Difficulties encountered by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh upper secondary school in learning writing skill with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 = Những khó khă

University of languages & international studies – vnu, hanoi
Faculty of POST-graduate studies
=============


KIỀU THU HIỀN


DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE-10
STUDENTS AT TRUONG DINH UPPER
SECONDARY SCHOOL IN LEARNING WRITING
SKILL WITH THE NEW TEXTBOOK TIENG ANH 10

( NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT
TRƯƠNG ĐỊNH GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT VỚI SÁCH
GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 10 MỚI )

M.A MINOR THESIS



Field : English Teaching Methodology
Code : 601410
Supersivor : ĐỖ TUẤN MINH, Ph.D



Hanoi - 2009

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of the authorship
i
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
Table of contents
iv
List of tables and charts
vi
PART ONE : INTRODUCTION
1
1. Background to the study
1
2. Aims of the study
2
3. Research questions
2
4. Methods of the study
2
5. Scope of the study
2 2
6. Significance of the study
3
7. Organization of the study
3
PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT
4
CHAPTER ONE : LITERATURE REVIEW
4

1.1 Different views on what writing is
4
1.2 Distinguishing features of written language from spoken language
4
1.3 The roles of writing in second language learning
6
1.4 Approaches to the teaching of writing in ESL classes
7
1.5 What makes writing difficult to acquire ?
11
CHAPTER TWO : THE STUDY
12
2.1 Overview of the teaching and learning of the writing skill at Truong
Dinh Upper secondary school 12
2.1.1 Teaching and learning context
12
2.1.2 The schedule of learning writing skill in the new textbook Tieng Anh 10
12
2.2 The study
14
2.2.1 Participants
14
2.2.2 Instruments
15
2.2.3 Procedures of data collection
15

v
2.3 Data analysis and discussion
16

2.3.1. Survey questionnaires
16
2.3.1.1 Analysis of the questionnaire for students
17
2.3.1.2 Analysis of the questionnaire for teachers
24
2.3.1.3 Main findings
30
2.3.2. Observation
34
2.3.3. Interview
36
CHAPTER THREE : SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING AND
LEARNING OF THE WRITING SKILL AT TRUONG DINH HIGH SCHOOL
3.1 Raising the students’ awareness of the importance of the writing skill
37
3.2 Restricting students’difficulties arising from poor linguistic competence
37
3.3 Implementing good preparations for students’ writing
38
3.4 Carrying out appropriate collaborative activities
40
3.5 Making writing lessons well-equipped with conformable teaching aids
40
3.6 Setting a suitable time limit for each classroom activity
41
3.7 Providing effective correction work
41
3.8 Assigning more practical writing tasks
42

3.9 Establishing a positive and supportive learning atmosphere
42
PART THREE : CONCLUSION
43
1. Summary of the study
43
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study
44
References

Appendices

Appendix 1 : Survey Questionnaire for Students
I
Appendix 2 : Survey Questionnaire for Teachers
IV
Appendix 3 : Classroom Observations
VII
Appendix 4 : Interview Transcripts
XIV
Appendix 5 : A sample lesson plan
XX


vi
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables
Table 1: Types of difficulties students coped with in learning 10
th

form syllabus
Table 2: Teachers’ writing stage application
Table 4: Teachers’ usage of writing tasks
Table 3: Teachers’ implementation of pre-writing activities
Table 6: Teachers’ application of work arrangement
Table 7: Types of written texts difficult for students to write

Charts
Chart 1: Students’ feelings of the writing skill
Chart 2: Frequency of students’ writing practice at home
Chart 3: Students’ general thoughts of the 10
th
form – writing syllabus
Chart 4: Students’ frequency of getting a problem with vocabulary
Chart 5: How often teachers suggest key words or phrases in pre-writing stage
Chart 6: Students’ grammar mistakes in their writings
Chart 7: The ways the teacher used to make writing lessons more interesting
Chart 8: Students’ writing under time pressure
Chart 9: Writing assignments
Chart 10: Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of teaching writing skill
Chart 11: Teachers’ assessment of students’ vocabulary
Chart 12: Teachers’ remarks on students’ grammatical mistakes
Chart 13: Teachers’ use of visual aids to make suggestions




1
PART ONE : INTRODUCTION
1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY:

Currently, as learning a second or a foreign language is paid more and more special
attention to, there has been a growing tendency towards the emphasis on improving
communicative competence in language teaching and learning. Writing, therefore, is regarded
as a productive skill which provides students with opportunities to put all the language
elements they have learnt into practice and to show communicative competence effectively.
However, in fact writing is not often as important to many students as other skills such as
reading and speaking and it tends to get rather neglected in many Vietnamese language classes.
In addition, writing itself is a very complex and difficult skill to acquire. Thus teaching
students to write well is one of the most challenging tasks in education. In order to resolve this
situation little by little, the Ministry of Education and Training have carried out comprehensive
reforms of teaching and learning English at Secondary Education level by updating new and
appropriate curricula with clear objectives. The syllabus for high school students has changed
completely and focused on developing both students‟ linguistic competence and
communicative competence. Accordingly writing is taught carefully in a separate class, which
creates more chances for students to practise writing skills. Besides these favourable
conditions, there are still challenges faced by teachers and students at high schools since
students have not got accustomed to new learning methods in the innovated syllabus and
teachers have not got much teaching experience with the new textbook.
As a teacher of English at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school for 6 years, I have been
deeply aware of my teaching context in which my students have coped with a lot of difficulties
in learning English especially learning the writing skill. Among four skills taught in English
textbook 10, writing can be seen as the most boring and hardest one so many questions about
teaching writing always concern me a lot : „What problems might my students face when
learning writing ?‟ „What should be done to help my students overcome those problems?‟
„How should each form of written text be taught so that students can learn it effectively?‟
„How can I make the lesson fun, meaningful and memorable?‟. I, therefore, decided to do a
research on “Difficulties encountered by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh upper
secondary school in learning writing with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10” in the hope that
the findings and solutions mentioned in this study will make a significant contribution to
improving the teaching and learning of the writing skill at Truong Dinh high school as well as

those at other high schools.




2
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The primary purpose of this study is to explore the learning of the writing skill by grade-10
students at Truong Dinh high school. It focuses on identifying the major factors that badly
affect students‟ writing learning .
The secondary aim is to propose some suggestions to deal with students‟ difficulties and
assist them to learn writing more effectively.
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study attempts to seek answers to the following research questions:
1) What are the major factors causing difficulties of the tenth grade students at
Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning the writing skill in the new
textbook Tieng Anh 10 ?
2) What should be done to help the tenth-grade students at Truong Dinh Upper
secondary school overcome their difficulties and acquire the writing skill more
effectively?
4. METHOD OF THE STUDY
In order to guarantee the reliability of research results, my study was conducted in the form
of a survey research using both quantitative and qualitative method. Three main instruments of
data collection are questionnaires, classroom observation and interview.
 Two forms of questionnaires (one for teachers and the other for students) are
designed to collect information about grade-10 students‟ attitudes towards learning
writing as well as difficulty perception of teachers and students. The questionnaires
both consist of three types of questions: close-ended questions, open-ended
questions and scaling.
 Observation and interview are used as other reliable sources of data collection.

Observation can help to get more insights into real situations of learning writing in
some writing classes at Truong Dinh high school and interviews after observing
probably provide more evidence for valid findings of the investigation.
5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Writing itself is a broad and complex area covering a variety of issues for research. Yet,
this study mainly concentrates on analyzing difficulties faced by grade-10 students at Truong
Dinh Upper secondary school in learning writing with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10. On the
basis of the discussion and findings from collected data, some recommendations of solutions
will be put forward.




3
6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Pedagogically, this study has brought lots of practical benefits in such a way that it may
provide useful information about the source of problems that grade-10 students at Truong Dinh
Upper secondary school encountered when learning writing. The information can probably
help the researcher and teachers at Truong Dinh high school identify the limitations in the
teachers‟ teaching approaches and major students‟difficulties in order to find out relevant
solutions. Also, the results of this study may also be used as suggestions for teachers in other
upper secondary schools as well as material developers.
7. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The study is divided into three parts:
 Part I ( Introduction ): includes the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the
scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study.
 Part II ( Development ) : consists of three chapters as follows
- Chapter I ( Literature review ): presents the theoretical background of the study,
which summarizes some views on definitions of writing, differences between written language
and spoken language, roles of writing in second language learning, approaches to the teaching

of writing in ESL classes and what makes writing difficult to acquire.
- Chapter II ( The study ) includes the context of the study, the research questions, the
participants, data collection methods, procedures, analysis and discussion.
The analysis and discussion part discusses and analyses difficulties encountered by
grade-10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning writing skill with the
new textbook Tieng Anh 10.
- Chapter III ( Solutions ) suggests some relevant measures to deal with students‟
problems and learn writing skill more effectively
 Part III ( Conclusions ): sums up the study and indicates the limitations of the study as
well as suggestions for further research







4
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Different views on what writing is
Up to now, quite a few researchers have taken interest in the teaching and learning of
writing and defined writing in various ways. Generally looking into the nature of writing,
Donn Byrne (1991:1) stated: “When we write, we use graphic symbols: that is, letters or
combinations of letters which relate to the sounds we make when we speak. On one level, then,
writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols: making marks on flat surface of
some kind The symbols have to be arranged, according to certain conventions, to form
words, and words have to be arranged to form sentences”
With a more profound view on writing, White (1991:3) assumed “Writing is far from
being a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols: it is a thinking process in

its own right”. He also stresses that it is not a simple process but a complex one “writing is a
form of problem-solving which involves such processes as generating ideas, discovering a
„voice‟ with which to write, planning, goal-setting, monitoring and evaluating what is going to
be written as well as what has been written and searching for language with which to express
exact meanings”
In language teaching, writing is considered as “a language skill which is difficult to
acquire” (Tribble, 1996: 3). He also emphasized that “Effectively, everybody learns to speak at
least one language fluently, but many are unable to write with confidence. Why should this be
so ? One of the answers must be that writing normally requires some form of instruction. It is
not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” (1996:11)
Hedge (1988: 61) suggests that the way writing is taught should be close to life.
According to him, “Writing in the English language classroom can become unreal if it is only
ever produced for one reader, the teacher, and if its purpose is limited to enabling the teacher to
assess the correctness of the linguistic forms used. Under these conditions students have to
imagine context for their writing and motivate themselves to write appropriately for the
imaginary readers. It is far more motivating for them if their writing can become genuine
pieces of communication with real audiences such as other students, visitors, the local
newspapers, organizations, etc. Then they can think carefully about the identifiable and
particular context which will determine the exact message and style of their written
communication”
1.2. Distinguishing features of written language from spoken language:
In language classes, it is very necessary for students to make comparison between
spoken language and written language for several reasons. If students have a better


5
understanding of how spoken and written texts differ, they can be much better placed to
become confident writers. They also need to see how the different types of language are
constructed and understand that written texts are not just spoken texts. What is more,
distinguishing writing from speech can help student understand some of the difficulties they

experience when they write. Thus almost methodologies highlight the main differences
between spoken language and written language.
Byrne (1991:3) points out the advantages and disadvantages of writing compared with
speech through their own distinctive features as follows:
WRITING
SPEECH
1. Creates its own context and therefore has to
be fully explicit.
1. Takes place in a context, which often
makes references clear (e.g. „that thing over
there‟)
2. Reader not present and no interaction
possible
2. Speaker and listener(s) in contact. Interact
and exchange roles.
3. Reader not necessarily known to writer
3. Usually person addressed is specific.
4. No immediate feedback possible. Writer
may try to anticipate reader‟s reactions and
incorporate them into text
4. Immediate feedback given and expected
(a) verbal: questions, comments
murmurs, grunts.
(b) non-verbal : facial expressions
5. Writing is permanent. Can be reread as
often as necessary and at own speech
5. Speech is transitory. Intended to be
understood immediately. If not, listener
expected to interact.
6. Sentences expected to be carefully

constructed, and linked and organized to form
a text.
6. Sentences often incomplete and sometimes
ungrammatical. Hesitations and pauses
common and usually some redundancy and
repetition.
7. Devices to help convey meaning are
punctuation, capitals and underlining (for
emphasis). Sentence boundaries clearly
indicated
7. Range of devices (stress, intonation, pitch,
speech) to help convey meaning. Facial
expressions, body movements and gestures
also used for this purpose.
Sharing the same opinion that the two processes, speaking and writing, are not identical,
Raimes (1983:4-5) also indicates some typical differences:
 Speech is universal; everyone acquires a native language in the first few years of life.
Not everyone learns to read and write.
 Speakers use their voices (pitch, stress, and rhythm) and bodies ( gestures and facial
expressions) to help convey their ideas. Writers have to reply on the words on the page to
express their meaning.
 Speakers use pauses and intonation. Writers use punctuation.


6
 Speakers pronounce. Writers spell.
 Speaking is usually spontaneous and unplanned. Most writing takes time. It is planned.
We can go back and change what we have written.
 A speaker speaks to a listener who is right there, nodding or frowning, interrupting or
questioning. For the writer, the reader‟s response is either delayed or nonexistent. The writer has

only that one chance to convey information and be interesting and accurate enough to hold the
reader‟s attention.
 Speech is usually informal and repetitive. We say things like, “What I mean is ” or
“Let me start again”. Writing, on the other hand, is more formal and compact. It progresses
logically with fewer digressions and explanations.
 Speakers use simple sentences connected by a lot of and‟s and but‟s. Writers use more
complex sentences, with connecting words like however, who, and in addition. While we could
easily say, “His father runs ten miles every day and is very healthy”, we might well write, “His
father, who runs ten miles every day, is very healthy.”
Due to some main differences mentioned above by Raimes, it can be seen that writing appears to
be a difficult skill to acquire and students cannot just “pick up” writing as they learn other skills
in ESL classes. Hence writing must be taught and taught very carefully.
1.3. The roles of writing in second language learning
To master a language, obviously it is impossible for learners not to learn writing skill
well. As a basic productive skill, writing provides students with a chance to put all the
language elements they have learnt into practice. Emphasizing the significance of writing,
White (1991:1) wrote: “Through writing we are able to share ideas, arouse feelings, persuade
and convince other people. We are able to discover and articulate ideas in ways that only
writing makes possible.”
According to Raimes ( 1983:3 ), writing is very important since it helps students learn
in some ways. “First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms, and vocabulary
that we have been teaching our students. Second, when our students write, they also have a
chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learned to say,
to take risks. Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with the new
language; the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand and brain is a unique
way to reinforce learning. As writers struggle with what to put down next or how to put it
down on paper, they often discover something new to write or a new way of expressing their
idea. They discover a real need for finding the right word and the right sentence. The close
relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable part of any language
course”.

7
1.4. Approaches to the teaching of writing in ESL classes:
In order to produce a good piece of writing, learners have to deal with a lot of
elements. The following diagram demonstrates these elements clearly:
Producing a Piece of Writing ( Raimes, 1983:6)
SYNTAX CONTENT
sentence structure, relevance, clarity,
sentence boundaries, originality,
stylistic choices, etc. logic, etc.

GRAMMAR THEWRITER‟S
rules for verbs, PROCESS
agreement, articles, getting ideas,
pronouns, etc getting started,
writing drafts,
MECHANICS revising
handwriting, `
spelling, AUDIENCE
punctuation,etc. the reader(s)


ORGANIZATION WORD CHOICE PURPOSE
paragraphs, vocabulary the reason for writing
topic and support, idiom, tone
cohesion and unity
Raimes ( 1983:5-10) states that on the basis of stressing different features of this

diagram and combining them with how teachers think writing is learnt, a variety of approaches
to the teaching of writing have been developed. Accordingly, Raimes classifies approaches to
teaching writing into six types, 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.
1.4.1 The Controlled-to-Free Approach :
In the 1950s and early 1960s, the most popular approach used in ESL classes was the
audio-lingual. The controlled-to-free approach was a product of the audio-lingual period with
its emphasis on step-by-step learning and formal correctness. This approach stresses three
features of the diagram above: grammar, syntax and mechanics. It emphasizes accuracy rather
Clear, fluent and
effective
communication
of ideas



8
than fluency or originality. In this approach, students are taught how to write by variously
doing sentence, paragraph and manipulation exercises such as changing questions to
statements, present to past, changing words or clauses or combining sentences. With these
controlled compositions, it is relatively easy for students to write a great deal with limited
opportunity to make mistakes so the teacher‟s job of marking paper is quick and easy.
Gradually the amount of control is reduced. And when students reach an advanced level of
proficiency, they are allowed to try some free compositions, in which they can express their
own ideas.
Byrne (1991) regards the controlled-to-free approach as „accuracy-oriented approach‟ that
„produces many useful ideas on how to guide writing‟ although it is no longer fashionable.
1.4.2 The Free-Writing Approach
In contrast with the controlled-to-free approach, the free-writing approach encourages

students to write as much as possible and as quickly as possible without worrying about
making errors. Teachers in this approach have stressed quantity of writing rather than quality
by assigning vast amounts of free writing on given topics with only minimal correction of
errors. The important thing is that students can write down all their ideas on paper.
Grammatical accuracy, organization and the rest will gradually follow. In this way, students
feel that they are actually writing, not merely doing exercises of some kind so they can write
what they want to write and as a result they find writing an enjoyable experience. Thus in this
approach concern for „audience‟ and „content‟ in the diagram are taken into consideration.
Byrne (1991:22) also supports the free-writing approach, a fluency-approach, for the cause that
“many students write badly because they do not write enough and for the same reason they feel
inhibited when they pick up a pen. Most of us write less well if we are obliged to write about
something. A fluency-approach, perhaps channeled into something like keeping a diary, can be
a useful antidote.”
1.4.3 The Paragraph-Pattern Approach
Different from two approaches above, the paragraph-pattern one highlights the
importance of organization, another feature of the diagram. This approach is mainly concerned
to teach students how to construct and organize paragraphs. Students simply copy paragraphs,
analyze the form of model paragraphs and imitate model passages. Their concrete tasks are
putting scrambled sentences into paragraph order, identifying general and specific statements,
choosing or inventing an appropriate topic sentences and inserting or deleting sentences.
This approach has its own advantages pointed out by Byrne (1991:23) “this approach
identifies and tries to overcome one of the central problems in writing: getting students to
express themselves effectively at a level beyond the sentence.”




9
1.4.4 The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach
From the viewpoint that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which

are learned one by one, this approach stresses the necessity to work simultaneously on more
than one of the features in the composition diagram: grammar, syntax and organization.
Teachers give students writing tasks that lead them to pay attention to organization while they
also work on the necessary grammar and syntax. For instance, to write a clear set of
instructions on how to operate a washing machine, students need more than the appropriate
vocabulary. They need the simple forms of verbs; an organizational plan based on chronology;
sequence words like first, then, finally; and even sentence structures like “when ;
then ”. This approach can link the purpose of a piece of writing to the forms that are
needed to convey meaning.
1.4.5 The Communicative Approach
In reality, we normally have a reason for writing and we write to somebody. These
factors have often been ignored in teaching and practicing writing. Yet the communicative
approach can resolve this situation by providing students with the purpose and the audience for
their piece of writing. Student writers are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and to
ask themselves the crucial questions about purpose and audience:
 Why am I writing this?
 Who will read it?
In the communicative approach, it is easy for teachers to devise situations which allow
students to write purposefully. For example, students can write to one another in the classroom
or use writing in role-play situations. Also, teachers can specify readers outside the classroom,
thus giving student writers a context in which to select appropriate content, language and levels
of formality.
“Although, like the free-writing, this approach does not solve specific problems which students
have when handling the written language, it does motivate them to write and shows how
writing is a form of communication” (Byrne, 1991:23)
1.4.6 The Process Approach
In recent years, the concentration of teaching writing has not put on the written product
but on the process of writing. Student writers should ask themselves not only questions about
purpose and audience but also the crucial questions:
How do I write this?

How do I get started?
This approach lays particular stress on a cycle of writing activities which move students from
the generation of ideas and the collections of data through to the „publication‟ of a finished
text. The diagram below shows the whole process not as a fixed sequence but a dynamic and
unpredictable process:


10

PREWRITING

(specifying the task / planning and outlining / collecting data / making notes )

COMPOSING/ DRAFTING

REVISING
( reorganizing / shifting emphasis / focusing information and style for your readership )

EDITING
(checking grammar / lexis / surface features)

PUBISHING
In this process approach, teachers in ESL classes give their students the opportunity to explore a
topic fully in such prewriting activities as discussion, reading, debate, brainstorming and list
making. Students do not necessarily produce the first piece of writing in a restricted time and
hand in the composition for the teacher to correct or grade. Rather, they explore a topic through
writing, showing the teacher and each other their drafts and using what they write to read over,
think about, and move them on to new ideas. After getting the appropriate feedback from
readers, the teacher and other students, they will discover new ideas, new sentences and new
words, then revise and edit what they have written in the first draft to prepare for the publication

of the second one.
However, student writers do not often follow a neat sequence of planning, organizing,
writing and then revising. At any point in the preparation of a text, they can loop backwards or
forwards to whichever of the activities involved in text composition they may find useful. For
instance, they may need to revise the plan radically in order to cope with changes that have
developed in the argument, or may want to revise the style of earlier sections before going on to
write later parts of the text as they come to appreciate how best to reach their intended audience.
Teachers who use this approach give their students two crucial supports: time for students to try
out ideas and feedback on the content of what students write in their drafts. They consider
writing process as a process of discovery for their students: discovery of new ideas and new
language forms to express those ideas.
It can be concluded that although all the above-mentioned approaches address the
various features that a student needs to consider in producing a piece of writing, they still have
something in common. No approach to teaching writing is seen as the most optimal and unique
for every teaching context. A teacher using a communicative or a process approach can still use
techniques drawn from other approaches as the students need them; model paragraphs, controlled


11
compositions, free writing, sentence exercises and paragraph analysis are useful in all
approaches. Therefore, it is important for teachers to appropriately choose approaches for
different circumstances and make the best use of the advantages of those approaches to help
students make great progress in their writing learning.
1.5. What makes writing difficult to acquire:
According to Byrne (1991:4), there are three problems causing writing to become a
difficult activity for most people, both in the mother tongue and in a foreign language. They are
psychological problems, linguistic problems and cognitive problems.
 Psychological problems :
As it is known, speech is the natural and normal medium of communication for us in most
circumstances and accustoms us both to having someone physically present when we use

language and to getting feedback of some kind. Writing, on the other hand, is essentially a
solitary activity and the fact that we are required to write on our own, without the possibility of
interaction or the benefit of feedback, in itself makes the act of writing difficult.
 Linguistic problems :
Oral communication is sustained through a process of interaction and except in special
circumstances, such as a lecture, the participants help to keep it going. Because speech is
normally spontaneous, we have little time to pay attention either to organizing our sentence
structures or to connecting our sentences : to some extent the latter is maintained through the
process of interaction. We repeat, backtrack, expand and so on, depending on how people react
to what we say. Incomplete and even ungrammatical utterances usually pass unnoticed.
In writing, we have to keep the channel of communication open through our own efforts and
to ensure, both through our choice of sentence structure and by the way our sentences are linked
together and sequenced, that the text we product can be interpreted on its own.
 Cognitive problems
We grow up learning to speak and in normal circumstances spend much of our time doing it.
We also appear to speak without much conscious effort or thought and generally we talk because
we want to, about matters which are of interest or relevant to us socially or professionally.
Writing, on the other hand, is learnt through a process of instruction: we have to master the
written form of the language and to learn certain structures which are less used in speech, or
perhaps not used at all, but which are important for effective communication in writing. We also
have to learn how to organize our ideas in such a way that they can be understood by a reader
who is not present and perhaps by a reader who is not known to us. Furthermore, writing is a task
which is often imposed on us, perhaps by circumstances. This not only has a psychological
effect; it may also cause a problem in terms of content – what to say. Being at a loss for ideas is a
familiar experience to most of us when we are obliged to write.


12
CHAPTER II: THE STUDY
2.1. Overview of teaching and learning writing skill at Truong Dinh

Upper secondary school
2.1.1 Teaching and learning context
The study was carried out at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school which is located in
Hoang Mai district in the suburb of Hanoi. It is an old school with unfavourable facilities for
study. Students‟standard in English is quite limited. Though the English level they have to
achieve after leaving their secondary schools is pre-intermediate, in fact they are almost at
elementary level. The reason is that their evaluation marks of entrance examinations to Truong
Dinh high school were lower than those in other schools. In addition to this, English was not a
compulsory subject that students had to pass when they took the high school entrance
examination. They thus didn‟t consider English an important subject and spent little time
studying it. Besides, English is a subject among many subjects they have to learn at high school.
The reforms in education have been implemented not only for English but also for other
subjects at high school. Students have to acquire a large amount of knowledge in all subjects.
They cannot spend much time improving English regularly because they have to prepare
exercises for many different lessons every day. Consequently they are bad at four language
skills especially writing skill with narrow vocabulary and many gaps in grammar knowledge.
All the above-mentioned reasons result in a lot of difficulties that teachers of English at Truong
Dinh high school have to cope with when teaching English in general and teaching writing in
particular. Moreover, since the reformed syllabus has been carried out widely in a few recent
years, the teachers of English have not had much experience in teaching writing with the new
textbook. In addition to this, some of them are rather old, which makes their adaptability to new
teaching approaches slower and harder. Hence, up to now the teaching and learning of writing
at Truong Dinh senior high school has been ineffective and got many challenges. Being a
teacher of English for 6 years at this school and grasping the teaching context, I decided to
conduct this study in expectation of understanding more about students‟ problems of learning
writing skill and seeking appropriate solutions to these problems.
2.1.2 The schedule of learning writing skill in the new textbook English 10
The new textbook Tieng Anh 10 is designed to develop both students‟ linguistic
competence and communicative competence. Therefore, its contents are divided into 5 main
parts (reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus) taught in 16 units with

diversified topics and after every three units students have a revision lesson called „Test
Yourself‟. Thanks to the new syllabus, students can stand a chance of learning writing in a
separate class. In each writing lesson, students are expected to write a form of written text for a


13
personal communication purpose within 100 -200 words using a suggested model and word
cues .The syllabus sketch for learning writing in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 is presented
clearly as follows :
Units
Themes / Topics
Forms of Writing
Attainment Targets
1
A Day in the Life of
Writing a narrative
Students will be able to write a
narrative within 100 – 120 words
using suggested word cues and a
frame.
2
School Talks
Filling in a form
Students will be able to fill in a
personal form.
3
People‟s Background
Writing about people‟s
background
Students will be able to write about

people‟s background within 100 –
120 words using suggested word
cues and a frame.
4
Special Education
Writing a letter of
complaint
Students will be able to write a letter
of complaint within 100 -120 words
using suggested word cues and a
frame.
5
Technology and You
Writing a set of
instructions
Students will be able to write a set
of instructions of 100 – 120 words
following a suggested model and
word cues.
6
An Excursion
Writing a confirmation
letter
Students will be able to write a
confirmation letter of 100 – 120
words using a suggested frame and
idea cues.
7
The Mass Media
Writing about

advantages and
disadvantages of the
mass media
Students will be able to write about
advantages and disadvantages of the
mass media of 100 -120 words
using a suggested model and word
cues.
8
The Story of My
Village
Writing an informal
letter:
Giving directions
Students will be able to write an
informal letter of 100 -120 words to
give directions using a suggested
model and word cues.



14
9
Undersea World
Describing information
from a table
Students will be able to describe
information from a table of 100 -
120 words using a suggested frame
and idea cues.

10
Conservation
Writing a letter of
invitation
Students will be able to write a letter
of invitation of 100 – 120 words
using a suggested frame and idea
cues
11
National Parks
Writing a letter of
acceptance or refusal
Students will be able to write a letter
of acceptance / refusal / declination
of 100 – 200 words using a
suggested frame and word cues.
12
Music
Writing a profile
Students will be able to write a
profile of 100 – 120 words using a
suggested outline and word cues.
13
Films and Cinemas
Describing a film
Students will be able to write about
films / music / theatre of 100 -120
words using a suggested outline and
word cues.
14

The World Cup
Writing an
announcement
Students will be able to write an
announcement about sport events in
school of 100 – 120 words using a
suggested outline and word cues.
15
Cities
Describing a city
Students will be able to write about
a city of 100 – 120 words using a
suggested model and word cues
16
Historical Places
Describing a chart
Students will be able to describe
information from a chart of 100 -
120 words using suggested word
cues and idea prompts
2.2. The study:
2.2.1. Participants:
A total of 200 grade-10 students chosen randomly from seven different classes and 12
teachers of English from the language group at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school
participated in the study.
The students are both male and female at the age of sixteen and have been learning
English for four years at junior secondary schools. They had finished their syllabus of 10 -form


15

English before they took part in the study since they had experienced and identified all the
problems of learning writing during their past school year.
All the teachers of English at Truong Dinh high school chosen for the research have
ever taught the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 for one year or more. Of these 12 teachers, two are
male and 10 are female. They were willing to support the study by completing survey
questionnaires and being ready for observation.
2.2.2 Instruments ( Data collection methods ):
In this study, three instruments employed for collecting data are questionnaires,
observation and interview.
Questionnaires can be seen as the main instrument to get information from students
and teachers. It is believed that survey questionnaires are the most commonly used descriptive
method in educational research. There are a few advantages using survey questionnaire as a
research method “The main attraction of questionnaire is their unprecedented efficiency in
terms of (a) research time (b) research effort and (c) financial resources (Zoltan Dornyei
(2003:9)). Two sets of questionnaires were designed to ensure data accuracy for the
investigation. The questionnaires were delivered to 200 grade-10 students and 12 teachers of
English at Truong Dinh in order to investigate their perception of grade-10 students‟
difficulties in learning writing skill with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10. The questionnaire for
students consists of 17 questions and the questionnaire for teachers includes 10 questions.
Observation is another effective instrument employed in combination with others in
order to get more valuable evidence on grade-10 students‟ classroom behaviors as well as their
performances on writing tasks and learning activities. In spite of some limitations in
implementing classroom observation, this instrument is always regarded as a useful and
practical one to verify the accuracy and reliability of the results obtained from questionnaires.
Besides questionnaires and observation, short interviews were carried out to get more
insights into students‟ challenges in learning writing skill. It is known that interviews are
beneficial to educational research in some ways. First, response rates from interviews can be
quite high. Second, respondents are more likely to answer all the questions presented because
of their personal involvement with the interviewer. Last but not least the interviewer can obtain
more meaningful information because he or she can rephrase questions that are not clear to the

respondent and probe for additional relevant information.
2.2.3 Procedures of data collection:
 Questionnaires:
The questionnaire for students was delivered in their classrooms at the end of the
school year in May when all the informants had finished the syllabus of their school year.
Before the questionnaire was administered, a brief explanation of the purpose of the study was
provided to the subjects. Subjects were advised that responses would not affect their academic


16
grades. Subjects were also told that they had to answer in terms of how well the statement of
each item in the questionnaire describes them. Most of the students took about 20 minutes to
finish all the questions. The answered questionnaires were collected right after the subjects
completed them.
Twelve teachers of English at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school received the
questionnaires in May when the school year was over. Thanks to their teaching practice, they
could give appropriate information about the difficulties facing grade-10 students in learning
writing. They were also elucidated about the research aims to ensure their confidence in
providing data.
 Observation:
Because of being a teacher of English at Truong Dinh high school, it is more
favourable for the researcher to conduct classroom observation. Some writing classes were
observed at different periods of time throughout the whole term. During these observations, the
researcher would play a role of an observer and did not participate in any classroom activities.
Several teachers had been asked to have classroom observation. Being informed about the
purposes of the study, all the teachers were always ready to support it.
 Interviews:
Right after observing each writing class, the researcher conducted informal interviews
with students during class breaks. Three students selected randomly took part in one-to-one
interview in a quiet room. Before interviews, the aims of the interview were explained to the

students. The short interviews with 5 questions lasted 10 -15 minutes to get students‟ opinions
of the writing lesson they had just learnt and their desires to have an interesting writing lesson.
The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese to make sure that the students could understand
the questions clearly and be easier to express their ideas. All the information was collected
through the reseacher‟s careful note-taking for later analysis.
2.3. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
2.3.1 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES:
In this study, the researcher chose questionnaires to be an effective instrument to find
out the teachers‟ perception and students‟ in Truong Dinh upper secondary school in terms of
students‟ difficulties in learning the writing skill in English textbook 10. Thus the data
collected from the questionnaire will be consolidated and categorized, then these results are
subsequently tabulated or charted and converted to percentages for the conveniences of
analysis. Besides, the questions in the questionnaire will be discussed specifically one by one
by counting percentage and the major difficulties can be analyzed and concluded afterwards.
The results obtained from the questionnaires can help the researcher thoroughly look into
students‟ main problems in learning writing skill with the new textbook.


17
2.3.1.1 Analysis of the questionnaire for students
2.3.1.1.1 Students’ feelings of the writing skill

Chart 1: Students‟ feelings of the writing skill
When being asked about the attitudes towards the learning of writing skill, most of the
students (70 %) admitted that they are not interested in it because they find it boring and
difficult. Only 20% of the students are keen on learning writing on account of its usefulness
and interestingness. The rest of the total said that they neither like nor dislike studying this
skill.
2.3.1.1.2 Frequency of students’ writing practice at home:
sometimes

rarely
never
20 %
5 %

Chart 2: Frequency of students‟ writing practice at home
Stemming from low motivation in learning writing, a large number of students
(75%) rarely practise writing skills outside classes. 5 % do not do any writing tasks at all. Only
20% of the students stated that they sometimes drill in writing at home. Surprisingly, none of
the students consider writing as an important skill that needs to be practised frequently. In
general, the data indicates that the lack of constant practice has resulted in students‟
difficulties in learning writing.

75 %


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2.3.1.1.3 Students’ general thoughts of the 10 form - writing syllabus:
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
very difficult
difficult

neutral
easy
very easy

Chart 3: Students‟ general thoughts of the 10
th
form – writing syllabus
It can be seen from the above chart that students got a lot of challenges when learning
writing skill in the grade -10 syllabus. Most of the students think that writing tasks in the English
textbook 10 are difficult and even very difficult ( 45 % and 25 % respectively) while only a
minority of students find them indifferent ( 27% ) and easy (3 % ). No students claimed that
writing tasks are very easy for them. The teachers should base on the figures to investigate the
reasons for these different attitudes.
2.3.1.1.4. Types of difficulties students coped with in learning 10 form syllabus:
Kinds of difficulties in learning the writing skill
Results
Poor grammar
84 %
Narrow vocabulary
92 %
Bad idea organization
74 %
Lack of background knowledge
68 %
Teachers‟ uncareful guidance
54 %
Others
35 %
Table 1: Types of difficulties students coped with in learning 10
th

form syllabus
The figures in the table have proved that there are lots of challenges in grade 10-
students‟ writing leaning. In detail, a majority of students acknowledged that their bad grammar
( 84% ) and narrow vocabulary (92%) make them incapable of writing well. The lack of well-
prepared idea organization ( 74%) and the insufficiency of teachers‟careful guidance (54%) also
cause students quite a few difficulties. In addition, the restriction of students‟ background
knowledge (68%) affects their idea development. Besides, some others (35 %) think that some
factors such as little writing practice, time pressure, work arrangement, learning facilities also
limit students‟ writing ability.



19
2.3.1.1.5 Students’ idea organization before writing:
The data reveals that students themselves hardly brainstorm ideas before writing. Only
24 % of the students are aware of making organization before writing meanwhile nearly 76%
of the students do not have the habit of brainstorming. This can cause students‟ disordered and
obscure writings. In addition to this, students‟ writing may be discontinued because of not
expanding ideas. The teachers should pay attention to this problem to help students overcome
it.
2.3.1.1.6. Students’ frequence of getting a problem with vocabulary:
As it is known, vocabulary has a great influence on the quality of students‟ writing. It is
impossible for students to write well with narrow vocabulary. However, the students‟ writing
learning has been seriously impacted by lack of vocabulary. Specifically, more than half of the
students ( 63%) conceded that their writings were always discontinued by lack of vocabulary.
27% of the students often found difficult to express their ideas due to their narrow vocabulary.
Only a small number of students (10%) said that sometimes they got a problem with vocabulary
when writing. None of the students wrote without any difficulties.
always
often

sometimes
rarely
never
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
10%
27%
63 %

Chart 4: Students‟ frequency of getting a problem with vocabulary
2.3.1.1.7. How often teachers suggest key words or phrases in Pre-writing stage:
As can be seen from the pie chart, approximately 48 % and 22 % of the students agreed
that their teachers always or often provided them with some key words or phrases before
writing. Fewer students said that their teachers sometimes made word suggestions (20%) and
seldom gave them word prompts (10%). The figures provided by students demonstrate that
most of the teachers thoroughly understand the necessity of suggesting important words or
phrases in order to help students write easier


20
20 %
10%
48%
22%
always
often
sometimes
rarely
never

Chart 5: How often teachers suggest key words or phrases in Pre-writing stage

2.3.1.1.8. Students’ awareness of the close relationship between reading and writing.
The data indicates that a majority of the students (80 %) are aware of the importance of
increasing vocabulary by reading English materials frequently but a quarter of them often
spend time on reading practice. Only a small percentage of students (20%) do not realize the
interaction between reading and writing. It can be concluded from the information that
although quite a few students are conscious of the usefulness of constant reading drill for
widening vocabulary, they themselves have not made a habit of practising reading regularly.
2.3.1.1.9. Students’ grammar mistakes in their writings
Among the factors affecting students‟ writing competence, grammar is thought to play
a very important role in the success of a writing piece. However, the sad fact shows that 23 %
of the students always made so many grammar errors in their writings. 57% of the total
admitted that their writings were often badly-evaluated due to many grammar mistakes. Only
15 % said that a few grammar errors could be found in their writings and 5% hardly made
grammar ones. In short, the figures demonstrate that one of the main factors which greatly
influences the students‟ writing competence is grammar
23 %
57 %
15 %
5 %
o %
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
so many
many
few

very few
no

Chart 6: Students‟ grammar mistakes in their writings


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3.1.1.10. Teachers’ writing stage application:
With regard to the teachers‟ usage of writing stages, a very large number of students
(80%) claimed that their teachers often skipped some stages in a writing lesson ( 55 % for
warm-up stage, 15% for post-writing stage, 10 % for both warm-up and post-writing ). Just
about 20% agreed that their teachers always carried out all the stages in each writing lesson.
However, among these students, 15% reported that their teachers often carried out the pre-
writing stage without care and 5% expressed their dissatisfaction with the post-writing stage. In
short, it can be found from the figures that the stage elimination combining with careless stage
implementation has considerably influenced students‟ writing results.
Eliminating stages
Implementing all the stages
80%
20%
Warm-up
Post-writing
Both
Careless pre-writing
Cursory post-writing
55%
15%
10%
15%
10%

Table 2: Teachers‟ writing stage application
2.3.1.1.11 Teachers’ implementation of Pre-writing activities:
Teachers‟ implementation of Pre-writing activities
Results
 carefully teach students the form of written text they are going to
learn in the lesson
35 %
 suggest necessary vocabulary for students‟ writing
58 %
 give students a writing model
20 %
 merely do some first tasks in the textbook
80%
 Others
0 %
Table 3: Teachers‟ implementation of Pre-writing activities
As can be seen from the table, most of the students (80%) were often asked to do the first
task in Pre-writing. It can be inferred that the teachers strictly followed the tasks in the text book.
They did not change anything to be suitable for their students. Only a small number of students
(20%) claimed that their teachers gave them a writing model. Teaching students the form of a
written text in a writing lesson is very important for their later writing practice. However, just
about 35% of the students agreed that their teachers carefully taught them the form of written text
they were going to learn in the lesson. Besides, approximately 58 % students were suggested
vocabulary before writing. It can be concluded from the data that pre-writing stage was not
carried out carefully by the teachers, which would create a lot of difficulties for students‟ later
writing.