The use of group writing in improving writing skill of high school students = sử dụng hoạt động theo nhóm trong việc cải thiện kỹ năng viết của học sinh cấp iii

Vinh University Department of foreign languages ===*** === NGUYỄN THỊ THANH BÌNH THE USE OF GROUP WRITING IN IMPROVING WRITING SKILL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG VIẾT THEO NHÓM TRONG VIỆC CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA HỌC SINH CẤP III) Graduation Thesis Field: METHODOLOGY Vinh, May 2008 -1- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor- M.A Nguyễn Thị Tường who has helped me a lot with her useful advices, comments and encouragement in completing the study I also would like to thank the Foreign Languages Department for offering me a chance to study, search and create I wish to express my thanks to my mother, my elder sister and all of my friends who were always besides me and gave me their support to carry out this thesis Finally, my sincere thanks are to the teachers and students of Phạm Hồng Thái School where I spent two months of pedagogical practice time Vinh, May 2008 NGUYỄN THỊ THANH BÌNH -2- Page PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Reasons for choosing the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 What is writing? 1.2 What is Group work? 1.3 What is Group writing? 1.4 Advantages of the use of group writing in improving writing skill of high school students 1.4.1 Students are more involved 1.4.2 Students help each other 1.4.3 The teacher has more time to satisfy students‟ requirements 1.5 Disadvantages of group writing 1.5.1 Students tend to use their mother tongue 1.5.2 Students are easy to make noise 1.5.3 The teacher is difficult to control alls groups at once -3- 1.6 Solutions to overcome the disadvantages of using group writing 1.6.1 Regular observation 1.6.2 Clearly defined tasks 1.7 Organization of groups 1.8 Approaches to teaching writing… 1.8.1 The Controlled- to- Free Approach 1.8.2 The Free-Writing Approach 1.8.3 The Paragraph-Pattern- Approach 10 1.8.4 The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach 10 1.8.5 The Communicative Approach 10 1.8.6 The Process Approach 11 CHAPTERII: SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES FOR USING GROUP WRITINGSOME SUITABLE ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP WRITING AND PARTICULAR EXAMPLES 13 2.1 Suggested techniques for using group writing 13 2.1.1 Introducing group writing 13 2.1.2 Steps for setting groups 13 2.1.2.1 Give explicit detailed to the whole class 13 2.1.2.2 Divide the students in groups 14 2.1.2.4 Set the task in motion 14 2.1.2.5 Groups in control 14 2.1.2.6 Task finished 15 2.1.2.7 Work result presentation 15 -4- 2.2 Some suitable activities for group writing and particular examples 15 2.2.1.Some suitable activities for group writing 15 2.2.1.1 Re-ordering words 15 2.2.1.2 Writing consequences 15 2.2.1.3 Correct the facts 17 2.2.1.4 Exchange letters 17 2.2.1.5 Writing games 18 2.2.1.6 Fluency writing 18 2.2.1.7 Role playwriting 19 2.2.1.8 Songs and story telling 20 2.2.1.9 Writing Reports or Advertisements 21 2.2.1.10 Writing according to an outline 22 2.2.2 Particular examples 22 CHAPTER AT III: REAL SITUATION OF USING GROUP WRITING HIGH SCHOOL AND SURVEY ANALYSIS – SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS MORE EFFECTIVE USAGE 32 3.1 Real situation of using group writing at high school 32 3.2 Survey analysis 33 3.3 Some suggestions for its more effective usage 34 PART C: CONCLUSION 35 REFERENCES APPENDIX -5- PART A: INTRODUCTION Reasons for choosing the study To get good results in teaching process is the expectation of all teachers However, the ways to achieve it is not always easy This requires the teachers to have not only good qualities, deep knowledge about their subjects but also suitable methods to adopt in teaching In fact, in the late 20th century linguists, teachers and learners have witnessed the “birth” of a popurlar way in teaching foreign language, the socalled “Communicative Language Teaching” The approach focuses most on improving four basic skills for learners: Listening, speaking, reading and writing Equally important to others, writing skill has been currently paid much attention to because of its great significance Learners who master at writing can make impressive Curriculum Vitae for their jobs or facilitate their business such as well-done contracts or agreements Realizing that fact, teachers should more researches to improve writing skill for learners, especially the high school students Traditionally, teachers often let students work individually or in pairs This led to both good and bad consequences The good one is that the student is more independent to express his ideas and knowledge However, it is no doubt that his writing contains a lot of errors, thus the result is unpleasing The topic came to us by chance and is the expected answer to the question “Apart from individual and pair work, is there any other effective method to improve writing skill of high school students?” -6- The effort of this thesis is trying to encourage teachers in creating new methods in teaching writing skill for learners and to help students to learn writing subject more effectively Having students work in groups not only makes them more involved in learning but also give them opportunities to practise foreign language There are many reasons for choosing the study but the above reasons are the main ones that encourage us to choose the thesis: “The use of group writing in improving writing skill of high school students” Aims of the study The thesis has been done firstly in order to make a contribution to the improvement of teaching writing The other aim of the thesis is that it suggests some suitable group writing activities to improve writing skill of high school students The thesis also gives us more opportunities to study and research Scope of the study The thesis is about the use of group writing to improve writing skill of high school students Methods of the study With the aims above, in the course of writing this paper, we have followed the procedure below: - Describing stages to carry out group writing activities - Analyzing collected data from two Survey Questionnaires to investigate the real situation of using group writing in improving writing skill of high school students Design of the study The thesis consists of three main parts: -7- Part A entitled “Introduction” outlines reasons for choosing the study, the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the study Part B entitled “Development” comprises three chapters Chapter I called “Theoretical Background” provides theoretical foundation for the study Chapter II entitled “Suggested techniques for group writing – Some suitable activities for group writing and particular examples” is the main section of the study Chapter III is about “The real situation of using group writing and survey analysis –Some suggestions for its more effective usage” Part C entitled “Conclusion” which expresses a brief overview on the achievements of the thesis and some suggestions for futher studies The last pages of the thesis are “References” with list of material sources and an “Appendix” -8- PART B: CONTENT CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 What is writing? Writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete Writing encourages thinking and learning for it motivates communication and makes thoughts available for reflection When thought is written down, ideas can be examined, reconsidered, added to, rearranged, and changed 1.2 What is Group work? According to Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics (1993), group work is defined as: “A learning activity which involves a small group of learners working together The group may work on a single task or on different parts of a large task Tasks for group members are often selected by the members of the group” Harmer (1996) states that group work is a generic term covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self- initiated language 1.3 What is Group writing? In 1991, Nunan states that group writing is a term referring to the way the teacher divides the students into groups to accomplish a writing task together Greenall (1984) suggests that group writing means a kind of cooperation among members of the class, who are divided into convenient – sized groups for the purpose of completing a writing task -9- 1.4 Advantages of the use of group writing in improving writing skill There are several good reasons for getting students to work in groups that were presented by Fries (1945:49) Let us consider some of the following reasons 1.4.1 Students are more involved In a whole-class activity, some students often take part in the activity much and they work really hard while others pay less or no attention to the writing task The teacher cannot monitor all the students at the same time To solve this problem, it is necessary for the teacher to divide class into small groups Working in groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate to the task Since all members have to make equal contribution to the work of groups, there is no time and no chance for lazy students to relax Group writing also enables the students to invest much in the task Generally, group writing promotes students‟ responsibility and autonomy 1.4.2 Students help each other When the students work individually or in pairs, many problems will arise They may make mistakes because of using wrong grammatical structures, spelling or unsuitable word choices However, they can not realize by themselves Writing skill requires much accuracy in these factors.One of the most appropriate solutions to these problems is using group writing The reason for this is that members of the group can show mistakes and provide each other with corrective feedbacks Therefore, all students will learn from each other‟s mistakes Another reason is that idea and knowledge using to each writing task seems to flow best when they are exchanged Students in small groups have more opportunities to share or fulfill their opinions of the given writing topics or tasks - 10 -  The teacher asks the students to get into groups of four or five  Students are given an outline from which they are going to write a composition HO CHI MINH ‟S Mausoleum  The teacher explains to them that they have to write it by full sentences When groups have finished their composition, the teacher asks representatives of groups to write them on the board  The teacher then checks up the students‟ composition OUTLINE PRESIDENT HO CHI MINH „S MAUSOLEUM - Place: BA DINH District, Hanoi - Built in September 1973, completed in August 1975 - First floor: a stand for important meeting organized at BA DINH square - Second floor: where the late president is laying - Third floor: the roof - Visiting hours: 7: 30 _ 10: 30 in summer and 8: 00 _ 11:00 in winter Monday and Friday are not allowed - Usually close September 5_ December 10 for maintenance - No photography allowed inside (Source: English 10, page 169) 2.2.2.6 Using “Writing Reports and Advertisements”  Topic: News reports  Write up the headline on the board: “Mystery Disappearance of English Teacher: Students Suspected”  Put the students in groups of four or five to predict the content of the story and what may have happened to the teacher  Get the students to change groups and compare what they think may have happened - 32 -  Give out a pile of about 10 or 15 slips of paper Tell the students to write a question about the story on each slip of paper and give each one to the teacher (The teacher might want to put up some questions words on the board to help prompt them i.e who…? What time…? How many…? Etc,)  As the students give the teacher the slips of paper the teacher writes very brief answers on them and gives them back Stop when the students have used up their slips of paper or run out of questions  The groups then collect up the information they have The teacher tells them they will use the information to compose a new report to go with the headline Before they start writing the report ask them to decide what order they will put the information in Tip: A common order for newspaper reports of this kind is:  Headline  General information about crime  Details about what happened  Description of any suspects or the criminals  What the police have done / are doing to solve the crime  (Possible appeal for witnesses) Once the students have finished their reports the teacher puts the report up on the wall around the class and gets the students to look at them all and choose the one they think is best 2.2.2.7 Using “Correct the facts”  Divide the class into groups and then deliver handouts, which contain five sentences and a picture - 33 -  Ask groups to re-write sentences so that they match the picture Remember to limit the working time (5-7 minutes)  Go around and observe the performance of groups When time is up the teacher asks groups to read out the correct sentences matching the picture and write them on the board  The teacher checks up the answers of groups Re-write the sentences so that they match the picture: At the party, I saw a man and a little boy The man wore a T-shirt and he had long hair The boy was hugging a dog They are drinking coffee and laughing There were many people behind them (Source: Retrieved March 12, 2008 from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/writetry) 2.2.2.8 Using “Fluency writing”  The teacher hangs the pictures on the board and then divides the class in to groups  The students are shown the picture sequence of what happened at the restaurant and told to write as much as they can about it within ten minutes  Ten minutes later, the teacher stops the activity and asks representatives of groups to write their picture story on the board - 34 -  The group that writes more quickly, correctly and funny is the winner (Source: Retrieved March 12, 2008 from http://www.funnystorypictures.uk/cfe ) In this chapter, we have presented Suggested techniques for using group writing as well as some suitable activities and examples for group writing They are very useful for teachers in their teaching process The teachers, in turns, should choose the appropriate techniques and group writing activities to improve writing skills for the students - 35 - CHAPTER III REAL SITUATION OF USING GROUP WRITING AT HIGH SCHOOL AND SURVEY ANALYSIS - SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS MORE EFFECTIVE USAGE 3.1 Real situation of using group writing at high school We have had an opportunity to spend our pedagogical practice time of two months (from 25 February 2008 to 19 April 2008) at Phạm Hồng Thái High School and to investigate the real situation of using group writing at this school Phạm Hồng Thái High School is located in Hung Chau Commune, Hung Nguyen District, about 8km from Vinh City So far, this high school has good tradition of teaching and learning However, as to English most of students say that they are not much interested in learning this subject Through the two-month pedagogical practice at Phạm Hồng Thái High School and through the information from the surveys, we can come to conclusion that the use of group writing has not been really effective yet Therefore, writing skill of learners is not much improved Writing is taught mainly by traditional methods in which individual student sits right in his seat and carries writing tasks by himself As a result, students have not many opportunities to exchange ideas and opinions to each other Their writing results are not satisfying to the teacher‟s requirements The teachers at high school also show their concerns and their need for some new kinds of group writing activities to improve writing skill of the students It is due to the fact that the old ones are not interesting and quality enough The students are not much excited to take part in group writing activities - 36 - We have tried using some group writing activities to teach writing to students during our pedagogical practice time at Phạm Hồng Thái School We realized that in these periods, students learned very hard and joined these activities excitedly Most of the students had a good reaction to this new way of writing We hope that students will have chance to study with many activities in the form of group in the future and their writing skill will be much more improved 3.2 Survey analysis In order to investigate the real situation of using group writing at high school, we carried two surveys to students and teachers The Survey Questionnaire 1, which was done by the students consists of 10 closed questions As statistic, there is a fact that 69 % of the students felt very excited in-group writing for the following reasons: -They are more involved in writing -They can help each other - The work is finished more quickly with better result Only 6.6% of them found that when working in groups the class is very noisy and they often use their mother tongue instead of English Therefore, they have not many opportunities to practice English Being asked about the result of group writing, 66% of the students said that their writing skill has been improved while 34% of them were unsatisfied with their writing skill The Survey Questionnaire 2, which was done by the teachers, consists of eight closed questions and two open questions There were 67% of the teachers who said that the use of group writing was not really good and that the disadvantages of using group writing are much far from its advantages - 37 - The collected data from the two surveys showed that the use of group writing at high school has not been really effective The teachers should find solutions to deal with this problem 3.3 Some suggestions for its more effective usage Realizing that fact, the teachers should consider the advantages that the use of group writing brings for writing teaching The teacher should then:  Choose suitable activities in the form of group to improve writing skill of students  Find effective ways to control groups while they are working together  Remain sensitive to the atmosphere and pace of the groups and noting persistent errors for remedial teaching  Encourage the students‟ responsibility and autonomy during group writing time by explaining its significances or advantages This chapter has referred to the real situations of using group writing at high school and survey analysis We then have given out some suggestions for its more effective usage - 38 - PART C: CONCLUSION Summary Of the four skills in English teaching- learning process, writing is considered rather difficult because it requires much accuracy in grammatical structures or word choices It is a complex process that allows students to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete The thesis has been completed to enable teachers to avoid difficulties that learners may have in writing as well as improve their writing skill The use of group writing is a new effective way to improve writing skill of high school students It helps learners have chance to exchange information, to share knowledge, ideas and to help each other in a natural and creative way It is obvious that to organize group work in any lesson of English at high school is not very easy due to the problems mentioned in the Chapter I However, suggested techniques, activities and particular examples have been discussed in Chapter II of this paper can bring about many significant advantages for the teachers in improving writing skill of their students And this is the main aim of the study We have also referred to the real situation of using group writing at high school at present and gave some suggestions for its more effective usage in Chapter III Besides, the Survey Questionnaire and Survey Questionnaire that were done by students and teachers at high school provided us with useful information to carry out this thesis Suggestions for further studies Due to the limitation of documents and experience, we would not come up to all aspects of the matter We hope that the finding in the paper will become soft of useful information for those who are interested in improving writing skill of high school students - 39 - The thesis would help teachers to access a new method in teaching writing and improving writing skills of the high school students Moreover, we would hope and recommend that the further studies will be carried out on other aspects to find out some interesting and useful methods which can be used to improve writing skill of the first year and second year students at university Thanks for all - 40 - REFERENCES Byrne, D (1988) Teaching Writing Skills, Longman Group Ltd David, C (1982) A Practical Handbook of Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press Fries, C (1945) Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language, University of Michigan Press Greenall, S (1984) Language Games and Activities, Hulton Educational Publication Ltd Hadfied & J Hadfied (1983) Writing Games, Nelson (Hong Kong) Ltd Harmer, A (1996) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman Group UK Ltd Hồng Văn Vân, Hồng Thị Xn Hịa, Đỗ Tuấn Minh (2006) English 10, NXB Giao Duc Ngơ Đình Phương, Nguyễn Thị Vân Lam (2007) English Teaching Methodology, Vinh University –Foreign Languages Department Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology – A textbook for teachers, Prentice Hall 10 Penny, Ur (1995) A Course in Language Teaching Practice and Theory, Cambridge University Press 11 Richards, J., et.al (1993) Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Longman Group UK Ltd 12 http://www.funnystorypictures.uk/cfe 13 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/writetry - 41 - appendix SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 1 What is your sex? A) Male B) Female What form are you in? A) 10 B) 11 C) 12 Which skill is important in learning English? A) Listening B) Speaking C) Writing D) Reading E) All of them What you think about the importance of writing? A) Very important B) Important C) Not important Which way you like to writing exercises at class? A) Individually B) In pairs C) In groups - 42 - How often does the teacher ask you to work in groups to write? A) Always B) Sometimes C) Rarely How you feel when writing in groups? A) Very excited B) A bit interesting C) Bored Which advantages that group writing brings you? A) You are more involved B) You can help each other C) The work is finished more quickly with better result D) All of them What are the disadvantages of group writing? A) The class is very noisy B) You use Vietnamese much instead of English C) Both of them 10 Have your writing skill been improved much in group writing time? A) Yes B) No - 43 - SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE What is your sex? A) Male B) Female How long have you been teaching English? -3 Which skill you think is the most important in teaching English? A) Listening B) Speaking C) Reading D) Writing E) All of them are equally important Which way you often use in teaching writing? A) Using pair work B) Using group work C) Both of them How often you use group writing activities? A) Always B) Sometimes C) Rarely - 44 - How is its result? A) Good B) Not really good C) Bad Which advantages that group writing brings you? A) You are more relaxed B) You have more time to access students‟ demands C) Both of them What are its disadvantages? A) You can not monitor all groups at once B) Other reasons Do you think that the advantages of group writing are much far from its disadvantages? A) Yes B) No 10 Can you give any suggestions to use group writing creatively and effectively? - - 45 - Results: This is the result of the survey questionnaire which was done by students: No Items 10 A 47% 67% 36.7% 4.8% 69% 28.7% 36% 66% B 9.5% 29% 3.7% 87.8% 24.4% 21% 30.9% 34% C 6.3% 4% 59.6% 7.4% 6.6% 1.4% 33.1% D 18% E 19.2% 48.9% This is the result of the survey questionnaire which was done by teachers: No Items A 0% 33% 0% 33% 0% 33% 33% B 0% 0% 100% 67% 0% 67% 67% C 0% 67% 0% 0% 100% D 33% E 67% - 46 - ... choosing the study but the above reasons are the main ones that encourage us to choose the thesis: ? ?The use of group writing in improving writing skill of high school students? ?? Aims of the study The. .. aspects of the matter We hope that the finding in the paper will become soft of useful information for those who are interested in improving writing skill of high school students - 39 - The thesis... members of the class, who are divided into convenient – sized groups for the purpose of completing a writing task -9- 1.4 Advantages of the use of group writing in improving writing skill There