Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa gifted High School, Ha Nam = Thiết kế chương trình dạy viết bổ trợ

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



LẠI THANH TÌNH




Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade
10 English-majored students
at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam.

(THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH VIẾT BỔ TRỢ CHO HỌC SINH CHUYÊN
TIẾNG ANH LỚP 10 THPT CHUYÊN BIÊN HÒA,
HÀ NAM)
(M.A Minor thesis)




Field: English methodology
Code: 60140111

Ha noi - 2012
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES



LẠI THANH TÌNH




Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade
10 English-majored students
at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam.

(THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH VIẾT BỔ TRỢ CHO HỌC SINH CHUYÊN
TIẾNG ANH LỚP 10 THPT CHUYÊN BIÊN HÒA,
HÀ NAM)
(M.A Minor thesis)




Field: English methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Hoàng Văn Vân, Prof. Dr.

Ha noi – 2012
i

DECLARATION

This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts. I confirm this is my own research and this thesis has not been
published or submitted for any other degrees.

Researcher's signature




Lại Thanh Tình
ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hoàng
Văn Vân for his generous assistance and guidance while I was conducting this
study. I am grateful for his precious advice, constructive criticism and constant
support. Without his help, this study would not have been completed.
My special thanks go to all the teachers in the faculty of Post-graduate
Studies, University of Language and International Studies for their useful lectures.
I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues and all grade

10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School in Ha Nam.
Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family,
especially my dear husband, who have always encouraged me wholeheartedly and
supported me to fulfill this study.

iii

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to design a supplementary writing syllabus for grade
10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam province in
order to be used in extra classes. The author of the study hopes that it will provide
the teachers with a useful teaching document to improve students' writing ability.
The study begins with a small survey research with the participation of 8
teachers and 35 grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School,
Ha Nam province. The aim is to find out the needs for a supplementary writing
syllabus. Then, basing on the current situation of teaching and learning writing of
grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa gifted High School, the review on
syllabus design and the data gained from the survey a supplementary writing
syllabus is proposed with clear goals, objectives, contents, time allotment.
Suggestions for teaching methods and assessment were also presented.
Hopefully, the proposed supplementary writing syllabus will meet the
teaching and learning needs and point out the contents that the teachers have to
teach in order to fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) for the gifted as well as of the tests for the gifted students with the aim of
enhancing the students' results.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of content iv
PART I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods of the study 3
6. Design of the study 3
PART II. DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1. LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. An overview of syllabus design 4
1.1.1. Definitions of syllabus in language teaching 4
1.1.2. Types of syllabus 5
1.1.3. Steps in designing a language syllabus 10
1.2.Literature review on writing syllabus design 10
1.3. Summary 12
Chapter 2. SITUATION ANALYSIS
2.1. Introduction 13
2.2. The school 13

2.3. The teachers 13
2.4. The students 14
2.5. The Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces 15
2.6. The textbook 19
2.7. The needs to have a supplementary writing syllabus 22
2.8. Summary 22
Chapter 3. THE supplementary writing syllabus 23
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3.1. Goals and objectives of the syllabus 23
3.2. Principles of designing the syllabus 23
3.3. Selection of contents 24
3.23.1. Difficulties of students in writing 24
3.3.2. Types of writing task and topics in the syllabus 26
3.3.3. Language functions in the syllabus 29
3.3.4. Aspects of writing 30
3.3.5. Language items 30
3.3.6. Time allocation of the syllabus 30
3.3.7. The organization of the syllabus 31
3.3.8. The proposed writing syllabus 31
3.3.9. A sample unit 34
3.4. Teaching methods 34
3.5. Assessment 34
3.5.1. Forms of testing 35
3.5.2. A sample of a test 35
3.6. Summary 35
Chapter 4. Conclusions and suggestions 37
REFERENCES 39
APPENDIX 1 I
APPENDIX 2 III

APPENDIX 3 V
1

PART I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Bien Hoa Gifted High School is the only school in Ha Nam province to train
gifted students in some subjects, one of which is English. In April every year, there
is a contest for grade 10 and grade 11 students coming from gifted high schools in
Coastal Area of the North, Viet Nam. English is one of the subjects to be tested in
this contest. The test level in this contest is nearly the same as that of the National
Contest held every year for gifted students all over the country. This is a great
opportunity for students to broaden their experience in test-taking, to get to know
students from other gifted high schools as well as to improve knowledge and skills
for their coming National Contest.
Writing is one of the three language skills (listening, reading, writing) to be
tested in the Contest. It is often considered to be a real challenge for students,
particularly for grade 10 students, who are new-comers at high school and just start
to get familiar with writing skill.
To help students gain the best results, the teachers of English specializing
classes have to work hard to select materials from different sources such as the
Internet and different materials, etc. That is because the current textbook for grade
10 students does not help students to reach the level as required by the test even
though it is designed for students of the advanced category? They need more than
what are provided in the text book in order to achieve better results in the tests for
the gifted.
Therefore, all these above mentioned issues have inspired me to carry out the
study "Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored
students at Bien Hoa gifted High School, Ha Nam Province" with the hope to help
teachers at Bien Hoa Gifted High School to have an insight into language syllabus
design and writing syllabus design and provide an example of supplementary

writing syllabus for grade 10 students so that they can improve the quality of
writing of their grade 10 students.

2

2. Aims and objectives of the study
The main aims of the study are:
1. To establish the theoretical and practical bases for a supplementary writing
syllabus.
2. To propose a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-
majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School.
3. To offer some suggestions for suitable teaching methods and assessment.
In order to achieve the above aims, the study sets the following objectives for
exploration:
- providing a brief overview of Bien Hoa Gifted High School including the
school, the teachers, the students and of the English Contest for gifted students in
Northern Coastal Area provinces.
- identifying the needs for a supplementary writing syllabus
- providing an overview of the main syllabus types which are relevant to the
content of the study
- considering some suggestions for teaching and assessment methods
3. Research questions
This study is carried out to find the answers to the following questions:
1. Why is a supplementary writing syllabus needed for teaching and learning
at Bien Hoa Gifted High School?
2. How to design a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-
majored students to prepare for the English Contest for gifted students in Northern
Coastal Area provinces?
3. What are suggestions for teaching methods and ways of assessment?
4. Scope of the study

This study would focus on only designing supplementary writing syllabus for
grade 10, English-majored students so that they can perform successfully in the
English Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces.

5. Methods of the study
3

In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims, qualitative method and
quantitative method are used. Qualitative method is with situation analysis and
document analysis, which aim at finding out the need to design a supplementary
writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High
School. Quantitative method is used to identify and confirm the needs for a
supplementary writing syllabus.
6. Design of the study
The study is organize into three main parts:
The first part, INTRODUCTION, provides the rationale, the aims, the
research questions, the scope, methods and the design of the study.
The second part, DEVELOPMENT, consists of 3 chapters:
Chapter 1: "LITERATURE REVIEW" provides an overview of syllabus
design, definitions of syllabus in language teaching, types of syllabus, steps in
designing a language syllabus and literature review on writing syllabus design.
Chapter 2: "situation ANALYSIS" analyzes the context of the study
including the school, the teachers, the students, the textbook, the Contest for gifted
students from Northern Coastal Area provinces to find out the necessity to design a
supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa
Gifted High School.
Chapter 3: "THE SUPPLEMENTARY WRITING SYLLABUS" presents the
content of the writing syllabus with the description of the aims, objectives,
principles of designing, selection of contents and suggestion on teaching and
assessment methods.

The third part, CONCLUSION summarizes what has been studied and offers
some suggestions for further research.
4

PART II. DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. An overview of syllabus design
1.1.1. Definitions of syllabus in language teaching
The term "syllabus" can be defined in many different ways by different
authors. According to Nunan (1988, p.5), there are even some disagreements about
"the nature of syllabus". He suggests that syllabus design is defined based on two
views: the broad and the narrow views.
In the narrow view, the authors support the idea that syllabus and
methodology should be clearly separate. Nunan (1988, p.5) says: "syllabus design is
seen as being concerned essentially with the selection and grading content, while
methodology is concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities". Allen
(1984, cited in Nunan 1988, p8) distinguishes between syllabus and methodology:
"Syllabus is concerned with a specification of what units will be taught as distinct
from how they will be taught, which a matter for methodology is". Hutchinson and
Waters (1987, p.80) also agree: "A syllabus is a document which says what will (or
at least what should) be learnt" and that document "is handed down by ministries or
other regulating bodies".
In the broader view, the authors believe that the distinction between content
and task is difficult to sustain. One of the advocates of this view is Breen (1984,
cited in Nunan, 1988, p8), points out: "Any syllabus will express, however
indirectly, certain assumptions about language, about the psychological process of
learning and about the pedagogic and social process within a classroom". Holding
the idea that syllabus is another term for methodology, Yalden (1984, p.14, cited in
Nunan, 1988, p.5) states: "The syllabus replaces the concept of method, and

syllabus is now seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the
syllabus designer, can achieve a degree of fit between the needs and aims of the
learner (as social being and as individual) and the activities which will take place in
the classroom". Another author supporting this view is Dave (1990, p1). He states
5

"There need be no conflict between the two. We can specify a syllabus in whatever
way seems sensible; and can then use whatever methodology we want in order to
transmit our syllabus content". Candlin (1984) suggests a perspective implying that
syllabuses are "social constructions, produced interdependently in classrooms by
teachers and learners They are concerned with the specification planning of what
is to be learnt, frequently set down in some written form as prescriptions for action
by teachers and learners." According to Munby (1978), syllabus design is seen as "a
matter of specifying the content that needs to be taught and then organizing it into a
teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units."
In short, there are different views of syllabus with different definitions.
Therefore, it is essential for the designer to decide on which view to follow. With
the aim of designing a supplementary syllabus for grade 10 gifted students, the term
"syllabus" in this study focuses on the content and its organization, which means in
the narrow sense.
1.1.2. Types of syllabus
Willis (1990) holds that syllabus can be specified in different types based on
what is to be learnt and taught. Here is the review of some types of syllabus
suggested by several authors as well as their features.
As stated in Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p85), "one of the main purposes
of a syllabus is to break down the mass of knowledge to be learnt into manageable
units" and "this breakdown has to be based on certain criteria". There is a list of
eight syllabuses presented as followings: Topic syllabus, Structural/situational
syllabus, Functional/notional syllabus, Skills syllabus, Situational syllabus,
Functional/task-based syllabus, Discourse/skills syllabus. According to Hutchinson

and Waters, those mentioned criteria are not used separately but combined together.
"One of them will probably be used as the principal organizing feature, but the
others are still there", (p89).
According to Dubin & Olshtain (1986, p.37), the four major types of syllabus
are: Structural-grammatical syllabus, Semantic-notional syllabus, Functional
syllabus and Situational syllabus.
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Nunan (1988, p26-40) summarizes two main types of syllabus: Product-
oriented syllabuses and Process-oriented syllabuses. The first type contains the
following smaller types: Grammatical syllabus, Functional-notional syllabus,
Analytic syllabus, which focus on the knowledge and skills to be learnt as the result
of instructions. The second type includes: Procedural syllabus, Task-based syllabus,
Content syllabus, which focus on the learning experience.
There have been many different classifications, each has its own advantages
and disadvantages. In the coming part, the features of some main types of syllabus
are presented:
 Structural or Grammatical or Linguistic syllabus
Furey (1983, cited in Chu, 2003, p.12) pointed out: " Structural syllabus
allows us to present elements of an orderly system in an orderly way to proceed
from known to unknown and from the less to the more complex in a principle
fashion according to criteria such as difficulty and progressive ordering". In this
type of syllabus, grammatical items are graded orderly and taught in a systematical
way, vocabulary is of secondary importance until the main grammatical elements
have been learnt. According to Nunan (1988), structural syllabus belongs to
synthetic teaching strategy in which different parts of language are taught separately
and step by step so that acquisition is a gradual process until the whole structure has
been built up.
The strong point of this kind of syllabus is to "allow us to present element of
an orderly system in an orderly way from known to unknown and from the less to

the more complex in a principled fashion according to criteria such as difficulty and
progressive ordering" (Furey, 1983, p.16). Besides, language learners especially
self-studied learners find it easy to follow as grammatical items are graded orderly
and systematically.
However, this type of syllabus has its own shortcomings. The first one is
when applying the structural or grammatical syllabus, "meaning has been taught, of
course, but it has been primarily the meaning of words and sentences as isolates,
and not their meaning within stretches of discourse" (Yalden, 1983, p.27). The
7

second weakness is due to the grading content. It prevents students from producing
needed structures that have not been taught, which restrains students' creativity and
ability.
To conclude, this type of syllabus is not suitable in communicative teaching
and learning as nowadays.
 Situational syllabus
Unlike structural syllabus, situational syllabus is not constructed orderly. The
designer of this type of syllabus has to use real or imaginary situations needed by
students for selecting and presenting language content.
Wilkins (1976, p.16) indicates that the situational syllabus is very
advantageous as "it will include only what is relevant to the learner. It will be more
motivating because it is learner-centered rather than subject-centered. The
distinction between language for learning and language for use will disappear". This
is highly suitable for designing a language course for a specific purpose such as for
engineers, for taxi driver, for receptionists, etc.
However, designing a situational syllabus is a problem to the designers as
Wilkins (1976, p.16) argues that it is difficult to identify "what is meant by
"situation"". It cannot provide us a clearly defined standard for grading of teaching
points. Therefore, this type of syllabus is practical in some circumstances only,
especially for learners with immediate aims and needs.

 Notional -functional syllabus
Notional-functional syllabus has been part of a larger trend focusing on the
communicative aspects of language learning and teaching. It "emerged from the
notional one and placed the semantic unit in the center of syllabus organization
which is organized around themes in relation to broad areas of meaning such as
space, time, obligation, etc." (Wilkins, 1976). This type of syllabus is considered as
basically synthetic and associated with a cognitive type of learning theory which
centers the learners' communicative needs. Forms and functions of the language
contents should be taken into consideration to meet both learners' needs of
grammatical system and communication purpose.
8

This type of syllabus still has its own problems. Firstly, as Wilkins (1972,
p.2) describes this syllabus: "components of language are not seen as building
blocks of linguistic structure permitted from the beginning and the learner's task is
to approximate his own linguistic behavior more and more closely the global
language". That is because of the heterogeneity of structures presented in an
individual instructional unit. In this type of syllabus, the organization of language
content along semantic lines or according to categories of communicative function
provides no such inherent ordering.
 Task-based syllabus
The following example cited in Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p87) can
illustrate what task-based syllabus is:
1. Making arrangements
2. Attending meetings
3. Taking part in interviews
4. Buying and selling
5. Dealing with orders
6. Dealing with forms
7. Using the telephone

8. Dealing with the international payments
9. Recording and decoding information
10. Travelling
11. Reporting
12. Receiving visitors
As can be seen, this syllabus is designed basing on tasks which learners are
supposed to perform. Therefore, it is used for learners who need language to
communicate with specific purpose. For designing a syllabus for academic writing,
this type of syllabus is not considered suitable.
 Skill-based syllabus:
The word "Skills" refers to linguistic abilities (pronunciation, vocabulary,
grammar and discourse). In skill-based syllabus, the content of the language
teaching involves a collection of particular skills which are needed by learners to be
9

competent in using a language. Robinson (1991, p.37) defines skill-based syllabus
as "something of a half way house between content or product syllabuses on the one
side and method or process syllabuses on the other". Hutchinson and Waters (1987,
p86) had an example of "skill syllabus" as cited following:
1. Organizing your studies
2. Improving your reading efficiency
3. Taking notes
4. Taking part in seminars
5. Writing an essay (i) Research and using the library
6. Writing an essay (ii) Organization
7. Writing an essay (iii) Presentation
8. Assessment, study techniques and examinations
In this type of syllabus, the primary purpose is to learn the specific language
skill in language competencies, such as listening for details, listening for main
ideas; reading for general comprehension, skimming, scanning; writing a letter of

complaint, writing a paragraph of advantages/disadvantages, writing a paragraph of
problem/solution, etc. So, designing a writing syllabus for grade 10 English-
majored students to meet the demand of the tests for the gifted, skill-centered
approach may be the most suitable in this study as it can provide a basis for
discovering the underlying competence that enables our students to perform in the
target situation.
In conclusion, all syllabus types mentioned above are used in language
teaching today. Each type has its strong and week points. Deciding which type to be
used depends on the objectives of the course. Therefore, in designing a syllabus, it
is advisable to combine the advantages of each type in order to bring about positive
results. The syllabus to be design should match the learners' needs and educational
settings in which the syllabus is used.
1.1.3. Steps in designing a language syllabus
The review of steps in syllabus design also brings some different opinions.
Nunan (1988, p75-96) states that there are four steps in designing a syllabus,
10

namely, (i) needs analysis, (ii) setting goals and objectives, (iii) selecting and
grading content, (iv) selecting and grading learning tasks. Unlike Nunan, Munby
(1978, p58) suggests that designing a syllabus involves three stages: (i) need
analysis, (ii) content specification, (iii) syllabus organization. Seven steps in
designing a language syllabus mentioned by Taba (1962, cited in Brumfit, 1984,
p268) are: (i) needs analysis, (ii) formulation of objectives, (iii) selection of content,
(iv) organization of content, (v) selection of learning activities, (vi) organization of
learning activities and (vii) decisions about what needs evaluating and how to
evaluate.
As can be seen, there are different ideas about steps in designing a language
syllabus. However, needs analysis is considered as the starting point by all of the
authors. With a view to designing a supplementary writing syllabus for gifted
students, grade 10, this research will follow the steps below:

1. Needs analysis
2. Goals and objectives of the syllabus
3. Principles of designing the syllabus
4. Selection of contents
5. The organization of syllabus
6. Suggestion on teaching methods and evaluation methods
1.2. Literature review on writing syllabus design
Although there have been quite a few researches about language syllabus
design, the author of this study only find a limited number of researchers offering an
insight into designing a writing syllabus in particular. Dorothy & Carlos had a book
named "Paragraph writing" published. In that book, the authors provided a syllabus
for writing paragraphs, which is a combination of both topic syllabus and task-
based syllabus. Another task-based writing syllabus can be found in the book
"Writing tasks, an authentic task approach to individual writing needs" Cambridge
University Press, introduced by Anh. There are seven units organized as follow:
1. Writing notes and memos
2. Writing personal letters
11

3. Writing telegrams, personal ads and instructions
4. Writing descriptions
5. Reporting experiences
6. Writing to companies and officials
7. Presenting facts, ideas and opinions.
In Vietnam, some studies on designing a writing syllabus have been carried
out so far.
In 2007, Nhan had her M.A thesis: "Designing a writing syllabus for the
national team of English at Vinh Phuc gifted secondary school", which seems to be
the first one investigating into how to design a writing syllabus for high school
gifted students. Later, Chuyen (2009) conducted a study named "Designing an

English business letter writing syllabus for the second year students of tourism and
foreign language department at Sao Do College of Industry.
Ha (2010) with the study: "Teaching essay writing to English language
specializing students at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school, Nam Dinh
city".
In conclusion, extra writing syllabus for grade 10 students at gifted high
schools is hardly found. The author of this small research hopes to pave the way for
the high school teachers to build up a supplementary writing syllabus to get good
result in their teaching.
1.3. Summary
In this chapter, the author has reviewed different approaches to syllabus
design in general and writing syllabus design in particular. Definitions and types of
syllabus are presented. Each type of syllabus is reviewed with its strengths and
weaknesses. From the review, skill-based syllabus is chosen for the proposed
supplementary writing syllabus because it can provide a basis for discovering the
underlying competence that enables our students to perform in the target situation.
In the following chapter, the proposed supplementary writing syllabus will be
presented.

12

CHAPTER 2
situation ANALYSIS
2.1. Introduction
In this chapter, an analysis of the school, the teachers, the students, the
Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces and the textbook
currently in use will be presented. From the analysis, the needs to have a
supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students will be
highlighted.
2.2. The school

Bien Hoa Gifted High School is a longtime established school in the system
of high schools for gifted students. It was founded in 1959 and called "Ha Nam high
school". It was officially called "Bien Hoa Gifted High School" in 2009. Each year,
our school is responsible for forming 27 classes with 10 specializing subjects:
mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics, literature, history,
geography, English and Russian. Students who want to enter the school have to pass
an entrance examination consisting of three subjects: Maths, Literature, English and
a specialized subject with the specialized mark being doubled.
In the same way, those who take entrance examination for language
specializing class have to take three compulsory subjects and a specialized English
test. The Ha Nam Department of Education has had a plan to include listening and
speaking skill in the test beside reading, writing and using of language which have
been tested so far. However, because of some factor, this plan has not been
implemented.
2.3. The teachers
The school consists of eight English teachers, most of whom are young, aged
between 25 and 35, only one is 53 years old. Three of the teachers have already
M.A degree, one of them is finishing her M.A course and the rest hold a B.A degree
in English language teaching.
There are two teachers taking charge of each English-majored class. Because
seven out of eight teachers are quite young, the experience they have is rather
13

limited. Only the leader of the group, who has 12 years of teaching experience, has
had a chance to take a one-week-course on English language teaching in Singapore.
The rest has little chance to communicate with native speakers. Therefore, teaching
English is based mainly on self-collected materials and records.
The author of this study is responsible for grade 10 English-majored
students. There are two important English contests for grade 10 English-majored
students which are: the provincial contest and the contest for gifted students in

Coastal Provinces. Writing is one of the skills to be included in those tests.
Therefore, this study was carried out with the hope of providing a useful guide for
the author herself as well as other teachers in charge of grade 10 English-majored
students so that they can improve the writing quality of their students.
2.4. The students
The subject of the study is 35 students from grade 10, English specializing
class. They are new comers in high school and are getting familiar with the learning
style there. There are some skills that are quite new to them like listening and
speaking. Luckily, because writing skill has been included in the English
specialized test for many years, English-majored students who are enrolled in the
school have had a basic knowledge of paragraph writing. This is one of their
advantages. The prerequisite conditions for the competitors at the entrance
examination are: good standard capacity and 8,0 for the English final result at grade
9. The school year 2013-2014, the lowest mark that students got in the entrance
exam to be enrolled in the school was 39 for 3 compulsory subjects and English
specialized subject (with mark doubled) as above mentioned. With these
requirements, the knowledge of English of the students selected is at a rather high
level. This creates favorable conditions for the teachers to nurture and foster their
talents. Another fundamental advantage of target training is the keen interest in
English of them. Most of English-majored students are girls, so they are very
studious. Therefore, this requires a more suitable supplementary and advanced
materials which are carefully designed.

14

2.5. The Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces
The English contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces
has been held at the end of April every year since the school year 2007-2008. Up to
now, there have been six contests held respectively in Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Ninh
Binh, Quang Ninh, Nam Dinh, Hai Phong. The first and the second contest had only

eight members participating. Since the third year of it, there have been more and
more gifted high schools registering even though they are not in the Coastal Area.
Some provinces from the far North, the Middle Area and the South such as Lao Cai,
Thai Nguyen, Hue, Quang Nam have also joined the contest. The latest contest held
in April 2013 in Hai Phong, there was 20 gifted schools from different provinces
taking part in it. That is to say the contest is gaining more and more popularity.
The contest is a wonderful chance for gifted students to gain experience in
their specialized subject as well as sharing learning strategies with other gifted
students from other specialized high schools. Each team (for a subject) of each
school consists of three students. Those who get the best result in each subject will
be given gold medal; the second best, silver medal and the third best bronze medal.
However, the result of English teams of Bien Hoa Gifted High School has
not been considered good so far. In the first two years, 2007-2008 and 2008-2008,
was one silver medal each year. In the last two years, there was only one
consolidation prize each year.
The test format of the English contest includes listening skill, reading skill,
knowledge of language and writing skill. To grade 10 students, only paragraph
writing and letter writing are to be learned in the program. Thus, paragraph writing
is the main type of writing asked in this contest.
Following is a table presenting the collection of writing topics in the contest
from 2008 to 2012:

Table 1: Writing topics in the test collected in the years: from 2008 to 2013

No.
Topics
Specific writing exercises
School year
1
School talks/

- “ Self-study is a very important factor in learning
(2009-2010)
15

Education
English well” What do you think about that
statement? Write a paragraph of about 150 words to
support your ideas.
- Write a paragraph about the reasons why you like
learning English.
- Write a paragraph supporting the idea: Learning
hard will help students get good marks in exams.
- In some countries, teenagers have jobs while they
are still students. Do you think this is a good idea?
Support your opinion by using specific reasons &
details. Write a paragraph in about 200 words
- Write a paragraph (about 100 words) on the
importance of examinations.
- Write a paragraph to explain the reasons why more
and more students taking online classes.
- There is a fact that a number of parents now
increasingly desire to send their children to study
overseas. What are the reasons for this trend? You
should write a paragraph of about 150 words on this
topic.
- Write a paragraph on the importance of
examinations.
You should write between 100 and 150 words.

(2008-2009)

(2011-2012)


(2008-2009)


(2011-2012)

(2010-2011)


(2010-2011)




(2009-2010)
(2010-2011)
2
People's
backgounds



3
Daily
activities

4
Technology
- Write about advantages or disadvantages of hi-tech
in life.
- Write a paragraph about the advantages or
disadvantages of using cell phones among students
at school. You should write at least 150 words.
(2009-2010)

(2010-2011)



16

- Describe useful ways in which computers have so
far contributed to our modern life. (about 150 words)
- Write a paragraph of about 200 words on the
following topic:
“Using a computer every day can have more
negative than positive effects on young children. Do
you agree or disagree?”


(2011-2012)

(2010-2011)
5
School
outdoor
activities
- Write a paragraph of about 150 words on the
following topic: "Going camping is a useful extra
curricular activity for students. Using reasons and
examples to support that idea."
(2012-2013)
6
The Mass
media
- How do movies or television influence people’s
behavior? Use reasons and specific examples to
support your answer.
- Write a paragraph (about 150 words) on the topic
“parents should allow children to watch TV”
- Televised action films are the main cause of
increasing violence in real life, particularly among
teenagers. Write a paragraph of about 200 words
expressing your agreement and support for this
point of view.
- Writing a paragraph about the advantages or
disadvantages of the internet in our life. You should
write at least 120 words.
(2009-2010)

(2009-2010)


(2010-2011)







(2011-2012)
7
Life in the
community
- Write a paragraph about the consequences of
overpopulation in Vietnam.
- Write a paragraph about 120 words answering the
question: Why should more trees be grown in big
cities?
- Write a paragraph about advantages of living in the
city.
- Write a paragraph about the advantages or
(2009-2010)

(2009-2010)


(2008-2009)

(2012-2013)
17

disadvantages of being the only child in the family.
8
Undersea
world


9 9
Conversation
- Climate change is among the serious problems that
mankind are currently facing.
Write a paragraph of about 150 words presenting
some possible solutions to this problem
- Write about the consequences of polluting and
suggesting some possible solutions to that problem.
(2009-2010)




(2011-2012)
10
National
parks


11
Music

- What are the roles of music in human life? Write a
paragraph of about 150 words to express your idea

12
Theater and
Movies


13
The World
Cup


14
The Pacific
Rim


15
Historical
places



From the table, we can see that there are some topics in the textbook that are
rarely included in the tests collected. Other popular topics are: School, Education,
Technology, The Mass media, Life in community, Conservation. Most of the writing
tasks in the tests belong to the following types: Giving opinion,
Advantages/disadvantages, Problem/solution, Cause/effect. Those types of writing
are very close to essay writing, which will be tested in their coming National

Contest.
2.6. The textbook
18

The textbook used for teaching grade 10 English-majored students at Bien
Hoa Gifted High School is "Tiếng Anh 10 Nâng cao" or "Advanced English 10".
The textbook is for English-majored students in gifted high schools and for students
of social science and humanities discipline. It is a theme-based textbook. There are
16 topics for the whole year. The writing tasks in the textbook can be summarized
as in the following table:

Table 2: Summary of the writing tasks in the textbook "Advanced English 10".


No.
Topics
Writing task types
Specific writing exercises
1
School talks
Writing a narrative
Write a story about your school activities.
2
People's
backgounds
Writing a summary
Write a summary of a Biography
3
Daily
activities

Writing a letter of
complaint
Your class took a tour of Ha Long last month
but the tour was very poorly run. Write a
letter to the travel agency to complain about
the tour.
4
Special
education
Filling a form
Read the text and complete the questionnaire
with information about one person.
5
Technology
Giving instructions
Write the instructions on how to use an
electrical device you have at home (or at
school)
6
School
outdoor
activities
Writing a
confirmation letter
You have receive a letter from your friend
inviting you to go camping at Nam Cat Tien
National Park next weekend. Write a
confirmation letter.
7
The Mass

media
Writing about
advantages and
disadvantages
Write a paragraph about the advantages or
disadvantages of computers.
8
Life in the
community
Giving directions
Write a letter to a new friend of yours to
invite him/her to your home for the weekend.