Solutions to master upper secondary students’ performance in the essay writing task

Teaching Experience Initiative

School-year: 2017-2018

“Solutions to Master Upper-secondary Students’ Performance
in the Essay-Writing Task in the English Examination for Gifted Students
at the Provincial Level”
__________________________________
PART I: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale for selecting the topic of the study:
Training excellent students of English at the upper-secondary level of
education is generally considered a greatly challenging mission for each teacher of
English. The success of this aspect of the job is mainly determined by the students’
performance in the major examinations, especially the provincial English
examination for upper-secondary gifted students throughout Thanh Hoa province. In
fact, the students’ performance is directly based on their exam results concretized
with the total marks of the exam paper. The exam questions are divided into various
parts that test the participants’ different English skills. One of the skills playing the
key role in deciding whether the students’ achievements are high or not would be the
writing skill in the last part with its most important task is writing an essay. It cannot
be denied that it is essay writing that has been a terrible nightmare for many
students, including talented ones. The nightmare is so haunted that my students
usually get too nervous to accomplish their writing entirely, they even skip this task.
Thus; the hope to achieve satisfactory results seems to be an unrealistic dream that
never comes true. This fact, along with the desire to make a quality breakthrough,
has constantly urged me to do something practical to improve the situation. Hence,
the topic “Solutions to Master Upper-secondary Students’ Performance in the
Essay-Writing Task in the English Examination for Gifted Students at the
Provincial level” has been studied in the hope of finding out more suitable teaching
techniques and approaches to apply for gifted student training so that it will be more
productive in the coming time.

II. Purposes of the study:
This study has been conducted with a strong desire that it can help raise
students’ awareness of the importance of English essay writing in written
communications as well as in the gifted student examinations at the provincial level.
On that basis, they can have more motivations and interests in studying how to write
essays and doing practice more regularly. As a result, they will gradually be able to
master their performance in essay writing, which may give them much help to get
prizes, especially high ones in their important examinations. Furthermore, with this
experience initiative, I hope to contribute some of my personal ideas on the good
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Teaching Experience Initiative
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student training to teaching experience sources for my teacher colleagues to use as a
reference in the English teaching process in general.
III. Objects of the study:
This teaching experience initiative specially focus on researching and
analyzing problems or difficulties that gifted students encounter in English essay
writing, and finding out possible solutions to these problematic issues to help master
their performance in such an important competition as the Provincial English
Examination for Gifted Students.
IV. Scope of the study:
The study process was mainly based on the English programme for the uppersecondary students at Mai Anh Tuan High School in the school year 2017-2018, and
through English tests, examinations for gifted students in Thanh Hoa province, as
well as other provinces throughout our country, in the recent years.

V. Bases and of the study:
The experience initiative has been studied based on my own practical
teaching experiences, referring to documents related to the researched topic,
including database from the internet, observing other teachers’ lessons, and
consulting my colleagues, who are experienced in gifted student training.
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
To improve high school gifted students’ performance in English Essay
writing, first and foremost, it is necessary to investigate and analyze students’
difficulties related to this task and their negative impacts on exam results.
Afterward, the previously analyzed problems will suggest effective ways to find out
possible solutions that help better the situations.
I. Problems facing gifted students in English Essay writing:
Gifted students are great learners; however, as learners of English as a foreign
language, they are confronted with a wide range of difficulties in writing English
essays. The problems may be caused by the outer or intra-lingual factors of English.
These factors, whether internal or external, can make the task of mastery difficult
for learners of English to achieve, and can have a negative effect on their
proficiency. Following are the common challenges that may face gifted students in
writing and restrict their achievement.
1. Over-obsession named essay writing:
Nowadays, most students are too obsessive with writing essays whether in
their mother tongue or in their second language such as English. They tend to think
that this task is beyond their ability, and that it is only a waste of time because they
can never write a good essay; hence, they choose to quit the task right from the
beginning despite its importance.
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2. Effects of modern lifestyle:

School-year: 2017-2018

Schoolchildren are living a fast-paced life in which everything seems to run at
the speed of light. With the support of modern devices, spoken communications
become easier and more convenient than ever before. Rather, the tendency of
teaching and learning English at present is to focus more on spoken communication
skills than on written ones. In consequence, writing skills, including essay writing,
attract little attention from high school students.
3. Gifted students’ fear:
Gifted children sometimes have a fear of vague concepts and prefer to study
things that have a right answer. Some gifted children prefer factual writing to
creative writing. This is due in part to the fact that many gifted children are
perfectionists and perfectionists like getting every assignment right the first time!
Unfortunately, in creative writing, there is not always a right or a wrong solution.
4. Lack of motivation:
At upper-secondary level of education, one of the primary motivations to
master writing skills seems to be examinations. However, apart from the gifted
student examinations, there are hardly other ones to motivate students. Also, a flash
of anxiety about future careers appears not to be great inspiration to urge students to
pay much attention to essay writing.
5. Improper development of analytical and cognitive skills:
Students need to develop their cognitive and analytical skills in order to
improve their essay writing. This includes learning to understand and think better,
which is something rarely implemented in high-school education.
6. Lack of vocabulary:

Students hardly enjoy essay writing when they have an insufficient stock of
vocabulary. The outcome of their vocabulary insufficiency is nothing but poor
quality essays.
7. Thinking in the mother tongue:
Students are greatly influenced by their first language. They tend to do their
thinking in the mother tongue, and then try to translate what they have thought into
English. Their habit usually makes their writing products become a mess!
8. Poor Grammar and Syntax Skills:
Even the most talented students need to learn how to understand complex
sentences, differentiate different parts of speech, use proper punctuation and
proofread their writing for errors.
9. Lack of evidence and relevance:
Students sometimes provide evidence that is not relevant to the main topic.
This is a consequence of not spending enough time for planning the essay or trying
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to reach the word limit. It may also be the case that even relevant facts can appear
irrelevant because students sometimes do not use appropriate wording and fail to
link different paragraphs and ideas with each other. As a result, even relevant facts
and arguments sound irrelevant.
10. Essay question misunderstanding and wrong identification of essay types:
Students sometimes fail to understand the questions, and get difficulty in
identifying the right essay type to write. Thus, their writing may easily digress in an

inappropriate format.
11. Weak or no thesis statements:
Gifted students’ creative ability seems to be infinite, so that sometimes they
keenly pursuit and try to express their creative thoughts without realizing that they
have written a long paragraph or essay with a weak or no thesis statement.
12. Lack of cohesion and coherence:
Sometimes students write such rambling essays that can be difficult for their
readers to understand. The information may be presented without being clearly
related to the given assignment question, and/or without conforming to the genre
pattern expected in the context. An incoherent essay, of course, can never get great
appreciation.
13. Failing to structure ideas effectively:
Gifted students may have numerous interesting and creative ideas; however,
their time for essay writing is limited, so they occasionally fail to find the best way
to structure their ideas in content effectively.
14. Poor time management:
Many gifted students are not very good at time management, which leads to
inappropriate time division for different tasks and task incompletion. Undoubtedly,
when the task is not completed, their essay cannot be highly valued.
15. Plagiarism:
It is seen as stealing someone else’s intellectual property when students use
their work without crediting. Gifted students have a good ability to remember what
they have read about a certain topic and then try to use as much as they can when
meeting the same topic. Once, one student remembered almost all the whole essay
of the same topic and wrote it down on her paper without forgetting a word from the
original.
16. Formatting and resource organization:
Sometimes, students’ essay is not properly formatted. The sources used for
their essay are not well organized and cited in a way suitable for its type.
17. Lack of writing practice:

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Gifted students, with their talent and intellectual ability, can deal with tasks,
even the most challenging ones, rapidly and effectively. Therefore, sometimes they
seem to be a little bit impatient with essay writing practice, a task that needs doing
regularly and seriously.
18. Little feedback on gifted students’ essay writing:
Many teachers assign essay-writing tasks to students, but fail to provide them
with comprehensive feedback. Giving a student a grade for her/ his writing is simply
not enough if one wants to teach her/him how to write better.
II. Suggested problem solutions:
Generally, high school gifted students today face numerous challenges in
terms of essay writing. In order to help them overcome these obstacles, there are
possible solutions as follows.
1. Over-obsession named essay writing:
To help students steadily overcome their over-obsession named essay
writing, the teacher has tried to find out their strengths, even the smallest ones, to
give them positive comments and timely praise them. To the best of my knowledge,
it is these fair comments and well-timed praise that can help the students have more
confidence in themselves as well as motivate them to bravely face such difficult
tasks as essay writing. Further, the teacher has given a very clear explanation of
English essay writing importance, not only in their exams but also in their future
career and life, to them so that they can realize how vital it is. Besides, the teacher

has provided them with essay writing tasks with the level of difficulty gradually
increasing in order to avoid their obsession with the tasks.
2. Effects of modern lifestyle:
To limit the effects of modern lifestyle on students’ essay writing, the teacher
often chooses common topics and encourages them to share their ideas on these
topics by writing them down sometimes. Moreover, the teacher shows them that it
would be better when they could make improvements in both spoken
communication skills and written ones, especially, to the ones who want to get a
scholarship for studying abroad.
3. Gifted students’ fear:
An interesting question has been raised for students “Why has Einstein’s
theory of relativity been greatly appreciated up to now?” Isn’t it because the theory
is about the fact that everything in life is relative? Thus, the teacher should always
share with them that it is completely fine when they are not right the first time and
how interesting and challenging to do creative tasks like essay writing where they
have opportunities to express their own ideas, opinions and attitudes that may help
change their life positively!
4. Lack of motivation:
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Writing examinations are great motivations to students, so that essay-writing
contests have been suggested being organized to stimulate the spirit of studying
writing essays among my students. This kind of task has also been proposed being

included in the English exams at Mai Anh Tuan high school to create more chances
for our students to train themselves and improve essential skills for their future
career.
5. Improper development of analytical and cognitive skills:
Enhancing students’ analytical and cognitive skills can be implemented by the
following simple ways. The first would be active reading, involving questioning
what they are reading when they read. By asking questions as they read, they are
engaging their brain in higher thinking. Another useful technique is to question and
compare the writers’ perspectives on a subject to their own. They also should take
note of new ideas and thoughts that are a result of their reading. Active reading
stimulates and expands their brain and allows it to think in new ways.
Students are advised to join discussions or conversations, ask everyone they
meet questions, and try to learn something from them. Whether it is life lessons such
as how to manage stress or how they developed successful careers or what their
parenting philosophy is, questions are essential to keeping the brain engaged. They
can improve their interpersonal communication skills at the same time and maybe
even make a friend or two. By improving their analytical skills, they can be able to
comprehend and appreciate debates and concepts, break down complex information
and streamline solution-finding processes.
6. Lack of vocabulary:
Students can enrich their vocabulary stock themselves by reading and
learning new words or phrases in contexts. They can also study more words from
their dictionaries. When they meet a new word, they should learn all other words in
its family and patterns as well as idioms related to it. Another better way to help
them build up their vocabulary is to try to have conversations or discussions about
topics where new words or phrases are inserted.
7. Thinking in the mother tongue:
Thinking in the native language is a normal tendency to foreign language
learners. However, it is too difficult for students to get a great success when they
wish to express their ideas in English while doing their thinking in their own

language! Therefore, it is important that students stop thinking in their mother
tongue and trying to translate in their head.
One good way to do it is to use monolingual dictionaries where the entries
and their definitions are written in the language they are learning. By using this kind
of dictionary, students can train their brain to focus on the meaning, or the concept
that a word represents, rather than its literal translation into their native language.
That way, they are less likely to translate it themselves when they use it.
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Another useful method is to use images instead of translations when learning
new vocabulary. Using images or symbols while writing new words down again and
again can help students train their brain to stop translating words when
communicating in English. That is because they can learn to associate words with
images or symbols rather than their exact translations.
Besides, students are advised to read a lot and memorize phrases. When
reading, they have to be confronted with idiomatic expressions and phrases. This
time, they should try to memorize those phrases that they come across – this will
help them when constructing their own sentences. Instead of having to make them
from scratch when you need them, students will be able to recall some of the
phrases that they learned when reading. And, because they have the ready-made
phrases in their head, they won’t have to look for translations of individual words
and their brain will be less likely to be preoccupied with that.
One more way that is a bit funny to help students prevent themselves from

thinking in their native language and trying to translate into English is that they tell
themselves off! Whenever they catch themselves translating words in their head,
they must say “translation, translation, translation.” By doing that, they can draw
their own attention to the frequency with which they translate in their head.
Consequently, they begin to do it less frequently.
8. Poor grammar and syntax skills:
To notice the progress that students makes in terms of grammar and syntax,
the teacher always tries to listen to them and point out to the mistakes they make.
The teacher also asks them what they have learned every day and has conversations
with them often. While speaking to them, the teacher needs to pay attention to the
sentences they form. Moreover, the teacher often spends some certain time reading
and marking their essays, then taking notes of their errors of grammar and syntax
and suggesting possible ways to correct these errors.
9. Lack of evidence and relevance:
With irrelevant evidence, students cannot support and prove their argument
effectively. Therefore, students should have relevant evidence in their essay in order
to persuade the readers and increase the validity of the argument. The best solution
is to study well and get acquainted with the topic. While reading about their topic,
they need to take notes on the most relevant issues and store them for later use (for
references and citations).
Additionally, to limit irrelevant evidence in their essay, before students start
writing an essay, they had better make an outline and plan their essay carefully.
They also try to connect each part of their essay, arguments and facts to the main
idea and the topic. At each stage of the essay, they need to keep asking themselves
“Is this relevant?”, “Am I answering the question?”, and “Does this relate directly to
the subject I have been asked to discuss?” If they begin to introduce a new and
separate problem or topic to discuss and prove a part of their argument, they have to
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make sure that they return to the main subject and explain how these secondary facts
are relevant to the main argument.
10. Essay question misunderstanding and wrong identification of essay types:
One of the reasons why students sometimes misunderstand the essay
questions and fail to identify the right type of essay is because they get too nervous
when reading these questions. Therefore, students should study the questions
carefully to know what to do. At the same time, they need to try their best to keep
calm and enhance their confidence while confronting with difficult questions in
important exams. And, the best way to be free from fear in this situation is to study
well and make good preparations for it.
Moreover, right identification of essay types is much dependent on the nature
of each type of essay. Hence, the teacher needs to discuss with the students the
significant features of different essay types, focusing on prominent signal right from
the essay questions. There are four main genres of essay writing, including
Expository essays, Descriptive essays, Narrative essays, and Argumentative
(Persuasive) essays.
a. Expository Essay Definition:
An expository essay explains something or answers questions like:
What is it?
How should we define it?
How do you do it?
How does it work?
What is the history of it?
What caused it? What are the effects?

What is the meaning of it? [1]
b. Descriptive Essay Definition:
A descriptive essay, as the name implies, is a form of essay that describes
something. In this genre, students are assigned the task of describing objects, things,
places, experiences, persons, and situations. The students use sensory information to
enable readers to use their five senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight to
understand the topic of the essay. [1]
c. Narrative Essay Definition:
A narrative essay is a type of essay that tells a vivid story, usually from one
person’s viewpoint. It uses all the story elements - a beginning, middle and ending,
plot, characters, setting and climax - all coming together to complete the story. [1]
d. Argumentative (Persuasive) Essay Definition:
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An argumentative essay is a type of essay that presents arguments about both
sides of an issue. It could be that both sides are presented equally balanced, or it
could be that one side is presented more forcefully than the other. It all depends on
the writer, and what side he supports the most. [1] To recognize this type, the
students need to pay attention to such words or phrases in the questions as:
Give the arguments for and against....
Assess the importance of....
Examine the arguments for and against....
What are the advantages and disadvantages of...?

Evaluate....
Critically examine the statement that....
To what extent is...true?
Discuss....
Give your views on....
What do you think about...?
Do you agree that...?
Consider whether....
To what extent ....
How true ....
How far do you agree.... [1]
11. Weak or no thesis statements:
Every paper students write should have a main point, a main idea, or central
message. The argument(s) they make in their paper should reflect this main idea.
The sentence that captures their position on this main idea is what we call a thesis
statement.
A thesis statement focuses their ideas into one or two sentences. It should
present the topic of their paper and make a comment about their position in relation
to the topic. Their thesis statement should tell their readers what the paper is about
and help guide their writing and keep their argument focused.
Students should provide a thesis early in their essay - in the introduction, or in
longer essays in the second paragraph - in order to establish their position and give
their readers a sense of direction.
In order to write a successful thesis statement, they should do the following:
- Avoid burying a great thesis statement in the middle of a paragraph or late in
the paper.
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- Be as clear and as specific as possible; avoid vague words.
- Indicate the point of your paper but avoid sentence structures like, “The
point of my paper is…” [1]
12. Lack of cohesion and coherence:
12.1 Cohesion:
Cohesion is basically the interconnection of two different sentences. How
these sentences are related to each other that is called cohesion.
To make their essay cohesive, students should do the following:
1. Use connectors/linkers
Candidates forget to put a simple linker that may be necessary. When they are
writing, they simply know their thoughts but when the examiner reads, he is not
aware of their idea. He will find it difficult to follow their ideas without linkers.
Linkers like for example, in addition to this, to my mind, etc. are some of the
cohesive devices used in writing.
2. Use pronouns
Students can definitely use pronouns to avoid repetition of abstract nouns.
Repeating a name would seem awkward and therefore may fetch them lower bands.
For this, they can use pronouns like this, that, it, they, etc.
3. Use synonyms
To avoid repetition, a candidate can definitely use synonyms or different
grammatical structures with various forms of a word. For example, a verb can be
converted into an adjective or a noun and so on.
So, this is how their essay writing task coherence and cohesion is marked.
The students need to know all these to focus on their weakness. So, prepare well and
get their required results. [1]

12.2. Coherence:
Coherence is the logical arrangement of the writer’s ideas. All ideas should be
logically arranged and one key point should inevitably follow its explanation. That
is what makes a good paragraph.
Usually, students tend to write too many ideas in a single paragraph and that
often results in an incoherent paragraph. Those ideas are not fully developed.
Basically, the students need to include vital information in every paragraph.
First, they need to have a clear idea of their essay structure. How many paragraphs
they’re going to write and how these paragraphs will link with each other.
a. Introduction
b. Arguments in favour of your opinion
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c. Arguments against your opinion

School-year: 2017-2018

d. Conclusion
The above structure is just an example. The students can have their own
structure for the paragraph. Later on, they can build their paragraph level coherence
with the following points.
1. Make the topic sentence clear and concise: Very often, the first sentence
of the paragraph clearly states what is mentioned in the whole paragraph. This
sentence is called a topic sentence. This sentence needs to be simple and short. If

students’ topic sentence is too long, it means that they are trying to add too much
information into their paragraph. So, they need to edit and again assess it.
2. Don’t use too many points in a paragraph: Include only one or at most
two information in a paragraph. This arrangement allows students to develop their
topic fully and thus, they can represent their point of view more clearly.
3. Include examples: Examples are very informative and they clearly relate to
the topic. This makes reader understand the theme quite easily. So, use examples to
explain your point clearly.
4. Summarise the whole paragraph: Students should not forget to summarise
their paragraph with a short sentence or a result. Further, they should never leave
their paragraph in an awkward position.
5. Use punctuations precisely: Students often underestimate the importance
of punctuation marks. Nevertheless, they are as important as grammar. They make
every sentence clear. Without proper punctuation marks, the examiner will find it
extremely difficult to follow your line of thoughts. [1]
13. Failing to structure ideas effectively:
The teacher guides the students to make an outline of their essay in order to
structure their ideas effectively.
1. Begin their outline by writing their topic at the top of the page.
2. Next, they write the Roman numerals I, II, and III, spread apart down the left side
of the page.
3. Next to each Roman numeral, they need to write the main ideas that they have
about their topic, or the main points that they want to make.
4. If they are trying to persuade, they need to write their best arguments.
5. If they are trying to explain a process, they need to write the steps that should be
followed.
6. They probably need to group these into categories.
7. If they have trouble grouping the steps into categories, they can try using
Beginning, Middle, and End.
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8. If they are trying to inform, they need to write the major categories into which
their information can be divided.
9. Under each Roman numeral, write A, B, and C down the left side of the page.
10. Next to each letter, write the facts or information that supports that main idea.
When they have finished, they have the basic structure for their essay and are
ready to continue. [1]
14. Poor time management:
Time management is one of the most important things that a student needs to
take care of during examinations. Here are some golden rules of time management
that help students to finish their exam paper within the given time.
1. Students should remover wrist-watch from wrist and keep it in front of them by
the answer sheet. This helps them to keep an eye on time while answering the
questions.
2. Usually, the invigilators distribute the answer sheets five to ten minutes before the
exam time. This is the best time to fill in the first page that contains their name, roll
number and other necessary information.
3. If they are lucky and you get question paper two to three minutes before the exam
time, they should utilize it to read the question paper instead of doing other
unnecessary things like drawing margins, filling information, etc. They need to read
the question paper thoroughly from the beginning to the end and mark the questions
that they can answer correctly.
4. It is always preferable that students start paper from the question for which they

are very well prepared. Nevertheless, they have to keep in mind that they should not
spend extra time on it. Usually, students become excited and spend most of time on
the first question. They always have to remember that this may affect their overall
performance as at the end they may run out of time.
5. Past papers give very clear idea about the paper pattern. Students should be
mentally prepared that how to start paper, of course they cannot predict the question
but their keen observation of the subject matter helps them to start their paper well.
6. Students should always divide the paper in parts and allocate suffice time for each
question/part. Suppose they have to answer five questions in all and the time on
hand is only three hours, the better approach is to allocate 30 minutes to each
question and the remaining 30 minutes should be utilized for the revision, final
touch-ups, and tying up the answer sheets. Objective questions take less time than
others therefore allocation of time for these questions should be accordingly.
7. Students always have to remember they do not need to copy the questions on the
answer sheet. It is the waste of time.
8. It would be a better approach to put another tick on the answered question. This
will boost students’ energy and give them a sense of accomplishment.
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9. Students should read the answers carefully once they have done the entire paper.
Many students read the answers just after writing them. It is a human physiology
that people may not see their mistakes immediately but reading the same piece of
writing after sometime can help them to identify easily and to overcome errors.

10. Students should avoid taking breaks during the exam time, and not leave early.
Instead of leaving early, students should sit and re-read what they have written; they
can double-check all of their answers; check their spelling and rewrite any illegible,
hastily scrawled words.
15. Plagiarism:
To avoid plagiarism while writing an essay, students should know how:
1. Paraphrase: A paraphrase is a restatement in students’ own words of someone
else’s ideas. They must change both the words and the sentence structure of the
original, without changing the content. So, when they have found information that is
perfect for their essay paper, they can read it and put it into their own words.
2. Cite: Citing is one of the effective ways to avoid plagiarism. This usually entails
the addition of the author(s) and the date of the publication or similar information.
3. Quoting: When quoting a source, students should use the quote exactly the way
it appears.
4. Cite Quotes: Citing a quote can be different from citing paraphrased material.
This practice usually involves the addition of a page number, or a paragraph number
in the case of web content.
5. Cite students’ Own Material: - If some of the students’ material is being used for
their own essay, they must cite themselves. They should treat the text the same as
they would if someone else wrote it. It may sound odd, but using material they have
used before is called self-plagiarism, and it is not acceptable.
6. Reference: One of the most important ways to avoid plagiarism is including a
reference page or page of works cited at the end of their essay paper.
16. Formatting and Resource Organization:
In order to get good marks, an essay should be properly formatted. All
sources used must have good organization and be cited in a way suitable for the type
of paper. The teacher should make sure that the students have this clear and format
all papers in the way requested.
Here is an example of suggested essay format of the argumentative type,
which is commonly included in the English exams for gifted students at the

provincial level.
1. Introduction
It basically consists of two components:
+ The opening statement
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+ The thesis/the idea of the essay

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The introduction is aimed to get the full attention of the reader. The opening
statement needs to be clear and logical as it is the thought, which leads the reader to
the thesis where the persuasive essay idea is thoroughly presented.
2. Body paragraphs
The body of any persuasive essay reveals the arguments that support the
thesis statement of the work. Each of the arguments should include:
+ the point of argument
+ the explanation of the argument
+ facts/evidence that support the idea/thesis
+ a small summary leading to the next argument
3. Conclusion
Summarize the persuasive essay idea. It is the evaluation of the statements
made and the arguments given. The conclusion therefore refers to the thesis
statement of the work. [7]

17. Lack of writing practice:
In order to become better in essay writing, students, even gifted ones, have to
practice it regularly and seriously. Without sufficient practice, students can never
take their writing skills to a higher level.
18. Little feedback on gifted students’ essay writing:
Feedback is information that the teacher gives to the students that helps them
close the gap between where they are now with their work, and where they could be.
The goal of feedback is to provide students with insight that helps them to improve
their performance. There are two steps that the teacher should follow to give them
effective feedback. These are:
- Tell the students about their current level of performance.
- Tell them what they could do to improve.
After assigning essay-writing tasks to students, the teacher should always try
to provide them with comprehensive feedback, which affirms what they did well,
corrects and directs them, points out the process, and coaches students to critique
their own efforts, not only to give them a grade for their writing.
III. Further Practice:
It is said that Practice makes perfect. The acquisition of the theory is
undeniably important, however, practice is really a key to the mastery of students’
performance in essay writing.

Le Thi Lan Anh

Mai Anh Tuan High School

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Teaching Experience Initiative
School-year: 2017-2018

To encourage students to do regular practice with much enthusiasm, a variety
of essay writing questions have been prepared for students’ further practice in class
as well as after class. Below are typical ones that commonly appear in the English
examinations at the provincial level. After their practice, some samples have been
provided for them to study and to use as references. (See APPENDIX - Essay
samples.)
Question 1:
Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign
language at primary school rather than secondary school. Do the advantages of this
outweigh the disadvantages? Give reasons for your answer and include any
relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.[2]
Question 2:
Sports programmes are hugely popular on television nowadays. But some people
argue that these programmes are to blame for the poor health of many young people
who prefer to watch rather than part take in physical activity. To what extent do you
agree or disagree? [3]
Question 3:
As computers are being used more and more in education, there will soon be no role
for the teacher in the classroom. To what extent do you agree or disagree? [6]
Question 4:
In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year
between finishing high school and starting university studies.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own
knowledge or experience. [2]
Question 5:
You have decided to give several hours of your time each month to improve the
community where you live. What is one thing you will do to improve your
community? Why? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice. [6]
Question 6:

The overuse of natural resources causes an ultimate exhaust of them. People have
been using them to be in the swim of new styles such as making new furniture of
recent design. This causes a huge harm to the environment. Therefore, the
government should discourage people the overuse of these resources.
To what extent do you support or oppose the idea? [4]
Question 7:
Nowadays we are producing more and more rubbish. Why do you think this is
Le Thi Lan Anh

Mai Anh Tuan High School

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Teaching Experience Initiative
School-year: 2017-2018
happening? What can governments do to help reduce the amount of rubbish
produced? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from
your own knowledge or experience. [4]
Question 8:
Some people opine that damage to the environment is an inevitable consequence of
the improvement in the standard of living. To what degree do you agree or disagree
with this opinion?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge, and experience and support your
arguments with examples and relevant evidence. [4]
Question 9:
Using a computer every day can have more negative than positive effects on young
children.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own

knowledge or experience. [4]
…
To help students make good preparations for their examinations, the teacher
has always studied and updated the new trend of essay questions and the marking
criteria for the students to focus on in order to make much progress in their essay
writing.
PART III: CONCLUSION
I. Study results:
Below are some achieved results of the study after being applied to excellent
student training in class 11G at Mai Anh Tuan High School in the school-year 20172018. These statistics are based on the English tests for gifted students and the ones
to select the best students to participate English examinations at higher levels in this
school-year in comparison with the results of the previous year.
1. The examination results of the gifted students in the school-year 2016-2017:
1.1 At Mai Anh Tuan high school:
Students

Class

Results of

Total marks

Essay Writing
Nguyen Van Tu

10G

5.5/10 points

14.5/20 points

Nguyen Thi Gam

10G

5/10 points

13/20 points

Nguyen Thi Bich Hang

10G

4.5/ points

11.2/20 points

Le Thi Lan Anh

Mai Anh Tuan High School

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Teaching Experience Initiative

School-year: 2017-2018

Among the three students, Nguyen Van Tu and Nguyen Thi Gam were
selected for the group of the five best students to participate in the provincial

English examination for gifted students in the school-year 2016-2017.
1.2. In the provincial examination:
Students

Class

Results of

Total marks

Essay Writing
Nguyen Van Tu

10G

5/10 points

9.2/20 points

Nguyen Thi Gam

10G

4.5/10 points

9.2/20 points

With the total marks mentioned above, these two students did not win any
prize in this provincial examination.
2. The examination results of the gifted students in the school-year 2017-2018:

2.1 At Mai Anh Tuan high school:
Students

Class

Results of

Total marks

Essay Writing
Nguyen Van Tu

11G

6/10 points

15.5/20 points

Nguyen Thi Gam

11G

5.5/10 points

13.4/20 points

Nguyen Thi Bich Hang

11G

5.5/ 10 points

13.2/20 points

Hoang Mai Trinh

11G

5/ 10 points

9.2/20 points

Among the four students, three including Nguyen Van Tu, Nguyen Thi Gam
and Nguyen Thi Bich Hang were selected for the group of the five best students to
participate in the provincial English examination for gifted students in the schoolyear 2017-2018.
2.2. In the provincial examination:
Students

Class

Results of

Total marks

Essay Writing
Nguyen Van Tu

11G

8-8.5/10 points

15.4/20 points

Nguyen Thi Gam

11G

7-7.5/10 points

12.4/20 points

Nguyen Thi Bich Hang

11G

6-7/10 points

10.2/ 20 points

Le Thi Lan Anh

Mai Anh Tuan High School

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Teaching Experience Initiative

School-year: 2017-2018

With the total marks mentioned above, all these students won the prizes in
this year’s provincial examination, including one second prize, one third and one
consolation.
Generally, for every teacher, being a trainer of gifted students is apparently a
great honor, but also a great pressure, especially for a teacher of English at Mai Anh
Tuan high school, a high school at a rural area. In the history of the school, the
performance of its excellent students of in the provincial English examinations was
relatively modest. Thus, how to improve student achievement in such an
examination really became a challenging target to meet for a very inexperienced
teacher in the role of the talented student trainer who was mainly responsible for the
school’s team of English. Despite the enormous challenge, the desire to make a
significant quality breakthrough to contribute to creating the image of the school
always encouraged both my students and me to constantly make every effort in the
process of training so that the team achieved much higher performance than that of
the previous school-year. According to the rankings of Thanh Hoa education and
training department, the performance of our school team of English ranked fourth in
the province in the school-year 2017-2018.
The above estimates show that the teaching experience initiative I have
attempted to study has initially produced certain achievements. The students’ essay
writing skills have been advancing considerably with steadily increasing marks that
positively contributed to creating the feat that 100% of the students won the prizes,
consisting of high prizes, instead of the situation that no one did win any prize. In
the comparison with the results of the previous school-year, these initial results seem
quite impressive; hence, I would like to share this teaching experience initiative in
the hope that it could help contribute a little to improving the quality of training
gifted students of English at the upper secondary education. Moreover, I do wish
that the study would be of some value to both teachers and students in their process
of English teaching and learning essay-writing skills.
II. Suggestions:
Obviously, the study still has certain limitations. Thus, it would be my

pleasure to get as many pieces of contributive advice or suggestions as possible to
better my teaching initiative so that it will become more productive in the
accomplished student training process at high schools in the coming time.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the constructive ideas!
Thanh Hoa, May 29th, 2018.
The author

Le Thi Lan Anh

Mai Anh Tuan High School

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Teaching Experience Initiative

School-year: 2017-2018
Le Thi Lan Anh
REFERENCES

[1]. The internet
[2].
[3].
[4].
[5]. />[6].
[7].

Le Thi Lan Anh

Mai Anh Tuan High School

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