The effect of pairwork and groupwork in improving writing skills for the first year students at the university off technology, hcm

Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (4.49 MB, 136 trang )

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I here by certify my aut horship of the thesis submitte d today en titled :

THE EFFECT OF PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK
IN IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, HCMC

in terms of the statement of
Requirements for Theses in Master' s Programs
issued by the Higher De gre e Committee.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 30, 2006.

HUYNH TH J atcn PHUQNG

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Huynh Thi Bich Phuong, being the candidate for the
degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social
Sciences and Humanities relating to the retention and use of Master's Thesis
deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original version of my thesis
deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and
research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for
care, loan, or reproduction of thesis.

H6 Chi Minh City, August 30, 2006.

HUYNH THl BtCH PHVC,jNG

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to ex press my deep est gratitude to my thesis supe rvisor, Ms.
Nguyen Thi K.i ~u Thu , PhD. who was patient to read my manu script with great
care, ga ve thoughtful and insightful comme nts and provided va luable support in
the prep aration and compl etion of this thesis.
I am also grateful to the orga nizers of this master course, Dr. Le Hiru Phuoc, Head
of the Dep artm ent of Post Gradu ate Studies of H6 Chi Minh City University of
Social Scienc e s and Humanitie s and Mr. Nguyen Huynh Dat, M.A., De an of the
Dep artm ent of English Linguistics and Literature, H6 Chi Minh City University of
Social Scienc e s and Hum anitie s, and their staff memb ers.
My spec ial thank s must go to the teachers and student s who were very responsive
to the survey questionn aire s, without whom the the sis could not have been
possible ; all teachers who gave rem arks and advice , which are inva luable for the
thesis. In particular, I wish to thank the teachers who we re willing to aid me to
mark the stude nts' writin g papers that are conside red the indispe nsable part of the
thesis.
I also wish to thank Ms. Yvonne Bissonnette who was very enthusias tic to read
and give corre ction of mechani cal errors, ambiguous se ntences, as well as
structura l probl em s.

In addition, these friend s and colleagues of mine : Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Nguyen
Thi ThQ, Ha Thi Tu yet Trinh , Huynh Qu6c Minh Chau were particularly of great
help in my prep aring of the thesis and searching for relevant references. My
he artfelt appre ciation is expressed to all of them.
Last, I would like to ded icate the thesis to my family: my father, my mother, my

sister, and es pecia lly my husband who, as always, have been wholeh eartedly
supportive. They have taken care of everything so that I could devote all time to
the writing of the the sis. I am grea tly indebted to all of the m.

iii

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines how to improve the quality of first-year students'
writing performance at the University of Technology, HCMC in the light of
applying pairwork and groupwork to the pre-writing act.

In order to do this, questionnaires were delivered to the first-year students
in Course 2004-2005 and teachers currently in charge of GE at UT to elicit data
about (1) first-year students' difficulties in writing; (2) some suggestions of what
should been done to facilitate the situation. Besides, a quasi-experiment was
conducted to prove the activities in pairs and groups can be very helpful for prewriting act in particular, and writing performance in general.
The results of the study show that (1) pairwork and groupwork can greatly
help the first-year students in idea discovery and organization; (2) the first-year
students have difficulty generating and organizing ideas, finding out appropriate
words, phrases, expressions, etc... or even making grammatical sentences and to
express their ideas clearly and exactly. In other words, they have difficulty doing
the pre-writing act (the hardest stage of the whole writing process) as well as
expected; (3) the first-year students' and teachers ' wrong attitudes toward the
teaching and learning writing skills
The thesis suggests that (1); pairwork and groupwork should be applied for
discussions to assist the first-year students to be able to discover and organize
ideas more effectively; (2) the topic for discussions and writing tasks should be the
same and the first-year students should be offered enough time for discussion

before starting to write; (3) a design of tips, techniques, and even guided questions
as a writing supplementary material should be made to assist the first-year
students to understand more about the forms of paragraph writing as well as to
orient them to do the pre-writing act more effectively; (4) an amount of fixed time
iv

and assignments for writing should be spent regularly in class (and even at home).
However, neither the teachers nor the students alone can make the whole process
of teaching and learning successful; in fact they should be both aware of their
shared roles in a writing class and willing to cooperate in order to create a
favorable atmosphere in which collaborative work is a must. There is no doubt that
if pairwork and groupwork are applied for writing performance together with
efforts of both teachers and students, a lot of success will be certainly made.

v

ABBREVIA TIONS & SYMBOLS

CUP
EI
E2
E3
E4
EFL
ESL
GE
HCMC
L2

OUP
UT

* (asterisk)

: Cambridge University Press
: English 1
: English 2
: English 3
: English 4
: English as Foreign Language
: English as Second Language
: General English
: Ho Chi Minh City
: Second Language
: Oxford University Press
: University of Technology
: indicates the source for the information
mentioned above on the same page.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
i
.ii
iii
iv
vi

vii
x
xi

Certificate of originality
Retenti on and use of the thesis
Acknowled gem ent s
Abstrac t
Abbrevi ations and symbols
Table of contents
List of figure s
List of tables

INTRODUCTION
0. 1 THE PROBLEM
0.2 AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
0.3 LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION
0.3.1 Limitation
0.3. 1. 1 Participants and their syllabus
0.3.1 .2 Stages of the writing process
0.3.1.3 The writing performance involved in the thesis
0.3.2 Deli mitation
0.4 METHODOLOGY
0.5 OVERV IEW OF THE STUDY

1
1
2
3
3

3
.4
.4
4
4
5

Chapter 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY..........•...•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•...•.....•.•.....8
1.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR UT FIRST-YEAR
STUDENTS
8
1.1.1 Aims of the syllabus
8
1.1.2 Coursebook
9
1.2 FACTORS EFFECTING UT FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ON STUDYING
WRITING SKILLS
10
1.2.1 First-year stude nts' writing background
10
1.2.2 First-year stude nts' attitudes toward writing skills
11
1.2.3 Other factors
12
Summ ary
13
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
2.1 THE NATURE OF THE WRITING SKILL
2.1.1 What is writing
2.1.2 The writing process

vii

14
14
14
15

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

2.1.2.1 The process of writing
2.1.2.2 The stages of the writing process
2.1.2.3 Pre-writing
2.1.2.4 Techniques for pre-writing
2.2 BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF METHODS RELATING TO
WRITING SKILLS
2.2.1 Early ESL Methods
2.2.1 .1 The Grammar-Translation Method
2.2.1.2 The Dire ct Method
2.2.1.3 The Audio-Lingual Method
2.2.1.4 Controlled Writing
2.2.1.5 Guided or Free Writing
2.2.2 Recent appr oaches
2.2.2.1 Langu age.. Based Writing
2.2.2.2 The Pattern! Product Approach
2.2.2.3 The Process Approach
2.2.2.4 The Communicative Approach
2.2.2.5 The Functional-Notional approach
2.3 THE RELATION BETWEEN SPEAKING AND WRITING SKILLS
2.3.1 Differ ences between speaking skills and writing skills

2.3.2 Reciprocities between speaking and writing skills
2.4 PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN RELATION TO
IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS
2.4.1 Definition
2.4.2 Advantages and disadvantages of pairwork and groupwork activities
2.4.2.1 Advantages
2.4.2.2 Disadvantages
2.4.3 How pairwork and groupwork assist to improve writing skills
2.5 DESIGNING GUIDED QUESTIONS
2.6 SOME RESEARCHES RELATING TO THE IMPROVING OF
WRITING SKILLS
Summary
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 METHODOLOGY
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.2.1 Participants of the study
3.2.1.1 Student s
3.2.1.2 Teacher s
3.2.2 Instrum ent s

15
16
17
18
21
21
.21
22
22
23

23
23
23
24
25
25
25
27
27
28
30
30
30
.30
.31
32
32
35
36

38
38
39
39
39
41
41
viii

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

75
75
80
83
86

Chapter 5: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 IMPLICATIONS
5.1.1 The pre-writing as the priority
5.1.2 Skill-integrated approac hes to teaching and learning L2 writing
5. 1.3 The syllabus
5.1.4 Teacher s' and students' inter est in the writing skill
5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS
5.2.1 To teach ers
5.2.2 To stude nts
5.2.3 Designing the supplementary materials
Summ ary

88
88
88
89
90
90
90
91
93
96
99

CONCLUSION

100

Refer ences
Appe ndix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appe ndix 4
Append ix 5
Appendix 6

103
108
113
117
119
121
122

ix

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Chapter 2
Figure 2.1: The process of the writing skill by Hedge

.16

Figure 2.2: The stages and sub-stages of the writing process

.16

Figure 2.3: Procedu res involved in producing a written
text by White

17

Chapter 3
Figure 3.1: Participants' residence

..40

Figure 3.2: Participants' gender

40

Chapter 4
Figure 4.1: First-year stude nts' percepti on about the importance
of four skills

51

Chapter 5
Figure 5.1: The learner is central (adapted from Brookes &
Grund y, 1990)

96

x

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Chapter 1
Table 1.1: Item s of the course book KnowHow2 for first-yea r
stude nts at UT
_
Chapter 2
Table 2.1: Differen ces between spee ch and writing by Byrne, D

9

.28

Chapter 4
Table 4. 1: First-year stude nts' perception about the importance of spea king and

writing skills toward the process of communication
_
50
Table 4.2: Effects of the contents of tests on the first-yea r students'
learning writing
_
_
.52
Table 4.3: First-year students' ideas about problem s relating to writing
54
performance
Tabl e 4.4 : Freque ncy of instructions of writing skills are given to
first-year stude nts
_
.58
Tabl e 4.5 : First-year students' frequency of writing practice
59
Tabl e 4.6: First-year stude nts' ideas about ways to perform
the pre-writing in class
_
60
Table 4.7 : First-year students' se lf assess ment about their ability of spea king 61
Table 4.8: First-year students' ideas about the effec ts of pair/ groupwork on
pre-writing act
_
62
Table 4.9: First-year students' ideas about the importance of teachers'
roles to their discussions
63
Tabl e 4.10: Teacher s' opinions about the degree of difficulty of the stages

of the writing process for the first-ye ar students
_..67
Table 4.11: Teachers' ideas about the first-year students' common mistakes
in their writing
68
Table 4.12: Teacher s' comments about the first-year students' expec tation of
speaking practice
70
Tabl e 4.13: Teachers' ideas about effec ts of pair/ groupwork on pre-writing act..71
Table 4.14: Teacher s' vie w about their roles for the first-year students'
discussion
_
72
Tabl e 4. 15: Teachers' comments about their effects on the students' pre-writing
act after discussion
73
Table 4.16: Results of task I, scored by three different teacher s
79
Table 4.17: Results of task 2, score d by three different teacher s
81

xi

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

THE EFFECT OF PAIRWORK ArtD GROOPWORK
In IMPROVinG WRITlrtG SKillS

FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STODEnTS AT
THE onlVERSITY OF TECHnOLOGY. HCMC

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

0.1 THE PROBLEM

English is one of the obligatory subjects for students in general, and the
first-year students at the University of Technology (abbreviated as UT) in Ho Chi
Minh City (abbreviated as HCMC) in particular because students who will
graduate from UT are expected to be good at both technological knowledge and
English. Actually, English not only helps students be able to approach their
professional materials in English, which not only is very useful for them in their
major or further studying, but also provides them with a key leading to success in
life when English becomes globalized. To achieve that, students are supposed to
be good at the four skills namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing after
graduation. That is the very aim of the General English (abbreviated as GE)
syllabus for the first-year students as well.
As a matter of fact, every skill has its own importance that can make it
different from other skills. Writing is the "form of social communication", and
consequently writing well means "knowing well " because writing can help us
sort out a misunderstanding with a friend , plan a vacation, or make an important
decision. Moreover, "Writing permits us to understand not only the world, but

also the self" (Lindemann, 1995).
In language learning, writing helps to foster the other skills as it is
affirmed by Raimes (1983); Truong Quang Phu (1996); Bello (1999) . Many
TESOL authors, according to Young et al. (1999), capitalize on the significance

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

of the teaching and learnin g of writing to enha nce language acquisition such as
Conn or (1987), Dolly (1990), Raimes (1991 ), Urzua (1987), Zam el, (1983).
However, most of the first-year students at UT do not seem to have good
motivati on in le arnin g writing skills. They pa y more atte ntion to other skills such
as speaking and listening. As a result , their ability to do a piece of writing
becomes problematic. Mor e convincingly, the obse rvation and examination of a
considera ble numb er of the first-ye ar student s' written papers in recent years
rev eal a noticeable probl em in their low langu age competenc e , lack of ideas, as
well as failure to orga nize ideas. Thus, it can be inferred that bad motivation in
learning writing skills of the first-year stude nts at UT neg atively effects the
quality of their writing performance, mainly in the stage of pre -writing (one of
the three stages of the writing process): discoverin g ideas, se lecting appropriate
words, phra ses, and expres sions as well as organizing ideas.

0.2 AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Since the writing skill is nece ssary to the first-yea r stude nts at UT, due
atte ntion should be paid to the le arning of this skill by students and even the
teachers. This thesis is one of the atte mpts to do that. On the basis of curre nt

problems tow ards writin g skills and first-year stude nts' attitudes towards studying
English, the researcher spec ially focuses on finding out ways or techniques that
can be helpful for crea ting positive motivation in le arning writing skills for the
first-year students. Finally , some recommendations should be given to improve the
teach ing and learning of the skill to such students. In orde r to achieve the ove rall
objectives , the two followin g research questions are taken into consid eration:
(1) Wh at are the basic fac tors that negati vely effe ct the first-year students
in learning writing skills at UT?

2

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

(2) Can ora l activ ities (mai nly pairwork and group work) motivate the firstyear students and bring any good effects on the pre -writing act in order
to improve their ability of writing?
Th e study also de als with three more sub-ques tions which will support and
keep the study on the right track for the achievemen t of the ge neral goals .
~ Wh at is the writing process? How many stages are the re in the writing

process and the ir characteristics?
~

Wha t are the basic requ irem en ts for a successful discussion in pairs
and in groups?

~

In what ways can pairwork and groupwork assist the first-year students
at UT to do the pre-writing act better ?

0.3 LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION
0.3.1 Limitation
0.3. 1.1 Participants and their syllabus
As a matter of fact, the students at UT are supposed to finish the GE
sylla bus includi ng courses of English I (abbreviated as E I), English 2 (abbreviated
as E2), English 3 (abbre viated as E3) and English 4 (abbreviated as E4)
respectively be fore starting the obligatory courses of English for Specific Purposes
(abbreviated as ESP).
However, all students have to take the place me nt test in the first-year. The
results collec ted are used to place stude nts in the right course in order to assure
that students' proficiency of English is eq ual in the same class . That also means
the first-yea r students can skip E3 or E4 if the resu lts of the test prove their
English level is high enough . In reality, most of the first-yea r stude nts are only
qualified for course E I, there fore , course E I is the focus of the thesis, and the
mai n parti cipants, absolute ly, are the first-year stude nts who are using the

3
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

coursebook KnowHow 2 (by Angela Blackwell- Therese Naber 2003, Oxford

Univer sity Press) as their main coursebook.
0.3.1.2 Stag es of the writing process
The writing process has three stages and pre-writing is the most important
stage to the discovery and organization of ideas. This stage can effect the quality
of the whole piece of writing and therefore, finding out the appropriate ways and
techniques to assist learner s to perform this stage effec tively is the focus of the
study.
0.3.1.3 The writing per formance involved in the thesis
All of the atte mpts in the thesis are to assist the first-year students to write
paragraph s with give n topics effective ly because (1 ) paragraph writing is the focus
of the syllabus; (2) para graph writing can be understood the basis for developing
the writing skill.
0.3.2 Delimitation

Ways, techniqu es and strategies that are suggested in the study are only
applicable to the first-year students at UT, HeMe. because they are mainly drawn
from studying these students' characteristics and problems as well as their GE
syllabus at UT. They are mainly suggested with the aims to improve the first-year
students' pre- writing act, and thus, the other writing stages are excluded. Last but
not lea st, the El course is the focus of the study. Therefore , the findings and
implications for teaching and learning sugges ted in this thesis are mainly
ben eficial to the students of El course only.
0.4 METHODOLOGY

The study is carried out using:
(a) qualitative methodology to describe, explain, and investigate the
factors that influence the first-year students' writing skills in the hope of gaining
effect ive ped agogical strategies and techniques. In addition, writing is proved to
4

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

be the very necessary skill for the students at UT in particular, for the people
working in English- using environme nt in general by two different interviews : (l )
one with Dr. Nguyen Th e Bao, the Dire ctor of the Foreign Language Centre at UT
about the requirem ents of GE syllabus, (2) one with the graduates from UT who
have been working for foreign or Joint-Venture companies, to get their idea s about
the importance of writing in their jobs and their life .
(b) quantitative methodology that aims at a full analysis of the descripti ve
data relating to the answers to the rese arch questions and sub-ques tions. The data
are collec ted through (1) a questionnaire for about 20 colle agues about problem s
and meth ods of teaching and learn ing writing skills, (2) a questionnaire of attitudes
and difficulties in learning writing skills among 150 first-year stude nts at UT, (3)
last but not least, a quasi-exp erim ent is applied to two groups of participants (120
first-ye ar stude nts in total ) together with two tasks of writing (tas k 1 and task 2) to
prove the feas ibility of the sugges ted ways and techniques in the thesis.
0.5 OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

A survey is conducted to identify factors that e ffect the first-yea r students'
ab ility to produc e a good pie ce of paragraph writing, especially in the term s of
language competence, ide as discovery and organization (the pre-writin g stage) . In
addition, questionnaires are deliv ered to students to ask about their writing
difficulties, writing practice, needs, and their attitudes toward writing skills.
Moreover, they are asked to ex press their idea s about ways to facilitate writing
activities . Questionnaires are also sent to teachers and their recommendations to

improve the situation are collected. Small talks with teachers and students are
carrie d out delicatel y in a frie ndly way to understand better their thoughts and
worries. The results of analysis of the questionnaires' responses are the bases to
work out what to do to facilit ate and impro ve the first-year stude nts' writing skills.

5

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

Be side s the introduction (which introduces the problem of the study, its aims
and the overvie w of the the sis), and the conclusion (which is the closing words
re stating briefl y what the thesis has discussed ), the thesis consists of five
chapt ers:
./' Chapt er I provid es the background information of the study: a des cription
of English syllabus for UT first-ye ar stude nts and the factors effecting them on
their studying writing skills.
./' Chapter 2 gives a revi ew of the relevant literature to the issues of tea ching
and learning of writin g skills in five major sec tions: (1) the nature of the
writing skill; (2) a brief introdu ction of methods and some researches relatin g
to the writing skill; (3) the rel ationship bet ween the writing skill and speaking
skill; (4) effects of pairw ork and groupwork on improving writing skills; and (5)
designin g guide d que stions in rel ation to improve the quality of stude nts'
discussion in pairs and groups . This chapter gives the theoretical contex t of the
study.
./' Chapt er 3, which is orga nize d in two sec tions, presents the meth odology of

the study. In the first section, the steps applied to carry out the study (as well as
to give answers to the re search que stions menti oned in the Introdu ction) are
ide ntifie d. In the second section, descriptions of (1) the participants (to whom
que stionnaires are deli vered . i.e ., the first-year studen ts and te achers ) and (2)
the instruments (ques tionnaires and a quasi-experiment) are given .
./' Chapter 4 ana lyzes the questionnaire responses (in two sec tions: stude nts'
res po nses, and te achers' re sponses), and the quasi-experiment. The dat a
ana lysis is inte nde d to ide ntify (1) what main obstacles pre vent the first-year
stude nts from doing the pre- writin g ac t well and (2) how helpful discussions in
pairs and groups are for improving the first-year stude nts' ability of doing the
pre- writin g act parti cularl y and writing per form ance ge nerally at UT.
6

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Introduction

./ Chapter 5: reveals implications and suggests some techniques and strategies
to facilitate the first-year students ' pre-writing act in order to improve the
quality of their writing works.
Hopefully , this thesis brings about practical benefits to the teachers and
students at UT in terms of teaching and learning writing skills by pointing out firstyear students' problems and giving useful and feasible suggestions, thus making
the learning of writing skills of the students concerned more effective.

7

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1- Background to the study

Chapter 1

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
------_._-----_._--

_---_._--------_._._--

This chapter provides background information crucial to underst anding why
the first-year stude nts at UT have difficulty producing a good piece of writing.
This chapt er is organized in two sections . The first section is a description of the
GE syllabus with writing skills currently in use at UT for the first-year students.
The second se ction is about the factors effecting the first-year students on writing
skills.
1.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR UT FIRST-YEAR

STUDENTS
This section desc ribes the GE syllabus for first-yea r students at UT of
HCMC , conce rning the aims of the syllabus and the coursebook in use.

1.1.1 Aims of the syllabus
Being parts of the whole GE syllabus of UT to help students achieve PreInterm edi ate level with equal consideration for the four skills (listening, spea king,
reading, and writing), requi rement s for the El course also concentrate on the four
skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In other words, the four skills are
considere d equally important and should be treated equally among the learners. It

means writing is an essential and obligatory skill for the first- year students studying
the £1 syllabus at UT and should not be neglected.

The first-year students, who are also the participants of this study, use
KnowHow 2 (by Angela Blackwell- Therese Naber 2003, Oxford University Press)

as their course book; which has 12 units. The first six units are for course El and
the other six are for E2. Course El consists of 70 periods (45minutes/ a period).

8

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1- Background to the study

There are 2 se ssions per week: one ses sion is 3 periods long and the other is only
2. The total time length of course El is accordingly 14 weeks.
1.1.2 Coursebook
In general, the four skills in this book are de signed in the light of
integration. The topics for all skills are often closely related to one another. In
more details, the structure of the course book can be illustrated in this table :

Items

- -

~

00

c::

:a

Units

'"
0::

Q)

~

::s

.0

'"0

u

§

-...'"

§

'..."
0
c::
0

::s
'"
u

c::

00

e
·2
E

-e

c::

00

-

::s

:Q

Q)

'c::"

00

>

&

:J'"

3
2
3
3
2
5
3
2
6

4
4
1
1
4
4
1
3
1

5
7
5
10
6
6
6
7
7

'"

....J

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

5
1
1
5
11

9

2
3
2
2
3
3
2
4
4

10

8

2

3

1

4

11
12

5
1

2
2

4
3

3
4

7
12

1
1

...
'"

0

"£
.5

0
...c..

C'l

c::

00

c::

'e,"
rrJ
Q)

6
8
4
4
5
2
4
1
2
513
I
7

0

.:::
C'l

00

c::

:a

...'"
'"
Q)

>
c::
0

u

'" .s
0::
Q)

7
9
11
12
12
13

...
'"
"3
.0
u
'"0

;>-.

...
0'"

C'l

c::

00

::s
'"
o

'2
E

0

c::

>

u,

:J'"

10
11

10
7
10
10
10
10
12

11

5

9
5
9
9
9
11
8
9
10

10
8
8
8
8-9
7
8
3

9

12

10

6

10
9

6
5

11
10

8

8

00

'"
'"
'2

'e

~...

Q)

~

'"
c..

0

9

8

C'l

.;

§
C'l

00

c::

:Q

'c..
"

Q)

rrJ

12
12
12
12
11
12
12
6
14
513
13

C()

l:!

.::

'1:

::

'"00c::

·2

Q)

'iii

:J

13

E:::
c::

'"
....J

9

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

0

13

6

6
6

11

13

14

7

Q)

0

7
11

13

12
8
513
9

*'"
...
;S

7

11

5
13

11

7

6

(Source: Co urse book KnowHo w 2 by Angel a Blackwell - Therese Naber 2003, OUP)

a. Numbers (l ~ 14): the order of the items in e ach unit.
b. * Others:
- Unit 3:
Building vocabulary.
- Unit 5:
When you don 't know a word.
- Unit 7:
De aling with mistake s.
- Unit II : Choosing vocabulary to learn.

Q)

14

Table 1.1: Items in the courseb ook KnowHow2 for first-year students at UT

Note:

~

12
11

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1- Background to the study

The data from the tabl e show that conside rable attention, in the courseb ook,
has be en paid to language skills such as listening, speaking, re ading, and writing.
In one unit, each skill is de signed with two items for stude nts to practice .
Howe ver, an unequal treatm ent of the four skills ca n be seen clearly: only one
item is for the writin g skill. Other items are not designed to support writing skills
e xce pt as grammar focuse s. Moreover, the content in this course book lacks
essentia l techniques and tips that are supportive for writing perform ance and even
instructions for the fea tures of different form s of writing (for e xample a summary,
a review, a de scripti on ) are not found , eithe r.
One might argue that if the course book lacks some thing, the teacher is
supposed to add it, or that the book is lea ving the teacher a chance to individualize
his instructions. However , te acher s need some gene ral framew orks as a basic. It
will be even more compli cating and confusing if differ ent teacher s say differ ent
things. Moreover, such fram ew orks will be neces sary for stude nts' further selfstudy. Thu s, it is esse ntial to have a unified suppleme ntary materi al for stude nts to
follow.

1.2 FACTORS EFFECTING UT FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ON STUDYING
WRITING SKILLS
In this se ction, the researcher of the thes is is going to present the main
causes which de-motiv ate the first-year students at UT in studying writing skills.
These ca uses are colle cted from opinions and answer s of the first-ye ar stude nts of
five classe s chosen at rand om ; of twenty teacher s te aching E l ; and of the
re se archer' s teaching expe riences.

1.2.1 First-year students' writing background

The most notice able thing is that a conside rable number of the first-year
stude nts at UT are non-majors in English who might take the English curriculum of
three to seven years at their high schoo l. They are not aware of what they need to
10

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1- Background to the study

do to produce a good piece of writing and most of them probably have not had any
formal writing course . Moreover, the High School curriculum mainly taught them
some knowledge of vocab ulary and grammatical rules (Le Nguyen Minh T h9,
2000) . Hence , they do not seem to master the stages for composing a piece of
writing (including pre-writing, while-w riting, and post-writing). Asked abou t their
obstacles, many students unhesi tatingly ex press the ir worries about lacking ideas
or appropria te words, phrases, expressio ns, and even structures in some cases.
90% of the total participants of the survey expressed the same idea : "I do not
know how to write ", "I do not know what to write" or "I am not good at writing" .
Ther efore, there is actua lly a lot to be done to get stude nts ready for writing
complete texts because they confront a lot of difficulties, especially in the stage of
managing how to get started and what to do.

1.2.2 Firs t-year stude nts' a tt itudes to ward writing skills
In recent years, globalization as well as its effects on various aspects of life
is a phenomenon about which people are talking a lot. One of its most remarkable
features is the process of globalized English. As Russell (2000) points out, English
has spread "through the products of the new technologies, including: the internet,

the mass media, the mass enterta inment industries, and international political
bodies ". As a result, English now has become "the main language " whenever
people ment ion issues of "publishing, scie nce, technology, commerce, diplomacy,
air-traffic control" and even "pop music " (Culpep per, 1997). Therefore, it is easy
to under stand why more and more people in the world generally, and in Vietnam
in partic ular, take English classes to learn the language or why more and more
schoo ls are ope ned to offer learners better facilities in their learning of English. It
is someti mes exaggerated that peop le who know no English at all are outsiders of
a society. So, English these days seems to be "a must" in peop le's life. In most of
the colleges and universities, English gradually becomes an obligatory subject in
11

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter 1- Background to the study

order to equip students with English knowledge, that is necessary for them to meet
some of society's needs as Dr. Nguyen The Bao once stated in his view of the
special importance of English to graduates and applicants*. It means that the
mastering of four skills to be able to use and communicate in English is the core
objective of the English syllabus at colleges and universities. However, a survey
conducted by handing out questionnaires to one hundred and fifty first-year
students showed unsatisfactory results. Most of them pay very poor attention to
writing skills but they are more concerned with listening and speaking skills.
When asked to number the language skills in order of importance, 66.6% of firstyear students named listening as the number-one skill, 64% thought that speaking
was the second important, and 49.3 % were in favor of reading. Writing always
occupied the fourth position. Moreover, the first-year students at UT do not

understand that writing skills can be helpful for them to achieve their aims at being
able to communicate in English in life or work. As a matter of fact, writing skills
play an important role for them in communication and in jobs. This is proven
clearly by results of an interview carried out among the engineers at the Holcim
Joint- Venture Company and the Dutch Lady Company (see appendix 4). 95% of
the participants insisted that they usually use English to write reports, go on daily
internal e-mail contacts, do presentations, or reports at workshops and seminars,
etc . Undoubtedly, part of the failure is caused by students' attitudes towards
writing .
1.2.3 Other factors

• This information was supplied by Mr. Nguyen The Bao, the Director of the Foreign Language Centre of
UT. HCMe. in an informal interview on 12 June . 2005.

12

@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

The effect of pairwork and groupwork in improving writing skills for the first year students at the university off technology, hcm

Tài liệu liên quan

Tài liệu bạn tìm kiếm đã sẵn sàng tải về