A survey of non english majors’ perceptions towards the impact of integrating reading in teaching writing at the university of social sciences and humanities, vietnam national university ho chi minh city

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------------------

TRAN CAO BOI NGOC

A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’
PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPACT OF
INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING
WRITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY
Major: English Language
Course code: 60220201

HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2021


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------------------

A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’
PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPACT OF
INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING
WRITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL
SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY
Submitted to the

Faculty of English Language
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language
(16,405 words)

Course code: 60220201
By

TRAN CAO BOI NGOC
Supervised by

NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D.
HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2021


The thesis entitled “A Survey of Non-English Majors’ Perceptions towards the
Impact of Integrating Reading in Teaching Writing at the University of Social
Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City” was
successfully defended and approved on …..……. at Ho Chi Minh City University
of Technology (HUTECH).
Academic supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D. ………………………………

Examination Committee
1. TS. Lê Văn Tuyên ………………………………….

Chair

2. TS. Nguyễn Đăng Nguyên………………. …………

Reader 1

3. TS. Lâm Thành Nam……………………………….

Reader 2

4. TS. Phạm Huy Cường……………………………….

Member

5. TS. Trần Quốc Thao………………………………..

Secretary

On behalf of the Examination Committee
Chair

(full name, title, signature)


HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE
HCMC, December 2021
MASTER’S THESIS REPORT
Student name: TRẦN CAO BỘI NGỌC

Sex: female

Date of birth: January 31, 1966

Place of birth: Ho Chi Minh City.

Major: English Language

Student code: 1741900078

I- Thesis title:
A Survey of Non-English Majors’ Perceptions towards the Impact of Integrating
Reading in Teaching Writing at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities,
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City
II- Objectives and contents:
The objectives of the thesis are to investigate non-English major students’ explore
the impact of reading on non-English major students’ writing performance.
To find out whether additional reading can contribute to language acquisition and
writing performance of the students at the research site, the research was an
experimental teaching in integrating additional reading in writing classes, and based
on both qualitative and quantitative method to collect data and evidence through
semi-structured interviews of 06 students and 150 questionnaires of non-English
majors. Convenience sampling was adopted. The research was guided by the
questions about the difficulties in writing performance that non-English majors of
B1-CEFR-level at USSH, VNUHCM faced, then, if any, about the kind of
problems; and by the perceptions that non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level have
towards the integration of additional reading in writing. For the findings, the
analysis of the questionnaire responses and the interviews proved that non-English
majors at USSH had difficulties in writing performance such as unfamiliar content


knowledge, lack of vocabulary, unsatisfactory coherence and confusion about
grammar. The findings also revealed non-English majors’ positive perceptions
towards the integration of additional reading in the enhancement of writing ability
in terms of content knowledge, vocabulary, coherence, and grammar.
III- Starting date: May 4th, 2019

IV- Completing date: December 2021
V- Academic supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D.
ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR

FACULTY DEAN

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D.

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D.


i

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:
“A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS
THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING WRITING
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES,
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY”
In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by
the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi
Minh City University of Technology.
Ho Chi Minh City, December 2021
Signature …………………………….

TRAN CAO BOI NGOC


ii

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, TRẦN CAO BỘI NGỌC, being a candidate for the
degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the
University

relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the

Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis
deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care,
loan, and reproduction for theses.
Ho Chi Minh City, December 2021
Signature …………………………….

TRẦN CAO BỘI NGỌC


iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Throughout the writing of this master thesis I have received a great deal of
support and assistance.
I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Nguyễn Thị Kiều
Thu, my supervisor, for her patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant
encouragement through the whole research process. Her expertise was invaluable in
formulating the research questions and methodology. Her insightful feedback
pushed me to sharpen my thinking and brought my work to a higher level. She did
provide me with the tools that I needed to choose the right direction and
successfully complete my thesis. Moreover, her wise counsel and sympathetic ear

were of great significance and a source of encouragement to me in times of
difficulties. I also would like to thank the devoted teaching staff for their rich
knowledge and effective ways of lecture delivery. Deep gratitude also goes to the
supporting staff of the Postgraduate Institute, HCMC University of Technology for
their indefatigable spirit and dedicated assistance.
Last but not least, I would like to convey my warmest thanks to the Centre
for Foreign Languages, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam
National University Ho Chi Minh City for having facilitated my research.
Without all their whole-hearted support and valuable guidance throughout
my studies, this thesis would never have been completed.


iv

ABSTRACT
Reading and writing is inseparable, and the integration of reading in teaching
writing is an integral part of enhancing students’ writing performance. At the
University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi
Minh City, writing in English is one of the most challenging tasks. To find out
whether additional reading can contribute to language acquisition and writing
performance of the students at the research site, the research was an experimental
teaching in integrating additional reading in writing classes, and based on both
qualitative and quantitative method to collect data and evidence through semistructured interviews of 6 students and 150 questionnaires of non-English majors at
the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho
Chi Minh City. Convenience sampling was adopted. The research was guided by
the questions about the difficulties in writing performance that non-English majors
of B1-CEFR-level at USSH, VNUHCM faced, then, if any, about the kind of
problems; and by the perceptions that non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level have
towards the integration of additional reading in writing. For the findings, the
analysis of the questionnaire responses and the interviews proved that non-English

majors at USSH had difficulties in writing performance such as unfamiliar content
knowledge, lack of vocabulary, unsatisfactory coherence and confusion about
grammar. The findings also revealed non-English majors’ positive perceptions
towards the integration of additional reading in the enhancement of writing ability
in terms of content knowledge, vocabulary, coherence, and grammar. Through this
thesis, the author would like to raise a voice of the importance of additional reading
in the improvement of students’ writing ability with the hope that educational
leaders/managers and teachers will consider integrate additional reading into the
curriculum, syllabus and lesson plans.
Key words: additional reading, impact, non-English majors, perceptions, writing
ability (283 words excluding key words)


v

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY...................................................................... i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .......................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... v
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. ix
LIST OF FIGURES, GRAPHS ............................................................................... x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................. xi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
1.1

Background to the study ............................................................................... 1

1.2

Statement of the problem .............................................................................. 3

1.3

Aims and objectives of the study.................................................................. 4

1.4

Research questions ....................................................................................... 5

1.5

Scope of the study......................................................................................... 5

1.6

Significance of the study .............................................................................. 5

1.7

Definitions of key terms ............................................................................... 6

1.8

Organization of the Thesis ............................................................................ 8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 9
2.1

Introduction .................................................................................................. 9

2.2

Nature of writing .......................................................................................... 9

2.3

Writing ability............................................................................................. 10

2.3.1

Content .................................................................................................... 10

2.3.2

Organization............................................................................................ 11

2.3.3

Supporting materials ............................................................................... 11

2.3.4

Expression, word choice, point of view ................................................... 11

2.3.5

Spelling, grammar and punctuation ........................................................ 11

2.4

Nature of reading ........................................................................................ 11

2.5

Types of reading ......................................................................................... 12


vi

2.6

Relationship between intensive reading and extensive reading ................. 13

2.7

The impact of reading on writing ability .................................................... 13

2.7.1

In terms of vocabulary ............................................................................ 14

2.7.2

In terms of grammar ................................................................................ 15

2.8

Review of previous studies ......................................................................... 16

2.9

Conceptual framework ............................................................................... 24

2.10 Chapter summary ........................................................................................ 25
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 26
3.1

Introduction ................................................................................................ 26

3.2

Research design .......................................................................................... 26

3.3

Research site ............................................................................................... 26

3.3.1

Description of the surveyed course ......................................................... 27

3.3.2

Procedures of applying additional reading in teaching writing ............. 29

3.4

Sample and sampling procedures ............................................................... 31

3.5

Research instruments .................................................................................. 32

3.5.1

The questionnaires .................................................................................. 32

3.5.2

The semi-structured interview ................................................................. 34

3.6

Data collection procedures ......................................................................... 34

3.7

Data analysis procedures ............................................................................ 35

3.8

Validity and Reliability .............................................................................. 36

3.9

Ethical issues .............................................................................................. 38

3.10 Chapter summary ........................................................................................ 38

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................... 40
4.1

Introduction ................................................................................................ 40

4.2

4.2. Results ................................................................................................. 40

4.2.1

Research question 1: Students' anwers about their difficulties in writing ..
................................................................................................................. 40

4.2.1.1 Results from the questionnaires: The results gathered from the
questionnaires are displayed as follows. .........................................................40


vii

4.2.1.2 Results from the semi-structured interviews: ....................................45
4.2.2

Research question 2: Students' perceptions towards the impact of the

integration of reading in writing ability ............................................................ 45
4.2.2.1 Results from the questionnaires: The results gathered from the
questionnaires are displayed as follows. .........................................................46
4.2.2.2 Results from the semi-structured interviews: ....................................51
4.3

Discussion ................................................................................................... 53

4.4

Chapter summary ........................................................................................ 56

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 57
5.1

Summary of the main findings of the thesis ............................................... 57

5.2

Pedagogical implications ............................................................................ 58

5.3

Limitations .................................................................................................. 59

5.4

Recommendations for further research ...................................................... 59

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 61
APPENDICES
Appendix A: A cover letter for the questionnaires. ....................................................
Appendix B: Intermediate B1 Graded Reading ......................................................
Appendix C: Oxford Graded Readers .....................................................................
Appendix D: Amazing adventurers (B1) with 4a, 4b and 4c ..................................

Appendix E: Questionnaire 1 .................................................................................
Appendix F: Questionnaire 2 .................................................................................
Appendix G: Results from the semi-structured interviews (research question 1)
Appendix H: Results from the semi-structured interviews (research question 2)
Appendix I: CRONBACH’S ALPHA (detailed reliability statistics)
Appendix J: Plagiarism check result ......................................................................


viii

Chapter 1

2,563 words

Chapter 2

5,096 words

Chapter 3

3,683 words

Chapter 4

4,025 words

Chapter 5

1,038 words

Total

16,405 words


ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the scales used ................................ 37
Table 4.1. Students’ answers about writing in general ....................................... 40
Table 4.2. Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of
content knowledge of the topics relevant to writing tasks .................................. 41
Table 4.3. Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of
lack of vocabulary .................................................................................................. 43
Table 4.4. Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of
unsatisfactory coherence ....................................................................................... 43
Table 4.5. Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of
grammar .................................................................................................................. 44
Table 4.6. Students’ answers about writing in general (research question 2) .. 46
Table 4.7. Students' answers about widening content knowledge of the topics
relevant (research question 2) ............................................................................... 47
Table 4.8. Students' answers about enriching vocabulary (research question 2)
.................................................................................................................................. 49
Table 4.9. Students' answers about coherence improvement (research question
2)............................................................................................................................... 49
Table 4.10. Students' answers about grammar improvement (research
question 2) ............................................................................................................... 50

x

LIST OF FIGURES, GRAPHS
Figures
Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of the current study .......................................... 24
Graphs
Graph 4.1. Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of
content knowledge of the topics relevant to writing tasks ....................................... 42
Graph 4.2. Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of
grammar ................................................................................................................... 44
Graph 4.3. Students’ answers about writing in general (research question 2) ......... 46
Graph 4.4. Students' answers about widening content knowledge .......................... 48
of the topics relevant (research question 2) ............................................................. 48
Graph 4.5. Students' opinions about grammar improvement (research question 2) 50


xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CEFR

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

EFL

English as a foreign language

USSH

University of Social Sciences and Humanities

VNUHCM

Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City


1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides background information as a firm foundation for an
understanding of the study. The chapter is organized in 8 sections including
background of the study, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study,
research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, definitions of key
terms, and organization of the thesis.
1.1

Background to the study
“Reading and writing work in similar ways. Reading improves your writing
style and flow. Writers learn to perfect their craft by taking inspiration from
other writers. It’s impossible to be a good writer if you don’t read. […..]
Reading teaches you new words and perspectives. It helps strengthen
language and sharpens sentence structure. It gives you a better command over
the language.” (The Harappa Purpose, 2020).
It is unreasonable to hold low regard to any of the 4 skills when learning a

language. Each skill has its own role and plays an integral part in a whole language.
One cannot write without any vocabulary nor knowledge about grammar. Living is
communicating. One cannot live without communicating at all, be it verbal or nonverbal. Therefore, communication is one essential skill every person must master to
be able to succeed in their academics and in later life. The process of learning

English encompasses the 4 basic skills including Receptive skills (listening and
reading) and productive skills (speaking and writing). Receptive skills are necessary
as they help students to understand contents of any documents. Productive skills are
significant as they allow students to perform in such communicative ways as oral
presentations, written forms, and so forth (Hossain, 2015). Writing is considered a
comprehensive skill which helps reinforce vocabulary, grammar, thinking, planning,
editing, revising, and other elements. As the 4 skills are interrelated, writing also
helps to improve all the other skills as well (Yunus & Chien, 2016). In addition,
writing fosters communication, enhance critical thinking skills, and make logical


2

and persuasive arguments from work meetings to writing emails, reports,
presentations, proposals, among many others.
Generally speaking, extensive reading enhances the acquisition of knowledge,
which in turn can improve writing ability (Baumgartner, 2017). Asking students to
write about what they have read can consolidate their understanding of the new
terms, review the usage of words as well as grammatical points, then, further
increase their comprehension of particular documents. This mutual support or
reciprocal relationship between reading and writing reinforces the idea that
extensive reading can be a catalyst for writing skill improvement.
Reading and writing are curricularly interrelated (Institute for Writing and
Rhetoric, Dartmouth College). Harvard and other universities stated that reading
literature was essential to learning to write. This resulted from the idea that reading
gives students energetic inspiration since reading exposes students to great ideas,
improves their ability to think in a critical and analytical way. In addition, reading
creates clues for class discussion by giving them topics to talk about. In the same
vein, reading offers students topics to write about. More important, by being
exposed to words in contexts, standard writing styles, students can perfectly imitate

them in terms of organization of ideas, structures, vocabulary, and so on.
For the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National
University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH henceforth), those who choose the English
language as the language to meet the requirements for graduation must reach level
B1 (to the standard of the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages, CEFR) and are non-English majors. The Centre for Foreign Languages,
USSH is assigned the responsibility to offer training of foreign languages including
the English language to these students. Since the courses under investigation are the
formal ones offering training in the four skills including writing, the syllabus has
been designed to equip students with the skill to write in English. In fact, writing in
English is one of the most challenging tasks which pose a number of difficulties to
the students concerning organization (especially, paragraph and essay writing),


3

vocabulary, grammar, language use, spelling, punctuation, etc. Therefore, additional
reading enables the students to obtain a large volume of input of English. Apart
from vocabulary gained, they become familiar with structures, grammar rules,
language use, etc. They also have opportunities to think critically, organize and
write out their thoughts, share their knowledge in a clear way. In brief, the research
must prove and confirm that comprehensible input is among the key factors
contributing to language acquisition and writing competency.
Task-based Language Teaching was used to improve the teaching learning
process and the students’ reading comprehension ability. Questionnaires and
interviews were used to collect data which were then analyzed qualitatively.
Students’ achievement of comprehension questions, students’ self-reflection in the
form of questionnaires and interviews were cave. rried out in order to support the
data collected. In this study, students were required to present a task they had to
perform and solve. Only when the task was finished did the teacher make

corrections and adjustments (Harmer, J., 1991).

1.2

Statement of the problem
As writing is a component in the 4-skill test of English at USSH, it is taught

in all the courses that the students are enrolled in until they have reached the
required level for graduation where almost all their English assignments are in the
written form. Thus, writing assignments with poor scores will adversely affect the
students’ academic performance as writing is an integral part of language
acquisition. According to Bryne (1988), difficulties in writing can result from three
kinds:

linguistic difficulty (grammar, vocabulary, language use and choice of

sentence), physiology difficulty (difficulty in developing written material or content
of composition), and cognitive difficulty (spelling, punctuation, capitalization and
paragraphing). Due to the complexity of the writing skill, writing in English is one
of the most challenging tasks for most of them. They face great difficulty even in
sentence writing, let alone paragraph and essay writing. Therefore, something must


4

be done to facilitate students’ writing, to help with the composing processes, and to
improve the quality of their writing. The introduction of additional reading as an
input for writing will be put into practice with the hope that it could improve nonEnglish majors’ writing skill. However, a study into the students’ perceptions
towards the newly introduced technique as well as its impact on the students’
writing ability has not ever been conducted. Consequently, such a research should

be done for the improvement of the teaching of writing skill so as to help the nonEnglish majors at the University of Social Sciences & Humanities better this
particular skill.
1.3

Aims and objectives of the study
Through investigation, the thesis aims to prove that the greater the amounts

of language input are, the better the students’ writing ability becomes. The more
they read, the more they acquire in terms of vocabulary enhancement, grammar and
coherence improvement, the better their writing performance becomes. Therefore, It,
thus, aims to investigate students’ perceptions towards the application of additional
reading in teaching writing skill as well as the impact of additional reading as a
supplementary material in teaching writing skill. If the results are positive, i.e. the
students’ perceptions/motivation towards additional reading remains positive, the
result can help teachers to consider additional reading an important part of teaching.
Moreover, since additional reading is not always a regular part of any curriculum in
any educational institute, the thesis is a little step in the realization of additional
reading importance in language learning mainly focused on writing skill; thus,
encouraging curriculum designers to include some extensive reading exercises in
the language learning syllabus.
Based on these aims, the thesis’s objectives are formulated as follows:
a) To explore if non-English majors at USSH have difficulties in writing
performance and what difficulties they have if any.
b) To investigate non-English majors’ perceptions at USSH towards the
integration of reading in the enhancement of writing skill


5

1.4

Research questions
As mentioned above, this thesis is designed to explore non-English major

students’ current perceptions towards additional reading in the enhancement of
writing skill, as well as assessing that if non-English major students read more and
appropriately, their writing competence will be improved.
In this light, the thesis is guided by the following questions
a) Do non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level at USSH, VNUHCM have difficulties
in writing performance? If yes, what are the problems?
b) What are the perceptions of non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level towards the
integration of additional reading in writing?
1.5

Scope of the study
The thesis was conducted through the teaching of the writing and reading

skills of 150 non-English major students who already finished the course of TO5 (or
B1.1 level) at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National
University Ho Chi Minh City located at 10-12 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Ben Nghe
Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. As mentioned earlier, the students are grouped
by their English proficiency and not by the year they enter the university; thus, the
participants are of mixed disciplines. The study focused on the students who
enrolled in B1-CEFR level courses in the 2nd semester of the academic year 20192020, i.e. already successfully finishing B1.1 course. It is assumed that they are a
homogeneous group in terms of English level, regardless of their specialization.
The students’ perceptions towards the application of additional reading and how
reading (the amount of input) influences the writing is the core of the study, and
other factors involving the teaching of writing skill at the institution such as the
syllabuses, teaching materials, assessment and teaching environment are not of
consideration.

1.6

Significance of the study
In terms of practical significance, the thesis is conducted to justify the

effectiveness of additional reading in that additional reading can help students to


6

comprehend texts better and at the same time acquire vocabulary, master
grammatical rules well enough for writing proficiency. These benefits of additional
reading can change students’ perceptions towards reading, help students to know
how to take advantage of mutual assistance of the 4 skills for perfection, and to help
administrators to see the role of additional reading in enhancing students’ writing
competence and input. In addition, the thesis tries to provide some insights and
suggestions to the syllabus designers so that extensive reading can be given
emphasis on.
Theoretically, the findings of the thesis will shed some light on whether
additional reading improves the writing performance, entailing the boosting of
students’ perceptions. Consequently, in practice the thesis is expected to encourage
students’ to spare time for additional reading, syllabus designers to integrate
additional reading into the syllabus, and teachers to focus more on additional
reading so that students can obtain the maximum gain from reading.
1.7

Definitions of key terms
To facilitate comprehension of this research, the author would like to explain

key terms as follows:

a) Supplementary reading materials: they are the materials used in addition
to the course book(s) to provide knowledge, experiences, skills which are not
mentioned in the course book(s); i.e. to fill the gap in the course book(s), or even to
strengthen and give further details of what is taught in the course book(s). Usually,
supplementary materials are bound to become a booklet which goes hand in hand
with the main course book(s). However, in this thesis, the author only did
experimental teaching by providing students with further reading texts (with
exercises and answers) to see if these further reading texts are of assistance to the
students in terms of content, vocabulary, coherence and grammar. This way, these
further reading texts served as additional reading for experiment in this course only,
not kind of long-term supplementary materials to the main course book(s). Hence,
the writer used the term “additional reading” instead of “supplementary reading”


7

b) Perceptions: The way someone notices or thinks of something, especially
with the senses. Perceptions refer to the way sensory information is organized,
interpreted and consciously experiences. In the current study’s context, perceptions
are the notices that teachers and students have towards the use of peer feedback
applied in an EFL writing class.
As attitude is composed of three components including a cognitive
component, effective or emotional component, and a behavioral component, attitude
can be said to be so broad a concept, which cannot be fully observable or researched
on in the framework of this thesis. Instead, the author embarked on a smaller scale
– perceptions. The author was engaged in students’ perceptions to know what they
thought via questionnaires and interviews. In the current study, perceptions referred
to what non-English majors at USSH felt/thought about the integration of additional
reading in writing lessons during their English course.
c) Reading: This study, due to time and institutional constraints, refers to

Reading as additional reading, i.e., short English texts or passages are given to
students periodically as extra reading at home assigned to the students in the
surveyed writing courses at USSH. This is a kind of assignments with extra reading
texts/passages provided by the teacher twice a month. Different from intensive
reading, the students do not have to read for details with specific learning aims and
tasks. Different from extensive reading, students do not have the rights to choose
reading passages of their interest.
d) Writing Ability is the aptitude of assembling what you think or need to
convey utilizing words so as to make the reader understand your thoughts.
Subsequently, writing ability is kind of composing perceptions, which are a critical
piece of correspondence. Good writing skill empowers the writer to present his
message with clearness.
In the current study, writing ability was represented by the mastering of the 4
criteria (1) knowledge of content, (2) vocabulary retention, (3) coherence and (4)
grammar.


8

1.8

Organization of the Thesis

This thesis shows how additional reading enables the students to obtain a large
volume of input of English and that comprehensible input is among the key factors
contributing to language acquisition and writing competency.
The organization of this thesis is as follows.
Chapter 1 provides background information crucial to an understanding of
the study, focusing on a description and analysis of the current situation of teaching
writing with the help of additional reading. This chapter provides a deep insight of

the important role of writing in learning English and then the significant support of
additional reading in the enhancement of writing skill.
Chapter 2 introduces some relevant researches on the effectiveness of
reading in general which have been done to find the best ways possible to improve
the students’ writing skills. Reading for richer input in terms of vocabulary,
grammar etc. is carried out for output in written form. This is not a simple task
which requires efforts and cooperation from the students. Students possess different
perceptions to capture the meaning of what they have to learn, to develop the
receptive knowledge into the productive works of their own.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology employed to identify the research
questions underlying the study. The second section presents the research design
with the descriptions of the subjects, i.e. B1-CEFR students participating in survey,
and the instruments are the questionnaires to those subjects.
Chapter 4 wraps the research findings and discussion about non-English
majors’ difficulties in writing, and about their perceptions towards the integration of
additional reading on their writing ability.
In chapter 5, the author concludes the thesis by restating briefly what has
been presented and discussed throughout the previous chapters. These are the
closing words before the main text of the thesis ends.


9

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1

Introduction
In the previous chapter, background information to the study has been given.

Human beings in general, students in particular possess different perceptions to
capture the meaning of what they have to learn, to develop the receptive knowledge
into the productive works of their own.
On a smaller scale, reading for richer input in terms of vocabulary, grammar
etc. is carried out for output in written form. This is not a simple task which requires
efforts and cooperation from the students. A lot of researches on the effectiveness of
reading in general have been done to find the best ways possible to improve the
students’ writing skills.
2.2

Nature of writing
Writing is by no mean an easy task. Writing helps writers to put thoughts

into verses, texts or written documents. In other words, writing turns the invisible
into the visible. Expressing oneself clearly in written form in a foreign language is
all the more difficult for native and nonnative speakers alike. With pens in hand,
writers must take a lot of factors into consideration such as content, organization,
coherence, purpose, audience, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
Writing is a mode of correspondence that shows language through the
engraving of signs and images. It is a perplexing procedure that includes dominance
on practically all language levels, morphology, sentence structure, semantics,
pragmatics and talk. Rather than talking, composing contains increasingly
expounded etymological frameworks, complex provisions, distinctive language
structure and vocabularies. Numerous specialists, in this way, think about
composition the gauge of one's capability on a specific language. They additionally
believe that composing is the most troublesome fundamental language perceptions
because of its intricacy and complete dependence on these language levels. Writing
expertise stresses well-formedness. To create a decent composition, ones must have