Nghiên cứu về những lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 ở giai đoạn trước khi viết trong giờ học viết tại trường THPT Tiến Thịnh - Mê Linh - Hà Nội

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





TRỊNH THU HƯỜNG

An investigation on 10 graders’ anxiety at pre-stage in
English writing lessons at Tien Thinh High School, Me Linh,
Hanoi: Causes and Solutions

(Nghiên cứu về những lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 ở giai đoạn trước khi
viết trong giờ học viết tại trường THPT Tiến Thịnh – Mê Linh – Hà Nội:
nguyên nhân và những giải pháp)


M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Phạm Thị Thanh Thủy, MA


HANOI – 2011

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TTHS: Tien Thinh High School
SS: Students
T: Teacher
Ts: Teachers
S: Student
VNU-ULIS: Vietnam National University-University of Languages and
International Studies.

















TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………….……………….ii

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………… iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………….…….iv
TABLES OF CONTENTS……………………………………………….……… v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale……………………………………………………………….………1
1.2. Research questions………………………………………………….…….… 1
1.3.Method of the study…………………………………………………….…… 1
1.4.The participants…………………………………………………………….….2
1.5. Scope of the study………………………………………………………….….2
1.6.Overview of the thesis……………………………………………….…………2
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Writing
2.1.1 What is writing? 4
2.1.2. Pre- writing/ What is pre-writing? 5
2.1.3. Pre - writing activities………………………………………….……… ……5
2.1.4. Methodology in teaching writing……………………………….…… …… 6
2. 1.5.Teaching writing procedures……………………………………… ………7
2.2. Anxiety
2.2.1 What is anxiety? 8
2.2.2. Anxiety in learning Foreign Languages…………………………….… ……8
2.2.3 The factors causing students' anxiety in writing lessons ……….……………10
2.2.3.1 Students' factors……………………………………………… …… …….10
2.2.3.2. Teachers' factors……………………………………………………………10
2.3. Summary
CHAPTER THREE: Methodology
3.1. The context
3.1.1.Students…………………………………………………………… …….10
3.1.2.Teachers………………………………………………………………… …10
3.1.3. Facilities…………………………………………………………….… … 11
3.1.4 The Textbook " English 10"………………………………………… ……11

3.2. The Study
3.2.1. Addressing the problem……………………………………….…… …… 12
3.2.2. Data collections……………………………………………………… ….12
3.2.3 Data analysis……………………………………………………….… ….13
3.2.3.1 Classroom observations………….…………………………………… 14
3.2.3.2. Questionnaires……………………………………………………… ….23
3.2.3.2.1. Data analysis of students' survey questionnaires……………… …… 23
3.2.3.2.2. Data analysis of teachers' survey questionnaires……………… ……25
3.2.4. Findings and discussions
3. 2.4.1. Tien Thinh High school students' anxiety and the causes ………… … 29
3. 2.4.2. The ineffectiveness in using pre-writing activities of Tien Thinh High
school
teachers……………………………………….………… …… …………………30
3.3. Summary
CHAPTER FOUR: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
4.1. Suggestions for teachers to reduce students' anxiety in pre-writing stage
4.1.1. Giving clear and understandable instructions……………………….… … 32
4.1.2. Providing students with new words and structures in effective ways…… 32
4.1.3. Creating free anxiety classroom……………………… ……………………32
4.2. Suggestions for students to reduce their anxiety in pre-writing
4.2.1. Having more writing practice ………………………………… ……… …33
4.2.2. Participating pair work and group work……………………… ……… ….33
4.2.3. Improving English proficiency……………………………………….… …33
4.3 Summary

CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusions
5.1. Summary of the study …………………………………………… … ……34
5.2. Limitations and suggestions for further study…………………………….35
References…………………………………………………………………… ….37
Appendices

Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaires for Teachers…………………………… ……I
Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaires for Students…………………………….….…II
Appendix 3: Tasks in writing
lessons…………………………………… ………IV














CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
In the economic integration process, English has become an important key to get a good
career. Understanding the importance of English, Vietnamese government has paid more
and more attention to teaching and learning English at High Schools. The English
textbooks give teachers a chance to teach all skills (Reading, Speaking, Writing,
Listening), instead of focusing on grammar like before. Now, each lesson is taught with 3
stages: Pre-while-post- teaching. This helps students learn English better.
As an English teacher with 5 years of experience at a high school in Hanoi, the author has
found out that of all the four skills, writing is the one that both teachers and students have
problems in teaching and learning.
When teaching writing, I myself realized that pre-writing stage is very important that

affects the result of students’ writing. In the writing lessons, most students always feel
anxious and they can not write anything if they do not prepare well. Using suitable pre-
writing activities can give a better result in teaching writing skill.
This research was carried out to investigate the causes of students’ anxiety at Tien Thinh
High School at pre-stage in English writing lessons to find out solutions to improve the
quality of teaching and learning writing skill.
2.2. Research questions
In this minor thesis, the author seeks answers for the following questions:
1. What are the factors causing students’ anxiety in writing lessons as perceived by Ts
and Ss at TTHS ?
2. In the opinion of TTHS’s Ts and Ss, which solutions should be done to reduce
students' anxiety in writing lessons?
3.3. Methods of the study
The research employs the survey methods: using questionnaires and classroom
observations.
+ Data is collected by surveying teachers and students to get the information about the
present situation of teaching and learning writing at Tien Thinh High School
+ Classroom observation is also carried out to get more reliable information.
+ Analyzing data: Descriptive statistic analysis is used to gain view of teaching and
learning writing at school.
1.4. The participants
+ Students:
128 students from 10A2, 10A4, 10A6 at Tien Thinh High Schools in Hanoi are the target
subjects of the study. These students were chosen as participants of the study as their
writing paper results have always been observed to be worse than other classes. They are
both male and female students aged sixteen and have been learning English at least four
years at secondary schools. However, they appear to be beginners of English in reality.
+ Teachers:
There are 5 teachers (including the author) who are teaching English for 10
th

grade
students. Two of them graduated from VNU-ULIS, two from the in -service course in
Thai Nguyen University, the last from Hai Phong University.
1.5. Scope of the study
This study is carried out at Tien Thinh High School, Me Linh, Hanoi in order to
investigate the causes of 10
th
- graders’ anxiety at pre-stage in writing lessons and try to
find out solutions to improve the quality of teaching and learning writing skill.
1.6. Overview of the thesis
This minor thesis is divided into five main chapters:
Chapter One: Introduction, presents the Rationale, the research questions, the method of
the study, the participants, the scope of the study and the overview of the thesis.
Chapter Two: Literature Review, deals with the definitions of writing, pre-writing,
anxiety in learning writing.
Chapter Three: Methodology, presents the study in which the context of Tien Thinh High
School is introduced. Then The Textbook “English 10" is analyzed. Then, the methods
underlying the research and descriptions of data analysis are shown to give specific
explanations and findings.
Chapter Four: Suggested Solutions: In this chapter, the author offers some personal
recommendations to improve the learning and teaching writing at Tien Thinh High
School to get better results
Chapter Five: Conclusion, offers a summary, limitations and suggestions for further
study.


CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Writing
2.1.1. The definition of writing.

Different researchers have defined writing in many different ways.
Byrne (1988, p.1), the author of Teaching Writing Skill, considers writing “the act of
forming graphic symbols” such as letters or a combination of letters. According to this
definition, any act that results in the forming of letters with or without a meaning can be
defined as writing.
On the other hand, Lannon (1989) views writing as “the process of transforming the
material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error, or whatever into a
message with a definite meaning- writing is a process of deliberate decision” (p.9). In this
way, writing must convey a message with a meaning.
Another definition by Tribble (1996) considers writing a language skill involving “not
just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts
in a structured way” (p.3).
Besides, writing is defined by several contrasts (Sokolik, 2003, p. 88). Firstly, in her
opinion, writing is both “a physical and a mental act” in the sense that it requires
writers to commit words or ideas to some medium and at the same time to invent
ideas, think about how to express them, and organize them into statements and
paragraphs. Secondly, writing aims at expressing and impressing. Writers typically try to
express their ideas or feelings; meanwhile they need to impress their readers in
certain ways. Thirdly, writing is a process and a product. Writers have to generate ideas,
organize, draft, edit, read and reread to produce a product: a paragraph, an essay or a
report.
According to Rivers (1981) “writing is not a skill that can be learnt or developed in
isolation but it should be taught and developed in cooperation with other skills and
aspects of the language studied”
Each researcher has their own definition of writing but as a teacher of English, I share my
point of view with Lannon’s because it presents all the characteristics and nature of
writing.
2.1.2. Pre- writing
It is always difficult to start everything. In my opinion, of all 3 writing stages: pre-
writing, while-writing and post-writing, pre-writing is the most difficult one .We have to

do some work, such as brainstorming, listing, clustering, quick writing and making Wh-
questions in this stage, etc. Therefore, in order to have a good writing, it is necessary to
prepare for this first stage carefully.
“Pre-writing is any activity in the classroom that encourages students to write. It
stimulates thoughts for getting started. Pre-writing activities help students prepare raw
materials for the composing stage, and organize them in the best way”. (Coffin et al.,
2003); “therefore, they develop students’ fluency” (Byrne, 1988). In the same way,
Richmond defines that “Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process and is also
called the idea-generating stage which stretches back to include anything that you have
ever done or that might have given you ideas to write about”.
2.1.3. Pre - writing activities
Following are some main pre - writing activities:
1. Brainstorming: This can be done individually, in pairs or in groups. Students list all
the ideas they can think of related to a topic, either in writing or speaking aloud,
quickly and without much planning.
2. Listing: This can be a quiet and essentially individual activity. Students are
encouraged to produce a list of all the subcategories that come to mind as they think
about the topic.
3. Clustering: This begins with a key word or central idea placed in the centre of a page
(or on the blackboard) around which students jot down in a few minutes all of the free
associations related to the key word or central ideas provided. These associations are
simply words or short phrases.
4. Quick writing: Within a limited time of 5 to 10 minutes, individual students freely
and quickly write down single words and phrases about a topic without paying attention
to spelling, grammar or punctuation.
5.Wh -questions: Students generate who, what, where, when and how questions about a
topic. More such questions can be asked of answers to the first string of wh-questions.
6. Model analysis: Students are provided with a model writing and have to analyze
its language, structure or typical features. Then based on the model students generate
ideas for their writing.

After having the ideas, students work to develop them, choose the ones to keep and those
to be erased, and finally order them. Then, teachers help students structure their ideas,
and make a plan or an outline for their writing (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2001).
2.1.4. Methodology in teaching writing
Teaching writing is a complex work. Each teacher has her own method to teach writing.
No method is said to be the most effective. Teacher must consider her situation, students’
level, etc, to have a suitable method. Below are some writing approaches presented by
Raimes (1983, pp5 -10):
(1) The Communicative Approach
Communicative approach aims at communicative competences which focus on the
purpose of the writing and the audience for it. The teacher creates a context in which
students are real readers by making them play roles, exchange letters, ask questions and
teachers gives comments.
(2) Free- writing approach: this approach focuses on the fluency and quantity of
writing rather than quality. Students write freely without worrying about grammar
and spelling.
(3) The process approach: Nowadays, the teaching of writing no longer focuses on the
written product. It concentrates on the process of writing. This approach encourages
students’ communication of ideas, feelings and experiences. It has an emphasis on
purpose, theme and text type. Writing is a process, so students are given time to set out
ideas, make plan, write a draft. In fact, there are many approaches to teaching writing but
the two most popular ones are Process and Product. Here are some features of the process
approach according to Steele (2002):
+ text as a resource for comparison
+ ideas as starting point
+ more than one draft
+ focus on purpose, theme, text type
+ collaborative
+ emphasis on creative process.
(3) Product approach: This is a traditional approach which pays much attention to the

outcome of a writing process and students need to produce only one writing
version of the task.
Features of the product approach according to Steele (2002)
+ intimate model text
+ organization of ideas is more important than ideas themselves
+ one draft
+ features highlighted including controlled practice of those features
+ individual
+ emphasis on end product
There are different kinds of approaches presented above. It is true that there is no best
way to teach writing skill. The best practice in any situation depends on the types of
students, the text types, the school systems and many other factors (Steele, 2002). The
good teacher knows to combine approaches to get a good result.
2.1.5. Teaching writing procedure
According to Brown (1994), teachers should follow the teaching procedure including two
main stages: pre- writing and while- writing. This procedure is a combination of different
approaches, especially the communicative and process ones.
(1) Pre- writing:
+ Exploiting the model text in term of form, vocabulary, grammar, organization
+ Defining the tasks
+ Limiting the topic
+ Generating the ideas
(2) While- writing
+ draft
+ revise
+ write the final version
To sum up, writing is one of the most difficult skills for both teachers and learners and
there are many factors which cause the ineffectiveness in teaching. Two of these are
teachers’ unsuitable teaching method and students’ negative reactions and feelings in
class. Anxiety is one of the common feelings appears in English classes. The following

are some definitions about anxiety.
2.2. Anxiety
2.2.1 What is anxiety?
Human was born with psychological feelings: fear, joy, sadness, anxiety. These feelings
can affect their activities in life.
Anxiety is one of the negative feelings of human beings. Different researchers have
different definitions about anxiety.
According to Darwin (1972) anxiety is an emotional reaction that is aroused when an
organism feels physically under threat. In the same way, May (1977) defined it as an
emotional response to threat to some value that the individual holds essential to his
experiences as a personality. Spielberger (1983) said that anxiety is the subjective feeling
of tension, apprehension, nervousness and worry associated with an arousal of the
autonomic nervous system.
2.2.2. Anxiety in learning foreign languages
According to Horwits et al (1896, p128) Foreign Languages Anxiety is a distinct complex
of self-perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning
arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process. In the same way, MacIntyre
(1999, p27) stated that anxiety is “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused
when learning a second language” .
- There are 3 kinds of foreign language anxiety:
+ Communication apprehension: According to McCroskey (1978), communication
apprehension is an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or
anticipated communication with other persons.
+ Test anxiety: is “the tendency to view with alarms the consequences of inadequate
performance in an evaluative situation” (Sarason, 1978. p.214). It occurs when students
have poor performance in the previous tests.
+ Fear of negative evaluation: Borrowing from Watson and Friend (1969), Horwit et al.
(1986, p.128) defined it as apprehension about others’ evaluation, distress over their
negative evaluations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively.
- Tobias (1986) stated that anxiety would be a hindrance at three stages: at the input

stage, at the processing stage and at the output stage.
+ At the input stage: anxiety would be likely to hamper the individual’s taking in of new
material, through interference by distraction and lack of attentiveness.
+ At the processing stage: anxiety would be possibly disadvantageous to memory,
through encumbering efficient ordering and storage of material.
+ At the output stage: anxiety would not allow the satisfactory recovery of the studied
material, as observed, for example, in “ test scores, verbal production, or the qualities of
free speech” (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994a, p.287).
To sum up, it is easily recognized that anxiety negatively affects learners’ foreign
language performance.
2.2.3. The factors causing students’ anxiety in writing lessons
2.2.3.1. Students’ factors
+ Students’ language level: According to Harmer (2001), in any classes, students’
language levels are various; teacher may have some difficulties in choosing a suitable
teaching method, language and activities in class. He also states that some techniques and
exercises are suitable for some students but less appropriate for others. If the teachers are
not aware of the difference in students’ language level, they will give students the same
tasks; they will design unsuitable activities which lead to the students’ anxiety in the
lessons.
+ Students’ learning style: Harmer (2001) emphasizes the importance of understanding
that there are different individuals in our class if we are to plan appropriate kinds of
activities for them. Different individuals may have different learning styles, prefer
different kinds of work, and expect different degrees of care and attention from the
teacher. This leads to the different reactions from students toward the pre- lesson stage. If
the teacher does not realized the differences among individuals in the class when an
activity is in progress, students will feel anxious and take part in the lesson inactively.
2.2.3.2. Teacher’s factors:
+ Teachers’ instructions: Teachers’ good instructions play an important role in reducing
students’ anxiety. If students do not understand what the teacher says, they will feel
extremely anxious and do nothing. Therefore, in the writing lesson, the teachers should

make sure that their instructions are easily understandable. In recent years, many linguists
have written on how to give effective instructions. Ur (1996) provides us some useful
recommendations: The first step is to prepare what you are going to say, and if possible,
even to write it down. Then, the teacher needs to ensure the class’s attention. Next, the
teacher should give the information more than once. Make sure that the language is brief
and clear, and then the teacher should follow it up with demonstrations.
+ Teacher’s teaching method: there are many teaching methods, but they can be
divided into 2 main types: teacher - centered method and learner - centered method.
Choosing an inappropriate method to a certain class may cause students’ anxiety. For
example, if a teacher only uses teacher- centered method in a class where most of the
students are not good at English, her students will be passive, or even feel anxious.
+ Teachers’ knowledge: In the study what makes a good teacher, Breach (2005) states
that most students believe that the teacher is a fountain of knowledge and their main
responsibility is to pass on that knowledge to students. In the pre - stage of writing lesson,
teachers should focus on language abilities. They must understand the difficulties their
students often face. They must share the feelings that students feel. According to
Underwood, the more knowledge of the lesson a teacher can apply to his lesson, the more
interested his students will feel in class because the students can experience language
being used.
2.3. Summary: This chapter has discussed the issues relating to the topic of the study:
the definitions of writing and pre-writing, pre-writing activities, teaching writing
methodology, writing procedures and anxiety: the definitions of anxiety, anxiety in
learning foreign languages and the factors causing students’ anxiety in writing lessons.
The above information will help the author a lot in conducting next steps in her study.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1. The context
3.1.1. Students
Tien Thinh High School is located in Me Linh, a rural district of Hanoi. It is one of the
five high schools in Me Linh. Tien Thinh is a new school which was founded in 2006.

Most students come from poor families but they are very hardworking. In fact, the
students are aware of the importance of learning English.
128 students from 10A2, 10A4, 10A6 at Tien Thinh high schools in Hanoi are the target
subjects of the study. These students were chosen as participants of the study as their
writing paper results have always been observed to be worse than other classes. They are
both male and female students aged sixteen and have been learning English for four years
at secondary schools. However, they are not good at English.
3.1.2. Teachers
There are 5 teachers of English at TTHS. Their English proficiency is not at the same
level. Moreover, they have different teaching methods. Two of them graduated from
VNU-ULIS, two from the in-service course in Thai Nguyen University, the last from Hai
Phong University. These teachers all attended the training courses carried out by Vinh
Phuc Education and Training Department. All these five teachers are teaching 10
th
grade
students.
3.1.3. Facilities
There is a shortage of facilities in the classrooms; there are two rows of five desks
and tables. Each table is for four or five students. In addition, in the middle, there is small
space left for the teachers and students’ movements. Moreover, not all classrooms are
equipped with modern facilities. There is only one public room which is equipped with
one projector for all subjects.
3.1.4. The Textbook “English 10"
The aim of writing lessons in “Tieng Anh 10” Textbook is to develop language skills. It
account for 20% of 80 periods. In the textbook, there are 16 writing lessons.
Units
Genre of writing lessons
1. A day in the life of…
Writing a narrative
2. school talks

Filling in a form
3.People’s background
Writing about people’s background
4. Special Education
Writing a letter of complaint
5. Technology and you
Writing a set of instructions
6. An excursion
Writing a confirmation letter
7. the mass media
Writing about the advantages and
disadvantages of the mass media
8. the story of my village
Writing an informal letter
9. Undersea World
Describing information from a table
10. Conservation
Writing a letter of invitation
11. National parks
Writing a letter of acceptance or refusal
12. Music
Writing a profile
13. Films and Cinemas
Describing a film
14. The world cup
Writing an announcement
15. Cities
Describing a city
16. Historical places
Describing a chart

Table 1: Checklist of writing tasks in English 10
3.2. The Study
3.2.1. Addressing the problem
This study is aimed at investigating 10
th
graders students’ anxiety at pre-stage at TTHS in
Me Linh, Hanoi. Being a teacher at this school, the author has realized that many students
feel anxious in writing lessons because some teachers conduct pre-writing stage
ineffectively. With an effort to find out solutions to improve the quality of teaching and
learning writing at this school, the author decided to conduct this research.
3.2.2. Data collections
Using classroom observation and questionnaires to collect data is the author’s purpose.
Classroom observation is chosen as a data collection instrument of this thesis for the
following reasons:
A classroom observation is an increasingly common method for assessing teaching.
Whatever teaching situation is, there are strategies one can employ in preparing for,
conducting, and following up on observation that can increase its usefulness.
Secondly, observation is most often used to collect data about the teacher’s knowledge of
the subject matter, to study language learning, teaching methods and processes of actual
lessons in the classroom.
Because of the reasons presented above, classroom observation is chosen as an effective
tool to collect data in this thesis.
There are two different questionnaires used in this study: Questionnaires for Students and
Questionnaires for Teachers.
Questionnaires are employed as devices to gather information about people’s opinions,
often asking respondents to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement
given. One of the obvious advantages of questionnaires is that they provide data
amenable to quantification, either through the simple counting of boxes or through the
content analysis of written responses.
The general purpose of these questionnaires is to probe how the students feel in the

writing lessons. They also examine students’ attitude to writing skills and the topics in
English textbook 10. This form also aimed to find out how pre – writing factors affect
students’ anxiety.
The questionnaires do not require students to provide their names to secure
confidentiality.
The Questionnaire for Students was delivered to 128 students from 10A2, 10A4, 10A6 at
Tien Thinh High Schools after they had studied two writing lessons to address the level
of anxiety, the reasons of anxiety in writing lessons and their attitudes to writing. While
students were answering the questionnaires, the author was at class to give any
explanation.
The Questionnaire for Teachers was also given to the four English teachers (not including
the author) of Tien Thinh High School to get the information of learning and teaching
writing.
3.2.3. Data analysis
This part of the thesis is the treatment of all data collected from survey questionnaires
conducted on four teachers and 128 students and classroom observations
3.2.3.1. Classroom Observations.
Two volunteer teachers were asked to attend classes 10A2, 10A4 and 10A6 with the
author to observe the writing lessons. The observers only focused on the pre-writing
activities that the teacher did and the students’ reactions in the class. When the lessons
were over, the observers collected some of students’ writing papers in 3 classes to
compare the results.

* Description of the lessons
A. Class 10A2 - Lesson 1
Topic for writing task: Filling in a form
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
The observers’ comments

1. Warm-up

Teacher asked 2 questions:
+Have you ever filled in a
form?
+ What do you often fill in a
form? ( T called one student
to answer this question )
T said “ Today, we are
going to learn how to fill in
a form”

2. Pre-stage

+ T asked Sts to answer the
2 questions in task 1 and




+ Some said: Yes and some
said :No
+ The student answered:
name, age, job……

Most of the students kept
silent and did nothing.

+ Some students answered
and some made noise







This teacher is very careless
in teaching. She prepared
nothing for the lesson, She
did not give students any
handouts. She only wrote
down on the board things in
her English 10. She might
not prepare lesson plan. The
students seemed bored with
what she said.
called some students to
answer them
+ T ask Sts to do task 2 and
3 and explained some new
words
+ Teacher explained some
other new words in task 4 and
asked Sts to do task 4 for
while-writing.

+ Sts write new words in
their notebooks

B. Class 10A4 – Lesson 2
Topic for writing task: Filling in a form

Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
The observers’
comments

1. Warm-up

Teacher showed a form and
asked
+What is this?
T said “we are going to have
a writing:” filling in a form”

2. Pre-stage

+ T wrote task 1 on the
blackboard and asked
students to do.
+ T explained new words
when Sts were doing the task

+ Some said: A form and
some said nothing
Some students kept silent
and some made noise



+ the students looked at the
blackboard and listened to
what the teacher said
+ Sts wrote new words in







This teacher only tried to
complete all the tasks in the
textbook. She did not move
to observe her students
when teaching. She did not
care about the students’
feelings. This showed that
the teacher did not prepare
well for her lesson.
+ T asked Sts to do task 2

and 3 and explained some
new words
+ Teacher explained some
other new words in task 4
and asked Sts to do task 4
individually.
their notebooks.

+ Most students seemed
very worried because they
could not fill in the form in
task 4

C. Class 10A6 – Lesson 3
Topic for writing task: Filling in a form

Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
The observers’
comments

1. Warm-up

Teacher used a
projector to show some
forms and asked:
+What kind of paper is
this?

+ When to fill in a

form?
Called some Sts to
answer



T said “our writing
topic today is “filling






+ Some said: “they are forms”
+ St 1: Applying for a job
+ St 2: Opening an account
+ St 3: Attending a club, a
course….

Some students seemed eager to
answer but some others did
nothing, just listened to the
teacher.

This period was rather
good. Teacher prepared
it at home carefully.
She used visual aid
quite effectively. She
combined both
presentation skill and
student-centred
approach to make her
lesson more interesting.
Students were more
active; Few students
seemed to be worried.
in a form”



2. Pre-stage
Task 1,2:
+ T said “Form do not
usually ask questions,
but ask for
information. You will
work in groups to note
down information
that a form often
asks”
+ T gave each group an
A1 paper and a pen to

write and after 3
minutes asked them to
attack their paper on
the board.
+ Teacher gave a
correction and some
more information.
+ From the information
Teacher asked Sts to
make questions for it.




Task 3



+ Sts were divided into 2 groups
and worked together to share their
ideas
+ S showed their answers on the
board. Here are their answers:

Group 1:
- Name
- Age
- Address
- Job
- Sex

Group 2:
- Name
- Surname
- Middle name
- Address
- Children
- Job


+ Most students seemed very
eager to work in groups, but
several Sts took advantage to talk
privately.



They were eager to
work in groups to share
their ideas.


+ T used projector to
show some Block
Capital and
signatures… on the
screen to explain the
meaning of these
words for students and
asked them to do Task
3.

+ Teacher went around
to observe her students
and provided help.
Task 4
+ Teacher explained
some other new words
in task 4 and asked Sts
to do task 4
individually.

D. Class 10A2 – Lesson 4
Topic for writing task: Writing a confirmation letter

Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
The observers’ comments

1. Warm-up
T asked two Sts to go to the
blackboard to write the new
words of the previous
lessons.
Then, T said: “Today we are
going to learn writing part


- Two Sts went to the
blackboard to write and
others did nothing but made
noises.

- Sts opened their book.




No warm –up activities
were conducted. This makes
Sts feel bored with the
lesson.

with the subject “writing a
confirmation letter””
2. Pre-stage
Task 1:
T asked Sts to read 2 letters
of Nga and Hoa
individually. She explained
some new words
- pick sb up
- convenient
- have a day off
T gave a question:
“Do you know which letter
is the confirmation letter?”
T explained the form of the
letter and asked Sts to do
Task 2
Task 2
T asked Sts to choose one of
the two topic to write

- Sts read the two letters
individually. They seemed
to be bored with the lesson.
Some Sts made noises.



Sts answered in chorus: “
the second letter”


- Sts wrote down.



- Sts seemed worried with
the teacher’s requirement.

No pair work and group
work activities were carried
out. Sts were passive
because they did not have
brainstorming
Teacher did not explain the
purpose, content of the
confirmation letter and the
way to write this kind of
letter.
T only explained the new
words and structures in the
two letters. She did not
provide new words and
structures often used in a
confirmation letters.
This teacher was careless in
her teaching. She only
introduced the tasks in the
book. She did not provide
students with structures and
new words to write.
This teacher carried out
ineffective pre-writing
activities.

E. Class 10A4 – Lesson 5
Topic for writing task: Writing a confirmation letter

Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
The observers’ comments

1. Warm-up
T asked two questions
+ When we are away from
our family, how can we
communicate with them?
+ How many kinds of
letters do you know?
Then, T said: “Today we
are going to learn a new
kind of letter: a
confirmation letter”


2. Pre-stage
T reviewed the form of a
letter and explained what a
confirmation letter was
Task 1:
T asked Sts to read 2
letters of Nga and Hoa
individually. She explained
some new words and

structures
- pick sb up
- convenient
- have a day off


- Sts answered:
+ on phone
+ through internet
+ writing letters

- Sts answered in
Vietnamese:
+ love letter
+ business letter
+ thank-you letter
+ invitation letter
……


- Sts just listened to the T.



- Sts read the two letters
individually. They seemed
to be bored with the lesson.
Some Sts made noises.

T only used Wh- questions
to lead in. This warm-up
activity was not interesting.






T did not use pair work and
group work activities. She
only used presentation skill.
This teacher-centered
approach makes Sts passive.




This teacher seemed to have
ineffective pre-writing
activities.
T only focused on the
content of the lesson. She
did not carry out activities
……………
T said that Hoa’s letter was

the confirmation letter and
explained the form of the
letter and asked Sts to do
Task 2
Task 2
T asked Sts to choose one
of the two topics to write



- Sts wrote down.


so that Sts could take part
in.


F. Class 10A6 – Lesson 6
Topic for writing task: Writing a confirmation letter

Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
The observers’ comments

3. Warm-up
T asked Sts to take part
in a crossword game:
+ Find a word with six
letters based on the
following clues:

+ It is traditionally used
to send information in a
far distance
+ It is put inside an
envelope.
It begin with “ L”
T raised a question:


- Sts worked in 4 groups
to find out the answer.
- Sts answered : LETTER





- Sts answered in
Vietnamese:
+ love letter
+ business letter
+ thank-you letter
+ invitation letter

This warm-up activity
seemed to be interesting. Sts
liked the game very much.