Using free writing as a prewiting technique for efl learners

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI HUONG USING FREE WRITING AS A PREWRITING TECHNIQUE FOR EFL LEARNERS MATER THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN - 2016 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI HUONG USING FREE WRITING AS A PREWRITING TECHNIQUE FOR EFL LEARNERS Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60.14.01.11 MATER THESIS IN EDUCATION Suppervisor: Dr TRAN THI NGOC YEN NGHE AN - 2016 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the thesis entitled “Using free writing as a pre-writing technique for EFL learners ” is the result of my own work, and that the thesis or my any parts of the same has not been submitted to any university or institution Vinh, August 2016 Author’s signature Bui Thi Huong i ABSTRACT Students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism College have many difficulties in learning English especially the writing skill How to help students to write English better has always been a triggering question for teachers at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College Free writing in the pre-writing phase is considered as a new strategy applied in teaching the writing skill It was one of the popular methods used during the late 1960s and early 1970s (Fox & Suhor, 1986) to improve writing fluency Research in this area has concentrated on the effect of free writing as a prewriting teachnique on learners’writing accuracy and fluency To evaluate this, an experimental design was conducted After teaching the eight writing sessions, the learners are supposed to write a topic Their writing skill was tested and their achievements were recorded Three comparisons were made: the comparison between the average total score of eight sessions for both groups, the comparison between the average total score of the last session and the average total score of the first session and the comparison between the average of the second half sessions and the average of the first half sessions in term of means and standard deviations It was found that the experimental group outperformed the control one ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, for her kind help, careful guidance, valuable advice and encouragement from the first draft till the completed thesis I am also grateful to my colleagues and students of K20 D1 and K20 D2 at Nghe An vocational college who helped me to finish the study I wish to thank my parents and my loved family who love, support and encourage me a lot in the production of this thesis Finally, I am too aware that despite all the advice and assistance, the thesis is far from perfect, it is, therefore, my sole responsibilities for any inadequacies that it may be considered to have iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Design of the thesis CHAPTER II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Writing instruction 2.1.1 Product writing and process writing 2.1.2 Stages in a writing lesson 10 2.2 Pre-writing 13 iv 2.2.1 The importance of pre-writing 13 2.2.2 Pre-writing techniques 15 2.3 Free writing 19 2.3.1 Definition 19 2.3.2 Benefits of free-writing 22 2.3.3 Free writing in EFL classrooms 25 2.4 Assessing writing ability 30 2.4.1 Principles for assessing writing ability 30 2.4.2 Indicators of writing ability 40 2.4.3 Methods to assess writing ability 51 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 59 3.1 Study setting 59 3.2 Participants 60 3.2.1 The Control Group 60 3.2.2 The Experimental Group 61 3.2.3 Resemblance 61 3.3 Materials 62 3.3.1 The general English test 62 3.3.2 Pre-test 63 v 3.3.3 Post-test 63 3.4 Procedure 64 3.4.1 Procedure for the Guided Freewriting Practice 66 3.4.2 Quantitative analysis of pre- and post-tests 67 CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 68 4.1 Results from the experiment 68 4.1.1 General English test 68 4.1.2 Pre-test results 69 4.1.3 Fluency Changes between the last session and in the first session in Freewriting 71 4.1.4 Post-test results 72 4.1.5 Post-test differences 76 4.1.6 A comparison of pre- and post-test results for each group 75 4.1.6.1 Means 75 4.1.6.2 Distribution of score types 78 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 79 5.1 Summary of findings 79 5.2 Implications 80 5.3 Limitations 81 vi 5.4 Suggestions for further research 81 REFERENCES 82 APPENDIX A 87 GERERAL ENGLISH TEST 87 APPENDIX B PRE-TEST FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS 90 APPENDIX C POST -TEST FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS 91 APPENDIX D…………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………….92 (RUBRIC FOR GRADING PRETEST AND POST-TEST) 92 APPENDIX E (SAMPLE WRITINGS OF PRETEST AND POSTTEST DONE BY STUDENT ) 93 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ELLs: English language learners viii required The teachers’ duty is to help students to find out the method of learning the writing skill efficiently The study was carried out among 40 freshmen of Food processing students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism vocational college The finding show that there was a statistically significant difference in means score and standard deviations of eight tests for both control group and experimental group who had started at the same level as the general test score indicated This means that the participants who used free writing in pre -writing technique made more significant improvement in their writing skill compared to those who did not use this technique This work of research may pave the way for further future predictions 5.2 Implications The teacher should choose the appropriate forms and methods of teaching into different personalities and learning styles of learners Freewriting can be a valuable tool to use with students, as it can be used to encourage them to write frequently in lectures and tutorials, and outside of them; to promote the use of writing as a method of discovering what they know and think, and where their gaps are; to make writing in an academic setting less pressured, and more relaxed and even enjoyable, which will hopefully lead to less stress around their more high-stakes writing assignments Freewriting can be used in relation to revision and recall of lectures; to promote and activate critical thinking and questioning; and to work through essay writing and assignment writing tasks There are many ways in which freewriting can be used in large and small lecture halls, as well as in tutorials The most important things to remember when using freewriting is that the exercises need to be timed and focused, students must use all of the time for writing and must be encouraged to so as freely as possible, and the exercises must be low-stakes and aimed at learning, thinking and development, and not at assessment 80 5.3 Limitations Despite the significant findings of the study in in term using free writing as pre –writing technique for EFL adulter learners, it should be admitted that the study has following limitations The first limitation is the size of the experiment, the study involves two groups of 40 participants Therefore, only 20 participants received the experimental treatment We could not make sure whether or not the similar effect can happen to a bigger size of students The second limitation is that we used only tests on the experimental process for both groups Consequently, we also could not make sure whether or not the similar effect can happen to an experiment which consists of more than tests 5.4 Suggestions for further research The findings and limitations of the study indicate some suggestions for further research.The first suggestion is to replicate this study with a bigger size The second, we should replicate the study with using more than tests to increase the reliability in the treatment process 81 REFERENCES Adams, V A (1971).A study of the effects 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Click on the notice to select it ( points) Part 2: Read the sentences about cleaning the house Choose the best word for each space.(6 points) Martina decided to her house a spring clean A give B have C get First Martina _ all her clothes away in the cupboard A put B cleaned C took She _ all her old toys and games to a second hand shop A brought B got C took She tidied _ her books and papers A out B up C down 87 She some fresh flowers on the shelf A bought B got C put She put new on the bed A curtains B carpets C blankets Part 3: Read the article about two sisters Are the sentences ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’? If there is not enough information to answer ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’, choose ‘Doesn’t say’.( points ) Something very strange happened to Tamara She never knew she had a twin sister until she started university! Tamara was born in Mexico Her parents could not look after her so she went to live with a family inManhattan, USA When Tamara was twenty years old, she started university in Long Island She enjoyed her university life But one day she was walking home from class, and a student smiled at her “Hello Adriana!” said the student “I’m not Adriana,” said Tamara This happened to Tamara again and again People Tamara didn’t know kept calling her Adriana It was very strange One day, when a woman called her Adriana, Tamara asked “Why you keep calling me Adriana?” The woman replied, “You look like my friend Adriana You have the same face and the same hair Is Adriana your sister?” Tamara said that she did not have a sister called Adriana But she was interested in this girl Adriana Finally she asked someone for Adriana’s email address When Tamara wrote to Adriana, she found out that they both had the same birthday, they looked the same and both of them were from Mexico.When Tamara went to live with the family in Manhattan, Adriana moved to Long Island to live with a family there It had to be true! Adriana and Tamara were twin sisters! Tamara and her sister were both born in Mexico A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say Tamara’s parents moved from Mexico to Manhattan A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say People called Tamara “Adriana” many times A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 88 Adriana wrote to Tamara first A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say Adriana always knew she had a twin sister A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say Part 4: Make complete with the word(s) given ( points ) It / long / time / that /I / not / see / her It / so / late / that / nothing / be done We / help / laugh / him I / will / drop / you / team / if/ not / train / harder Like / women / she / love / tea-party / gossip I / see / plane / crash / hill / burst / flames Turn / oven / so that / meat / not bum 89 APPENDIX B PRE-TEST FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS (45 mins) TASK 1: Make complete sentence, using the suggested phrase given at the beginning of the sentence (10 points ) "Why don't you complain to the company, Peter?" said William William suggested He started to play the guitar five years ago He has , TASK 2: Introduce about yourself (40 points ) 90 APPENDIX C POST -TEST FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS (45 mins) TASK : Using the suggested phrase given at the beginning of the sentence (10 points) I won't swim in the sea because it is too cold The sea is not 2."I was not there at the time," he said He denied TASK 2: Introduce your family (40 points ) 91 APPENDIX D (RUBRIC FOR GRADING PRETEST AND POST-TEST) Writing Test Checklist Task 1: (10 points ) Task 2: (40 points ) Organization (18 points) Student: Conclusion…………………………………………….…… … /6 Content (10 points) Organization Total /18 Example…………… ………………….………… /2 Content Total /10 Language Use (12 points) Subject-Verb, Singular - Plural (Third person- Tense…………………………………… ….………… /2 Language Use Total /6 Mechanic (6 points) errors…… length………………………………………… /2 Mechanics Total /6 TOTAL POINTS /50 92 APPENDIX E (SAMPLE WRITINGS OF PRETEST AND POSTTEST DONE BY STUDENT ) Pre-test (Topic: About yourself ) First of all , thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to tell about my self with you I am Nhat Minh, I am 20 years old and I am a students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism vocational college My hobbies is painting, singing, click some random pictures and web designing my strength is that I am Punctual, hardworker, team player and I can also work under pressure My weakness is that I am very impatient person but sometime this weakness become good for me because of I am impatient, I finish my work before time to see result of my hardwork as soon as possible Thank You (4.13 WPM) Post-test (Topic: About My Family) My family has three members, father, mother, and I We are small family Some family have more than four persons, I think this very big family My parents are the best persons in my life They always take care and look after me since I was young We’re happily and enjoy together We usually travelling, eating, dancing and talking So, my family is the most wonderful My parents have a hair shop They usually get up at 4.30 am They hard work for me, I know Everyday, I will follow to the hair shop because I can’t get up early My shop usually close every Sunday We will go to Big C, Lotus, etc for shopping My mom likes cooking and she does it very well My father likes see a movie And I like everything Every summer, we go to the beach and find the food store for eating, somewhere very taste, somewhere not We ever been to the pub My parents need me to tries because they don’t want me go with my 93 friends Maybe they’re different another parents So, they can be my friends, teachers, and parents They‟re the best persons for me Therefore, my family very warm because my mom and dad always still beside me They never judge me and angry me when I something wrong I can’t find the persons who lie them I’m really impress and happy that I have them I think my parents always the best persons for me (8.3 WPM) Note: For both tests, pseudonym was used, and few nouns were changed without affecting a total number of words to protect the student 94 ... (topic, ideas, and macrostructure given; topic and ideas given; and topic given); and the draft availability factor had levels (draft available vs draft unavailable) using their writing task proficiency... invesitingtigation by providing for a separate consideration of assessment as applied to each of the four language skills; clearly assessment of language proficiency as a total package also is of great... was manipulated using three factors: (1) availability of planning time; (2) provision of ideas and macro-structure; and (3) draft availability All participants were randomly assigned to the above