàng, C.T.L (2007) Academic Writing HCMC: National University Publishing House Thọ, L.N.M (2000) A Survey of Writing Problems of USSH First-year Students of English HCMC Weir, C.J (1990) Communicative Language Teaching GB: Prentice Hall International Willis, J (1981) Teaching English through English Longman White, R & Arndt, V (1991) Process Writing London: Longman Withrow, J (1987) Effective Writing New York CUP Zamel, V “Recent Research on Writing Pedagogy,” in TESOL Quarterly, Vol 21 No 4, 1987 Zemach, D E & Islam, C (2006) Writing in Paragraphs Macmillan 59 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX (THE CONTENTS AND PROCEDURE FOR WRITING 3) LAC HONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES CONTENTS AND PROCEDURE FOR WRITING THE THIRD SEMESTER – SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS Course books: 01 Ready to Write (Second Edition) by Blanchard, K & Root, C (1994) Addition-Wesley Publishing Company 02 Writing in Paragraphs (First Edition) by Zemach, D E & Islam, C (2006) Macmillan WEEK CONTENTS Common paragraph features Identifying topic sentences Brainstorming for ideas – word maps + Lists Brainstorming – free-writing Organizing supporting ideas Organizing supporting ideas Using time expressions in ordering supporting ideas Concluding sentences – Unity and Coherence Writing process 10 First draft of writing paragraphs 11 Editing paragraphs 12 Kinds of paragraphs: Narrative 13 Kinds of paragraphs: Composition 14 Kinds of paragraphs: Cause and Effect 15 Reviewing 60 ACTIVITIES IN CLASSROOM Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Lectures, exercises, and practice Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX (THE CONTENTS AND PROCEDURE FOR WRITING 5) LAC HONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES CONTENTS AND PROCEDURE FOR WRITING THE FIFTH SEMESTER – THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS Course book: Introduction to Academic Writing (2nd Edition) by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue (1991) U.S.A.: Longman WEEK 10 11 12 13 14 15 CONTENTS MAIN ACTIVITIES IN CLASSROOM Essay Organization: An Overview- Comparison Lectures, exercises between Parts of paragraphs and Parts of Essays and practice The Introductory Paragraph: Thesis Statement Lectures, exercises and practice The Body Paragraph Lectures, exercises and practice The Body Paragraph (cont) Lectures, exercises and practice The Concluding Paragraph Lectures, exercises Final thoughts - Unity and practice The Concluding Paragraph- Transitions between Lectures, exercises Paragraphs and practice Grammar and Mechanics: Tenses of Verbs- The use of Lectures, exercises Quotations as concrete supports and practice Preparing an outline for an essay Lectures, exercises and practice Logical Division of Ideas: Generating Ideas for Essays Lectures, exercises Developing a Logical Division Topic- Coherence and practice Logical Division of Ideas: Logical Orders Using Examples for Concrete Supports Lectures, exercises and practice Lectures, exercises and practice Using Examples for Concrete Supports (cont.) Lectures, exercises and practice Grammar and Mechanics: Essays with complex Lectures, exercises sentences using Adjective clauses (defining and non and practice defining) Editing checklist Revision 61 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE TO TEACHERS OF WRITING Dear Sir/Madam, My full name is Le Duc Thinh, a participant in the M.A course at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Ho Chi Minh city I am doing my final graduation thesis entitled “Research on journal writing as an extra activity to improve Lac Hong University second and third-year English students' formal writing skill” This questionnaire aims at collecting some data for my thesis Please spare some of your precious time to answer all of the following questions All of your answers will be very important to the success of my research and will be kept in strict confidence How long have you been teaching writing in EFL? When asking your students to carry out an assignment, a mid-term or a final test on writing, you often □ ask them to write about a given topic? □ let them choose to write about whatever interests them? □ others? What you often ask your students to to practise their EFL writing outside the classroom? □ to homework □ to read and summarize something □ to write journals □ others Do you think how often your students practise their EFL writing outside the classroom? □ Every day □ Every two days 62 □ Some hours a week Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis How much percent are you often satisfied with your students’ writing? Why? When asking your students to write something in the classroom, you recognize that many of your students □ think directly in English □ think in Vietnamese first and then translate into English Thank you so much for your valuable information 63 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE TO STUDENTS Dear students, My full name is Le Duc Thinh, a participant in the M.A course at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Ho Chi Minh city I am doing my final graduation thesis entitled “Research on journal writing as an extra activity to improve Lac Hong University second and third-year English students' formal writing skill” This questionnaire aims at collecting some data for my thesis Please spare some of your precious time to answer all of the following questions Please note that there is no right or wrong answer All of your opinions will be very important to the success of my research and will be kept in strict confidence If the research goes well, you will certainly benefit from it, too Among the four basic skills of English as a foreign language (abbreviated to EFL), which is the most important to you? (You can choose more than one answer.) □ Listening □ Speaking □ Reading □ Writing Among the four basic skills of English, which is the most difficult to you? (You can choose more than one answer.) □ Listening □ Speaking □ Reading □ Writing How often you practise each skill? Listening □ Every day □ Every two days □ Some hours a week Speaking □ Every day □ Every two days □ Some hours a week Reading □ Every day □ Every two days □ Some hours a week Writing □ Every day □ Every two days □ Some hours a week 64 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis How you often practise your writing in EFL outside the classroom? □ Perform assignments □ Read and summary something □ write journals □ others Do you like carrying out your writing assignments? □ Yes Why? □ No Why? When writing in EFL, you often think □ in English directly? □ in Vietnamese first and then translate into English? Thank you so much for your valuable information 65 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX (THE PRE-TRIAL TESTS) The pre-trial test for the second-year students (Class 06AV2 and Class 06AV3) (A paragraph written within 45 minutes) As a responsible citizen, what you think you can to protect your environment from air pollution? The pre-trial test for the third-year students (Class 05AV2 and Class 05AV3) (An essay written within 60 minutes) As a responsible citizen, what you think you can to prevent traffic accidents in your city/hometown? 66 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX (THE POST-TRIAL TESTS) The post-trial test for the second-year students (Class 06AV2 and Class 06AV3) (A paragraph written within 45 minutes) What, in your opinions, are some causes of air pollution in your city/hometown? What can you, as a responsible citizen, to help solve the problem of air pollution? The post-trial test for the third-year students (Class 05AV2 and Class 05AV3) (An essay written within 60 minutes) What, in your opinions, are some causes of traffic accidents in your city/hometown? What can you, as a responsible citizen, to help solve the problem of traffic accidents? 67 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX THE SHEET OF INSTRUCTIONS (GUIDELINES FOR JOURNAL WRITING) What is your journal? It is your diary in which you can spontaneously record (in English) your feelings, thoughts, reactions, questions, events and so on happening around you everyday This means that you are free to write whatever you feel like writing about in your journal; for example, your reflections on a certain lesson, your expectation of a specific class, your difficulties or problems with certain aspects of learning, your ambition, your family, your past experiences, and so forth What you write in your journal will be kept in strict confidence Consequently, not hesitate to write whatever you feel like writing Why should you write journal? It is often said that regular practice makes perfect The more you practise writing in English, the better you write One excellent way for you to practise your writing in English is to keep a daily or almost daily journal Journal writing will bring you great benefits; for instance, it will help you improve your writing skill, especially in terms of accuracy and fluency; your knowledge of vocabulary and grammar; and develop your habit of thinking directly in the foreign language you are learning Therefore, in addition to completing the assigned tasks, you should also keep your own personal journal, and try to write down some ideas everyday, in English, about anything that interests you You will surprise yourself by producing pages and pages of writing, and you will improve your English to a surprising level by writing journal entries every day What are you expected to do? Firstly, buy yourself two notebooks; write at least one journal entry in English in one notebook in your free time (at the break time or at home) every day Each journal entry may be a sentence, a paragraph or even several pages Try to write in English as much as possible about whatever you feel like writing 68 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis If you lack vocabulary to express any idea when writing, not stop to look up your dictionary; just write it in Vietnamese or leave a gap for it, and let your ideas flow until you want to stop Remember to record the time and date under each journal entry After you stop writing, look up your dictionary for the word(s) you have missed (if any) Secondly, reread your previous journal entries every day and self-correct the errors (if you can recognize any) Thirdly, remember to bring your journal with you every Saturday to submit it to the instructor When you submit your first notebook to your instructor, keep writing your journal entries in the other notebook Fourthly, reread your previous journal entries and self-correct the errors (if any) after your instructor returns your first journal notebook to you as well as whenever you get your diary back from your instructor The instructor will underline or highlight the errors in your journal entries and give you corrective suggestions in symbols You should use the attached copy of correction symbols as a checklist to self-correct your own errors Finally, please feel free to ask your instructor for more instructions and explanations whenever you need 69 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX CORRECTION SYMBOL CHECKLIST During the course, the instructor will use these symbols to indicate that you have made errors in your journals Refer to this list to find out what kind of error you have made and then make the necessary correction by yourself MEANING p punctuation word missing cap capitalization v.t verb tense agr subject-verb agreement INCORRECT p p I live, and go to school here, p Where you work sp spelling pl plural I live and go to school here Where you work? I am working in a restaurant I ^working in a restaurant cap cap It is located at main and baker cap cap street in the City v.t v.t I never work as a cashier until I get a job there agr The manager work hard agr There is five employees It is located at Main and Baker Street in the city I had never worked as a cashier until I got a job there The manager works hard There are five employees Everyone works hard Every one works hard make one word or sentence CORRECT We work together, so we have We work together So we have become friends become friends sp The manager is a woman The maneger is a woman pl She treats her employees like She treats her employees like slave slaves My boss she watches everyone all My boss watches everyone all unnecessary word the time the time w.f w.f wrong word form Her voice is irritated Her voice is irritating w.w wrong word The food is delicious Therefore, w.w The food is delicious Besides, the the restaurant is always restaurant is always crowded crowded 70 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis The restaurant’s specialty is fish ref pronoun reference ref error They are always fresh The food is ref delicious Therefore, it is always crowded wrong word order Friday always is our busiest night RO or CS RO Run on OR Lily was fired she is upset Comma splice CS Lily was fired, she is upset The restaurant’s specialty is fish It is always fresh The food is delicious Therefore, the restaurant is always crowded Friday always is our busiest night Lily was fired Therefore, she is upset Lily was fired; therefore, she is upset Because Lily was fired, she is upset She is upset because she was fired frag She was fired because she was She was fired Because she was always late (incomplete sentence) always late frag Fragment T add a transition S subject v verb prep preposition conj conjunction art article She was also careless For example, She frequently spilled She was also careless ^ She coffee on the table frequently spilled coffee on the table S The restaurant is open from 6:00 ^ Is open from 6:00 P.M until the P.M until the last customer leaves last customer leaves v The employees are on time and The employees ^ on time and work work hard hard prep We start serving dinner at 6:00 We start serving dinner ^ 6:00 P.M P.M conj The garlic shrimp, fried clams, The garlic shrimp, fried clams, ^ and broiled lobster are the most broiled lobster are the most popular popular dishes dishes art Diners expect a glass of water Diners expect ^glass of water when when they first sit down at the art table they first sit down at ^ table T Symbol for a paragraph [Oshima & Hogue, 1991:209] 71 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX MARKING CRITERIA FOR PRE-TRIAL AND POST TRIAL TESTS Organization of contents: 2.0 marks Ideas: 1.5 marks Vocabulary: 1.5 marks Accuracy: 3.0 marks Fluency: 2.0 marks TOTAL: 10 MARKS 72 Le Duc Thinh M.A Thesis APPENDIX 10 POST-QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE STUDENTS IN THE TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS Do you like writing journals? □ Yes □ No Is journal writing useful to you? □ Yes □ No How much time you often spend writing journal entries every day? □ About an hour □ Less than 25 minutes □ About half an hour When writing journal entries or any other activities in EFL, you often think □ in English directly □ in Vietnamese first and then translate into English? Will you keep on writing journals in the future? □ Yes □ No Thank you so much for your valuable information 73 ... these assumptions that urge me to carry out this study "Research on journal writing as an extra activity to improve Lac Hong University second and third- year English students'' formal writing skill" ... the thesis submitted today entitled: RESEARCH ON JOURNAL WRITING AS AN EXTRA ACTIVITY TO IMPROVE LAC HONG UNIVERSITY SECOND AND THIRD- YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ FORMAL WRITING SKILL In terms of the... their language abilities and writing becomes an enjoyable and pleasant task for both students and teachers.” When writing becomes ? ?an enjoyable and pleasant task”, it will encourage students to write