SKKN INTEGRATED SKILLS IN WRITING LESSONS TO IMPROVE LANGUAGE INPUT

S GIÁO D C VÀ

OT O

NG NAI

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18/08/1983
468/19/5, P. Tân
(NR);
1223953854
E-mail:

INTEGRATED SKILLS
IN WRITING LESSONS
TO IMPROVE LANGUAGE INPUT
II.

2007
III. KINH

Ng
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i th c hi n:

12

6 - 2017
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I.
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8 - 08 - 1983

(CQ)/
E-mail:

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07
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Making speaking lessons in English textbooks more meaningful

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01223953854


CONTENTS
I. RATIONALE
II. IMPLEMENTATION
A. LITERATURE REVIEW
B. METHODOLOGY
1. Sample lesson plans
2. Observation and findings
III. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
IV. REFERENCES

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INTEGRATED SKILLS IN WRITING LESSONS TO IMPROVE
LANGUAGE INPUT
I. RATIONALE
most learners will definitely say they are speaking and
writing skills, the two productive skills in English acquisition. The reasons
bedind this are numerous; however, the major cause is that they lack the topical

language.
After a few lessons, learners of English writing can master the structure a a
certain type of writing, but when it comes to writing practice, the majority of
learners are discouraged from the task by the lack of ideas and the vocabulary
appropriate for a certain topic.
During the first two months of taking charge of the writing skill for the English
class, the author realised that most of the students use inappropriate vocabulary
for the topic given and wrong combination of words or collocation.
In the scope of this paper, the author attemps to suggest a method that could be
considered effective in helping students improve their language input.

II. IMPLEMENTATION
A. LITERATURE REVIEW
The importance of vocabulary is central to English language teaching because
without sufficient vocabulary learners cannot express their own ideas. Wilkins
(1972, pp. 111
. As learners develop greater fluency and
expression in English, it is significant for them to acquire more productive
vocabulary knowledge. The concept of a word can be defined in various ways, but
three significant aspects teachers need to be aware of and focus on are form,
meaning, and use. Nation (2001) stated that use involves the grammatical functions
of the word or phrase, collocations that normally go with it, and finally any
constraints on its use, in terms of frequency, level, and so forth. Teachers teach
any and all of these different components assists them in enhancing their English
vocabulary knowledge and use. Jordens , et al (1996:359) believe that vocabulary
is more important than grammar because people generally use vocabulary and
4


reduce grammar particularly when getting a message across quickly and precisely

is of the utmost importance; like telegrams, panic situations or times when
emotions are very high. Ellis (1995:42) distinguished between comprehension and
acquisition of vocabulary, Ellis asserts that the acquisition increases with the rise of
the number of context in which the word appears. Learner need enormous
encounters with word not only to consolidate a word accrued knowledge but also
master the various type of word knowledge, Schmitt (2010:36).
Jack and Willy (2002, p.268) assert that there is a close relationship between
vocabulary growth and the amount and variety of meaning-focused input. They
also stress that vocabulary learning through reading and listening is an essential
strand of a language course. This can be done by providing large quantities if
suitably graded input, and by providing language- focused activities to support it.
Jack and Willy (2002, p.268) also add that spoken production of vacabulary items
helps learning. According to the main findings of the research into spoken
communicative activities by Newton (1995), Joe (1995) and Joe, Nation, and
Newton (1996), the written input to a communicative task has a major effect on
what vocabulary is used and negotiated during the task. Learners are able to
provide useful information to each other on most of the vocabulary in a typical
communicative task; that is, if someone in a group does not know a particular
word, there is likely to be someone else in the group who knows something useful
about it and who can communicate this information effectively. As for writing
tasks, Jack and Willy (2002, p.269) confirm that writing requiring the synthesis of
information from several related sources could provide very favorable conditions
for learning from input and strengthening this learning through generative use in
written output.
Therefore, for any essay writing lesson, the teacher should first provide the
students with sufficient vocabulary by using authentic material such as reading
texts and audio/video clips, then ask the students to discuss the topic using the
language from the material. The final stage is to use the language again in their
writing.
B. METHODOLOGY

Subjects
The subjects of the study are 27 students from class 10 English 2, Luong The
Vinh Specialised High School in the school year 2016-2017. Generally speaking,
all the 27 students are rather good at English. However, most of them seem
reluctant to write in English.
Research instruments: experimental teaching, observation.
Procedures
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1. Sample lesson plans
Question 1: Many people say that cooking and eating at home is better for the
individual and the family than eating out in restaurants or canteens. Do you
agree or disagree?
Type of lesson: Essay writing - Integrating listening, speaking, and writing skills.
Level: Upper - intermediate
Aims:
To develop note-taking skill
To practice debating skill
To familiarise students with the topical language that can be used in their writing
Stage 1
Divide the students into six groups.
Ask students to listen to three short clips about the advantages of home-cooked
meals and take notes. Groups 1&2 take notes on clip 1, groups 3&4 clip 2, and
groups 5&6 clip 3.
Ask the students in each group to exchange their notes.
Ask 6 representative from 6 groups to come to the board and write down what they
have heard.
Teacher give the correct answers and highlight the phrases and expressions that
students should pay more attention to.

Develop language skills
Better grades at school/boost academic performance/the family meal setting was
where children learn the most vocabulary/more words makes better readers
Dramatic behavioural benefits for family meals
Less likely to end up with substance abuse problems/risk-taking behaviours
Better health
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Strong association between frequent family meals and better eating habit
Instill healthy eating habits
Good for your family mentally as well as physically
Protective factor of dinners together: from depression to anxiety to sexual
promiscuity to academic achievement to criminal behaviour
Commit to sitting down and having dinner: better communication, parents are
more aware of what their kids are involved in
Willing to talk about their struggles and temptations
Less likely to get involved in risky behaviours
Making family meals a priority
Stage 2
Teacher writes the question on the board.
Many people say that cooking and eating at home is better for the individual
and the family than eating out in restaurants or canteens. Do you agree or
disagree?
Ask the students to work in their own group and discuss the question, using the
language they have just learned.
Ask 2-3 students to present their ideas in front of the class.
Stage 3
Ask the students to write an argumentative essay, using the language and ideas

drawn from their group and class discussions.
Question 2: The exploration and development of safe alternatives to fossil fuels
should be the most important global priority today. To what extent do you agree
or disagree? Give reasons for your answer.
Type of lesson: Essay writing - Integrating reading, speaking, and writing skills.
Level: Upper - intermediate
Aims:
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To develop reading skill
To practice debating skill
To familiarise students with the topical language that can be used in their writing
Stage 1
Ask the sudents to read a text about the related topic and fill in the numbered
blanks with the phrases provided.
The biggest energy challenges facing humanity
sparsely populated

extensive use

excessive capacities

deploying these intermittent renewables

immediate hike

make some fundamental shifts in our behaviour

on the rise

enable substantial economic benefits

inextricably linked to

weaning ourselves off our fossil fuel habit

chews its way

lowest electricity demand

the daily output

reached unprecedented levels

on a path towards

bring in significant revenue

an associated demand

taken a potentially devasting toll

at full capacity

global population swelling
sucked up

rising sea levels

leading contributor

provide an answer

underway

bleak

gas guzzling

outstrip

panel of experts

hurdles

through more than a
Every day, our species (1)
million terajoules of energy.
roughly equivalent to what we would use if
all 7.5 billion of us boiled 70 kettles of water an hour around the clock. Or 3,000
times (2)
of Palo Verde nuclear power station in
Arizona one of the
largest running (3)
With

the

(4)

and industrialisation (5)
in developing nations,
hunger for
energy has (6)
More than half of our energy
comes from fossil fuels extracted from deep within the
crust. It is
estimated that since commercial oil drilling began in the 1850s, we have (7)
more than 135 billion tonnes of crude oil to drive
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our cars, fuel our power stations and heat our homes. That figure increases every
day.
over the past two centuries has (9)
on the planet. Burning of coal, oil and gas has been
(10)
the rising levels of greenhouse gases in
atmosphere and is a (11)
of climate change.
The
scientists agree that we are (12)
disaster that can only be stopped by (13)
But that
leaves us with a problem. How do we ensure the lights stay on?
But our (8)

energy industry is facing decades of
according to a recent

report by the World Energy Council. Yet the implications of the changes
underway go far deeper. There are political, economic and social issues at stake,
but it may also require each of us to (14)
too.
There can be no doubt that implementing a shift in where we get our energy from
is one of the grand challenges facing our planet today. BBC Future Now spoke to
a
(15)
about
what
(16)
we must now overcome and where technology may
(17)
Perhaps the greatest issue raised by the scientists, policy experts and companies
we spoke to is how to cope with the (18)
in energy
demands expected in the coming decades.
As developing nations become more industrialised, they will need access to
reliable electricity supplies. In countries where development is already (19)
energy use will soar as increasing wealth leads to
a swelling middle class and the lifestyle trappings that brings with it.
the growth of the middle class in India and China, there will be an (20)
for air conditioning. The United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggest that by the middle of the
present century, the demand for cooling will (21)
the demand for
But faced with global agreements to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being
released into the atmosphere, how will we meet this growing demand without
dooming our ice caps and drowning low-lying regions beneath (22)
In truth, the picture may not be as (23)

as it could
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primary energy supply already comes from
be. Around a fifth of the
renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro and geothermal.
Hooking up these new energy producers to existing grids
be
straightforward, however.
of the big challenges of (24)
like wind and solar is the impact they could have
on the
says Watson.
electricity from regions that need it least to those that need it most
would help to (25)
says Ksenia Letova, project
manager of the Asian Supergrid at Skoltech Institute for Science and Technology
in Russia.
countries like Japan and South Korea, the maximum seasonal load
falls on the summer because of (26)
of air
conditioning. In the Russian Far East and Siberia this is the period of the (27)
Using the (28)
of neighbouring countries may help
to reduce costs of building new energy projects. For example, there are plans to
develop large-scale wind and solar power stations in the Mongolian Gobi desert
and in northern regions of China. These regions are (29)
but allowing the excess energy produced to be

exported could (30)
Stage 2
Teacher writes the question on the board.
The exploration and development of safe alternatives to fossil fuels should be the
most important global priority today. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer.
Ask the students to work in their own group and discuss the question, using the
language they have just learned.
Ask 2-3 students to present their ideas in front of the class.
Stage 3
Ask the students to write an argumentative essay, using the language and ideas
drawn from their group and class discussions.
2. Observation and findings
Level of using language in writing
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Poor
August 25/27

July
2016
May 2017

5/27

Rather good
2/27

Very good

0/27

15/27

7/27

After 9 months of implementation, the author found out that the number of
students who have improved their using of vocabulary in writing has increased
significantly from only 2 at the starting point to a massive 22 students at the end
of the school year.
III. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
After one year of implementation, the author realises that the students have
become more confident in argumentative essay writing. Most importantly, the
students take more active roles in their learning through reading and listening to
more authentic material given by the teacher and of their own research.
However, the preparation stage is quite a challenge for the teachers because once
you have come up with the idea for your lesson, it is not easy to find a suitable
video to use in that particular lesson. One solution is there should be a network
created for ESL teachers, where they share the videos for particular topics. This
can really help to lift the burden of material shortage that most ESL teachers have
been carrying for years.
IV. REFERENCES
1. Ellis, R. (1999). Learning a second Language through Interaction, pp.46 47 John Benjamin Amsterdam.
2. Jack, C.R. and Willy, A.R. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Jordens, P .et al (1996). Investigating second language Acquisition, pp.358
-359, Berlin, Foris publication Holland
4. Joe, A. (1995). Text-based tasks and incidental vocabulary learning.
Second Language Research, 11(2), 149-158.
5. Joe, A., Nation, P., & Newton, J. (1996). Speaking activities and

vocabulary learning. English Teaching Forum, 34 (1), 2-7.
6. Lewis. M. (1993). The Lexical Approach. Hove: Language teaching
Publications.
7. Nation, I.S.P (2001). Learning vocabulary in other in other language, p 9 21 Cambridge university press.
8. Newton, J. (1995). Text-based interaction and incidental vocabulary
learning: A case study. Second language Research, 11 (2), 159-177.

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9. Schmitt ,N. and Jiang , X. (2011). The relation between percentage of
vocabulary knowledge and level of comprehension. The modern language
journal , 95, 1, p. 26.
10. Vocabulary-Input-in-English-Language-Teaching-Assessing-theVocabulary-Load-in-Spine-Five.
Available
at
retrieved on May 24, 2017.
11. Wilkins ,D.A.(1972). Linguistics in Language Teaching. Australia:
Edward Arnold.
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INTEGRATED SKILLS IN WRITING LESSONS

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