TECHNIQUES OF USING VOCABULARY IN WRITING SHORT ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS FOR THE 10TH STUDENTS AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL

DEPARTMENT OF THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING
NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL
----------------------------

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

TECHNIQUES OF USING VOCABULARY IN WRITING
SHORT ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS FOR 10TH GRADE
STUDENTS AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL

Doer: Nguyen Thi Ha
Duty: Teacher
Subject: English

THANH HÓA, 2019

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Part I:

INTRODUCTION
I. Reason for choosing the theme
II. Aims of the experience initiative
III. Scope of the experience initiative
IV. Research methodology
Part II: CONTENTS
I. Rationale
II. The problems of using vocabulary in paragraph writing
1. Repetition

2. Synonyms
3. Use of Articles
4. Use of preposition
5. Word order
6. Spelling
7. Transitions
III. SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES OF USING VOCABULARY
IN WRITING SHORT ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS
1. Repetition of Key Words
2. Using pronouns
3. Synonyms
4. Use of Articles
5. Word order
6. Transitions
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT
PART III: CONCLUSION AND PROPOSAL
I. Conclusion
II. Proposal

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PART I: INTRODUCTION
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I. Reason for choosing the theme:
In the tendency of integration of the global economy, English is one of the
effective communicative tools for everyone. The role of English is considered to
be very important in the fields of economics, politics, science, culture and
education. Especially, Vietnam’s official membership of WHO on 7 th November
2006 opened a new door for integrating with foreign partners, tourism, study
tours, etc…
Responding to the trend, English lessons are taught with four skills
(speaking, reading, listening, writing) and new teaching methods to motivate
students in each unit. This really helps students improve their skills beside the

grammar exercises to be able to communicate foreigners. Paragraphing is an
important convention of written English. It has developed as a visual way of
assisting the students to follow an extended piece of writing. Paragraphs also
help them to understand how the sentences are grouped together and in this way
they are very useful. The sentences within a paragraph explore one specific
theme while a new paragraph indicates that a new topic or idea is being
addressed. Paragraphs may be long or short, but each one will develop a
particular topic point, they are not a unit of length. Moreover, constructing
clearly defined paragraphs is the key to a good essay. These can be seen as being
rather like the bricks in a wall. It is very important that the paragraphs are
sequenced in a logical order because they will provide the major building blocks
for the argument in the essay.
In fact, many students often have many basic mistakes in written works
about spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and organization. Besides
that, learning writing at high school has many problems at the present such as
lack of vocabulary, writing skills as well as skills of using words in writing.
Vocabulary is one of the important aspects of language to be used in writing
skill. Errors of vocabulary are potentially more misleading than those of
grammar. In writing skill, the more descriptive words students have, the more
successful their writing is. However, most of the students at Nguyen Trai High
School are quite confused when using vocabulary in writing short paragraphs.
They may also find it difficult to choose the best words for a sentence when they
are writing a paragraph. If they have a strong vocabulary and the ways of using
words, these choices will be easier and they will make good writing more
powerful.
The above mentioned reason leads to the choice of studying about
experience initiative in analysing “TECHNIQUES OF USING
VOCABULARY IN WRITING SHORT ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS FOR
THE 10TH STUDENTS AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL”.

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II. Aims of the experience initiative:
The aims of the experience initiative are:
a. To investigate students’ difficulties in using words in writing skills.
b. To find the types of popular errors when writing English paragraphs.
c. To give students some skills of choosing vocabulary in writing English
paragraphs.
III. Scope of the experience initiative:
The writer attempts not only to introduce some methods to apply words in
writing English paragraphs to reduce students’ difficulties but also makes them
more self – confident and interested in writing – English lessons, hence,
developing their writing ability. The author applies into the class 10A6 at
Nguyen Trai High School, Thanh Hoa.
IV. Research methodology:
Reading reference books.
Discussing with other teachers.
Applying in teaching.
Observing and drawing out experiences.

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PART II: CONTENTS
I. Rationale:
According to Robert Todd Carol (1990), the most important invention in
human history is writing. It provides a relatively permanent record of
information, opinions, beliefs, feelings, arguments, explanations, theories, etc.
Writing allows us to share our communication not only with our contemporaries,

but also with future generations. Writing is a skill, which is not only helpful in
writing to English, but also useful to improve other considerably. In an English
learning classroom, the teacher aims at developing four skills of the learner’s
ability to understand to speak, to read and to write. The ability to write occupies
the last place in this order, but it does mean that it is least important. Reading
makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.”, said
Bacon. “It is an important tool, which enables man to communicate with others
people in many ways” (Rita Rani Mandal, 2009). To students, good at writing
will bring many benefits for them. Firstly, writing is a good way to increase the
ability of using language. Secondly, writing is an essential tool to support other
skills. If a student has a good writing ability, they can speak and read the text
more effectively. Thirdly, writing is a way to approach modern information
technology as well as the human knowledge. Otherwise, it is necessary to master
writing skill because it can help people have good preparations when finding a
job or attend English courses. Writing short paragraphs is an important factor
for every student to get those benefits.
Paragraph is a basic unit of organization in writing which a group of
sentences develops one main idea. This general idea is expressed in a topic
sentence, and four or five supporting sentences will expand this idea by giving
explanations, details and examples to support the main idea. The number of
supporting sentences in a paragraph can vary. The concluding sentence in a
paragraph indicates that the paragraph is ending and summarizes important
points to remember or reprises the main idea. .
In addition to the three parts of a paragraph, a good paragraph must also
have another important elements such as lexical resources; coherence; task
response; grammatical range and accuracy.
A great vocabulary is just one essential tool in a writer’s toolbox, along with
punctuation, grammar, capitalization rules, figurative language, rhyme,
rhythm, vocabulary and many others. Strong vocabulary can make the
writing more powerful and more effective and help the writer say exactly

what he / she mean. This indispensable tool will help him / her choose the
best word for every job and avoid vague words that do not give readers a
good sense of his / her meaning. (Importance of a Good Vocabulary in
Writing by Ron Kurtus, 2012)
Good writers knowing how to use vocabulary at the right time will make
good writing English paragraphs even more powerful. Building and techniques
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of using correct vocabulary in paragraphs is one of the easiest ways to improve
the power of the writing and make any paragraph - writing task much easier and
more convincing.
II. THE PROBLEMS OF USING VOCABULARY IN PARAGRAPH
WRITING:
The most difficult problem that many 10 th grade students (50% ) at Nguyen
Trai High School have is the limitation of vocabulary. This problem prevents
students from improving their writing competence. In the process of
observation, the researcher realizes that students are introduced a lot of
vocabulary before writing, they still do not have enough vocabulary to write, so
they continually ask teachers about vocabulary and make a lot of mistakes of
vocabulary when writing.
What is the most difficult problem when studying writing skill?
A. Vocabulary restriction
B. Grammar difficulties
C. Lack of ideas
D. Topic inappropriateness
* Other ideas: - Lack of materials for consulting
- Lack of teacher help

Rate %

50
27
15
3
5

The most difficult problem when studying writing skill in most of students:
Because of the limited vocabulary, students have to face the following
problems in writing English paragraphs.
1. Repetition: Students have a habit of repeating unimportant words many times,
which makes their paragraphs boring and unconvincing.
2. Synonyms: Writers do not know synonyms instead of repeating words many
times.
3. Use of Articles: An article is a word that is used with a noun to indicate the
type of reference being made by the noun.
For example: I am studying at the Ajloun University.
Corrected Sentence: I am studying at Oxford University.
In the above example,“The” is not suitable, the writer used the wrong article.
4. Use of preposition: A preposition is a word that shows the relationship
between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. Students tend to
think every preposition in their mother tongue and in the target language can be
applied in the same way. They are such small words and frequently have direct
equivalents in the mother tongue and the foreign language. As a consequence,
learners of English tend to have three types of problems with prepositions:
choosing the wrong preposition, omitting a needed preposition, and using a
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preposition where one is not needed.
For example: Education is very important at my life.

Corrected Sentence: Education is very important in my life.
5. Word order: It is the syntactic arrangement of words in a sentence, clause, or
phrase. In writing paragraphs, students pay no attention to using adjectives to
describe things, events or people or they use the wrong order of adjectives.
For example :
Language specially English plays an important role in society.
Corrected Sentence:
Specially English Language plays an important role in society.
It is a very common problem which is quite easy to fix.
6. Spelling: The act or process of writing words by using the letters
conventionally is accepted for their formation. The difficulties students are
having in writing English paragraphs could be due to letter form, letter
omission, motor capability, or transference.
For example : I want to be a translation.
Corrected Sentence: I want to be a translator.
7. Transitions: Use a conjunction or conjunctive adverb to link sentences with
particular logical relationships. Sometimes students confuse at the ways of using
transitional words. Below are three things that students have problems about
transitional words in their writing.
Firstly, the logical connections are not clear as they use transitions.
Because transitions indicate relationships between words and ideas, they can be
misused if the relationship indicated by the transitional words is unclear or does
not exist.
Example: …….The huge amount of information in books will help us a lot
of in life.Therefore, with knowledge from books, we can be better- equipped to
tinkle any challenge we may face………
("Therefore” does not make sense here because it is unclear .)
Secondly, students overuse transitions which can have the opposite effect
and can make their writing confusing.
Example:

Writing an English paragraph can be challenging. However, there are
techniques that can make the process a little easier. For example, taking plenty
of notes on the subject can help the writer generate ideas. Therefore, notetaking is an important "pre-writing" strategy. In addition, some people "freewrite," writing quickly for ten or twenty minutes to see what ideas
arise. However, taking notes and free-writing are only the beginning. Ideas
must eventually be organized in a logical way. Consequently, an outline can
help the writer make sense of the rough material generated through the notetaking and free-writing process. Therefore, writing an outline is another
important step in the writing process. However, some writers are able to
conceptualize a sense of logical order for their ideas without actually writing an
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outline. Nevertheless, these writers seem to have some kind of outline in their
minds. In addition, an outline should help the writer formulate a thesis for the
essay. Consequently, an outline can help give focus to the essay.
(This passage could be stronger with fewer transitional words and phrases.
Especially when the transitions are used at the beginnings of sentences, they can
become annoying or even confusing to readers if they are overused.)
Thirdly, students often make some mistakes that can occur with the use of
transitions. Just like any other words, transitional words and phrases must be
used carefully so that they do not cause errors. Both sentence fragments and
comma splices sometimes occur when transitional words are added to an essay.
These two errors are illustrated below:
Sentence Fragment: Resulting in the woman's search for companionship
elsewhere.
Corrected Sentence: George seems to ignore his wife, resulting in the
woman's search for companionship elsewhere.
Comma splice: …….Secondly readers can learn new words and phrases,
which help improve our writing as well as our imagination. Moreover language
in books are likely to be more sophisticated than our everyday
conservations…….

Corrected Sentence: …….Secondly, readers can learn new words and
phrases, which help improve our writing as well as our imagination. Moreover ,
language in books are likely to be more sophisticated than our everyday
conservations…….
The reason for these problems is related to negative influence from the
mother tongue grammar. The 10th grade students at Nguyen Trai High School
lack of practicing English writing. Techniques for using vocabulary under
guidance and encouragement could enhance the students’ performance in
English writing. Hence, it is advisable for high - school students to practice
English writing frequently with strong vocabulary so that they can enhance their
writing paragraphs.
III. SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES OF USING VOCABULARY IN
WRITING SHORT ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS:
In this part, some techniques for using words are presented to reduce the
students’ difficulties and motivate them in paragraph – writing lessons at
Nguyen Trai High School. The author’s own experience suggests that these
techniques make students’ writing better and more persuasive.
1. Repetition of Key Words:
Repeating key words in a paragraph is an important technique for achieving
cohesion. Of course, careless or excessive repetition is boring and is a source
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of clutter. However, once used skillfully and selectively, as in the paragraph
below, this technique can hold sentences together and focus the reader's attention
on the central idea.
Example: Write a paragraph about the influence of the Internet on our life.
The Internet is one of the most important technological breakthroughs of
the 20th century. The Internet changed my way of finding information and
making friends. Firstly, the most important thing is the amount and diversity of

information. Spending hours in libraries is no more necessary. I have
everything I need at home. Secondly, this information could be taken as fast as
never before. I just go to Google and type what I want to read about; then it
shows me a thousand of links about it. Finally, I can find the most interesting
people from all over the world using the Internet. We can discuss films, science
or even help each other in solving different problems. For example, Internet
helps me in studying English because I can communicate with native and
advanced speakers using the e-mail, forums and Skype. And all these things I
can do sitting at home.
In the above paragraph:
The word “ Internet” is repeated 4 times in sentence 1, 2, 8 and 9.
The word “ information” is repeated 3 times in sentence 2, 4 and 5.
Needless repetition that only clutters our writing should be avoided. But the
careful repetition of key words can be an effective strategy for fashioning
cohesive paragraphs.
2. Using pronouns:
Pronouns are used in place of nouns. The purpose of pronouns is to avoid
repetition and make sentences easier to understand. There are seven types of
pronouns that both English writers and for those who use English as a second
language must recognize: the personal pronoun, the demonstrative pronoun, the
interrogative pronoun, the relative pronoun, the indefinite pronoun, the reflexive
pronoun, and the intensive pronoun.
2.1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person or thing. Their form changes
to indicate a person, number, gender, or case.

Subjective personal pronouns are pronouns that act as the subject of a
sentence. If you are learning English as a second language, remember that the
subjective personal pronouns are I, you, she, he, it, we, you, and they. For
example:


"I walked directly to the party."

"You showed up late; she was annoyed."

"He thought you had forgotten; we knew you were just behind."

Objective personal pronouns are pronouns that act as the object of a
sentence. The objective personal pronouns are me, you, her, him, it, us, you,
and them.
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For example:
* "The police officer told my brother and me to slow down."
* "He pointed to the pedestrians and said to be careful of them."
* "The police officer said there are a lot of speedy motorists like us."

Possessive personal pronouns are pronouns that show possession. They
define a person, or a number of people, who owns a particular object. Here are
the possessive personal pronouns: mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, and theirs.
For example:

"Is this book yours or his?"

"All the books are mine."

"Nobody's house has as many books as theirs, not even ours."
2.2. Demonstrative pronouns point to and identify a noun or a
pronoun. This and these refer to things that are nearby in space or time,
while that and those refer to things that are farther away in space or further

away in time. For example:

"This is the dress I will wear; that is the one I wore yesterday."

“That is not true."

"Please pay for those."
2.3. Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. The interrogative
pronouns are who, whom, which, and what. It is important to remember
that who and whom are used to refer to people, while which is used to refer to
things and animals. Who acts as the subject, while whom acts as the object. For
example:

"Which is the best restaurant?"

"What did he tell you?"

"Whom should we invite?"
2.4. Relative pronouns are used to link one phrase or clause to another phrase
or clause. The relative pronouns are who, whom, that, and which. The
compounds whoever, whomever, and whichever are also commonly used as
relative pronouns. For example:

"Whoever added the bill made a mistake."

"The bill, which included all our meals, was larger than expected."

"The waiter who served us doesn't know how to add."
2.5. Indefinite pronouns refer to an identifiable, but not specified, person or
thing. An indefinite pronoun conveys the idea of all, any, none, or some. If you

are learning English as a second language, remember the following common
indefinite
pronouns: all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each,
everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several,
some, somebody, and someone. For example:

"Everybody got lost on the way there."

"Somebody forgot to bring the map."
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

"No wonder so few showed up."

2.6. Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the clause or sentence. The
reflexive pronouns used in writing English are myself, yourself, herself,
himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. For example:

"She baked a cake for herself."

"We decided to eat it ourselves."

"We heard her say, they should be ashamed of themselves."
2.7. Intensive pronouns are used to emphasize their antecedent. Intensive
pronouns are identical in form to reflexive pronouns. For example:

"I myself find pronouns fascinating."


"They themselves think everyone should know about pronouns."

"You yourself should tell everyone how great pronouns are."
Example: Write a paragraph about the reasons for studying English
There are many reasons why we should learn English. Firstly, English is an
international language which is spoken by millions of people worldwide. In
education, English is the compulsory subject of many school programs. For this
reasons, if students want to get good results in class, they will have to make
every effort to study English well. In addition, most famous universities such as
Oxford or Cambridge require students to use English proficiently. Therefore,
learning English is one of the necessary ways to provide more opportunities for
them to study oversea. Secondly, learning a foreign language helps learners
understand and discover other cultures and customs. For instance, people can
read books, magazines and news to learn about various cultures because most
of them are written in English. Finally, learning English can help us to
communicate effectively with foreigners around the world. In general, English
plays an important part in the modern world.
In the paragraph, pronoun “ which” replaces “ an international language”
“ they” replaces “ students”
“ them” replaces “ cultures and customs”
Pronouns are useful tools to use in one‘s writing. Pronouns help writers
avoid repeating a noun monotonously. Pronouns can be used to replace nouns
that have previously been mentioned once or several times. Thus, pronouns help
writers reduce wordiness. Pronouns help readers track essential sentence
elements. If readers have verbal cues to follow pronouns and transitions, they
can forget connections between information in the paragraph to trace a unified
sequence of ideas. The paragraph in which no pronouns are used can be
exhausting for the reader because it is excessively wordy, especially since long
noun phrases are repeatedly used.
3. Synonyms:

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A synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as
another word or phrase in the same language. Using synonyms is popular to
improve students’ writing.
Example:
Noun
Synonym
It is unquestionably the case that It is very hard to justify the payment of
football players earn vast salaries…… these sums…
Over the years, agriculture
become more and more ……

has This new type of farming is …….

Nowadays, using a car is getting more This vehicle ……..
and more popular…..
In the following paragraph:
Personally, I prefer life in the country to that in the city because of several
reasons. Firstly, rural areas bring me the peace and comfort, which is beneficial
to my health. Living here helps me to avoid the noise from vehicles such as
motorbikes or cars and traffic jam at the rush hour, which can make me
comfortable. Secondly, people in the country is very friendly and hospitable. If
you live in urban areas, you can not even know your neighbors. This makes you
bored and lonely…………..
The writer use synonyms: the country = rural areas; the city = urban
areas; cars = motorbikes = vehicles.
This is a key technique. The idea is that students do not repeat the word

which they use another similar word or phrase. Very often, they need to use
phrases and not individual words to do this well.
4. Use of Articles:
Learning the proper use of articles is one of the most complicated aspects
of the English language for non-native English speaking students in writing
English paragraphs. The English language has three articles: a definite article,
'the', and two indefinite articles, 'a' and 'an'. Students can use the following table
containing the use of articles in order to make a good paragraph.
Specific Uses of English Grammar Articles
In this case
Example Sentence
Use "a"/ Mention something for the first time.
I have a problem.
"an"
Something belongs to a certain group. This is a table.
Someone belongs to a certain group.
She is a designer.
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Something is that kind of thing.
Someone is that kind of person.
Talk about a specific thing.

I've built a strong ship.
He is a nice guy.
The feeling I got was very
strange.

Use "the" It is clear which thing are being talked

I passed the test!
about.
There is only one such thing.
Look at the sun.
Pigs
can't
fly.
Talk about something in general.
Diving can be difficult.
No article
Talk about cities, countries, streets, etc. We visited Italy.
With some rules of using articles in English, students avoid making mistakes
about words in writing English paragraphs.
5. Word order:
Adjectives describe nouns (nouns are people, place and things). Adjectives
are a terrific way to make students’ writing a lot more interesting. If students
want their writing more descriptive, they need to learn how to use adjectives.
Adjectives add information about number, color, type, and other qualities about
the nouns and pronouns in their sentences. Adjectives help readers get a full
picture of the things they are writing about.
For example: which of these two paragraphs is more descriptive and interesting.
Paragraph 1:
Tet is one of the festivals in my country. It is a holiday that celebrates the
arrival of spring in Vietnam every year. It usually lasts about 7 days. There are a
lot of customs of Vietnamese people on Tet holiday. For example, they often visit
their relatives, friends and many – years – old temples. Some people visit the
graves of their ancestors in their homeland. Before Tet holiday begins, people
decorate their house with red beautiful roses to have a time with their family.
Furthermore, food such as Chung cake, steamed sticky rice and boiled chicken
can play a role in Vietnam. Perhaps, Tet is the time when members of family can

gather to chat or have meals together. In conclusion, Tet is a part in Vietnam.
Paragraph 2:
Tet is one of the most important festivals in my country. It is a big holiday
that celebrates the arrival of spring in Vietnam every year. It usually lasts about
7 days. There are a lot of popular customs of Vietnamese people on Tet holiday.
For example, they often visit their relatives, friends and many – year – old
temples. Some people visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland.
Before Tet holiday begins, people decorate their house with beautiful red roses
carefully to have a wonderful time with their family. Furthermore, special Tet
food such as Chung cake, steamed sticky rice and boiled chicken can play an
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integral role in Vietnam. Perhaps, Tet is the happiest time when members of
family can gather to chat or have meals together. In conclusion, Tet is the
essential part in Vietnam.
In the first paragraph, the writer do not use many adjectives or put the
wrong order of adjectives (red beautiful ) or add “ s” after adjectives (many –
years – old). Of course the second paragraph is more descriptive and interesting.
The adjectives in the second one help the reader form the picture of the festival
– Tet – in his / her mind. If writers want to make their writing more interesting,
adding and using correct adjectives are very important. Here are some different
ways to use adjectives and avoid mistakes:


Adjectives describing nouns:

The most common job for an adjective is describing a noun. Consider the
adjectives venomous, angry, and rubber in these sentences. Then decide which
sentence you would like to hear as they walk through the jungle.

There is a venomous snake on your shoulder.
There is an angry, venomous snake on your shoulder.
There is a rubber snake on your shoulder.
The last one, right? In these three sentences, those little descriptive words
certainly make a difference. Angry, venomous, and rubber all describe
snake, and all of these descriptions give information that they would really like
to have. See how diverse and powerful adjectives can be?
Adjectives describing pronouns:
Adjectives can also describe pronouns (words that substitute for nouns).
When they're giving information about pronouns, adjectives usually appear
after the pronoun they're describing.
Example:
There’s something strange on your shoulder.
(The adjective strange describes the pronoun something.)
Everyone conscious at the end of Ronald’s play made a quick exit.
(The adjective conscious describes the pronoun everyone.)
Anyone free should report to the meeting room immediately!
(The adjective free describes the pronoun anyone.)


Attaching adjectives to linking verbs:
Adjectives may also follow linking verbs, in this case they describe the
subject of the sentence. To find an adjective after a linking verb, ask the
question what. Sometimes a linking verb joins an adjective (or a couple of
adjectives) and a noun.
Example
Lulu’s favorite dress is orange and purple.
(The adjectives orange and purple describe the noun dress.)


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The afternoon appears gray because of the nuclear fallout from Roger’s cigar.
(The adjective gray describes the noun afternoon.)
George’s latest jazz composition sounds awful.
(The adjective awful describes the noun composition.)
The order of adjectives:
The list below shows how the order of adjectives is usually presented.


OPINION APPEARANCE AGE
COLOR
good
usually follows
new
Red
this order:
bad
antique
purple
size/measure
beautiful
old
pink
big/ small/ high young dark green
ugly
low
smart
two-year- navy blue

shape
old*
dumb
round/ circular/
square
condition
broken/ cracked
ripped/ fresh
rotten

ORIGIN MATERIAL
Korean
iron
Chinese
brass
French
cotton
Italian
gold
American
wooden
vegetable

A number and noun as an adjective
Adjectives are never plural. Therefore, when the adjective contains a
number and noun, the noun associated with the number is singular.


Example:
many – year – old temples

many – years – old temples

CORRECT
INCORRECT

Good writers avoid writing too many simple sentences about one subject.
When they have two short sentences about the same noun with an adjective, they
can combine the sentences by putting the adjective before the noun. This makes
their writing more interesting.
6. Transitions:
Good transitions can connect paragraphs and turn disconnected writing into
a unified whole. Instead of treating paragraphs as separate ideas, transitions can
help readers understand how paragraphs work together, relate to one another,
and build to a larger point. The key to producing good transitions is highlighting
connections between corresponding paragraphs. By referencing in one
paragraph the relevant material from previous ones, writers can develop
important points for their readers.

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Sentence Transitions (Transitions within a Paragraph):
Transitions between sentences help readers see the connection between
one sentence and the next one. Not every sentence should have a transition;
rather, transitions tend to appear in every few sentences, such as when the
paragraph is changing directions or bringing up a new idea. One of the most
common ways to make transitions is by using transition words, also known
as conjunctive adverbs. The chart below lists some common transition words
you might use to connect the sentences within a paragraph.
Transition Words: Here is a chart of the transition devices (also called

conjunctive adverbs or adverbial conjunctions) accompanied with a
simplified definition of function.
again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, finally, first,
Addition
further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, last, moreover,
next, second, still, too
comparison

also, in the same way, likewise, similarly

Concession

granted, naturally, of course

contrast

although, and yet, at the same time, but at the same time, despite
that, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in
spite of, instead, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary,
on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, though, yet

Emphasis

certainly, indeed, in fact, of course

example or
illustration

after all, as an illustration, even, for example, for instance, in
conclusion, indeed, in fact, in other words, in short, it is true, of

course, namely, specifically, that is, to illustrate, thus, truly

Summary

all in all, altogether, as has been said, finally, in brief, in
conclusion, in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler
terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put it
differently, to summarize

after a while, afterward, again, also, and then, as long as, at last, at
length, at that time, before, besides, earlier, eventually, finally,
time
formerly, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, in the
sequence
past, last, lately, meanwhile, moreover, next, now, presently,
second, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, still,
subsequently, then, thereafter, too, until, until now, when
Transition words are usually followed by a comma. When students use a
transition word to connect the ideas in two sentences, they can punctuate their
sentences with either a period or a semicolon.
Example:
Punctuation with Transition Words
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Without
word

a

transition Frank needed a composition course to graduate from
Las Positas College. He enrolled in English 1A.

With a transition word, a Frank needed a composition course to graduate from
period and a comma
Las Positas College. Therefore, he enrolled in English
1A.
With a transition word, a Frank needed a composition course to graduate from
semicolon and a comma Las Positas College; therefore, he enrolled in English
1A.
Example
Notice the differences in the following paragraph with and without the
transitions:
Without Transitions
One of my favorite hobbies is traveling. I decided to get a job that paid me to
travel because I just couldn’t afford my habit. I worked for a company called
Offroad where I led bicycle trips. It was a really hard job. I got to spend two
months living and working in France’s wine country. I went to the south and
stood on the red carpet where they hold the Cannes Film Festival. Riding bikes
all summer was great, and traveling around France was incredible. The job was
too much work and not enough play. While it fed my traveling addiction, I knew
that job wasn’t for me.
With Transitions
One of my favorite hobbies is traveling. Therefore, I decided to get a job that
paid me to travel because I just couldn’t afford my habit. I worked for a company
called Offroad where I led bicycle trips. It was a really hard job. I got to spend
two months living and working in France’s wine country. In addition, I went to
the south and stood on the red carpet where they hold the Cannes Film Festival.
Riding bikes all summer was great, and traveling around France was incredible;
however, the job was too much work and not enough play. Thus, while it fed my

traveling addiction, I knew that job wasn’t for me.
In the above paragraph, Therefore; In addition; however; Thus are
transitions. They make the paragraph much clearer and help readers see the
connections between the sentences. Notice that transitions do not appear in
every sentence, just when the connection between ideas would not be clear
without them. Without transitions, their writing does not flow smoothly.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT:
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In this method, I realized most students worked harder. They were eager to
write the topics in English books from grade 10 th. They expressed more ideas,
became more active and interested in the lessons. They could write short
paragraphs in English with various words and flexible ways of using
vocabulary.
Before providing techniques of using vocabulary in writing short
paragraphs in English, I gave a topic of writing and asked them to write in 30
minutes. After applying this method in teaching students at Nguyen Trai High
School, I asked students to write a short English paragraph and had the
following results of the convey from the class 10A6:
Techniques of using
vocabulary in writing short
paragraphs

Before applying the
method

After applying the
method

Repetition of Key Words

60%

90%

Using pronouns

70%

90%

Synonyms

30%

70%

Use of Articles

80%

90%

Word order

60%

80%

Transitions

40%

70%

With the results, I find out students’ positive feedback, which improve their
writing skill more.

PART III: CONCLUSION AND PROPOSAL
I. CONCLUSION:

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The ideas of the “Techniques of using vocabulary in writing short
English paragraphs for 10th grade students at Nguyen Trai High School” I
have mentioned above is ages of the process of teaching, searching, and
thinking. Those are based on the Ministry of Education and Training’s policy of
reforming methods of teaching-learning. As teachers of English at Nguyen Trai
High School, we have faced many obstacles in developing the 10 th grade
students’ writing skill and desired of how to improve the effectiveness of
paragraph writing is really the strong motivation. This study aims at
investigating students’ difficulties in using vocabulary in writing skill; finding
the types of popular vocabulary errors when writing English paragraphs and
then introducing some ways to use words to make English paragraph writing
better and improve students’ writing ability. The effective use of vocabulary in
writing paragraphs at high school helps students improve their writing skill.
There are many methods of teaching English, and each teacher has her/ his
own methodology of teaching but the characteristics of teaching writing skill

are the same in any languages. The final purpose of every English teacher is to
help students to be writers. This methodology is about how to stimulate students
at High School to learn English lessons actively, positively and effectively. I
hope this study may provide students with suitable ways of learning, and then
help them obtain the improvement of writing and get more interested in learning
writing skill as well. I look forward to having colleagues’ contributions to my
study
so that I will have perfect and suitable methods of teaching English in
accordance with the education reform of Ministry of Education and Training.
II. PROPOSAL:
With awareness of these limitations, it is suggested that further research be
extended to:

provide students with the sources of writing materials so that students can
study better.

give more time for writing skill at high school for students to practice.

reduce the amount of students per class instead of about 50 students in
English lessons.
Confirmation of the Head Master of
Nguyen Trai High School

Thanh Hoa, April 10 th 2019
I declare that the work
contained in this initiative is result of
my own research.
Nguyen Thi Ha

1.

REFERENCES
Hoa, H.X., et al (2004). Tài Liệu Bồi Dưỡng Giáo Viên Dạy Sách Khoa
Lớp 10,11,12 – Môn Tiếng Anh. The Ministry of Education and Training.
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2.
3.

Byrne, D. (1996). Teaching writing skills. UK: Longman Group.
Mourtaga, K. (2010, October). Poor writing in English: A case of the
Palestinian EFL learners in Gaza Strip.
4. Ridha, N. (2012). The Effect of EFL Learners’ Mother Tongue on their
Writings in English.
5. Simbwa, E. (1987). Investigating Writing Errors among University
Students in Uganda.
6. White, R., and Arndt, V. (1991). Process writing. London, UK: Longman.
7. Wang Hong Xia (2012) 15 Day’s Practice for IELTS Writing.
8. IELTS – Writing strategies for the IELTS tests.
9. Phương pháp dạy tiếng Anh Trung học phổ thông (written by Nguyễn Hạnh
Dung)
10. Sách giáo khoa, sách giáo viên, sách tham khảo tiếng Anh lớp 12.
11. Hướng dẫn ôn tập thi tốt nghiệp THPT năm học 2011 – 2012, 2012 –
2013, 2013 – 2014, 2014 – 2015.
12. The Student Success Guide: Writing Skills (1990).
13. Cooperative Learning Strategies to Enhance Writing Skill by Rita Rani
Mandal.
14. Importance of a Good Vocabulary in Writing by Ron Kurtus (revised 8
March 2012).

Websites:
1. repetition
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