english writing skills and critical thinking skills of freshman college students in the university of transport technology system in three provinces of vietnam basic for functional writing activity (sum)

Thai Nguyen University Batangas State University
Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of Philippines

NGUYEN THANH TU

ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING
SKILLS OF FRESHMAN COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE
UNIVERSITY OFTRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM
IN THREE PROVINCES OF VIETNAM: BASIS FOR
FUNCTION AL WRITING ACTIVITY

Speciality: English language and literature



Ph.D DISSERTATION SUMMARY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE



THAI NGUYEN, 2014

The Dissertation was completed in:
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Advisor: Matilda H.Dimaan.Ph.D.


Reviewer No.1:
Reviewer No.2:
Reviewer No.3:



The Dissertation will be evaluated at the State Council held at:
………………………………………………………………………
At: hour date month year 2014




Dissertation can be found at the libraries:
- National library of Vietnam;
- Learning Resource Center - Thai Nguyen University;
- Library of International Training and Development Center;
- Library of Batangas State University, Philippines.


1
The study of the English language has taken a multifaceted
dimension and has span from the knowledge-based format to the
skill- based format. It has also moved from theory to practice and
much more as the business world has taken an aggressive position to
demand the criteria for hiring their personnel to include certified

demonstrable English language skill.
Writing as an act is encoding an idea, a thought, a reflection; a
process of putting one’s thought into words. And this would require
that the words are organized to convey the idea, the way the writer
would want the reader to receive the message and experience the
writer’s concept. Thus the demand for writing is more rigorous than
speaking. In writing, one must have an extensive vocabulary at once
disposal to be able to use the right words corresponding to the idea or
message. Thus the writer, must have a full grasp of the common
meaning and special meaning and use of those words. The writer
must also know how sentences are constructed in the English
language so that these sentences become coherent and cohesive.
Then comes the other fine details of grammar, syntax, morphology to
further create a linguistic impact.
The educational system with its language curricula considers
this gradating degree of writing skills development where at the
elementary levels, students are required to write formal themes
compositions with a freedom of topic choice at the beginning and
later a specific chosen topic given by the teacher as the basis. In the
secondary level, writing skills are developed through essays and
reaction papers. In the tertiary level, it is a blend of the secondary
level materials as well as the writing of a thesis, a more extensive


2
type of writing piece that would cover an analytical step where an
idea is expounded, from the information of previous literatures and
moving forward to a proposed idea or concept and providing
evidence for the new proposal. The process goes on and on in the
tertiary and higher levels of education. Hence, cognitive skill is vital

in each step of the writing skills development.
As college teacher teaching Basic English, the author observed
students have difficulty in writing longer composition. They tend to
commit errors in the construction of sentences, failed to observed
correct punctuations, and other aspects in mechanics of writing.
Their levels of critical thinking in terms of cognitive, affective, and
their disposition are needed to determine as they also play significant
role to their learning. Thus, the theme of "English Writing Skills and
Critical Thinking Skills of Freshman College Students in the
University of Transport Technology System in Three Provinces of
Vietnam: Basic for Functional Writing Activity" is choosen to study.
The structure of dissertation include of 5 chapters


3
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF STUDY:
Writing as an act is encoding an idea, a thought, a reflection; a
process of putting one’s thought into words. And this would require
that the words are organized to convey the idea, the way the writer
would want the reader to receive the message and experience the
writer’s concept. Thus the demand for writing is more rigorous than
speaking. In writing, one must have an extensive vocabulary at once
disposal to be able to use the right words corresponding to the idea or
message. Thus the writer, must have a full grasp of the common
meaning and special meaning and use of those words. The writer
must also know how sentences are constructed in the English
language so that these sentences become coherent and cohesive.

Then comes the other fine details of grammar, syntax, morphology to
further create a linguistic impact.
The educational system with its language curricula considers
this gradating degree of writing skills development where at the
elementary levels, students are required to write formal themes
compositions with a freedom of topic choice at the beginning and
later a specific chosen topic given by the teacher as the basis. In the
secondary level, writing skills are developed through essays and
reaction papers. In the tertiary level, it is a blend of the secondary
level materials as well as the writing of a thesis, a more extensive
type of writing piece that would cover an analytical step where an
idea is expounded, from the information of previous literatures and


4
moving forward to a proposed idea or concept and providing
evidence for the new proposal. The process goes on and on in the
tertiary and higher levels of education. Hence, cognitive skill is vital
in each step of the writing skills development.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDIES
This study addresed the following research questions:
1. What is the demographic profile of students in terms of
1.1 gender;
1.2 parent's educational attainment;
1.3 student's place of origin
1.4 type of school attended (high school); and
1.5 exposure to English media
2. What is the level of writing skills of students relative to:
2.1 discourse component (cohesion, coherence)
2.2 grammatical component;

2.3 mechanics;
2.4 morphology; and
2.5 syntax?
3. How do teachers assess the critical thinking skills of students?
4. How do students level of writing skills and teacher assessment of
students’ critical thinking skills compare?


5
5. What functional writing activities may be proposed to enhance
student's writing and critical thinking skills?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The results of the dissertation help students identify limitation in
English writing skills and critical thinking skills in order to learn
how to improve their language skills.
Teachers of English are aware of the critical thinking skills and
English writing skills students through the findings of the
dissertation and their responsibility for designing a suitable activities
to improve students’ skills.
Findings of the dissertation will improve relevant data for
administrators at University of Transport Technology System to
design an effective curriculum for the students.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study is focused on determining the level of students’
writing skills in terms of discourse components, grammatical
components, mechanics, morphology and syntax as well as the level
of students’ critical thinking skills. Responses of 306 first year
students from University of Transport Technology system in three
provinces in Vietnam and the respective English teachers of these
students using the stratified random technique were analysed. The

students were made to answer to a validated teacher made
questionnaire designed to assess their level of writing skills while
the teachers were asked to answer a survey cognitive skill
assessment questionnaire where they rated, based on their
perception, the critical thinking skill level of their students


6
These two questionnaires were the source of quantitative data
that were analysed statistically. The study site were University of
Transport Technology system in three provinces (Ha Noi, Thai
Nguyen, Vinh Yen) in Vietnam and the study covered a period of six
months from July to December 2013. Demographic information was
gathered from the students and teachers through the questionnaires
but their names were not revealed. The respondents were those
currently enrolled in an English course. The teacher respondents
were the respective teachers of the evaluated students as they were
the ones assessed their students’ cognitive skills. The students’
respondents were limited only to those who were enrolled in their
Basic English course in the stated covered period.
Descriptive method of research was used in the study to
determine the levels of writing and critical thinking skills of students.
The study made used of teacher made test for student
respondents and survey questionnaire for teacher respondents



7
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

2.1 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
This section present of some literature and studies related to the topic.
2.2 RESEARCH PARADIGM
Figure 1. The Reasearch Paradigm
Input Process Output










Figure 1
Conceptual Paradigm of the Study










sed
Functional

Writing
Activities












Assessment made
through:

Teacher-made Test

Survey Questionnaire


A
. Demographic
profile of the
respondents in terms of:

1. gender
2. parent's
educational

attainment
3. place of origin
4. type of high
school attended
5. student's exposure to
English media,

B Respondent's level of
writing skills relative to:
1. cohesion/
coherence
2. grammatical
component
a. mechanics
b.
morphology
c. syntax

D. Teachers

assessment of
the

students' critical
thinking skills in terms of:
1. cognitive
skills
2. affective and
3. disposition

8
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN
This study made used of descriptive research design to describe
the data and characteristics of the study. According to Arriola (2006)
descriptive research aims to describe the present behaviour or
characteristics of a particular population and the data are collected to
describe persons, organizations, settings and phenomena. The study
utilized a combination type of questionnaire the survey and test
questions. The subjects’ answered to the questionnaire will constitute
the data that will be analyzed statistically. Sampling will be
purposive to include the target population consisting of students who
were currently enrolled in a first year Basic English course and their
respective teachers for the cognitive assessment of their students.
RESPOND OF THE STUDY
The subjects of this study composed of 306 first year English
students and at least 20 first year English teachers from the three
campuses of the University of Transport Technology System in the
three provinces of Vietnam. In Hanoi Campus the total number of
student population is 501 with seven English teachers and the
student respondents of the study are 102, while in Thai Nguyen
campus , the total student population is 499 with 6 English teachers
and the student respondents used are 102. In Vinh Yen Campus the
total student population is 500 with seven English teachers. The
number of student respondents utilized in the study is 102. All

9
student respondents were currently enrolled in a first year English
course and were cooperative in sharing their demographic profiles.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
The study made used of the following date gathering
instruments in the conduct of the study.
Teacher –made Test. This was used to determine the levels of
student respondents performance in writing skills in terms of
discourse components such as cohesion and coherence, grammatical
component, mechanics, morphology and syntax.
Survey Questionnaire. This was used to determine the teacher
respondents perceptions as to the level of students’ critical thinking
skills in terms of cognitive, affective, and disposition skills.
DATA GATHERING PROCEDURES
The questionnaires for both the teachers and students were
conceptualized, designed for the purpose of the study. As soon as the
final draft of the questionnaires were one, the students’
questionnaires were subjected to pilot testing to thirty first year
college students who were not the respondents of the study to
determine the strength and weaknesses of the instrument. Likewise
the teacher questionnaires were given to twenty English teachers of
Batangas State University with the adviser’s assistance for the
comments and suggestions to further improve the instrument and or
the degree of appropriateness of the items. The questionnaires were
revised based on suggestions of English teachers.
As soon as this was done, letters of requests were then sent to
the panel members and expert on the field for them to validate the
contents of the data gathering instruments. As soon as these

10

instruments were checked final copy of the questionnaires were then
produced. Another letter of requests were then written and forwarded
to the administrators of the universities for permission to administer
the questionnaires to both teachers and students.
With the approved letter of requests, test were administered to
the 306 student respondents and 20 teacher respondents of the study
in three universities namely Hanoi, Thai Nguyen and Vinhyen, the
research environment of the study. The student respondents were
given one hour to answer the test. When all the students were done in
answering the tests, test questionnaires were retrieved same also with
that of the teachers’ survey questionnaires. Students’ answers were
checked per item so as with the responses of the teachers. These
were then tallied then analysed and interpreted.
STATISTICAL TREATMENT DATA
For data analysis, SSPS software was used. The following
statistical tools were utilized in the study:
Cronbach alpha. This was used to measure internal consistency
of the scores of the respondents.
Correlation. This was performed to determine the relationship of
the teachers’ assessment scores and the students’ skills.
Mean. This was used to determine the average score of the
students in the teacher -made- test
Percentage. This was used to determine the magnitude of the
frequency in relation to the whole responses.
Ranking. This was used to determine the positional importance
of responses.

11

CHAPTER IV
RESULT AND DISCUSSION

1. Demographic Profile of Students
The demographic profile of 306 student respondents in terms of
gender, parents’ educational attainment, students’ place of origin,
type of high school attended, and exposure to English media was
determined using a survey questionnaire.
As regard to the gender profile, majority of the respondents are
males which comprise 98 percent or 300 of the 306 total population.
There were only six female respondents or 2 percent. . In their
parents’ educational attainmentmajority of the students’ parent have
educational attainment in the “other” level or education higher than
the tertiary with 48.0 percent. This is followed by tertiary with 41.5
percent and lastly by secondary 10.5 percent.
For place of origin, the students come from at least 13 different
places in Vietnam with majority or 20.3 percent coming from
“Others” or different places in Vietnam, followed by Ha Noi with 16
percent, then by Nam Dinh with 4.6 percent, then by Vinh Phuc
with 14.1 percent, then by Thai Binh with 11.8 percent, and the rest
from the remaining 8 different places which indicates that the three
University campuses under study cater to students coming from
different places in Vietnam.
As to type of school, majority come from public high school
which comprise 287 of 306 respondents or 93.8 percent. Only 6.2


12

percent come from private high school. This indicates that the public
high schools are the main institutions catering to the students
In exposure to media 100 percent of the students have had
exposure which indicates that the students are no longer foreign to
the English language as the English media has now been ubiquitous
and comes in various forms and means that the students got exposure
through television, the internet or the foreign English movies, which
are the rich sources of learning for new words to expand their
vocabulary and the use of these words and their correct
pronunciation.
2. Level of writing skills of students in Basic English
The level of writing skills of the student respondents were
determined using a teacher-made test based on five component skills
such as discourse component in terms ofcohesion, coherence,
grammatical component, mechanics, morphology, and syntax.
For the discourse componentthe average score of correct items
is 9.5 with a mean % score equivalent of 67.8 percent which is above
50 percent. This value has a percentile rank of 34.3 percent with a
verbal description of average. This indicates that the level of writing
skills of the student in terms of the discourse component is average
for this set of student population.
In grammatical component, the average score of correct items is
6.6 with an equivalent mean % correct score of 66.3 percent. This
value is above 50 percent indicating better performance in this
component skill area. The percentile rank is 35.3 percent with an
equivalent description of “Average”. This indicates that the level of


13

the students’ writing skills in terms of its grammatical component is
average for this population of students.
The average correct score of the student respondents in
mechanics on the other hand is 6.5 corresponding to a mean %
correct score of 64.9 percent. This score is above 50 percent and
indicates that more than half of the student population was able to
respond correctly in these items.
In terms of the morphology component, six sub-components
were considered which include Morphemes, Homonym, Synonyms,
Antonyms, Compound, Word constituents and Idioms. The average
correct score for morphemes is 1.7 which has a mean % equivalent
of 55.4 percent. For homonym, it can be noted that that the average
correct score is 1.7 with a mean % equivalent of 58.3 percent. In the
sub component Synonym, the average correct score is 2.0
corresponding to a mean % score of 65.5 percent. This value is
above 50 percent and high compared to the values obtained for
morphemes and homonym. In the case of the sub component
Antonym, the average score is 1.7 and has a mean % score of 56.4
percent. This value is numerically close to the values for morphemes
and homonym. For compound word constituents, it can be observed
that that the average correct score is 1.8 with a mean % equivalent of
60.6 percent. In the sub component Idioms, the average correct score
is 2.0 corresponding to a mean % score of 65.7 percent. This value is
way above 50 percent and the highest among the different sub
component scores. Looking at the total performance of the students
under the component skill of morphology, the average score is 1.8
with a mean % score of 60.3 percent. The percentile rank is 25.8

14

percent corresponding to a verbal description of average. Thus, in
general, the performance of the students in the component skill of
morphology is average for this given population.
For syntax, the average correct score is 5.4 with a mean % score
equivalent of 54.1 percent. The corresponding percentile rank is 74.0
percent and its verbal description is average indicating that the
students’ performance is in general, average for this given
population. The standard deviation score is 9.7 percent and below the
cut-off score for normally distributed curve indicating this
population to be homogeneous and the results to be reliable.
3. Teachers Assessment of the Critical Thinking Skills of
Students
Thirteen from a list of 33 critical thinking skills are classified as
Cognitive skills and twenty are classified under the Affective skills.
12 out of 33 items obtained an agree score of less than 50 percent.
Five of these items belong to the Cognitive skills while the
remaining seven items belong to the affective skills.
The critical skill that most respondents agree garnering a score
of 19 or 95 percent belongs to the cognitive skills classification. This
is followed by four skills that rank 2 position and all belong to the
affective skill classification. This reflects on the value that the
respondents place on cognitive skills in the assessment of the
students’ performance. Teacher respondents believe providing
students with positive help will assist the students develop the skill.
The evaluation of critical thinking skills according to the
frequency of use as perceived by teacher respondents indicated that

15

the skills ranged in frequency from 2.20 to 3.95 with equivalent
rating of rarely tooften respectively. There were ten skill items that
were often practiced by the students. Five of these are cognitive skill
and five are affective skills. This indicates that both types of critical
thinking skills are equally well practiced by the students as perceived
by the teacher respondents and implies further that teacher
respondents believe that students have developed the skill in gaining
full understanding of developing social skills and responsible
behaviors.
The same critical thinking skills were evaluated by the teacher
respondents according to their degree of importance of which result
ranged from 2.45 to 4.25 with equivalent ratings of less important to
moderately important respectively. There were 10 out of 13 skill
items belonging to the Cognitive skills that are considered
moderately important. Similarly, there were 9 out of 20 skill items
belonging to the Affective skills that are considered moderately
important.
4. Relationship of the ratings on level of writing skill to the
teachers’ assessment of critical thinking skills of students
Majority of the p-values of the different mean combinations
were greater than or equal to 0.05 with 104 combinations out of 165,
indicating these means as not significantly different. This implies
that these mean combinations that is critical thinking item skill x
writing test component skill are statistically related. Less than half of
mean combinations such as 61 combinations out of 165 have p-
values below 0.05, indicating these means are significantly different
implying that these are not statistically related to each other. There

16

were 22 skill items that were found to show this pattern as shown by
the shaded boxes. Eight of these belong to the cognitive skills and 14
belong to the Affective.
For the mean combinations with values that are not significantly
different, 25 out of 65 combinations or 38.5 percent are recognizable
in the cognitive skills. For the affective skills, 36 out of 100
combinations or 36 percent are recognizable. This indicates that both
the cognitive and the affective component of the critical thinking
skills are equally related to the performance level in the different
components of the writing skills
Comparing the p-values below 0.05 among the different
component skills of writing, it can be observed that the order from
the least to the most number of items, are: Discourse, Grammatical,
Mechanics, Morphology and Syntax. Thus, there are more
statistically related items between the critical thinking skills and the
three component skills of writing, namely: discourse, grammatical
and mechanics.
5.Functional Activities that may be proposed to improve the
Students’ Critical Thinking Skills.
The proposed functional writing activities as the output of the
study comprised set of exercises designed to improve the students’
critical thinking especially for this population of Vietnamese
students based on criteria. These include writing skill components
where the students showed poor performance; as well as having
statistically significant relationship with critical thinking skills.

17

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, FINDING, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

SUMMARY
This study aimed to assess the English writing skills and critical
thinking skills ofFreshman college students in the University of
Transport Technology in the three provinces of Vietnam with the end
view of proposing a functional writing activity.
This sought answers to the following questions:
• What is the demographic profile of students in terms of:
• gender
• parents’ educational attainment
• students’ place of origin
• type of high school attended
• exposure to English media?
• What is the level of writing skills of students relative to:
• discourse component (cohesion, coherence)
• grammatical component
• mechanics
• morphology
• syntax?


18

• How do teachers assess the critical thinking skills of

students?
• How do students level of writing skills and teacher
assessment of students’ critical thinking skills compare?
• What functional writing activities may be proposed to
enhance student's writing and critical thinking skills?
• The concepts to be included in the Conceptual Framework
are the following:
• English language skills
• Writing skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Functional English Writing Activities
The study made used of the descriptive method of research to
determine the English writing skills and critical thinking skills of
Freshman college studentsin the University of Transport Technology
in the three provinces of Vietnam. There were 306 students and 20
teachers who were the respondents of the study. The statistical tools
used were: T-test.
FNDINGS
1. Demographic Profile of Students
As regard to the gender profile, majority of the respondents are
males which comprise 98 percent or 300 of the 306 total population.
There were only six female respondents or 2 percent.


19

For place of origin, the students come from at least 13 different
places in Vietnam with majority or 20.3 percent coming from
“Others” or different places in Vietnam, followed by Ha Noi with 16
percent, then by Nam Dinh with 4.6 percent, then by Vinh Phuc

with 14.1 percent, then by Thai Binh with 11.8 percent, and the rest
from the remaining 8 different places which indicates that the three
University campuses under study cater to students coming from
different places in Vietnam. As to type of school, majority come
from public high school which comprise 287 of 306 respondents or
93.8 percent. Only 6.2 percent come from private high school.
In exposure to media 100 percent of the students have had
exposure which indicates that the students are no longer foreign to
the English language as the English media has now been ubiquitous
and comes in various forms and means that the students got exposure
through television, the internet or the foreign English movies, which
are the rich sources of learning for new words to expand their
vocabulary and the use of these words and their correct
pronunciation.
2. Level of writing skills of students in Basic English
The level of writing skills of the student respondents were
determined using a teacher-made test based on five component skills
such as discourse component in terms ofcohesion, coherence,
grammatical component, mechanics,morphology, andsyntax.
For the discourse componentthe average score of correct items
is 9.5 with a mean % score equivalent of 67.8 percent which is above
50 percent. This value has a percentile rank of 34.3 percent with a


20

verbal description of average. This indicates that the level of writing
skills of the student in terms of the discourse component is average
for this set of student population. Furthermore, the standard
deviation is 9.1 percent which is below the cut-off value of 10

percent for normally distributed scores, indicating this population to
be very homogeneous in response.
In grammatical component, the average score of correct items is
6.6 with an equivalent mean % correct score of 66.3 percent. This
value is above 50 percent indicating better performance in this
component skill area. The percentile rank is 35.3 percent with an
equivalent description of “Average”. This indicates that the level of
the students’ writing skills in terms of its grammatical component is
average for this population of students. The standard deviation value
is 5.2 percent which is way below the cut-off value of 10 percent.
The average correct score of the student respondents in
mechanics on the other hand is 6.5 corresponding to a mean %
correct score of 64.9 percent. This score is above 50 percent and
indicates that more than half of the student population was able to
respond correctly in these items. The percentile rank is 51.9 percent
and has a description equivalent of “Average” which indicates that
the students are in the average level of skill performance. The
standard deviation score is 6.2 percent which is below the 10 percent
cut-off value and indicates that the students’ responses to these items
are homogeneous and are reliable.
In terms of the morphology component, the average score is
1.8 with a mean % score of 60.3 percent. The percentile rank is 25.8
percent corresponding to a verbal description of average. Thus, in


21

general, the performance of the students in the component skill of
morphology is average for this given population.
For syntax, the average correct score is 5.4 with a mean % score

equivalent of 54.1 percent. The corresponding percentile rank is 74.0
percent and its verbal description is average indicating that the
students’ performance is in general, average for this given
population. The standard deviation score is 9.7 percent and below the
cut-off score for normally distributed curve indicating this
population to be homogeneous and the results to be reliable.
3. Teachers Assessment of the Critical Thinking Skills of
Students
Thirteen from a list of 33 critical thinking skills are classified as
Cognitive skills and twenty are classified under the Affective skills.
12 out of 33 items obtained an agree score of less than 50 percent.
Five of these items belong to the Cognitive skills while the
remaining seven items belong to the affective skills.
The critical skill that most respondents agree garnering a score
of 19 or 95 percent belongs to the cognitive skills classification. This
is followed by four skills that rank 2 position and all belong to the
affective skill classification. This reflects on the value that the
respondents place on cognitive skills in the assessment of the
students’ performance. Teacher respondents believe providing
students with positive help will assist the students develop the skill.
The evaluation of critical thinking skills according to the
frequency of use as perceived by teacher respondents indicated that
the skills ranged in frequency from 2.20 to 3.95 with equivalent


22

rating of rarely tooften respectively. There were ten skill items that
were often practiced by the students. Five of these are cognitive skill
and five are affective skills. This indicates that both types of critical

thinking skills are equally well practiced by the students as perceived
by the teacher respondents and implies further that teacher
respondents believe that students have developed the skill in gaining
full understanding of developing social skills and responsible
behaviors.
The same critical thinking skills were evaluated by the teacher
respondents according to their degree of importance of which result
ranged from 2.45 to 4.25 with equivalent ratings of less important to
moderately important respectively. There were 10 out of 13 skill
items belonging to the Cognitive skills that are considered
moderately important. Similarly, there were 9 out of 20 skill items
belonging to the Affective skills that are considered moderately
important.
4. Relationship of the ratings on level of writing skill to the
teachers’ assessment of critical thinking skills of students
Majority of the p-values of the different mean combinations
were greater than or equal to 0.05 with 104 combinations out of 165,
indicating these means as not significantly different. This implies
that these mean combinations that is critical thinking item skill x
writing test component skill are statistically related. Less than half of
mean combinations such as 61 combinations out of 165 have p-
values below 0.05, indicating these means are significantly different
implying that these are not statistically related to each other. There
were 22 skill items that were found to show this pattern as shown by
the shaded boxes. Eight of these belong to the cognitive skills and 14
belong to the Affective.


23

For the mean combinations with values that are not significantly
different, 25 out of 65 combinations or 38.5 percent are recognizable
in the cognitive skills. For the affective skills, 36 out of 100
combinations or 36 percent are recognizable. This indicates that both
the cognitive and the affective component of the critical thinking
skills are equally related to the performance level in the different
components of the writing skills
Comparing the p-values below 0.05 among the different
component skills of writing, it can be observed that the order from
the least to the most number of items, are: Discourse, Grammatical,
Mechanics, Morphology and Syntax. Thus, there are more
statistically related items between the critical thinking skills and the
three component skills of writing, namely: discourse, grammatical
and mechanics.
5.Functional Activities that may be proposed to improve the
Students’ Critical Thinking Skills.
The proposed functional writing activities as the output of the
study comprised set of exercises designed to improve the students’
critical thinking especially for this population of Vietnamese
students based on criteria. These include writing skill components
where the students showed poor performance; as well as having
statistically significant relationship with critical thinking skills.
CONCLUSIONS
Based from the findings of the study, the following conclusions
were drawn: