Effects of creative writing on writing skill improvement for first year students in ibd program at neu

M IN IS T R Y O F E D U C A T IO N A N D T R A IN IN G Ha N oi U n iversity T R A N T H I P H U O N G H IE N EFFECTS OF CREATIVE WRITING ON WRITING SKILL IMPROVEMENT FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN IBD PROGRAM AT NEU SUBM ITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLM ENT OF REQUIREM ENTS OF THE DEGREE OF M ASTER IN TESOL S U P E R V IS O R ’S N A M E : N G O T U Y E T M A I, M E D THÖN& TH!/VIEN ü VV-WHNirÖC.-ifiOAf u,v ; J H anoi - O ctob er, 2009 ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS Firstly, I w ould like to acknow ledge and express my deep gratitude and sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Ms Ngo Tuyet M ai, M Ed for her intensive revisions, patient guidance, encouragem ent, insightful suggestions and kind support throughout my research Secondly, my special thanks go to Dr Vu Van Dai and Ms N guyen Thai Ha, M Ed o f the D epartm ent o f Postgraduate Studies for their constant support and concern while the w ork was in progress Thirdly, I also w ish to thank all my colleagues for the stim ulating and creative work environm ent; and my students at N ational Econom ics U niversity for their interest, creativity and kind assistance during the tim e I collected data for the study Finally, I am deeply indebted to all the support and encouragem ent that my family has so lovingly offered me A B ST R A C T Writing skill is one o f the most difficult skills in learning and teaching foreign languages in general and in English in particular In fact, many teachers find it hard to make writing lessons inspiring and enjoyable This study aims at exploring the links between teaching creative writing through short stories and poem s and stu d en ts' writing skill improvement and its effects on the first year IBD students ’ writing skill improvement at intermediate level o f English proficiency at National Economics University (NEU) An experimental research was chosen to carry out for the study.50 students were divided into groups (the experimental and the control group) o f 25 participated in the study Both o f two groups are given the pre-test to make sure that they are pretty much o f writing level The experimental group was taught by the researcher using creative writing activities to teach them writing lessons The control group however was taught through a different writing course o f traditional writing activities suggested in the designed syllabus After the experiment time, the post test was used to measure stu d en ts' writing skill improvement The data collected fro m the pre-test and post-test results was com puted and analyzed by means o f t-tests, using paired-sam ple and independent-sample t-tests A t the end o f this course, questionnaires are distributed to get these stu d en ts' feed b a ck on the evaluation o f w riting in general and creative writing in particular with suggestions and comments to make the course better This study shows that using creative writing through short stories and poem s are o f great benefits fo r both teachers and students It helps teachers create an enjoyable and creative writing learning environment which m otivates students to learn writing lessons Students can therefore improve their w riting ability, vocabulary and enrich their imagination as well Creative writing through short stories and poem s is therefore highly recom mended being used in English language classrooms TABLE OF CONTENT A C K N O W L E D G E M EN TS I A BSTR A C T II TABLE OF CO NTENT I ll LIST OF A B B R E V IA T IO N S V LIST OF T A B L E S VI LLIST OF FIGURESIST OF FIG URES VI CHAPTER 1: INTRO DUCTIO N 1.1 Rationale .1 1.2 Statement o f problems 1.3 Purpose o f the study 1.4 The significance o f the s tu d y 1.5 The organization o f the th e sis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE R E V IE W .6 2.1 W ritin g 2.1.1 Definitions o f w riting 2.1.2 Types o f writing 2.2 Creative w riting 2.2.1 Definitions o f creative w riting 2.2.2 Types o f Creative W ritin g .9 2.2.4 Creative writing m ethodologies in ELT classroom s 13 2.2.5 W riting poem and short stories in the classroom 14 2.3 S u m m ary 17 CHAPTER 3: M ETH ODOLOG Y 18 3.1 Experimental research 18 3.2 Subjects o f the s tu d y 18 3.3 Procedures 19 3.3.1 Designing pre-test and p o s t-te st 21 3.3.2 Schedule o f the main activities for the study 22 3.3.3 Q uestionnaires 23 3.4 Description o f data analysis tools 24 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND F IN D IN G S 26 4.1 Influences o f applied activities on experimental students 26 4.2 The results o f the writing tests .28 4.2.1 The test results o f the control group 28 4.2.2 The test results o f the experimental group 30 4.2.3 The test results between control and experimental groups 32 4.3 Discussion o f the test results 35 4.4 Questionnaire an alysis 37 4.4.2 Students’ attitude toward Creative Writing o f short stories and poetry 38 4.4.3 Students’ difficulties when approaching creative w riting 41 4.4.4 Suggestions on course improvement 42 4.5 Summary 44 CHAPTER 5: RECO M M ENDATIONS AND C O N C L U SIO N 45 5.1 Recommendations 45 5.2 Conclusion .47 R EFER ENC ES 49 Appendix 1: Definitions o f ten types o f creative w riting 52 Appendix 2: Description o f applied activities 53 Appendix 3: Sam ple tests and marking schem es 57 Appendix 4: Stories o f “The Goose and the Golden Egg” and “The Boy and the N uts” 60 A ppendix 5: Q uestionnaire 62 Appendix 6: Students’ real w o r k 66 Appendix 7: Suggested websites for creative w riting id eas 79 Appendix 8: Some other Poetry’s perspective 80 Appendix 9: Pre-test and post-test results 81 Appendix 10: Response results o f questionnaires 84 LIS T O F A B B R E V IA T IO N S NEU: National Economics University 1BD: International Business Department EFL: English as s Foreign Language CG: Students o f control group EG: Students o f experimental group L2: Second language SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences M: Mean P: Probability value SD: Standard Deviation v LIST O F T A B LE S Table 1: Four forms o f writing Table 2: Five factors o f language learning framework Table 3: Design o f the main study Table 4\ Pre- and Post- test Results o f the Control Group Table 5: Pre- and Post-test Results o f the Experimental Group Table 6: Test Results between Control group and Experimental Group Table 7: The Section Test Results between Control Group (CG) and Experimental Group (EG) Table 8: Creative W riting activities students enjoyed most Table 9: Students’ suggestions for improvement LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Pre- and Post- test Results o f the Control Group Figure 5.1: Pre- and Post-test Results o f the Experimental Group Figure 6.1: Test Results between Control group and Experimental Figure 7.1: The Section Test Results between Control Group (CG) and Group Experimental Group (EG) Figure 8: Students’ attitude towards writing in general Figure 9: Students’ attitude toward creative writing in general Figure 10: Attitudes o f students toward Creative W riting o f short stories and poems Figure 11: Difficulties in doing Creative W riting activities o f short stories and poems C H A P T E R 1: IN T R O D U C T IO N 1.1 R ation ale W riting is considered one o f the most enjoyable and satisfying activities for both teachers and students to together in a foreign language classroom, especially in an English classroom, especially in a foreign language classroom Olson (1998) compared writing to fishing People who are good at fishing should therefore study and practice it They learn which tools to use for catching the best fish in different types o f water In fact, no one is bom with fishing talents Some people may enjoy it more than others, but everyone can it if they want to Writing is pretty m uch similar as it requires practice, tools and motivation W riting helps students achieve academic mastery or academic success W riting is usually a matter o f concerns for students when they are at school Not all students find it easy to express their ideas in written form even in their m other tongue, not to mention in a second or foreign language So how to encourage students in such as way to make them feel comfortable in writing in their second language is a question for teachers to make effort to answer W hen a student writes something, it means that his or her writing is a product o f a thinking process from brains storming ideas to writing them on papers And he or she expects that his or her writing product should be better or more interesting than others His or her writing is required to be more creative to make differentiation in the mind o f readers According to Rozakis (1997), creative writing is writing that expresses the writer's thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique, and poetic way And creative writing is guided more by the writer's need to express feelings and ideas than by restrictive demands o f factual and logical progression o f required writing under orders o f teachers or rules o f courses/programs This is one o f the reasons why creative writing can be used as a tool to inspire students and get them involved in the second language In many ways, it can help students improve their academic writing skills as required by the program Though it is hard to have a clear definition o f creative writing, it can simply refer to writing o f short stories or poetry rather than o f essays or thesis In creative writing, meaning bursts out o f the words used, and meanings come as much from the heart as from the mind Having attended the latest workshop on creative writing hosted by Hanoi University in 2007, the researcher was attracted by presenters coming from a w'ide range o f countries and teaching contexts who have an enthusiasm for creative writing, which inspired the researcher so much about the impacts o f creative writing on removing fear to wTite something in L2 With the desire and enthusiasm to make students improve writing skill through creative writing, the researcher wants to conduct an experimental research on teaching writing creatively and believes that course will gain a significant success Concerning creative writing, there are various text types available for use Each type has its own purposes, advantages and disadvantages According to Rozakis (1997) there are top ten types o f Creative W riting including article, autobiography, biography, drama, essays, fantasy, novels, poetry, short stories and song lyrics (see Appendix for description o f these types) However, not all ten text types o f creative writing are equally interesting or m otivating for students Drama, fantasy and song lyrics not seem to be favored in the writing curriculum because it takes a lot o f time to understand them, and it is difficult for students to master them for a short time o f twelve weeks For four other types o f autobiography, biography, articles and novels, they seem to be too tough for both students to write in L2 and teachers to find the sources and design suitable activities This research has therefore decided to choose poetry and short stories to design activities for students during writing lessons in class as both o f these two text types are very fam iliar to students In addition, it is believed that sources o f short stories and poetry are various, and students will find it motivating to understand short stories and poems and interesting to write Though it might be argued that poetry or/and short stories are not always easy to write even in m other tongue, this research proves that as long as teachers are provided with suitable teaching methodologies they can make it an easy and effective activity 1.2 Statement of problems The first problem o f writing classes is the lack o f flexible and relaxing ways o f writing A writing classroom in university contexts often starts with and focuses on writing for academic purposes because teachers always expect their students to be able to use their writing to present information under the rules o f academic writing that displays a clear understanding o f a subject in assignments W riting teachers seem Love poem s LOVE IN SILEN C E CO NFU SING LOVE He wrote me letters He met me in restaurant He sent m e flow ers I d o n 't rem em ber what I said He said how love o f silence was I d o n ’t rem em ber how we met W e m et He never w rote letters to me He took me to the park In silence in park I took flowers He took me the restaurant I love flow ers most But I d o n 't rem em ber He never spoke to me We never spoke But w hat was love he sent to me anyw ay H e m ost w as in silence anyw ay LO V E BY C H A N C E IS IT LOVE? In silence I m et him in the park He never sent me flowers W e spoke w hat love was He never wrote m e letters I never said it but I said it to him He never spoke o f love I rem em ber it w as the park o f W e met in the parks restaurant W hat I rem em ber? R em em ber w hat flow ers he took I rem em ber how he said it H e w rote letters to me In the restaurant H ow I love flow ers he sent to me The m ost o f it w as silence anyway 72 Acting in the story (Thuy Giang) If I were that couple, after that situation, I would take for m yself a valuable lesson That is, you should know how to feel happy with which you are having D on't be too hurry or greedy to get things immediately If you have some luck in your life, just satisfy with them D on't require much that is not yours And anther lesson form this story is everything you can get in your life should be done step by step If you have patience, you will be the winner Especially, I would not try to hope another goose which has golden egg would come to me I w ould work hard to save for the future and not live on any luckiness (Kim Chi) If I w ere the little boy in the story “The boy and the N uts’' I would be ashamed o f myself I were not be so greedy, just took two or three nuts If I kept on a big handful, I would never take my hand out o f the neck o f the jar It was really an interesting and unforgettable lesson for me, especially, the little boy in this story “We should take what we really want D on’t be so greedy because it will harm to us.” (Thu Hang) I learned a lot o f things since I followed my m other’s advice My mom said that som etim es we were so greedy to realize the simplest things If I had been more patient I w ould have found out another way to get it easily For instance, I could take a ja r o f nuts and then poured it down M oreover, we seem to be blind in front o f these things w e’d love to So after this situation, I realized that even we like it very much, we also should take it slowly Be slow but sure In m ore depth we can manage the work smoothly This story o f “The boy and the N uts” not only taught me about this situation but also taught me to have more personality in every work, especially in business Everybody also has character o f greed but we have to control it and manage it (N guyen Thi Tham) How poor I am! I didn't think o f this situation and the only thing I thought about was gold and gold From now on, I will not have a golden egg everyday, but losing eggs gives me an invaluable lesson which is more precious than gold It’s: Greedy and impatience will lead you to bad result Now, all I have to is cooking a big meal with the goose and encouraging my 73 husband to work hard tor a better life I will tell him that we can 't be rich w ithout working Then will find a secret place to cry for my stupid T h at's all (Hoai Phuong) If I w ere the couple: A fter we cut the goose but nothing was inside the goose, we really felt disappointed At that time, w e w ished that we h ad n 't grabbed the goose and we h ad n 't been greedy And we also realized that we thought silly when we decided to cut the goose If we h ad n 't done that, we would have been rich H owever, after this tim e we had a lesson We shouldn’t be greedy And we had to control ourselves before property; on the other hand, if we w ant to be rich, we have to work by ourselves Therefore, my husband and I decided to use the golden eggs which the goose laid for doing business By this way, we could make fortune C ollaborative poem s She Is so cool The m o th er sh o u ted a t th e boy The pool is clean She said: “D on’t play w ith this toy” Since I have swum in Any boy has own choices Teen girls like that There are available things as noise I t ’s interesting, like p la yin g Raise is not the only one oi cards available things And you m ust be extrem ely sm art But I still like listening to these rings To answer all questions B ring me away w ith you ashed Look! I’m cute M ark the best thing 74 I like autumn Sum m er goes, w inter comes Elders die, children are born Just because I like warm and sunny days Ending old things, opening new things Falling leaves bring me m em ories That is always true in every aspect o f Love is as sw eet as cherries life We are very surprised when he W hat is this kind? m arries It is the know ledge o f mine Let me phone him to check it The sun shines everyday We will go out to eat Starting a day with a smile A fter th at w e l l have our f ir s t kiss “Parents never s a y ” Parents never say: “Do you need m ore m oney?” Parents never say: “Stop studying” Parents never say: “Do w hat you w ant” Parents never say: “Go and buy some new clothes” Parents never say: “Sleep m ore and go to school late” Parents never say: “Sons are better than girls” Parents never say: “This society is fair” Parents never say: “M oney is everything!” Parents never say: “Living is w aiting” 10 Parents never say: “Go out to play” 11 Parents never say: “Love som eone, please!” 75 12 Parents never say: "Here is my money! Take it, take it to buy everything you w ant.” 13 Parents never say: “Give me your hug!"' 14 Parents never say: “You are the most intelligent in the w orld” 15 Parents never say: “Leave me as soon as you can'’ 16 Parents never say: “You have grown up, should you think about you own family?” 17 Parents never say: “Make love before getting m arried'’ 18 Parents never say: “I would succeed without trying.” 19 Parents never say: “Your life depends on God.” 20 Parents never say: “I d on’t want you to be bom ” 21 Parents never say: “I love you” 22 Parents never say: “You are like a m onkey” 23 Parents never say: “We like the boy you are dating” 24 Parents never say: “Stay at home and get m arried.” 25 Parents never say: “You can get trial m arriage” The person I adm ire From Quoc Huy D ear Phuong I haven't seen you for a long time How have you been recently? I’m sorry for not writing email to you quite often In the last email you sent to me, you asked me a lot about my student’s life and you said that you really wanted to know who is the person I admire most My answer is my father My father is a w onderful person I always adm ire him and the standard o f my future husband is like him He is always strict with his two children but he loves them so much He is not well-educated; however, he always knows how to teach his children to become a useful person Now his two children are studying at the top universities o f the country It is the 76 biggest present he gets in his life I always want to say I adm ire him so m uch but have never said to him about that I know that he understands how much I love him - my great father And what about you? Tell me about your adm irable person I'm looking forward to hearing from you m iss you so much Loves Huy From N guyen Thi Loan Hi puppy Hope everything goes well with you I’m in w riting class and m y teacher asked m e to write an email to tell about the person I adm ire m ost and I want to share w ith you about my adm irable person © My ‘celebrity’ is my sister I alw ays w onder why she is so kind, so intelligent, and so beautiful She alw ays helps other people She learns so well, sings so beautifully I like listening to her voice In addition, she is the m ost beautiful girl in her class She is also a good cook Som etim es, she teaches me how to cook a meal I feel I’m so lucky when having a sister like her I want to come to see you but I’m quite busy now W hen I have free tim e I will com e to you, my dear friend Love you so m uch Loan From Bui Thi Hoan Hi Trang I m iss you so m uch H ow about your student life and university? A re they good? M y student life is com fortable but som etim es I m iss m y family I m iss m y m other so much You know, my m other is the person I love most She has been passing a great num ber o f difficulties, but she always keeps standing uprights w ith w arm smiles She always reminds me that w henever I meet obstacle, le t’s try to find the w ay to get through it, don’t wait with 77 claim K eeping her face in m ind I never feel lonely when being tired or bored If only had capability to give her all the best to make her healthier and live with me forever W ish the wind to bring her my love I hope, next week when I com e back hom e with my m other I can see you at that time Keep contact with me From Tran T h u y Lan D ear my penpal oday I want to share w ith you about the person I adm ire most She is one o f my friends She was bom in a poor family Her father died w hen she was a small child Her m other had a serious illness, so she had to work hard to help her mother However, she is always an excellent student She alw ays has good m arks for her exam s M oreover, she is w illing to help other people and participate into the social activities I adm ire her because o f her effort and her bravery Som etim es, I ask m y self if I w ere her should I be able to overcom e such difficulties But nonsense I am because nobody wants to suffer from that case And you, you have your ow n adm irable person? Share w ith me Loves 78 Appendix 7: Suggested websites for creative w riting ideas http://www.creativewritingprom pts.com http://ww w eduplace.eom /kids/hm e/k 5/brightideas/ http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/engIish/creative.htm http://ww w greatsource.eom /iwrite/students/s topics.html http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/write-creative-writing-language-practice http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/cinquain.htm l http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/write/discursive write.shtml 79 Appendix 8: Som e other Poetry’s perspective2 "Poetry is to with moments " - Robin M archesi "Poetry to me is a com plete release o f m y unhappiness, joys, a n d my inner soul whispers " - M asenn Jonsin "Poetry is the expression in language o f all that is beautiful, painful, real, and im agined that m akes life worth living " - Theresa K ing "The written fo r m o f self [and even i f I hate the words, I can't deny the letters]" - Jacklyn Bennet "Poetry is the highest fo r m o f hum an expression " - Dave Charlon "Poetry is the voice o f the id's insanity - needed to keep the subconscious' dem ons from surfacing in other m alignant form s " - Christine A nn Kelley "Poetry is The echo's o f life The souls voice Em otional hieroglyphics" - B R Jording "Poetry to me is an outlet It is the only w ay I can express m y inner m ost thoughts and feelings and still be able to fe e l g o o d a n d sm ile." - Jody K uperavage "Poetry is the bleeding o f a p o e t's soul, a release o f emotions " - M arie h ttp ://w w w s h a d o w p o e trv.co m /re so u rce s/in tro h tm l 80 Total 09 80 80 80 70 70 70 80 09 -* c/3 in — o rO m (N m o O (N o o fN un Cn I —i m CN o CN m ■—1 o O (N o (N O ’—11 m '—■1 m i— in >—1 o o o r- CN »—• in CN o CN in >—i to in »—I m >—i in o I—1 r-H o o t/i Q O k Ü o u c o r \ vj "5 5« a> QÄ i/5 V H ■w » •W O u cu a> T3 w C/5 in '—1 m »—1 in o (N o