MIND MAPPING APPLICATIONS IN PREWRITING STAGE TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITINGS UNITY AND COHERENCE AT CHAN MONG HIGH SCHOOL Áp dụng sơ đồ tư duy trong bước chuẩn bị viết để nâng cao tính mạch lạc và thống nhất trong bài viết của học sinh ở Trường THPT Chân M

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This

thesis

could

not

have

completed

without

the

help,

encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve my
sincere gratitude and appreciation.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor – Ms. Vu Thi Quynh Dung for the valuable guidance and
encouragement. She greatly inspired me to work on this paper. My graduation
paper cannot come to end without her effort to read it again and again to find out
the problems and support me in all stages of the research and writing this study.
I am also very grateful to some English teacher at Chan Mong high school,
Phu Tho province, who have been willing to answer my questions and have
given me valuable advice and suggestions on the research “Mind Mapping

Applications in pre–writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and
coherence at Chan Mong high school” and on the completion of my research.
I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the students of the classes
10A1 of Chan Mong high school, who have been the enthusiastic participants in
my action research. They provided me valuable information by completing the
conveying as well as doing the test. Without them, my action research could not
been completed and successful.
In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my family and
friends, who have constantly inspired and courage me to overcome difficulties to
complete this study.
Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interest and
comments on this study.
Thanks for all!


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ABSTRACT
Based on the assumption that the more teachers know about brain science,
the better prepared they will be to make instructional decisions.
Mind Map is a powerful tool for assisting any form of writing. Language
is an important device and a very beneficial means for human being to
communicate with other people. Writing is one of the language skills that will
never be left in education.
The study identifies appropriate mind map techniques to enhance the
students’ writing ability. It reviews and examines the traditional techniques used
in teaching writing learners and identifies appropriate mind map techniques
along with an application procedure to enhance the writing skill.
This study objective is to test the feasibility of using mind map in prewriting stage for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school. The researcher
carried out the experiment by teaching English and gives two tests for students.

The experiment phase continued for 4 weeks.
The participants of this study were 40 students at class 10A1. Prior to
experiment, participants of class 10A1 were given a pre-test in order to ensure
comparability of their essay writing. Having introduced the mind mapping
technique to members of class 10A1 (40 students) and finished the experiment
period, a post-test was administered to measure the effect of the intervention for
students. The data were gathered through pre-test and post-test.
The comparison between the pre and post test scores reveals a
significant difference in writing essay. The results indicated that the students,
who were taught through mind maps, improved unity and coherence; content
paragraph structure and length in writing. The results manifested that the
mind map is effective to use in teaching pre-writing stage in class 10 of Chan
Mong high school.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES
1. List of Figures
Figures
Figure 1.1. Network Tree
Figure 1.2. Event chain
Figure 1.3. Cycle Concept Map
Figure 1.4. Spider Concept Map
Figure 3.1. The results of entry exam in grade 10A1 English subject
Figure 3.2. The percentage of score levels according to pre-test results
Figure 3.3. The percentage of score levels according to post- test results
Figure 3.4. The percentage of score levels according to pre-test and

post-test results

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26
27
27
43
51
52
54

2. List of Tables
Tables
Table 2.1. Category descriptions for the assessment of coherence
and unity
Table 3.1. Checklist of Writing Tasks in current Textbook “English
10”
Table 3.2. The result of classroom observation
Table 3.3. Number of tests in score levels according to pre-test results
Table 3.4. Number of tests in score levels according to post-test results
Table 3.5. Number of tests in score levels according to pre-test and
post-test results

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45
46
50
52

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
English is spoken as the first language by nearly 400 million people and as
the second language by 1.6 million people. As its popularity, our education system
attaches special importance to teaching and learning English in many school levels
from primary to university or higher education one. A plenty of programs and
methods were introduced aiming at raising Vietnamese’s English skills.
Along with the globalization trend, English has been considered as a
compulsory subject in the curriculum of all state schools. In order to keep pace
with the development of society, the need for good communication is put in one
of the top demand for English language including writing skill. It is undeniable
that writing skill plays a significant role in daily communication and educational
process. In spite of its importance, writing has long been the neglected skill in
second language for many years as writing is placed poor fourth.
Writing skill is a component of language skill with important role in
human life. Through writing activity, an individual can express his idea and
thought to achieve purpose and objective. For that reason, writing skill is the
language skill considered as most difficult to master compared with other skills.
Pouring idea and thought into writing should consider the grammar rule
corresponding to the correct spelling. However, while this activity is a part of
language ability aspect, writing skill gets inadequate particular attention.
Through writing, an individual can tell about idea, feeling, event, and object to
others. For that reason, this ability should be taught appropriately in elementary
school. But the reality proves that writing teaching is earned out incorrectly.
Writing learning aims to create the students with adequate writing skill.
The objective of research was basically affected by many factors such as
learning method, teachers’ teaching ability, student condition, learning

circumstance, learning material, learning motivation, learning interest, and
learning media or aid. Effective communication in learning process will affect


the students’ success in achieving adequate outcome. Teacher can serve
effectively as a communication expert in the classroom.
Thanks to the innovation of ways in teaching English, English lessons are
taught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) in one unit.
Moreover, there exist three stages Pre – While – Post teaching in one lesson.
This really helps students improve their skills beside the grammar exercises to
pass the exams. Pre-writing stages are very important in teaching writing and it
also has significant effects on the students’ writing performance. Pre-writing
activities are supposed to the foremost phrase to start for a successful writing
task. Moreover, pre-writing stage could considerably solve the problem of ideas
stuck and raise the students’ interest in learning writing. If students do not
prepare well enough they can’t write well, they can’t even write anything in their
notebooks.
Paragraph unity is the most important characteristic of a good paragraph.
Students often got difficulties in stating idea or organizing ideas and connecting
the sentences when they wrote. Their writing result often did not have clear
meaning or it could not be understood. For example, they discussed more than
one topic in a single paragraph and the students could not use the appropriate
pronouns or transition signals in the paragraph. Therefore, the condition
automatically made the readers confused with the paragraph and they would not
get the information from the paragraph because it did not have unity and the
supporting details did not support the topic anymore and it was caused of
inappropriate words in connecting the sentences in the paragraph. Further,
paragraphs should also be coherent. Coherence demands that the ideas or
sentences presented in a paragraph should flow smoothly from one to the other.
Paragraphs should not only be well-developed and unified but also coherent. In

this lesson you will learn about paragraph unity and coherence without which a
paragraph cannot be called a complete composition.
Mind mapping is the easiest way to develop information in a human mind
and take information from out of brain. It is a creative and an effective way that


map our ideas. Maps are easier to follow than the long tardy note taking or
listing techniques where ideas are kept in a top down sequence and it becomes
difficult to make connection of the last idea to the first in the list. Mind maps can
work as tool to facilitate the learners to plan ideas in the pre-writing process.
Learners can be provided with examples to prepare a step vise pattern in
hierarchy that would help them retain ideas till the whole of the essay is written.
Mind-mapping techniques are good to be applied in the pre-writing stage to
explore ideas and generate thoughts on the topic for writing. Mind-maps allow
gathering concepts in relation to the main theme. The concepts gathered this way
are coherent without the linear or inflexible structure of outlines, clustering or
listing ideas. The use of mind map can present information using images,
symbols, key words, codes and color to the level one wishes to do. This type of
organization of ideas can capture the spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and visual
intelligences of some learners. As the content resembles that’s found on a topic
outline, the structure of the mind map is nonlinear and lends itself to
personalization by the student.
Students in general and Chan Mong high school students in particular have
difficulty writing to create unity and coherence in their writing. So, this the
reason why I decided to choose the title for my thesis: “Mind mapping
applications in pre-writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and
coherence at Chan Mong high school” as the title of my thesis.
2. Research Purpose and Aims
The aims of study consist of:
- Exploring the current situation of pre-writing stage in writing lesson for

grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school.
- Designing and applying activities with mind-mapping techniques in prewriting stage for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school.
- Assessing the effectiveness of mind map techniques in pre-writing stage
to create unity and coherence for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school.
3. Research Questions


There are three research questions, based on the focused objectives of the
study accordingly. They are:
1. What are the different techniques used by the teachers of Chan Mong high
school in pre-writing stage?
2. How should mind mapping be applied effectively in pre-writing stage to
enhance student writings' unity and coherence?
3. Is there any relationship between mind-mapping in pre-writing stage and the
unity and coherence of student's writings?
4. Significance of the study
4.1. Scientific significance
Conducting this study firstly helps the researcher obtaining a
comprehensive understanding about using Mind Map in studying and teaching
in general and in a pre-writing stage in particular.
4.2. Practical significance
This research is carried out with the hope that it can apply mind map in
pre-writing stages of grade 10th students at Chan Mong high school, Phu Tho
province. In addition, the research also help the teachers of English use mind
map in writing lessons of their students more effectively, which may make
writing lessons more meaningful and interesting, help students improve and
enhance unity and coherence in writing skill.
5. Related Studies
In this part, previous researches about using mind map in pre-writing
stage to create unity and coherence in writing lesson in Vietnam and overseas

will be presented.
5.1. In the world
Al Jarf (2009) in “Enhancing Freshman Students’ writing skills with mind
mapping soft-ware” investigated the compelling distinction among the group of
students who used the software of Mind Mapping while writing and the ones who
did not. The researcher stated that the software of Mind Mapping could be used to
help students in brainstorming, development of new ideas, making correlations


among various concepts and supporting details as students face problems in
propagating ideas in EFL and writing paragraphs with topic sentences and
supporting details. This study was performed by considering freshman students as
a sample of research, who were divided into two groups, i.e., experimental and
control. The results of post-test showed that the members of the experimental
group had higher gains in their final writing. Students in the experimental group
wrote on the posttest showed more relevant details and better organized and
connected ideas than paragraphs written by the control groups. Most of the
students in the experimental students drew mind maps by hand for the topic they
had to write about to help them visualize and organize ideas.
Al Naqbi’s (2011) in “The use of Mind Mapping to develop writing skills
in UAE Schools” carried a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of mind map at
the pre-writing brainstorming stage under exam condition. Actually, her primary
purpose was not to aim to the high results of the students, yet she aimed to help
students in planning and organizing ideas in writing. She noticed that during the
exam students performed differently due to the limited time when they
addressed the writing test at school and thus she believes mind mapping strategy
could assist students to eliminate difficulties in writing. As a result, after
conducting the research, she found that students’ thinking and cognitive skills
were developed and students became better in organizing ideas, activating their
background knowledge. This proved that mind map has a powerful effect on

students in the pre-writing stage and it was worth teaching this technique to EFL
students in classes.
Riswanto and Putra (2012) in “The use of mind mapping strategy in the
teaching of writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia” conducted research in
Indonesia on the appropriateness of the mind mapping strategy while providing
training in writing. The design of pretest-posttest disparate groups was used by
the researchers. As the study was carried out in the town of Bengkulu, 234
students of the first year of SMAN3 were the population of the study during the
academic year of 2011/2012. A total of 66 students were selected as a sample


and divided into two groups. The writing test was conducted in order to collect
data, and t-test was used as the tool for analysis of the data. Results showed a
compelling distinction was present in the writing accomplishment of the
students taught with the use of the strategy of mind mapping. Hence, it is
evident from this study that writing achievement of students can be enhanced
through the application of the mind mapping strategy.
5.2. In Vietnam
The writer also did try to review on the literature of the research problem
from the resources in the university library.
Dang Thanh Diem ( 2011) researched about “Using mind maps and
diagrams to teach vocabulary for first year mainstream students, faculty of
English language teacher education” with the study aims at figuring out
whether the techniques work to teach vocabulary at Division I. The study began
with the literature review on vocabulary teaching and the application of mind
maps and diagrams in teaching vocabulary. Then the paper-based questionnaires
were delivered to students to explore the situation of the research problem. After
that, the true-experimental method was applied in data collection procedures to
fulfill the second aim of the research. The findings of the study indicated that
mind maps and diagrams were applicable and effective to teach vocabulary at

Division I. Therefore, the techniques were suggested to be exploited more in the
context of teaching vocabulary for first year students.
Do Thi Van Trang (2016) researched about “Using mind map to improve
vocabulary knowledge for the first year English language teaching education
students of FLF at HPU2”with the study aims at investigating the common ways
of learning vocabulary' and their difficulties in studying vocabulary; introducing
the mind- map technique to the first year English Language Teaching Education at
HPU2 as well. First, to learn about the current ways of learning vocabulary, the
survey questionnaire was conducted with 48 students of K41 English Language
Teaching Education. Second, a pre-test and post-test were done to appreciate the
quality of vocabulary studying among these students before and after the


treatment during five weeks of the second semester of the 2015-2016 academic
school year. Last, the classroom observation also was used to find whether
students like the technique. Based on the results of these methods, the difficulties
of students in learning vocabulary have been found out as well as Mind Map
technique was introduced received positive responds from students.
Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (2013) researched about “Enhancing the efficiency
of the presentation through the use of mind mapping for K8 major English
students in Hung Vuong University” with the study aims at researching and
valuating the use of Mind Mapping in enhancing the efficiency of a presentation.
They use pretest and posttest to survey the current situation then point out the
effective of using mind map in presentation for students. The result is quite
satisfactory because the number of students getting low reduces considerably. The
marks of posttest are improved. It makes the study more successful.
These above researches study about using mind map in teaching such as:
using mind-map in teaching writing skill written by Jarf (2009), Al Naqbi’s
(2011) and Riswanto & Putra (2012) and using mind-map to enhancing the
efficiency of the presentation written by Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (2013) and using

mind map to teach vocabulary written by Dang Thanh Diem (2011) and Do Thi
Van Trang (2016). Besides, the previous studies have also provided valuable
information indicating that use mind map to help students improve skills such as
writing, presentation and learning vocabulary. Moreover, those studies
investigated the effectiveness of applying mind map in teaching and developing
skills above. The researchers find out some new methods which are useful for
teaching English at high school.
However, there have no researches about using mind map in pre-writing
stage to create unity and coherence for grade 10 students. Moreover, this is the
first time the study on mind mapping applications in pre-writing stage to enhance
students’ writings unity and coherence in writing lessons of grade 10th students at
Chan Mong high school, Phu Tho province is carried out in Hung Vuong


University. So, I will choose research about this issue with hope that this method
can help the lesson more and more vivid, effective to the teachers and students.
6. Outline of the research
The study consists of three main parts:
Part I: Introduction
Part I – “Introduction” covers academic routines required for graduation
paper, namely rationale for the study, aims of the study, research questions,
scope of the study, research methods, significance and an overview of the
study’s organization.
Part II: Development
This part consists of 3 main chapters
Chapter I – “Literature Review” provides the theoretical background of
the study consisting of some basic knowledge of English pre-writing, mind
maps, unity and coherence in writing lesson for the grade 10th students.
Chapter II – “Methodology” Research objectives, method of the study,
instruments, data collection and data analysis are discussed in this chapter.

Chapter III – “Major findings and Discussion” This chapter also analyzes
the data collected from classroom observation, interview for English teacher and
result of tests and discussion in details.
Part III: Conclusion
This part summarizes the major findings of the study, pedagogical
implications of using mind maps in pre-writing stage, some recommendations
that will be given to help students improve their writing skill, lists limitations of
the study and suggestions for further studies.


PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
In this chapter, the knowledge of using mind map in pre-writing stage to
create unity and coherence, the theories, ideas and opinions related to using
mind map in writing lesson. Beside, some previous studies in our country and in
the world related to the topic will be shown for readers to widen knowledge and
get more information about other studies which have nearly similar topic with
the research.
1.1. Overview of writing skill
1.1.1. Definition
In teaching a language, writing is considered one of the four language
skills (speaking, listening, reading) that a learner is expected master. It has been
argued that the term writing seems to be very common and familiar in language
teaching and learning. The ability to write fluently and expressively is
something that all language learners regardless of whether the language in
question is a first, second language finds it hard to achieve. All children, apart
from those with physiological disabilities, want to write, in fact, need to write,
before they want to read. There have been numerous definitions of writing each
of them is the reflection of its author’s view of the writing process.
Leki (1976) pointed out that writing is one of the four language skills

(speaking, listening, reading and writing) that a learner is expected to master.


Writing is the process in which the writer expresses his thoughts or ideas in the
form of handwriting. Writing is communicating. Good writing gets your ideas
out of your head and into the reader’s head without losing or distorting those
ideas. To understand thoroughly the nature of writing, some more academic
definitions of writing should be studied.
Donn Byrne (1988), the author of “Writing and teaching writing” states
that “Writing can be considered as the act of forming graphic symbols (letters or
combination of letters) which relate to sounds we make when we speak. It is
somehow like the making marks of flat surface of some kinds. However, writing
is not just the production of graphic symbols, just as speech is more than
production of sounds” (1988:1). In other words, it is obviously much more
complicated than the production of graphic symbols. “ Writing is the process of
transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and
error, or whatever in to a message with a definite meaning” (1988:3).
Tribble (1996) stated that writing is a language skill which is difficult to
acquire. It is a process that occurs over a period of time, particularly if we take
into account the sometimes extended period of thinking that precedes creating
an initial draft. Tribble also stressed that writing normally requires some form of
instruction and that it is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure. His
point of view, involved two kinds of skills. The first one was low-level skill such
as handwriting or typing, spelling, constructing grammatical sentences,
organizing and sequencing, structuring, drafting and editing, the other one was
advanced level skill such as writing a novel, a work or a play.
Hedge (2000) described “Writing is the result of employing strategies to
manage the composing process, which is one of gradually developing a text. It
involves a number of activities, setting goals, generating ideas, organizing
information, selecting appropriate language, making a draft, reading and

reviewing it, then revising and editing. It is a complex process which is neither
easy nor spontaneous for many second language writers.


In short, from all these opinions above, it is obvious that no definition can
possibly capture all the ideas and features of what writing is. Each linguist’s
definition reflects what writing means as seen from his own point of view.
However, they all have some features in common, they share the same
ideas that writing as a complex skill is one of the four basic skills in learning and
teaching of English. It is not only a means of communication where students can
share their views and thought, it is actually a pre requisite to master other
language skills.
1.1.2. Approaches to teaching writing skills
According to Nunan (1991), there are various ways to teach writing but
the two most common applied at present arc product and process approaches.
1.1.2.1. The Product Approach
Traditional approaches to the teaching of writing focus on the product. In
other words, the product approach is a traditional one that has been applied by
many schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam for a long time. This
approach is differently defined by different educators.
Nunan (1991) reviews that the product approach favors classroom activities,
prefers organizations of ideas to ideas, emphasizes on grammar exercises and
correctness, and focuses on the result of the final writing paper of learners.
Accordingly, Steele (2006) states that the product approach is a traditional
approach, in which students are encouraged to mimic a model text, which is
usually presented and analyzed at an early stage.
White (1988) defines the product approach as the emphasis on
grammatical correctness and adherence to given models or guidelines.
Typically, the authors suggest the following steps:
Step 1: The teacher introduces a topic

Step 2: The students are told to complete a composition (within a time limit) and
to work alone.
Step 3: The students submit the written work.


Step 4: The teacher grades the work, identifies errors, and hands back the work
to the students.
Step 5: The students make corrections.
Step 6: The next writing class, the teacher repeats the above procedure.
However, if the product approach is applied, there are many obstacles
facing the teachers and the students as follows. First, imitating models may
inhibit students rather than liberate them. Thus, there may be little or no
opportunity for the students to add any thoughts or ideas of their own when they
follow a model as presented by Raimes (1983). The inevitable consequence is
that little attention is paid to the ideas and meaning of student writing, what it
communicates to the reader, the purpose, and the audience (Raimes, 1983).
In short, most of the authors agree that product writing focuses more
on form than content, which may prevent the students from developing their
creativity and confidence in learning writing skills.
1.1.2.2. The Process Approach
The process approach to writing, an innovation in a product-oriented
culture (Cheung, 1999), has been seen as an improvement over the traditional
method of writing instruction in recent years.
Leki (1991) states that the process approach is an approach to teaching
writing that places more emphasis on the stages of the writing process than on
the final product.
According to Badger and White (2000) define: “writing in process
approaches is seen as predominantly to do with linguistic skills, such as
planning and drafting, and there is much less emphasis on linguistic knowledge,
such as knowledge about grammar and text structure" (p. 154). In the approach,

students are taught planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing strategies
at each stage of the writing process to help them to write freely and arrive at a
product of good quality.


Steele (2006) also confirms that process approaches to writing tend to focus
more on the varied classroom activities which promote the development of
language use; brainstorming, group discussion, re-writing.
The above authors all share a number of stages in process writing as follows:
Stage 1: Students are asked to generate ideas by brainstorming and discussion.
The teacher remains in the background during this phase, only providing
language support if required so that this may not inhibit students in the
production of ideas.
Stage 2: Students extend ideas into note form, and judge quality and usefulness
of ideas.
Stage 3: Students organize ideas into a mind map, spider-gram, or linear form.
This stage helps to make the hierarchical relationship of ideas more immediately
obvious, which helps students with the structure of their texts.
Stage 4: Students write the first draft. This is done in class and frequently in
pairs or groups.
Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged, so that students become the readers of each
other's work. By responding as readers, students develop an awareness of the
fact that a writer is producing something to be read by someone else, and thus
can improve their own drafts.
Stage 6: Drafts are returned and improvements are made based upon peer
feedback.
Stage 7: A final draft is written.
Stage 8: Students once again, exchange and read each other's work and perhaps
even write a response or reply.
In summary, the process writing pays more attention to content,

creative writing and different drafts; therefore, it needs efforts from both the
teacher and students.


1.2. Overview of pre-writing stage
1.2.1. Definition
Pre-writing is considered to be very important in teaching writing. In
addition, Richmond (1985) pointed out that pre-writing is the first stage of the
writing process and is also called the idea-generating stage which stretches back
to include anything that you have ever done or have ever been that might have
given your ideas to write about.
Olywadiya (1992: 3) defines pre-writing as “any structural experiences
that influence active student participation in thinking, talking, writing and
working on the topic under the focus on a writing lesson, stimulating higherlevel thinking as well as writing skills”. According to him, this stage includes
such as activities, oral-written, brainstorming, debating, and interviewing, which
are not to get started, but recursive that is, they can be used over and over again
during the composing process.
In addition, Liz Ham-Lyons (1987:139) claimed that, pre-writing as “it
generally involves the writers in choosing a topic, in thinking about the topic
and deciding on the way to respond to it, and selecting the appropriate ideas and
information to use in a response.” Pre-writing is an awareness of the writer
towards his subject, allowing him to draw on his experience to select and
organize these ideas. Moreover, it can be seen that activities or experiences
described in the pre-writing stage, “which can be group work or individual
effort”, may be “oral, written, or experiential in nature” (Adewumi, 1992:127).
Most of activities, then, including brainstorming, free-writing, diagramming, etc,
can be over and over again in writing lessons.
To sum up, from these theories above, it can be understood that prewriting is a blanket for a wide range of techniques to start thinking about your
paper before you begin the formal process of writing a draft. Your writing
process begins, in effect, the moment you read a writing assignment.

1.2.2. The importance of pre – writing stage in learning writing
As D’Aoust (1986:7) emphasized pre-writing stage helps writers
“facilitate the planning for both the product and process”. The pre-writing stage
focuses on stimulating students’ creativity and letting them think about what to
write and how to approach the chosen topic. To implement this stage effectively,
Tricia, H. (1996) suggests that teachers remind students of two important
questions: the purpose of their writing and its audiences. That is, students should
keep in mind the intended readers and content of the text when they make a
global outline for their writing.
According to Spack (1984:656), at this stage, students are trained to write
down, without worrying about errors and forms, whatever ideas coming to their
mind quickly, which gradually fasters their speed of writing. Besides, prewriting activities help students prepare raw materials for the composing stage,
and organize them in the best way, then, it develops students’ fluency.
In addition, according to Downs (2000), pre-writing helps students “get
kettle boiling”. During this stage, students have an opportunity to take part in
good activities which help them to work out a general plan for their writing, to
think and to write about a particular topic quickly, the actual composing will be
much easier. Moreover, pre-writing can help students with their writing process
by starting them off on the right both intellectually and psychologically. Prewriting strategies help writers generate ideas and figure out a paper’ provisional
structure; doing both of these things before they start writing a draft, which can
help writers save significant time and energy. Definitely, students will find it
more comfortable and relaxing to write a piece of writing. Additionally, the prewriting stage is an excellent way to avoid and overcome writers’ block and
reduce the stress of getting started with a new writing project.
In conclusion, the pre-writing stage plays an essential role in the writing
process, which is supposed to be guidance for organizing and generating ideas in
the completing writing tasks. For that reason, there is no doubt that pre-writing
activities should be used as a therapy to help inexperienced or incompetent

students who tend to slow down their pace of writing by insisting on a perfect
essay from onset.
1.2.3. Techniques in pre-writing stage
Kroll (cited in McKee, 1981) emphasizes that without pre-writing
guidance, students launch into ideas that they may have trouble expressing due
to limitations of linguistic forms. Pre-writing techniques help get ideas on paper,
though not usually in an organized form and brainstorm thoughts that might
eventually make way into writing. If you decided to build yourself a house, you
probably would not begin by going to the lumberyard and loading your truck
full of lumber, bricks, and nails. There is a lot of work to do before you get to
this point, including the drawing up of plans for what you want to build and the
determining of the building supplies that you will need. In a way, the same
general idea applies to writing essays. We use the term “pre-writing” to refer to
the work you do on your essay before you actually begin writing a draft of it.
Pre-writing is the most important of among steps: brainstorming, freewriting, mind-maps, drawing/doodling, asking questions and listing. This is
when the student determines the topic they are writing about, the angle they are
taking, and the audience that they are targeting. It is also the time for them to
create a plan that will make it easier for them to write clearly and succinctly
about their topic.
* Brainstorming - Brainstorming is the process of coming up with as many
ideas as possible about a topic without being worried about the feasibility or
whether an idea is realistic or not.
* Free-writing - This strategy is when your students write whatever comes into
their mind about the topic at hand for a specific amount of time, like 10 or 15
minutes. Students should not worry about grammar, punctuation, or spelling as
they write. Instead, they should try and come up with as many ideas as they
possibly can to help them when they get to the writing process.
* Mind Maps - Mind maps are a visual way to outline information. There are
many varieties of mind maps that can be quite useful as students work in the

prewriting stage. Webbing is a great tool that has student’s write a word in the
middle of a sheet of paper. Related words or phrases are then connected by lines
to this original word in the center. They build on the idea so that, in the end, the
student has a wealth of ideas that are connected to this central idea. For example,
if the topic for a paper was the role of the US President, the student would write
this in the center of the paper. Then as they thought of each role that the
president fulfills, they could write this down in a circle connected by a line to
this original idea. From these terms, the student could then add supporting
details. In the end, they'd have a nice roadmap to an essay on this topic.
* Drawing/Doodling - Some students respond well to the idea of being able to
combine words with drawings as they think about what they want to write in the
prewriting stage. This can really open up creative lines of thought.
* Asking Questions - Students often come up with more creative ideas through
the use of questioning. For example, if the student has to write about Heathcliff's
role in Wuthering Heights, they might begin by asking themselves some
questions about him and the causes of his hatred. They might ask how a 'normal'
person might react in order to better understand the depths of Heathcliff's
malevolence. The point is that these questions can help the student uncover a
deeper understanding of the topic before they begin actually writing the essay.
* Listing - Listing is probably the simplest pre-writing strategy and is usually
the first method writers use to generate ideas. Listing means exactly what the
name implies-listing your ideas and experiences. First set a time limit for this
activity; 5-10 minutes is more than enough. Then write down as many ideas as
students can without stopping to analyze any of them. After they have generated
their list of topics, review the list and pick one item that they might like to write
about. Now they're ready for the next listing; this time, create a topic-specific
list in which they write down as many ideas as they can about the one topic they
have selected. This list will help they look for a focus for their paragraph.

Most students will find that combining a couple of these strategies work
well to provide them with a great basis for their final product. In fact, if a


student first asks questions, and then writes a detailed outline, they will find that
the time put in up front will pay off with an easier paper to write that gets a
higher grade in the end.
1.3. Unity and coherence in writing
1.3.1. Unity
1.3.1.1. Definition of unity
Unity means the paragraph has one topic to be discussed and then it is
developed by good supporting details. According to Oshima and Hogue (1991:
29), every good paragraph has unity, which means that in each paragraph, only
one main topic is discussed. It means that unity in a paragraph will be showed
when the paragraph only talks about one single idea. After that, the supporting
sentences of the paragraph should support the topic sentence directly.
Shewan et.al (2003: 21) explains that all elements of a paragraph must be
relevant to the central thought if unity is to be achieved. They point out that to
make a paragraph unity; the writers definitely should think one central idea or
topic. There is no another topic to think if the idea have been decided or
discussed. They should arrange it well in order to create the paragraph unity by
adding the appropriate supporting sentences.
Lee Brandon and Kelly Brandon said that "A good check on unity is to ask
your-self if everything in your paragraph or essay is subordinate to and derived
from the controlling idea. Make sure that your controlling idea the topic
sentence or thesis indicates the subject and the focus on that subject..."
In short, unity means “one-ness”. When we talk about paragraph unity, we
mean that you should discuss only one main idea in each paragraph.
Furthermore, every supporting sentence in the paragraph must be directly related
to main idea. It must directly explain or prove the main idea, which is stated in

the topic sentence. Sometimes students write supporting sentences that are “off
the topic”.
1.3.1.2. Ways to achieve unity


Unity is a very important characteristic of good writing. Unity in a paragraph
means that one paragraph is about only one main topic sentence. A topic sentence,
then, serves to introduce the topic and the controlling idea. That is, all the
sentences-the topic, supporting sentences, the detail sentences and (sometime) the
concluding sentence-are all telling the reader about one main topic.
To achieve paragraph unity, a writer must ensure two things only. First,
the paragraph must have a single generalization that serves as the focus of
attention, that is, a topic sentence. Secondly, a writer must control the content of
every other sentence in the paragraph’s body that it contains more specific
information than the topic sentence and it maintains the same focus of attention
as the topic sentence. If a paragraph contains a sentence or some sentences that
are not related to the main topic, then that paragraph lacks unity or the sentence
is off-topic.
So, a unity paragraph must follow the idea mentioned in the topic
sentence and must not deviate from it. When a writer sticks to the topic
sentence, it leads readers to a clear understanding.
1.3.2. Coherence
Besides maintaining the unity in the text, the writers also should pay
attention about how to build the coherence. It is important because a good
paragraph must have good connection between the sentences and naturally it can
appear the unity at the end. Coherence means all of the sentences are connected
each other in the paragraph. They are connected by the writers by using some
parts of it, like transition signal, pronouns or repetition of key nouns.
1.3.2.1. Definition of coherence
“Co” is a Latin prefix that means “together” or “with”. The verb “cohere”

means hold together”. Traditional definitions of coherence focus on the idea that
the product of the process of writing, namely, a text, should hang together in a
way that makes its content have some arrangement of order or sequence. Such
an order or sequence is thought to be largely related to the connectedness
between sentences or through using cohesive devices at the paragraph level.


Coherence in a paragraph according to Oshima & Hogue (1996) means
that the paragraph is easy to read and understand because your supporting
sentences are in some kind of logical order and your ideas are connected by the
use of appropriate transition signals. In other word, it means that one sentence
follows another in clear, logical sequence. Coherence allows the readers to move
from one idea to the next, seeing the connection between ideas, and from one
idea to the next, seeing the connection between ideas, and the connection of the
ideas to the topic sentence. Coherence is the factor that decides whether a
language product is a text or not and is the semantic, implicit relation inside the
text itself. It is the relationships which link the sense of utterances in a discourse
or of sentences in a text.
According to Tannen (1984), coherence is the underlying organizational
structure that makes the words and sentences in discourse unified and significant
for the reader. Literal, coherence means “to stick together”. Coherence in writing
means that all the ideas in a paragraph flow smoothly from one sentence to the
next sentence and the ideas are connected so that the relationships between them
are clear. The ideas are not isolated from each other. This expected logical flow
of ideas provides ease in reader comprehension (Halliday and Hasan, 1976).
With coherence, the readers have an easy time understanding the ideas that the
writers wish to express.
It shows that the connection of the sentences in a paragraph should be
connected logically in order to avoid the jumping of ideas. Between the one
sentence and the next should be supported by good transition words or

conjunctions. So, the coherence of the paragraph can be achieved. Meanwhile,
Rockowitz et.al (2004: 168) said that coherence: to bring several related ideas
together around a central theme and in an organized manner. It means that a
coherence in a paragraph or text only develop the topic by connecting the
sentences each other. The writers should make the idea related to the topic by
making relationship in the sentences logically in the paragraph. So, the
coherence can be achieved in the paragraph or text.


Furthermore, Lepionka (2008: 118) states that coherence is the quality of
sequentiality and integrity or togetherness. It determines that the sentences
connect in a logical order and they work together to develop the main idea is the
paragraph. Thus, the researcher concludes that coherence is a logical
arrangement of the sentences in making a paragraph. The sentences must be
connected each other to build the coherence in the paragraph.
To sum up, coherence is important to help students understand the need
for their writing, make clear the relation between the parts of a sentence,
between entire sentences, or between paragraphs.
1.3.2.2. Ways to achieve coherence
Agree & Kline (1985) insist that in revising for coherence the writer needs
to use for specific writing techniques to show the relationship between ideas.
The first technique is sentence combining. In fact, it is one of the most useful
tools in achieving coherence because it employs the most common devices in
the language for bringing out the relationship between ideas. Secondly,
transition signals also need to be appropriately used. This technique is closely
related to sentence combining. Transition signals also help the reader follow
more easily the pattern of the writer’s thinking. Thirdly, parallelism is another
key to achieve coherence in a paragraph. When the writer wishes to show that
two sentences do the same work or hold the same relationship to the topic
sentence, he should arrange them in the same pattern. If two sentences are doing

the same work, presenting theory about the same event, but their structure is not
parallel, the reader is not helped to see the similarity of their function. The last
technique is the repetition of key words. This technique focuses the reader’s
attention on the threads- the important ideas, as they move through the
paragraph to make up the fabric of the discussion.
Coherence properties come from text features that help readers to
understand and link ideas on it. To connect all the ideas in a text and to signal
their relationship, skilled writers usually make use of five cohesive devices:


pronouns, repetition of key words and phrases, transitional expressions, parallel
structures, and old/new information.
+, Pronouns
Pronoun is a key term that refers and replaces a previous noun. Oshima
and Hogue (2006: 42) remark that when we use pronouns instead of key nouns,
we should be sure to use the same person and number throughout the paragraph.
Also, it is important to repeat a key noun instead of using a pronoun when the
meaning is not clear.
Pronouns must be consistent with the nouns they replace in number,
gender, and person. Each pronoun refers to a single noun, called its “antecedent’.
A pronoun must refer clearly to its antecedent or anaphora “a generic word may
be used in definite sense, to refer to a thing, event, or attribute that has been
discussed or mentioned in the text." A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in
person, number, and gender. As such, the antecedent or anaphoric word must
always be clear".
+, Repetition of key words or phrases
Deliberately repeating a key word, related words, or phrases will weave
together the ideas within one or more paragraphs. The repeated words or phrases
should be related to the main idea of the text.
The repetition of important words in a paragraph helps the readers to

grasp the main idea of a paragraph.
+, Transitional expressions
To indicate a connection between ideas, writers can use a wide variety of
transitional words, phrases, and clauses. These transitions are like bridges that
carry readers safely from one point to another. Writers finish one complete
thought at a time and stop, and they signal that stop with an ending mark (usually
a period) at the end of the sentence. Readers need to connect those individual
sentences. To help them to do so, writers sometimes put in a bridge to carry them
across the “space” between ideas. Some, of the most frequently used bridges are
the conjunctions to join related independent thoughts: and, but, or, so.