An analysis of the errors made by second year students at hanoi university of business and technology in their writing paper

*議 s І Ж І І ! s t I I I l ä j i l f l i EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY HANOI UNIVERSITY LE THI THANH HUONG DESIGNING A WRITING SYLLABUS FOR THE SECOND YEAR MAJOR STUDENTS AT LANG SON COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN TESOL SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THAI HA, M.ED Ha Noi - April 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would lik e to express my thanks and great gratitude to a large number o f people who have constantly helped me w ith m y research work I would like to express m y deep gratitude to m y supervisor Nguyễn Thái Hà fo r her patient and invaluable guidance, in sig h tfu l comments and kind support through out m y research I also w ish to thank a ll the sta ff members o f the Department o f post-graduate, Hanoi U niversity fo r providing me the best environment and conditions to fu lfill m y thesis I w ould lik e to thank m y friends, m y colleagues and m y students at Lang Son College o f Education fo r their enthusiastic support and constructive suggestions in com pleting my research I am also indebted to the Rector and vice-rector o f Lang Son College o f Education who always ind ire ctly took care and helped me during this course F in a lly I owe the com pletion o f this study to a ll members o f m y fa m ily who gave me the love, care, tolerance and encouragement throughout the study ABSTRACT The present study aims to propose a w ritin g syllabus fo r the second year m ajor students at Lang Son College o f Education in order to help them im prove their w ritin g skills, fu lfill course objectives and meet the requirements o f the new English textbook when teaching English at ju n io r secondary schools The study begins w ith the review o f the relevant literature It continues w ith an investigation o f the students' target needs and learning needs to id e n tify areas to be developed in the syllabus This is follow ed by an investigation into the teaching situation to id e n tify the needs that English school teachers at the ju n io r secondary schools meet F in a lly, it concludes w ith a proposed w ritin g syllabus and some recommendations T h irty second year m ajor students at LCE and tw enty ex-students at ju n io r secondary schools in Lang Son c ity participated in survey questionnaires The analysis o f two sets o f documents relating to: the ’’ English Language Training Program '’ fo r m ajor students at LCE and the " Guidelines fo r A pplication o f the New E nglish Textbook" fo r ju n io r secondary schools were explored In addition, the lis t o f criteria fo r տշՄassessment o f w ritin g a b ility issued by Am erican Council fo r the teaching o f foreign languages was used The thesis concludes w ith a proposal fo r a second year w ritin g syllabus, recommendations fo r assessment, m aterial selections and designing w ritin g techniques and strategies TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS I A B STR A C T II TABLE OF CONTENTS Ill LỈÍST OF ABBREVIATIONS V LỈIST OF TABLES VI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 B a c k g r o u n d t o t h e s t u d y 1.1.1 Current teaching and learning writing at Lang Son college o f education (LCE) 1.1.2 The new English textbook for junior secondary school 1.2 AIMS o f t h e s t u d y 1.3 S co pe o f t h e s t u d y 1.4 S ig n if ic a n c e o f t h e s t u d y 1.5 O r g a n iz a t io n o f t h e t h e s is .5 CH APTER 2: LITERATURE R EV IEW 2.1 W r it in g in E n g l is h 2.1.1 The role o f writing in the language teaching and learning .7 Ĩ I.2Writingskills 2.1.3 Types o f written language 2.1.4 Writing tasks or writing activities 10 2.1.5 The difficulties in learning writing 11 2.2 A p p r o a c h e s t o c o u r s e d e s ig n 14 2.2.1 Language- centered course design 14 2.2.2 Skills- centered course design .15 2.2.3 A learning - centered approach 15 ： 2.3 A p p ro a c h e s t o s y lla b u s d e s ig n .16 2.3.1 What is a syllabus? 16 2.3.2 Types o f syllabi .18 Ձ N e e d s a n a l y s is 21 2.4.1 Needs analysis and the importance o f implementing a needs analysis 21 2.4.2 Information for the needs analysis 22 CHÍAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 24 D e s c r ip t io n o f t h e s u b j e c t s .24 3.1.1 The students (teacher trainees) .24 3.1.2 The school teachers .24 3.2 D a t a c o l l e c t io n in s t r u m e n t s 25 3.2.1 Document analysis .25 3.2.2 Questionnaires 25 3.3 D a t a c o l l e c t io n p r o c e d u r e s 26 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 27 4.1 T a r g e t n e e d s 27 4.1.1 Results from document analysis .27 4.1.2 Results from Questionnaire 29 4.2 L e a r n in g n e e d s 31 4.2.1 Results from students' questionnaire .31 4.2.2 Results from teachers at JSSs questionnaire 35 4.3 M a j o r f in d in g s 41 CHAPTER 5: A PROPOSED WRITING SYLLABUS AND CONCLUSION .44 5.1 P r o p o s e d s y l l a b u s 44 5.1.1 Objectives o f the writing syllabus 44 5.1.2 Content o f the writing syllabus 44 5.2 R e c o m m e n d a t io n s 50 5.2.1 Recommendation on testing writing ability 50 5.2.2 Recommended materials 52 5.2.3 Recommendation on teaching methodology 53 5.2.4 Recommendation on teaching strategies 54 5.3 C o n c l u s io n 54 REFERENCES 57 APPENDIX 60 APPENDIX 63 APPENDIX ЗА 66 APPENDIX 3B 72 APPENDIX 78 APPENDIX 5A 82 APPENDIX 5B 84 APPENDIX 86 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A C TFL: Am erican C ouncil fo r the teaching o f foreign languages JSS: Junior Secondary School LCE: Lang Son College o f Education М О ЕТ: M in istry o f Education and Training NCTE: National C ouncil o f Teacher o f English RSA: Royal Society o f A rt LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The allocated tim e to different subjects in English Language Training Program fo r m ajor students at LCE Table 2: The importance o f the w ritin g skills fo r students Table 3: The frequency o f problem students have w ith the skills Table 4: The w ritin g skills students want to develop Table 5: The students' educational background Table 6: Students' reasons fo r learning w ritin g skills Table 7: Students' se lf evaluation on their level o f w ritin g Table 8: Students' self-perceived d ifficu ltie s when w ritin g a text in English Table 9: Students’ interest in w ritin g topics Table 10: Frequency o f students’ exposure to authentic English outside the class Table 11 : Ex-students’ rank o f the importance o f different skills Table 12: Frequency o f ex-students’ use o f w ritin g to perform teaching tasks Table 13: Ex-students’ w ritin g skills requirement when teaching w ritin g sections Table 14: Types o f w ritin g students teachers when delivering w ritin g sections Table 15: School teachers’ focus on the topics related to w ritin g CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter provides background to the study, its scope, aims and objectives, significance o f the study and presents an overview o f the whole thesis 1/1 Background to the study 1.1.1 Current teaching and learning writing at Lang Son college of education (LCE) Lang Son ju n io r high school o f education became Lang Son college o f education in 1997 and English department is the youngest department in the college It came into being in 1995 when English became the m ajor foreign language taught in a ll ju n io r secondary school (JSS) instead o f Russian Since then the demand on school teachers o f English has been growing in many parts o f the country Consequently, nearly a ll ju n io r secondary schools in Lang Son lacked language teachers To meet this need in 1995 Lang Son College o f Education established a Bachelor o f English program, w hich aimed at training m ajor students to become teachers o f English fo r the ju n io r secondary schools o f Lang Son province, providing students w ith a basic knowledge o f English and developing students fo u r com m unicative language skills as w ell as their pedagogical skills According to the "E nglish Language Training Program" document released by the M in is try o f Education and Training (М О ЕТ), there are different syllabi and the distrib u tio n o f class contact hours fo r each syllabus on the requirem ent o f the year F o llo w in g is the fram ework fo r English LCE (Appendix 1) Language Training Program fo r Table 1: The allocated time to different subjects in English Language Training Program for major students at LCE Year General English (period) 240 240 Listening skill (period) 60 60 Reading skill (period) 60 60 Writing skill (period) 60 60 90 198 48 48 48 72 Grammar (period) Phonetics (period) Lexis (period) Translation (period) 30 30 48 From the fram ework it is clear that w ritin g s k ill is one part o f the English program and it needs to be developed as equally as other skills W ritin g subject is a compulsory subject fo r English m ajor students Students need w ritin g skills in their learning and teaching process A t LCE w ritin g is taught through years w ith the total o f classroom contact o f 168 hours However, teaching and learning w ritin g in our college have been a problem Students are reluctant to learn w ritin g They are afraid o f w ritin g , they make a lo t o f mistakes when they w rite so they often get bad marks A lthough they are English m ajor students, they cannot w rite a text properly and they meet d ifficu ltie s when teaching w ritin g sections at JSSs Teachers fin d d iffic u lt to teach w ritin g effectively And follow ings are the reasons: According to Brown (1995), the language teaching circle consists o f these stages: firs t based on needs analysis goals and objectives are identified, then on the basis o f goals and objectives syllabus guidelines are made N ext, the syllabus w ill decide m aterial needed fo r teaching and the last step is teaching It is clear that w ithout syllabus guidelines, teachers meet d ifficu ltie s in id e n tifyin g the aims and objectives o f the course as w ell as selecting appropriate materials fo r teaching and there is a mismatch between the teaching and goals and objectives o f the course In LC E teaching w ritin g has the same problem In our college there is no textbook chosen fo r w ritin g Teachers o f w ritin g are permitted to com pile materials fo r their teaching W ithout a syllabus teachers identified vaguely the objectives o f the course They taught w ith the b e lie f that good grammar and good vocabulary could make good w ritin g , thus the materials chosen as w e ll as theư teaching used to be focused on gram m atical structures and vocabulary, w ritin g sentences and rew riting sentences As a result, our students have quite good grammar and vocabulary, they can w rite simple sentences and transform the sentences quite w e ll, but they are not successfully in w ritin g especially in w ritin g a text in English This is understandable because according to Pincas (1982 B) M good w ritin g does not fo llo w autom atically from good grammar and adequate vocabulary Good w ritin g depends on a set o f specific w ritin g s kills" These specific skills are using Methc olog， (perio 60 Tại anh, chị muốn học tiếng Anh? Lí Đồng ý Không đồng ý M ôn viết cần cho việc học tiếng Anh M ôn viết m ột phần chương trình tiếng Anh trường M ơn viết hữu ích cơng việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh K ĩ viết giúp phát triển k ĩ khác M ôn viết cần cho sống hàng ngày viết thư điện tử, thư cho bạn bè nước khác Anh, chị gặp khố khăn anh，chị viết văn tiếng Anh? Khó khăn Đúng Không Không biết thể ý Không biết tổng hợp ý xếp ý để tạo thành m ột đoạn viết có nghĩa Bỏ qua bước trình viết lập dàn ý, viết nháp, đọc lạ i sửa Thiếu vốn từ Sử dụng cấu trúc K iến thức ngữ pháp hạn chế Anh, chị đọc tiêu chí đánh giá kĩ viết ngườỉ học ngoại ngữ định trình độ phản ánh khả viết anh，chị Xin khoanh vào chữ cáỉ A l, A2, B l, B2 ， c 73 v ề lĩn h vực v iế t, x in anh, chị k ỹ quan trọ n g với anh, chị? STT K ỹ Q uan trọ n g Sử dụng dấu chấm câu Cấu trúc câu Sử dụng từ vựng Tổ chức môt đoan văn Thể ý m ột cách phù hợp Phát triển ý Thể bạn muốn nói cách phù hợp Chọn lựa giọng điệu văn phong phù hợp Hướng tớ i chủ đề 10 Đánh giá chỉnh sửa viết ban 11 Khả viết nói chung 12 Hoàn thành viết thời gian cho sẵn 74 K hông quan trọ n g K hông rõ ᄀ Anh, chị gặp khó khăn vói kỹ lần? S TT K ỹ Thường gặp Sử dụng dấu chấm câu aung Cấu trúc câu Sử đụng từ vựng Tổ chức m ôt đoan văn Thể ý m ột cách phù hợp Phát triển ý The bạn muốn noi m ột cách phù hợp Chọn lựa văn phong ，giọng điệu phù hợp Hướng tớ i chủ đề 10 Đánh gia chỉnh sửa bai viết ban 11 Khả viết nói chung 12 Hoan thành bai viết thời gian cho san T hỉn h thoảng K hông Những thể loại viết anh，chị muốn hoàn thiện? Xỉn tích vào - V iế t luận □ - V iế t báo cáo tường trình □ - V iế t thơ, tryện, hát □ ֊ V iế t tập nghiên cứu □ ֊ M iêu tả đồ vật m ột trình □ - viet đoạn vãn □ 75 □ - V iế t tranh luận Những chủ đề anh, chị thích viết? Xỉn tích vào Giao dục □ Văn hố nước khác □ Nghề nghiệp □ Con người □ Sức khoẻ □ G iải trí □ Học tiếng Anh □ Giao thông phương tiện giao thông □ K ỳ nghỉ □ K in h tế □ Du lịc h □ Khoa học □ V trò phụ nữ xã hội □ Danh lam thắng cảnh □ Cuộc sống sinh viên □ Tình yêu □ 76 lO.Anh, chị sử dụng tiếng Anh thê học lớp? STT Các hoạt động Thường xuyên Giao tiếp v i người nước nước nói tiếng Anh Nghe băng, xem chương trình ti v i tiếng A nh Đọc sách báo, tạp chí tiếng Anh Sử dụng internet để học tiếng Anh 77 Thỉnh thoảng Khônh APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS AT JSS We are going to design a w ritin g syllabus fo r second tear m ajor students at LCE This w ritin g course aims to help students im prove their w ritin g skills so that they can effectively deliver an E nglish lesson at school Please help us by responding to a ll the fo llo w in g questions and items Thank you fo r assistance L In your opinion，in order to teach English effectively, which should be the most important? Rank the followings in order of importance from first priority- the most important to the sixth priority- the least important Items First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth priority priority priority priority priority priority Reading Listening Speaking W ritin g Grammar Vocabulary 78 How often you use writing to perform your writing tasks? Items Teaching w ritin g sections Never in Sometimes Often the textbook Presenting grammar structures Presenting new vocabulary D oing grammar exercises G iving feedback to pupils1 activities and tasks D isciplinary management What writing skills you need when teaching writing sections? Please tick the boxes W ritin g a paragraph □ W ritin g sentences □ Using punctuation and spelling □ U sing appropriate vocabulary □ U sing coherent devices □ W ritin g an argument □ W ritin g an essay □ What types of writing you teach when delivering writing sections? Please tick the boxes - W ritin g inform al and form al letters □ 79 - Writing an argument □ - W ritin g instructions □ - W ritin g a story through pictures □ - W ritin g a notice □ - W ritin g about opinion □ - W ritin g comparison □ - W ritin g description □ - W ritin g message, in vita tio n □ - W ritin g reports □ - W ritin g summary □ - W ritin g speech □ The following topics are the ones covered ỉn training curriculum at LCE Which topics you find useful to your present teaching jobs? Please tick the appropriate boxes Education □ Cultures o f different countries □ Job/ w ork □ People □ Healthcare □ Entertainment □ Learning your English □ T ffic and transport □ Man and environm ent □ 80 - H ollid a y □ - Economic issue □ - Science □ - Role o f woman in society □ - Beauty spot □ 81 APPENDIX 5A C R IT E R IA FO R S E LF - ASSESSM EN T W R IT IN G A B IL IT Y O F E N G L IS H LE A R N E R S AS A F O R E IG N L A N G U A G E Level Writing ability A l (basic) - No practical com m unicative w ritin g skills - A ble to copy isolated words or short phrases - A ble to transcribe previous studied words or phrases A2 (Elem entary) - A ble to w rite sim ple fixed expressions and lim ite d memorized m aterial ֊ Can supply inform ation when requested on form - Can w rite names, numbers, dates and sim ple biographic inform ation - Can w rite sim ple memorized materials w ith frequent m isspelling and inaccuracies Bl interm ediate or low interm ediate) ֊ Has control o f the w ritin g system to meet lim ite d practical needs ֊ Can w rite short messages such as simple questions or notes, postcards and phone message - Can take sim ple notes on m aterial dealing w ith very fa m ilia r topics - Vocabulary is inadequate to express anything but elementary needs - W ritin g on very fa m ilia r topics tends to be a loosely organized collection o f sentence fragment - Make errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation but w ritin g can be read and understood by a native speaker used to dealing w ith foreigners B2 - S ufficient control o f w ritin g system to meet some survival needs and some lim ite d social demands (Interm ediate) - A ble to compose short paragraphs or take sim ple notes on very fa m ilia r topics grounded in personal experience - Can discuss likes and dislikes, daily routine, everyday events - Can express tim e using content words and tim e expressions w ith accurate verbs 82 - Have good control o f basic constructions and inflections such as subject - verb agreement, noun- adjectives agreement - However, may make frequent errors When resorting to a dictionary often is unable to id e n tify appropriate vocabulary С (Upper­ interm ediate) ֊ Sufficient control o f w ritin g system to meet most survival needs and lim ite d social demands - Can take notes in some detail on fa m ilia r topics - Can w rite simple letters, b rie f synopses and paraphrases, summaries o f biographical data and w ork, experience and short compositions on fa m ilia r topics - Can create short paragraphs relating to most survival needs (food, transportation, surroundings and situations) and lim ite d social demands - Can discuss topics such as d a ily life , preferences and other fa m ilia r m aterial - Show good control o f elementary vocabulary and some control o f basic syntactic patterns but m ajor errors s till occur when expressing more complex thought - W ritin g is quite comprehensible to native speakers used to dealing w ith foreigners 83 APPENDIX 5B T IÊ U C H Í Đ Á N H G IÁ K H Ả N Ả N G V IẾ T C Ủ A N G Ư Ờ I H Ọ C N G O Ạ I N G Ữ T rìn h độ А (cơ bản) K h ả viết •Chưa có kỹ viết mang tính giao tiếp • Có thể chép từ riêng lẻ cụm từ ngắn • Có thể chép lạ i từ cụm từ học А (sơ cấp) •Có thể viết cụm từ đơn giản cố định, hoạc ngữ liệu ghi nhớ • Có thể cung cấp thơng tin k h i hỏi dạng đơn từ • Có thể viết tên, số, ngày tháng, quốc tịch, địa thơng tin tiểu sử đơn giản •Có thể viết ngữ liệu đơn giản ghi nhớ, nhiên có lỗ i tả chưa xác B I (trung cấp mức độ thấp) •Có khả kiểm sốt q trình viết để đáp ứng nhu cầu viết thực tế m ột cách cịn hạn chế • Có thể viết thồng điệp ngắn câu hỏi đơn giản, ghi chép, bưu thiếp, tin nhắn điện thoại •Có thể ghi đơn giản chủ đề quen thuộc •Từ vựng cịn thiếu để diễn tả ý đáp ứng mức độ sơ cấp •Bài viết với chủ đề quen thuộc, nhiên tổ chức câu cịn lỏng lẻo •Vẫn cịn mắc lỗ i tả, lỗ i ngữ pháp dấu chấm câu nhiên đọc hiểu người ngữ thường tiếp xúc vói người nước ngồi В 2(trung cấp) • Có đủ khả kiểm sốt quqs trình viết đáp ứng m ột số nhu cầu cấp thiết m ột số u cầu định xã hội •Có thể viết đoạn văn ngắn, luận ngắn chủ đề quen thuộc với kinh ngiệm thân •Có thể thảo luận sờ thích, điều khơng thích, thói quen hàng ngày, kiện hàng ngày 84 •Có kiem sốt tốt cấu truc, bien tố hồ hợp chủ ngữ động từ, tính từ danh từ •Tuy nhiên sinh viên mắc lỗ i tự làm việc với từ điển thường khơng xác định từ phù hợp С (cao trung) •Có đủ khả kiểm sốt q trình viết đáp ứng phần lớn nhu cầu cần thiết nhu cầu định xã hội •Có thể ghi chép chi tiế t m ột số chủ đề quen thuộc •Có thể viết thư đơn giản, đề cương ngắn giải thích tóm tắt thông tin tiểu sử, kinh ngiệm làm việc văn ngắn chủ đề quen thuộc • Có thể viết đoạn văn ngấn liên quan đến nhu cầu thiết thực đồ ăn, giao thông, m ôi trường xung quanh •Có thể thảo luận chủ đề quen thuộc sống hàng ngày, yêu thích •Thể kha kiểm sốt tố t từ vựng mức độ sơ cấp cấu trúc cú pháp bản, mắc lỗ i kh i thể ý nhĩa phức tạp • Bài viết toàn diện người ngữ thường tiếp xúc với người nước 85 APPENDIX PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING WRITING TECHNIQUES A ccording to Brown, there are some principles fo r designing w ritin g techniques They are described as follow s: Incorporate practices o f sood writers Brown states that good w riters always focus on a goal or main idea o f w ritin g , focus on th e ir audience, spend enough tim e planning to w rite, fo llo w a general organizational plan as they w rite, so lic it and u ltiliz e feedback on their w ritin g , not pay attention too much on certain surface structures Revive their w ork w illin g ly and effectively Patiently make as many revisions as needed Balance process and product Because w ritin g is a composing process and usually requires m ultiple drafts before an effective product is created, make sure that students are carefully led through appropriate stages in the process o f composing Account fo r cultural / literary backgrounds I f there are some apparent contrasts between լ and L teachers should try to help students understand what it is exactly, that they are accustomed to and then by degree bring them to the use o f acceptable English rhetoric Connect reading_and writing Students learn to w rite in part by carefully observing what is already w ritten That is they learn by observing, or reading the w ritten w ork By reading and studying a variety o f relevant types o f text, students can gain im portant insights both about how they should w rite and about subject matter that may become the topics o f their w riting Provide as much authentic writinß as possible 86 W hether w ritin g is real w ritin g or fo r display, it can s till be authentic in that the purposes fo r w ritin g are clear to the students, the audience is specified overtly and there is at least some intent to convey meaning Sharing w ritin g w ith other students in the class is one way to add authenticity Frame your techniques injerm o f pre-writin2、drafting, and revising stages Process w ritin g approaches tend to be fram ed in three stages o f w ritin g The pre -w riting stage encourages the generation o f ideas, w hich can happen in numerous ways For examples: reading a passage, skim m ing or scanning a passage, conducting some outside research, brainstorm ing, listin g , clustering, discussing a topic or questions and probes and free w ritin g D raftin g and revising stages are the core o f process w ritin g In a process approach, d rafting is viewed as an im portant and com plex set o f strategies, the master o f w hich takes tim e, patience and trained instruction 87 ... as: using paragraphs, gathering inform ation and ideas relevant to the topics and discarding what is not relevant, organizing the inform ation and ideas into a logical sequence, structuring the. .. structuring sentences, spelling, punctuating and particularly they should be trained more in composing skills w hich are: ♦Gathering inform ation and ideas relevant to the topic and discarding what... relevant ♦Organizing the inform ation and ideas into logical sequence ♦ Structuring the sequence into sections and paragraphs ♦ Expressing the inform ation and ideas in a w ritten draft ♦Editing the