an exploratory study on the teaching and learning of ielts task 1 in vietnam = nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thi phần 1 của bài thi viết ielts ở việt nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
  


GIANG THỊ TRANG

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING
AND LEARNING OF IELTS WRITING TASK 1 IN
VIETNAM
(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thi phần 1
của bài thi viết IELTS ở Việt Nam)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: Methodology
Code: 60.14.10







HANOI- 2013

ii





VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
  


GIANG THỊ TRANG

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING
AND LEARNING OF IELTS WRITING TASK 1 IN
VIETNAM
(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thi phần 1
của bài thi viết IELTS ở Việt Nam)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Phương Nga

HANOI- 2013
iii




DECLARATION

I declare that this minor thesis entitled ―An exploratory study on the teaching and learning
of IELTS writing task 1 in Vietnam‖ submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Master of Arts is the results of my own work and that this thesis does not
contain material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any
university, nor does it contain material previously published or written by any other
person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.



Giang Thi Trang

iv




ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe a great many thanks to so many people who have supported me all the way
throughout my study to this final achievement.
It is with deep gratitude that I wish to thank Ms. Nguyen Phuong Nga, Associate Professor,
Doctor of Philosophy for her wholehearted guidance, valuable suggestions and academic
advice during the course of writing this thesis, without which this work would hardly have
been accomplished.
I also wish to acknowledge all the staff of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies for
giving me assistance and the lecturers who conducted the Master course for me with
valuable knowledge.
I would like to extend my deep appreciation to my colleagues and students at EQuest
Academy and my classmates who have encouraged me and helped me with the research
data.
Last, to my family, words are not enough to express my gratitude. I am grateful to my
parents, my husband, and my little daughter. Without their help and encouragement, I
could not have completed this study.

v





ABSTRACT

There is now a growing demand for IELTS preparation courses in Vietnam since more and
more undergraduate and graduate students wish to sit for the IELTS test in order to get a
scholarship to study abroad or to apply for a job at a foreign company or in some English
speaking countries.
Writing, especially writing task 1 in the IELTS test has long been considered to be one of
the most challenging tasks for the EFL learners. However, it has been taken into less
consideration than the other three skills. This study is intended to explore (1) what are
taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes, (2) what difficulties Vietnamese learners
have in learning to write IELTS writing task 1, and (3) what recommendations are made
for Vietnamese teachers to teach their students to write IELTS writing task 1 as required.
The participants selected for this study were 68 learners from 8 IELTS classes and 17
IELTS writing teachers at EQuest Hanoi. Through survey questionnaires for teachers and
learners, the study found out that strategies namely understanding the graph, interpreting
the graph, and choosing necessary information from the graph are focused in the lessons of
IELTS writing task 1. However, learners have difficulties in interpreting the graph, using
various structures in expressing their ideas, and overcoming with anxiety in practicing
IELTS writing task 1. It is recommended that teachers’ activities in class should focus on
instructing students to interpret the graph, to use various structures in expressing ideas to
describe the graph. Teachers should also check errors for their students’ writings, and
provide students with common mistakes to avoid, and exercises on vocabulary and
grammatical structures relating to visual information descriptions.

vi





Table of contents
DECLARATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT v
PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 3
4. Significance of the study 3
5. Methodology 3
6. Design of the study 3
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1. The writing skill and academic writing skill in English 5
2. Teaching writing 7
3. What makes writing difficult? 9
4. The writing task 1 in IELTS 9
5. IELTS writing task 1 research 12
6. Affective factors in IELTS learning 14
7. Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam 16
Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 19
1. Context of the study 19

2. Methodology 19
Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 22
1. Personal information 22
2. What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes at EQuest. 26
3. Students’ difficulties in learning to write task 1 of IELTS writing 28
4. Difficult expressions for learners 30
5. Common errors among students’ graph-based writings 31
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6. Teachers’ recommendations and learners’ expectations for teaching focus 32
PART 3: CONCLUSION 34
1. Summary of the study 34
2. Implications of the study 35
3. Limitations of the study 35
4. Suggestions for further study 36
REFERENCES 37
APPENDICES I
Appendix A: The IELTS 9-band scale I
Appendix B: Writing task 1 band descriptors II
Appendix C: Questionnaire for teachers III
Appendix D: Questionnaire for learners: VII
1



PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This part introduces briefly about the study including rationale, aims, scope, significance of

the study, methodology used in the study, and design of the study.
1. Rationale of the study
IELTS (The International English Language Testing System) is among the most popular
and reliable means of English ability assessment with over 1.5 million test takers each year
worldwide. (In recent years, the candidature has continued to grow rapidly, with over 2
million tests taken in the twelve months to May 2013.) Indeed, it has been widely used as a
minimum or qualifying standard for international enterprises or universities to enroll their
potential employees or students with 7,000 organizations in over 130 countries recognize
and use IELTS for selection purposes. Therefore, in Vietnam, more and more people
irrespective of genders, ages, and occupation are taking the IELTS preparation course in
order to get good scores in this test.
During my time teaching IELTS preparation courses, I got my interest in IELTS writing
task 1. In IELTS test, writing task 1, in which test takers are required to write a report
based on some graphic information provided on the question paper, is very challenging for
candidates. IELTS writing task 1 class, therefore, is to help them overcome those
difficulties and achieve task requirement. Indeed, my students and I have repeatedly
experienced many difficulties in learning and teaching this task, so do my Vietnamese
counterparts and their students. We are always trying to seek effective teaching methods in
order to help their learners get as high score as possible in this task. Accordingly, I have a
desire to explore the situation of IELTS writing task 1learning and teaching in Vietnam, so
much so, actually, that my empirical observations developed into concerns strong enough
to carry out this study.
There is a fact that in Vietnam there are no state schools which organize courses for IELTS
test takers at the moment. In contrast, more and more private centers are founded in order
to meet the increasing demand of learning IELTS preparation courses. EQuest Academy is
one of the currently large and prestigious English centers in Vietnam with its headquarter
in Hanoi and nearly 20 branches in big cities such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang
city, and other regions nationwide. It was established by Vietnamese people to train
2

English for Vietnamese learners, including English for Specific Purpose Courses, Oversea
Study Consulting, International Tests Preparation Courses with its considered-the-most-
outstanding-field IELTS, and so on. EQuest is attracting more and more IELTS test takers
irrespective of ages, genders, life goals, and so on for its reasonable tuition fee and good
quality of courses. The center equips classrooms with modern teaching facilities like
computers, projectors, and whiteboards. Likewise, library is well-equipped with various
kinds of books, material, newspapers, magazines and computers connected to the internet.
Moreover, there are also two informatics technology rooms with many internet-connected
computers, which are often available for students to get access. Equest’s teaching staff
were qualified by prestigious universities like University of Languages and International
Studies, VNU, Hanoi National University of Education and so on. Besides, lecturers who
are teaching at universities and colleges are cooperating as part-time lecturers in here. The
teaching materials are synthesized from a variety of global famous reliable course books
and are continuously revised to suit learners’ demand and features around the different
regions in the country. For those features, namely, the large number of learners, well-
qualified Vietnamese teachers, good condition of equipment and materials, I decided to
choose EQuest to be the context for my research.
2. Aims of the study
The study aims to explore the situation of teaching and learning IELTS writing task 1 in
Vietnam. The focus is on the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning IELTS
writing task 1 and what teachers could do to help their students improve their score in this
task corresponding to their ability.
Three research questions will be addressed as follows:
1. What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes at EQuest?
2. What are the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning to write
IELTS writing task 1?
3. What should Vietnamese teachers do to teach their students to write
IELTS writing task 1 as required?

3



3. Scope of the study
Within the limitation of the scope of this study, it is not my ambition to cover all aspects of
teaching and learning IELTS writing task 1 in Vietnam. Therefore, learners’ difficulties
and teachers’ suggested activities in class to help their students overcome their problems
are focused. Also, the intention to investigate all the Equest’s houses around the country is
not so feasible for many obstacles namely time, distance, expense and so on, the subjects
of this study are learners of IELTS writing courses in Hanoi and teachers teaching IELTS
writing task for those learners at EQuest Hanoi.
4. Significance of the study
There are many different types of difficulties of learners when learning IELTS writing task
1; however, due to the limitation of time and the scope of the study, this paper aims to
explore the most common difficulties during the process of teaching and learning of IELTS
writing task 1. The study conducts an insightful analysis of those difficulties so as to find
out the causes and to identify suitable solutions of in class activities to help learners deal
with those difficulties as suggested by participants.
5. Methodology
In order to answer the three research questions, this study involves both qualitative and
quantitative methodologies; specifically, it conducts document analysis and survey
questionnaires. The documents are relevant researches on academic writing, writing based
on graph, and especially IELTS writing task 1 as well as difficulties experienced by EFL
and ESL learners. The sample of the survey questionnaires consisted of Vietnamese
teachers and learners from 10 branches of EQuest in Hanoi. The detail of the methodology
applied in the study is discussed in Chapter 2 of Part II.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. Part 1 is
Introduction which presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the significance, the

methodology, and the design of the study. The second part is Development which includes
three chapters: Chapter 1, Literature review, deals with the theoretical background of the
study relating to writing skill and IELTS writing task 1. Chapter 2, Methodology, presents
methodology of the study including data collection procedure and data analysis. Chapter 3,
4



Results and discussion, states the findings from the study and discusses some
recommendations. The last part is Conclusion presenting the summary of the major
findings, the conclusions and limitations of the study; implications as well as suggestions
for further studies are included in this part.

5



PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews materials relevant to the study consisting of definitions of key items
and previous researches on the IELTS writing task 1.
1. The writing skill and academic writing skill in English
1.1 The writing skill
There are different definitions about writing skill in English depending on each linguist’s
point of view. Many researchers tended to focus on the nature of writing as an entity of
linguistic creation. For example, Murray (1978: 29) defined writing as ―a creative
discovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the
use of language to explore beyond the known content.‖ From another view of writing,
Brannon, Knight and Neverow-Turk (1982: 2) pointed out ―writing is a creative art, not as
assembly line operation of locking words together into sentence and bolting sentences
together into paragraphs in accordance with a predefined plan.‖ The Ministry of Education
of New Zealand (1994) also stated that writing is the act of using the language to discover
meaning in experience and communicate it. In this point of view, writing is related with
experience and discovery new meaning of words and conveys it to the audience.
In language teachers’ opinion, writing is one of the two productive skills including
speaking and writing and is ―a language skill which is difficult to acquire‖ Ur (1991),
(Tribble, 1996: 3) gave the similar opinion when adding that ―most people acquire the
spoken language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written form is
in most cases deliberately taught and learned‖ (Ur, 1991: 161).

In short, writing is an art in which writers want to communicate with audience. Writing is
characterized with some basic features, i.e. being linguistics, creative, progressive and
interactive. Besides, the word ―writing‖ itself may imply an act, a process, or a skill, which
needs practice and study to develop. It requires both physical and mental powers from the
writers.
1.2 Academic writing
6



Academic writing according to Oshima and Hogue (1991: 2) stated that ―Academic
writing, as the name implies, is the kind of writing that you are required to do in college or
university. It differs from the other kinds of writing (personal, literary, journalistic,
business, etc.) In several ways, its differences can be explained in part by its special
audience, tone, and purpose.
To make the definition of academic writing clearer, Oshima and Hogue explain the
mentioned differences in more detail. According to them, in academic writing, the
audience plays an important part, as they are the people who will read what have been
written, and only when specifying the audience the writers can reach their goal of
communicating clearly and effectively. Beside the audience, the tone of writing is also a
crucial factor. Tone reveals the writer’s attitude towards the chosen subject by their choice
of words, grammatical structures and the length of sentences. The tone of a piece of writing
is determined more by its intended audience than its subject matter. And the last difference
is the purpose of writing. In academic writing, the purpose will most often be to explain. It
may also be to persuade or to convince the audience of the correctness of the writer’s point
of view on a particular issue. And the organizational form and style chosen for writing will
also be determined by the purpose of a piece of writing.
Swales & Feak (1994) have another approach on academic writing by providing an
overview of some important characteristics of academic writing. According to their book,
academic writing is a product of many considerations: audience, purpose, organization,

style, flow, and presentation .
Audience is the first things for the students to bear in mind. The audience for most graduate
students will be an instructor, who is presumably quite knowledgeable about the assigned
writing topic. Audience, purpose, and strategy are typically interconnected. If the audience
knows less than the writer, the writer's purpose is often instructional (as in a textbook). If
the audience knows more than the writer, the writer's purpose is usually to display
familiarity, expertise, and intelligence. The latter is a common situation for the graduate
student writer. Information is presented to readers in a structured format. Even short pieces
of writing have regular, predictable patterns of organization. You can take advantage of
these patterns, so that readers can still follow, even if you make errors. Academic writers
need to be sure that their communications are written in the appropriate style. The style of
7



a particular piece must not only be consistent, but must also be proper for the message
being conveyed and for the audience. A formal research report written in informal English
may be considered to o simplistic, even if the actual ideas and/or data are complex. One
difficulty in using the appropriate style is knowing what is considered academic and what
is not. Academic style is not used in all academic settings. Lectures are generally delivered
in a relatively non academic style. It is not uncommon to hear lecturers use words and
phrases like stuff, things, bunch, or a whole lot of, which would not be appropriate for an
academic writing task. They may also use elaborate metaphors and other vivid expressions
to enliven their speaking style. While it is valuable to understand and acquire such
language for personal use, it is not generally appropriate for academic writing. Another
important consideration for successful communication is flow—moving from one
statement in a text to the next. Naturally, establishing a clear connection of ideas is
important to help your reader follow the text. Most instructors tolerate small errors in
language in papers written by nonnative speakers—for example, mistakes in article or
preposition usage. However, errors that could have been avoided by careful proofreading

are generally considered less acceptable. They suggest the procedure to avoid the
unnecessary in the presentation of their writing. Those tasks are considering the overall
format of the written work, proofreading for careless grammar mistakes, and checking for
misspelled words.
The second approach of writing among two above is followed by the author of this
research for its clearness, details and practicability.
2. Teaching writing
In Raimes (1983: 5- 10), six approaches to writing, namely: The Controlled-to-Free
Approach, the Free-Writing Approach, the Paragraph-Pattern Approach, the Grammar-
Syntax-Organization Approach, the Communicative Approach, and the Process Approach
are presented.
The Controlled to Free Approach stresses upon grammar, syntax and mechanics and on
accuracy rather than fluency. Therefore, students are likely to have good grammatical
competence and low communication skills.
The Free-Writing Approach focuses on writing quantity rather than quality, on content and
fluency rather than accuracy and form. The emphasis in this approach is on audience,
8



content and fluency. However, concern for accuracy and form is seen as of little
importance in this approach. This shortcoming has very likely negative effect on learner’s
grammar competence in writing.
The Paragraph-Pattern Approach puts an emphasis on organization and students should
invest time in learning to organize their ideas well in the target language.
The Grammar- Syntax-Organization Approach stresses on simultaneous work which
heightens not only organization but also grammar and syntax. This approach is the
combination of the purpose and the form of the writing.
The Communicative Approach stresses on the authentic audience and purpose of a piece of
writing and is suitable to teach writing to secondary students as it can vary the situation

and context of students’ writing.
The Process Approach is based on the viewpoint ―Process writing is learning how to write by
writing‖ (Stone, 1995). Writers not only concern about purpose and audience but also have to
make decision on how to begin and how to organize a piece of writing. In this approach,
writing is a process with stages (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) and
learning to write is seen as a developmental process that helps students to write as a
professional authors do, choosing their own topics and genres.
Xinyu Qian (2010) puts forward a balanced approach to teach writing skill for EFL
learners at intermediate level and I find it quite relevant to this research. Some principles
and techniques used in this balanced approach are (1) writing should be supported by other
skills; (2) students should work as hard as possible; (3) students should work together; (4)
teacher should monitor students’ work, give on-the-spot correction, give feedback on
students’ work after they check their work themselves; (5) students should exchange their
composition to do the peer-check; (6) teacher should apply some correction techniques
such as using correction codes, focusing on local errors, that is, errors that interfere with
comprehensibility such as poor sentence and paragraph organization, omitting needed
information, misuse (including omission) of sentence linkers and logical connectors,
breakdown in tense concord across sentences, and ambiguity of reference, giving students
comments on their progress in each composition. These techniques and principles are very
useful for EFL writing teachers in general and IELTS writing task 1 in specific.
9



3. What makes writing difficult?
Writing is never an easy task to do, especially when you write in a second language.
Raimes (1983) suggests that non-native speaker students need more than just creativity to
form ideas in English. These students needed great concern of grammar and syntax. This
means that, in order to compose and write their essays proficiently, students have to
acquire the basic rules of grammar and know the correct syntactic structures.

Nik, Hamzah and Rafidee (2010) in their study found that ―there are many factors affecting
undergraduates writing performance in English as a Second Language (ESL), like content,
vocabulary, organization, language use and mechanics in writing.‖ Among these factors,
the most significant and challenging component in writing that they have to encounter is
language use as they have to learn the grammar , syntactic structure, vocabulary ,
rhetorical structure and idioms of a new language (ESL). The acquisition of these
things is added to their difficulties and makes their writing more difficult and complicated.
They believe that students who do not read and write well in their first language
need to work harder on the new creative activity of forming ideas and thoughts in
English for the readers to understand.
4. The writing task 1 in IELTS
4.1 The IELTS: An overview
―The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) assesses the English
language proficiency of people who want to study or work where English is used as the
language of communication. It provides a fair, accurate and relevant assessment of
language skills, based on well-established standards, and covers the full range of
proficiency levels, from non-user to expert user.‖ (IELTS Guide for teachers: 2).
Two versions are offered in IELTS test. Test takers may choose either Academic (for
linguistically demanding academic courses) or General Training (for less linguistically
demanding academic courses). These two models have four parts: Listening, Speaking,
Reading, and Writing. The two former are the same for both models but the reading tasks
and the writing sub-test are different between the two. This paper focuses on the Academic
version only.
10



IELTS results are reported on a 9-band scale (available in Appendix A) designed to be
simple and easy to understand with demarcations in half bands for the Listening and
Reading but only whole bands for the rest. The four sub-test band scores are both presented

separately as well as averaged into one overall band score on the candidates test report
form. The score is valid for two years.
In keeping with this history of innovation, the IELTS partners (the British Council, IDP:
IELTS Australia and University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations) continue to be
committed to the ongoing development of the test. The current assessment criteria for the
Writing Test were operational from January 2005.
4.2 The IELTS writing
The writing component tests candidates’ ability to write a formal response which is
appropriate in terms of content, vocabulary and the organization of ideas. It consists of two
tasks, takes 60 minutes: 20 minutes for task one with 150 words required and 40 minutes
for task 2 with at least 250 words required.
In task 1, candidates are presented with a graph, table, chart, or diagram. They are asked to
describe, summarize or explain the information in their own words. They may be asked to
describe and explain data, describe the stages of a process, how something works or
describe an object or event. In task 2, candidates are required to write an essay in response
to a point of view, argument or problem.
Each task is assessed independently. The assessment of task 2 carries more weight in
marking than task 1. Writing responses are assessed by certificated IELTS examiners.
Detailed performance descriptors have been developed with describe written performance
at the nine IELTS bands which can be seen in Appendix B. In general, examiners award a
band score for each of four criterion areas:
Criterion Weighting
Task achievement (Task 1)/Task response (Task 2) 25%
Coherence and cohesion 25%
Lexical resource 25%
Grammatical range and accuracy 25%
(IELTS Guide for teachers, 2013: 8)
11

4.3 The IELTS writing task 1
According to 101 Helpful Hints for IELTS, Academic module (Adams & Peck, 1999: 55),
Writing Task 1 is designed to test the candidates’ ability to interpret and present
information that is given in short form, often as data within a diagram, graph, chart or
table. The candidates must present the information in their own words as complete
sentences within paragraphs, that is, not in note form unless specifically requested. The
minimum number of words are required is 150. Test takers are not asked to give opinions,
make assumptions, or draw conclusions about the information given. ―The skill to “read
the data” requires extraction of key ideas from the graphs; the skill to “read between the
data” focuses on finding linkages from different pieces of graphical information; and the
skill to “read beyond the data” which is the most advanced one that requires extrapolation
from the data‖ are core rating criteria (quoted in Yang, 2012: 5). The information may be
presented in the test paper in a number of ways, for instance, as:
• a graph
• a diagram of the stages of a process or procedure
• a bar or pie chart
• a sequence of events
• a table of information
• a picture of an object showing how it works.
There might be a combination of graphs, tables and charts, and the candidates may be
asked to compare the information given. Sometimes, however, even when the question
does not specifically ask you to compare information, it might be necessary to do so, for it
might helps with the description.
Alternatively, the candidates may be asked to use the information given to support a
written statement.
The following are details of task 1’s assessment criterion areas:
Task achievement:
This criterion assesses how appropriately, accurately, and relevantly the response fulfills
the requirement set out in the task, using the minimum of 150 words. Academic writing

12



task 1 is a writing task which has a defined input and a largely predictable output. It is
basically an information-transfer task which relates narrowly to the factual content of an
input diagram and not to speculated explanations that lie outside the given data.
Coherence and cohesion:
This criterion is concerned with the overall clarity and fluency of the message: how
response organizes and links information, ideas and language. Coherence refers to linking
of ideas through logical sequencing. Cohesion refers to the varied and appropriate use of
cohesive devices (for example, logical connectors, pronouns and conjunctions) assist in
making the conceptual and referential relationships between and within sentences clear.
Lexical resources:
This criterion refers to the range of vocabulary the candidate has used and the accuracy and
properness of that use in terms of specific task.
Grammatical range and accuracy:
This criterion refers to the range and accurate use of the candidate’s grammatical resource
as manifested in the candidate’s writing at the sentence level.
5. IELTS writing task 1 research
It is the overall aim of this section to establish a foundation on which to better grasp the
significance of the research explained thereafter. In researching the literature, not only the
previous IELTS writing test researches but also findings relating to English language study
in general or with test-orientation in particular need concerning; in addition to this, it is
noted that those studies pertinent to Vietnamese test-takers.
First, we review relevant studies relating directly to the IELTS Writing test and writing
task 1; however, there is a fact that, of the two tasks in IELTS Academic Writing, writing
task 1 is the subject to less research than the other. Writing task 1, actually, is among two
kinds of integrated-writing, including reading-based writing, that is, composing writing
from language input (e.g. reading passage, lectures) and graph-based writing, from visual

input (graphs, charts, diagrams) (Yang, 2012).
Of greatest relevance to this study is Bridges (2010), funded by Cambridge ESOL, a study
revealing six processes commonly used to complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 1:
13



macro-planning (task requirements are identified), organizing (ideas are arranged and
connected), micro-planning (sentence and paragraph-level plans are formed for sub-
sequent writing), translating (visual inputs are encoded into words), monitoring and
revising (written products are reviewed and revised). The findings also showed that macro-
planning (e.g., goal-setting, task examination) and monitoring occurred more frequently for
skilled writers than less skilled writers and organizing occurred not as frequently as other
strategies, suggesting that the task may only require knowledge telling rather than
knowledge transforming skills. Although he made big contribution in identifying the
cognitive process in which IELTS candidates take to write the graph-based writing, he did
not focus on difficulties experienced by test takers during the process; therefore, the
solutions for those difficulties
Another research, named ―Modeling the relationships between test-taking strategies and
test performance on a graph-writing task‖, conducted by Hui-Chun Yang in Taiwan in
2012 (Yang, 2012) also drew my attention. This study examined second language (L2)
writers’ test-taking strategies in relation to their performance on a graph-writing test
administered to English learners in health science and medical majors by two methods of
data collection which are a strategy inventory and open-ended questions. The findings are
quite interesting and useful for teachers of IELTS preparation course. In fact, the study
discovered that three strategies involved during the task response are graph
comprehension, graph interpretation, and graph translation, which have positive impact on
test-takers’ performance. In addition, learners’ difficulties in completing the task are
caused by lexical knowledge and use, as well as possible sources of construct-irrelevant
variance including graph familiarity, topical knowledge, and test-wiseness strategy use.

The practical implications in this research are significant in IELTS writing task 1training.
Teachers may guide learners an active approach to visual decoding by identifying trends,
extracting elementary information, relating data among graphs, and inferring from the data.
Also, learners are necessarily exposed to lexical and grammatical patterns related to data
commentary and statistics in a graphical communication context in order to overcome their
language obstacles.
Next, a study was conducted in English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students
(ELICOS) centre in Adelaide, South Australia in 2008 focusing on classroom instruction in
an IELTS preparation program pointed out that in an IELTS preparation class, instruction
14



are given according to an eclectic teaching approach covering “information about the Test
format, practicing the Test tasks, awareness-raising of the constituent parts of the tasks,
practical hints and strategies for doing the Test tasks, and recommendations for
independent learning. Language skills were treated separately in line with the design of the
IELTS Test. Much of the class work involved rehearsal for the Test with the teacher
modeling and scaffolding exemplars of texts.” (Mickan and Motteram, 2008). The crucial
procedure and activities covered in this study is really realistic and typical in IELTS class
in general, not only in the study’s context but also in the situation of IELTS training
courses in Vietnam.
The article named ―The cognitive processes of taking IELTS Academic Writing Task 1‖ by
Yu, Rea-Dickins and Kiely (2007) is a report on the topic of the cognitive process of
candidates taking IELTS Academic Writing Task 1(AWT1). The study found out that the
candidates are affected by types of graphs, graph familiarity, their level of writing ability,
their expectations and experiences in academic writing, and especially the IELTS-
specialized training when understanding and following the the graphic information to
reproduce it into written form in English in their test.
Those researches, which were carried out in different parts of the world on the same

subjects, revealed important issues on the teaching and learning IELTS writing task 1 and
were of useful as background knowledge for my study when I am in an effort to explore
the situation of my own country.
Also, the much broader area of Vietnam educational practices and their implications for the
Vietnamese language learners and test takers are taken into account in reviewing literature.
Unfortunately, there are few researches or articles on this topic for, maybe, IELTS in
Vietnam have not received appropriate care yet though it came into the country for years.
6. Affective factors in IELTS learning
Shank and Terill (1995) mentioned factors influencing second language learning as follow:
Personal/individual Factors:
- Age and time of entry into the second language learning environment
- Personality and learning style
- Attitude and motivation to learn the new language
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- A natural talent for learning languages
- Language ability in first language
- The similarity of the first language to the second language
Experience factors:
- Previous educational background
- Previous exposure to and experience in the second language and culture
Environmental factors:
- Adjustment and attitude of the family toward the new language and culture
- Community interest, resources, and parental environment in school programs
- The perceived respect for and acknowledgement of the home language and culture by
the new community
- Maintenance of students’ first language in and out of school
- Supportive learning environments and skilled teachers who use a wide range of

appropriately applied strategies
First and foremost, motivation is a key factor affecting learner’s second language learning
which determines success or failure in any language situation. Dörnyei (2001) claims that
this aspect is related with the most basic components of mind, which are wills, desires,
rational thinking and feelings; thus, our cognitive and affective functions. He divides
motivation into three sets of components during the learning situation. The first is course-
specific motivation components meaning that the learners’ interest and needs are in
relevance to their expectations, success and satisfaction in the outcome. These are related
to syllabus, teaching materials, teaching methods and learning tasks. The second is
lecturer-specific motivational components and concerns the motivational impact of the
lecturer’s personality, behavior and teaching style contra autonomy-supporting, direct
socialization of motivation such as modeling, task presentation and feedback. The third is
group-specific motivational components which relates to the characteristics of the learners’
group cohesiveness, classroom goal structure as cooperative, competitive or individualistic.
In addition, anxiety is another crucial aspect of second language learning acquisition. It is
―the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an
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arousal of the autonomic nervous system‖ (Shank and Terrill, 1995). Anxiety can have
both negative (debilitating anxiety) and positive (facilitating anxiety) effect; which means;
on one side, it can hinder learners from behaving as usually do and consequently, it causes
emotional stress and lower self-esteem and self-confidence if they are afraid of being
laughed at their making mistakes, on the other side, it plays an important role in the
development of a second language, because no matter how accomplished the learners are,
they are likely to experience at least some degree of anxiety over their own levels of
language proficiency. Some possible symptoms caused by second language anxiety are
forgetfulness, less interaction with people, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, and
feeling unsure of one’s’ abilities (Schumann, 1998). In learning writing skill, there is little

interaction between the writers and the audience; thus, learner’s anxiety seems to increase
much more than other skills like speaking and listening since they have to be extremely
serious to choose the most accurate language to express their ideas. On one hand, this
might promote learners to complete their language ability; on the other hand, learners are
easy to be demotivated if they cannot attempt to find suitable ways to convey their
thoughts to audience.
7. Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam
Currently, there are no state-owned schools or colleges in Vietnam teaching IELTS courses
officially. For this reason, learners who want to study these courses have to take them in
some English language centers with short-term courses in a few months. In these classes,
the roles of teachers and learners can be as followed:
Roles of teachers:
Teachers are often the first significant contact that IETLS learners make with English
speakers and the IELTS learners’ perception of IELTS is mediated by this contact. IELTS
teachers play many roles, requiring a variety of competencies and strategies that facilitate
learning and focus on the development of the whole learner (Schumann, 1998)
As nurturers, teachers establish an atmosphere of acceptance, tolerance, and empathy in
situations where learners of varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds are integrated. As
observers, teachers are careful and sensitive observers of learners as they interact and
become accustomed to linguistic and cultural differences (Schumann, 1998). As
participants, teachers share the challenges of learning while acknowledging the frustrations
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of IELTS learners. As facilitators, teachers act as interpreters for learners as they construct
their own understanding of the new language. As learners, teachers continually become
more knowledgeable about language development and how IELTS learners’ cultural
backgrounds affect their learning experience. As evaluators and communicators, teachers
communicate effectively on an ongoing basis with learners, and seek to bridge the

language barrier to facilitate communication between learners. A planners and managers,
teachers modify activities and resources as necessary to reflect accessible language levels
and cultural awareness. As role models, teachers accept, respect and celebrate the varied
cultural, physical, racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds of all learners and
their family. (Shank, and Terill, 1995)
Roles of learners:
Learners are supposed to be both learners and teachers in the classroom. Teachers should
initially construct opportunities for English-speaking learners who interact with their
IELTS peers. Through activities such as peer tutoring, ongoing interaction can foster
friendships and increase feelings of belonging. Appropriate peer tutors are academically
strong, genuinely interested and have leadership qualities. It is more effective, whenever
possible, to place IELTS learners with same gender, older learners. As continuity is
important, an IELTS learner should work with no more than two different tutors and
tutoring time should follow a regular schedule (Syndicate, Cleverly, 1991). IELTS learners
are usually the recipients of sharing, but teachers should find ways for IELTS learners to
share their developing knowledge and language skills. It is important to be aware of how
relationships are being formed. Although IELTS learners may find comfort in relationship
with other learners, it is important for them to integrate and form relationships with a
variety of classmates. (Shank and Terill, 1995)
In their writing, Shank and Terill (1995) claim that:
IELTS learners learn best when they:
- Are involved in identifying what works best for them; e.g. how they are integrated into
the class and what types of support are provided
- Are made aware of available resources and given the choice of materials, e.g. a range
of books to choose from
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- Are given realistic expectations

- Are acknowledged for their continued growth by teachers and peers
- Are in an environment where whisk taking is valued and where incremental growth as
highly as the attainment of goals
- Experience a sense of self-confidence within their new peers and those with a shared
first language
- Understand the new culture, clearly, and show respect for its values while maintaining
and valuing their own cultures
- Are both learners and teachers, individuals and group members