The experience on using group writing to improve writing skills for 10th class at ba đình high school

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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THANH HOA PROVINCE DEPARTMENT OF
PART I: INTRODUCTION
EDUCATION
AND TRAINING

1. Rationale of theBA
Study
ĐÌNH HIGH SCHOOL
2. Aims of the Study
3. The Participants
4. Scope and Significance of the Study
5. Method of the Study
PART II: CONTENT
I. The Process Approach
EXPERIENCE
INITIATIVE
II. Group writing in
foreign languages
teaching
1. Definition of Group writing.
2. Advantages of using group writing in improving writing skills
for high school students.
3. Disadvantages of using group writing in improving writing
skills for high school students.
4. How to organize group work
THE EXPERIENCE ON USING GROUP
5. Using group writing in the classroom
WRITING
TOstudy
IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS FOR
III. Setting of the
10TH CLASS
AT BA
HIGH
1. Description

of the teaching
andDINH
learning
EnglishSCHOOL
at Ba Đình
high school.
2. Description of English textbook 10 and writing lessons.
3. Findings
4. Recommendations to overcome the difficulties in using group
writing
5. Some suitable activities for group writing
Implementer: Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh
PART III: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusions Job title: Teacher
Ba Đình high
schoolstudy
– Nga Sơn
2. Limitations ofSchool:
the and suggestions
for further
Experience
initiative: English
CANDIDATE’S
STATEMENT

THANH HOÁ 2021
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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the Study
To get good results in teaching process is the expectation of all teachers.
However, the ways to achieve it are not always easy. This requires the teachers
to have not only good qualities, deep knowledge about their subjects but also
suitable methods to adapt in teaching.

In fact, in the late 20th century linguists, teachers and learners have
witnessed the “birth” of a popular way in teaching foreign language, the socalled “Communicative Language Teaching”. The approach focuses most on
improving four basic skills for learners: Listening, Speaking, Reading and
Writing. Equally important to others, writing skill has been currently paid much
attention to because writing is regarded as highly significant in civilized
societies. Through writing human beings transmit their needs, desires, problems,
and thoughts as well as histories, cultures, social evolutions, advancement in
technologies, etc…Writing is a means of connecting the past, the present and the
future. It can transcend space and time giving it the qualities of being eternal and
international.
Realizing that fact, teachers should do more researches to improve writing
skill for learners, especially the high school students. Traditionally, teachers
often let students work individually or in pairs. This led to both good and bad
consequences. The good one is that the student is more independent to express
his ideas and knowledge. However, it is no doubt that his writing contains a lot
of errors, thus the result is unpleasing.
To meet the demand of learners of English, teachers of English in Vietnam
have beentrying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching
English. They alwaystry to catch up with the world's latest frameworks of
English Language Teaching.Therefore, as in other countries, teachers of English
in Vietnam are now usingCommunicative Language Teaching Approach to teach
English to learners of all levels.They hope that by using this teaching method,
they can help their learners improve theirEnglish and use it effectively and
fluently in communication.
The effort of this thesis is trying to encourage teachers in creating new
methods in teaching writing skill for learners and to help students to learn
writing subject more effectively. Having students work in groups not only makes
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them more involved in learning but also give them opportunities to practise
foreign language. There are many reasons for choosing the study but the above
reasons are the main ones that encourage us to choose the thesis: “The
experience on using group writing to improve writing skills for 10 th class at Ba
Đình high school”.
2. Aims of the Study
The study is aimed at:
- Investigating the situation of teaching and learning writing to the 10 th
class at Ba Đình high school.
- Investigating the effectiveness and difficulties of using group work in
teaching writing to the 10th class at Ba Đình high school.
- Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of
writing teaching at Ba Đình high school by using group writing.
3.The Participants
In this individual research, the researcher will only focus on the effectiveness of
applying CL principles in teaching writing skills to two large classes 10A, 10K
at Ba Đình high school. The writing activities are selected and adapted the text
book. The data collected from classroom observation, informal interviews and
questionnaires are then analyzed by the researcher
4. Scope and Significance of the Study
The study is divided into three main parts. The contents covered in each part are
as follows:
- Part I is the introduction which gives the rationale of the study, the objectives,
the research questions, the scope, methods and organization of the study.
- Part II is the development of the study which comprises 3 chapters. Chapter 1
presents the literature reviews of the study. Chapter 2 describes the process of
implementation of the study such as data collecting and analyzing, findings and
research discussing questions. Chapter 3 is devoted to pedagogical implications
and suggestions for further study.
- Part III is the conclusion of the study.

5. Method of the Study
The action research employs both quantitative method and qualitative
method to analyze the collected data. During speaking lessons on the basis of
CL principles, classroom observation is made to note down the students’
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attitude, participation and cooperation in groups, discussion and even conflicts,
…The students are also interviewed to clarify their answers in the questionnaires
previously done by themselves. The collected information, thus, is more reliable
and straightforward.

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PART II: CONTENT
I.The Process Approach
Unlike the product approach, the process approach focuses on thinking
and writingprocesses. The product approach sees the language learners as
creators of language, decisionmakers of the message and content (Brown 1994:
320). It is argued by Nunan (1991 : 87) thatwhile the product-oriented approach
aims at developing the leamer's writing skill mainly atsentence-level, the
process-oriented approach aims at language at discourse-level.
In the view of Hedge (1990), the process contains a lot of stages which
can be illustrated asfollows: "being motivated to write - getting ideas together planning and outlining – makingnotes - making a first draft - revising.
replanning. redrafting - editing and getting ready forpublication. ", Meanwhile,
according to Oshima and Hogue (1991), the writing processembraces essentially
three steps: pre-writing, planning (outlining), writing, and revising drafts.
Each step involves certain kinds of task that the writers have to fulfill in
order to construct agood piece of work.

* Pre-writing
Pre-writing is any classroom activity that encourages the learners to write.
It stimulates thoughtsfor getting started. It may include understanding the
purpose of writing, discovering the topic,thinking about the audience, gathering
information or inventing possible content. Once thepossible content for writing
has been explored, the writers will feel more confident to moveforward to the
next stage.
* Planning
In this stage, the learners organize the ideas they have generated. The
most efficient way to dothis is to make an outline - a plan in which the learners
write down the main points and subpointsin the intended order.
* Drafting
Once sufficient ideas have been gathered and plan already drawn, the first
attempt at writing -drafting can proceed quickly. At this stage, the writers are
focqsed on the fluency of writing andare not preoccupied with grammatical
accuracy or the neatness of the draft.
* Responding
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Responding to student writing has a central role to play in the successful
implementation ofprocess writing. It is a kind of oral or written intervention by
teachers or peers or other possiblereaders after the writers have finished drafting.
This activity is intended to provide the studentsuseful information to improve
their writing.
* Revising
Revising is done on the basis of the feedback given in the responding
stage. The studentsreexamine what was written to see how effectively they have
communicated their meanings tothe readers. Revising is not just checking for
language errors; it is done to improve the globalcontent and the organization of

ideas so that the writer's intention is made clearer to the readers.
* Editing
At editing stage, the students are engaged in tidying up their texts as they
prepare the final draftfor evaluation by the teachers. Editing is vital as it is not
done for its own sake but as a part ofthe process of making communication as
clear and unambiguous as possible to the reader.
* Evaluating
In evaluating the student writing, teachers normally assign scores which
may be analytical(based on specific aspects of writing ability), or holistic (based
on a global interpretation of theeffectiveness of that writing). In order to be
effective, the criteria for evaluation need to bemade known to the students in
advance.
II. Group writing in foreign languages teaching
1. Definition of Group writing.
In 1991, Nunan states that group writing is a term referring to the way the
teacher divides the students into groups to accomplish a writing task together.
Greenall (1984) suggests that group writing means a kind of cooperation
among members of the class, who are divided into convenient –sized groups for
the purpose of completing a writing task.
2. Advantages of using group writing in improving writing skills for high
school students.
There are several good reasons for getting students to work in groups that
were presented by Fries (1945:49).
* Students are more involved
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In a whole-class activity, some students often take part in the activity
much and they work really hard while others pay less or no attention to the
writing task. The teacher cannot monitor all the students at the same time. To

solve this problem, it is necessary for the teacher to divide class into small
groups. Working in groups encourages students to be more involved and to
concentrate on the task. Since all members have to make equal contribution to
the work of groups, there is no time and no chance for lazy students to relax.
Group writing also enables the students to invest much on the task. Generally,
group writing promotes students’ responsibility and autonomy.
* Students help each other
When the students work individually or in pairs, many problems will
arise. They may make mistakes because of using wrong grammatical structures,
spelling or unsuitable word choices. However, they can not realize by
themselves. Writing skill requires much accuracy in these factors. One of the
most appropriate solutions to these problems is using group writing. The reason
for this is that members of the group can show mistakes and provide each other
with corrective feedbacks. Therefore, all students will learn from each other’s
mistakes. Another reason is that idea and knowledge using to do each writing
task seems to flow best when they are exchanged. Students in small groups have
more opportunities to share or fulfill their opinions of the given writing topics or
tasks.
* The teacher has more time to satisfy students’ requirements
In classroom the teacher often acts as an instructor- controller and
corrector. However, while all members are working in their groups, it frees the
teacher from her usual roles and she now freely goes around the class, observing
the performance of individual students, giving help when needed. What’s more,
the teacher can also become a member in any group to help activity go smoothly
in cases it gets into difficulty.
3. Disadvantages of using group writing in improving writing skills for high
school students.
Besides advantages of group writing, Fries also stated three problems
arising when students work in groups as follows.

* Students tend to use their mother tongue
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It is due to the fact that while all students are writing in small groups,
some students often have difficulty expressing their ideas; they are unable or
unwilling to do activities in English or their groups get stuck. Others are not
under the observation of the teacher. As a result, they will lapse into their native
language easily.
The teacher should quickly realize this problem and try to find solutions
as soon as possible. Students have to be explained and clearly understood that
group writing time enables them to practice using the target language effectively.
* Students are easy to make noise
It is unavoidable that students in groups will make noise easily because
they have chance to express their opinions for the writing task freely. In
addition, when students are not under teacher’s eyes, they may chat together and
not concentrate on the task. This causes lost of noise. Good noise only appears
in circumstances when some students try to talk more loudly than others to show
their ability and knowledge or to draw the teacher’s notice.
* The teacher is difficult to control all groups at once
Working in groups requires all members to pay attention to the task.
Nevertheless, when the teacher is explaining for some groups or devoting a little
more time to slower students, the teacher can not know exactly what other
groups are doing. Some students will be out of order. What should the teacher do
with a group that finishes the task early or with students who will not take part
in activities in English? These cases prevent the teacher much from controlling
the whole class. Monitoring the class to work in groups successfully is not easy
for the teacher.
4. How to organize group work
4.1. Group formation

According to I- Jung (2004), frequently employed grouping methods
includerandom, student- selected and teacher- selected groupings.
a. Random grouping
Random grouping is often used for in- class activities because of its
readiness andconvenience. Randomly assigned groups ignore the differences
among students, such astheir language level, learning styles and abilities .
Random groups can be set up by seating arrangement, serial numbels
given by theschool, counting off, using playing cards, giving out numbered
pieces of paper, distributingcards with different categories on them and letting
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students group themselves according tothe category. Random grouping is
suitable for competitive review activities that do not take a longtime. It can help
narrow the gap between the fast and slow students in the class.
b. Student- selected grouping
Student-selected grouping is probably the most preferred option by
learners. Students often cluster with good friends. Students are more likely to
participate in activitiesif they feel they are among friends. When engaging in
group work, learners feel morecomfortable taking risks, making mistakes, and
enjoying themselves. However, this runs the risk that groups will socialize too
much and creates a situation where an "outsider" who joins this group may feel
left out. Also, it is possible that strongerlearners would assume the share of work
for weaker ones.
c. Teacher- formed grouping
Teacher- formed grouping is acknowledged by most teachers as requiring
the mostamount of careful planning. When forming groups teachers take into
account students'prior achievements, level of preparation, work habits, learning
preferences and so forth.
Teacher- selected groups usually aim to achieve a heterogeneous mix.

Such a mixpromotes peer tutoring, helps to break down barriers among different
type's of students, andencourages on- task behavior.
4.2. Group size
Size affects various aspects of group behavior and group functioning in
some ways.The group size depends on the task type, the time available, and how
skillful the groupmembers are.How big should groups be?The smaller the group,
the more each member does and the less chance there is thatsomeone will be left
out.
If time is short, smallergroups can usually do an activity morequickly.
Smaller groups also require few group management skills. Thus, when
startingwith cooperative learning, groups of two or three may be best. On the
other hand, thesmaller the groups, the more groups there are, so the teacher has
more monitoring to do,and the less practical it is to have groups reporting back
10 the class.
Four-member group is suggested by Honeyfield (1991), I-lung, (2004),
Ngoh (1991). Four members in a group might lead to more interesting and
challenging tasks, with a widerange of opinions being expressed, and more
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negotiation required for the group members toreach agreement. Six should be
the maximum number of participants in most small groups(Honeyfield, 1991; Ilung, 2004).
5. Using group writing in the classroom
Writing is seen as a process that comprises 3 stages: pre - writing, while writing and post - writing.
5.1. Group work in Pre - writing stage
Prewriting activities are necessary for students because it helps students
prepare ideas, materials and helps them explore many things on the given topic.
In this stage students are often asked to brainstorm, outline, debate and
interview, it requires students take part in either oral or written activities. By
doing this, students can develop linguistic skills. Group work in this stage is an

effective way to assist students in generating, sharing and focusing ideas,
planning the content and organizing the text.
5.2. Group work in While - writing stage
It is common that students often perform this stage individually. However,
group work can be useful in which each member is responsible for a certain part
in the writing pieces.
5.3.Group work in Post - writing stage
This stage involves the procedures of giving feedbacks for the written
version. Feedbacks may be given by peers which can be done in groups or by
teacher. Peer correction is very important because it could help students develop
their critical ability and understand how other readers respond to their writing.
III. Setting of the study
1. Description of the teaching and learning English at Ba Đình high school.
2. Description of English textbook 10 and writing lessons.
The textbook 10 was compiled following the communicative approach in
whichcommunicative competence is emphasized. The formation and
development ofcommunicative skills are the most important objectives in
teaching and learning.Therefore, the structure of each unit focuses on four skills:
reading, speaking, listeningand writing. Language knowledge such as phonetics,
vocabulary and grammar areconsidered the means and condition to form and
improve communicative ability.

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In combination with the communicative approach, the learner-centered
approach is alsoadapted in order to promote students' activeness and
creativeness. The teacher is theorganizer and facilitator in the class.
To achieve the teaching objectives under the two approaches mentioned
above, taskbasedteaching is the major method applied in the book. In each

lesson, tasks are statedclearly with different activities which provide students
with opportunities to interact andcooperate.
The content of the book was designed under theme-based approach. It is
the successionand development of previous grades textbooks with 16 units
covering different topicswhich were contextualized and developed naturally to
attract and to help studentspractise communicative skills. Each unit includes five
items corresponding to fivelessons (five periods): reading, speaking, listening,
writing and language focus. Thereare 6 consolidation units entitled "test yourself
” to help students revise and check theirachievement.
Writing is the last and the most challenging skill in each unit. It is put
after three otherskills because it is a productive skill and bases on other skills
input. The required competences and objectives of writing lesson in each unit
are shown in the following table:
Units
1. A day in the life of…
2. School talks
3. People’s background
4. Special education
5. Technology and you
6. An excursion
7. The mass media

Required tasks
- Writing a narrative
- Filling in a form
- Writing about people’s background
- Writing a letter of complaint
- Writing a set of instructions
- Writing a confirmation letter
- Writing about advantages and disadvantages

of the mass media
8. The story of my village
- Writing an informal letter: giving directions
9. Undersea world
- Describing information from a table
10. Conservation
- Writing a letter of invitation
11. National parks
- Writing a letter of acceptance or refusal
12. Music
- Writing a profile
13. Films and cinema
- Describing a film
14. The world cup
- Writing an announcement
15. Cities
- Describing a city
16. Historical places
- Describing a chart
Table 2: Checklist of writing tasks in English textbook 10
3. Findings
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With the aim of studying how group writing is used to improve students’
writing skills. This section presents the answers to the research questions given
at the first part of the thesis.
Research question 1: How group work is used in the writing class of the 10 th
class Ba Đình high school.
The researcher finds a satisfactory signal that most teachers at Ba Đình

high school use the newest teaching method- communicative approach and
apply in their writing class. Teachers spend time letting students work and
discuss in groups. This is the positive point in teaching writing. Most of the
students like taking part in group writing because writing class is more exciting
thanks to game- like activities, it encourages students’ participation and creates
chances to exchange ideas and learn from each other. Students often do group
writing all stages of a writing lesson, they tend to do writing with eagerness. The
majority of teachers group students sitting next or near to each other because it
was the quickest and simplest way or students who like to work together.
Research question 2: What facilitates and hinders the teachers in using group
work in the writing class of the 10th class Ba Đình high school.
As can be seen from the study, group writing activities gave students more
opportunities to practice the target language, which was pointed out by most of
the teachers and the students. A large number of the students revealed that they
preferred working in groups in writing lessons as they were able to learn a lot
from other group members. Once the group tasks are given by the teacher, they
are willing and eager to take part in. This positive attitude towards group writing
reassures the feasibility of using group work to improve writing skills. Another
point is that group work can lower students’ anxiety thanks to atmosphere. They
are not afraid to make mistakes. Group writing is also beneficial for correction
as feedback is instantaneous. Students can realize the mistakes while they are
writing through group members’ correction. More importantly, group writing
give students the chances to exchange ideas on the writing topic, so when they
meet any difficulties in generating ideas or finding the words to express,
connecting sentences, others can do a favor.
Despite of certain benefits in group writing application, teachers and
students at Ba Đình still face many difficulties in using group writing.
* Teachers’ difficulties
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Most of the teachers surveyed find that using group work takes a lot of
time, so the teachers sometimes do not have enough time to finish all contents of
the lesson. During the process of writing in group, the teachers have to observe
all the class, so they do not have many chances to contact with each student and
help those who learn badly and can’t control what they are doing. Therefore,
students can make mistakes or chat in Vietnamese. Besides, some students are
lazy and irresponsible whereas others are overwhelmed and dominate , so it is
difficult for students to cooperate in completing group writing activity.
* Students’ difficulties
Due to the nature of working in teams, groups can sometimes find that
they are not working effectively and thus this negatively impacts on their
progress, and their ability to be successful. Some common problems identified
by individuals working in teams are: the difficulty in choosing members,
sometimes conflicts between group members when they do not respect the ideas
of other group members, some students are lazy and irresponsible so they do not
take care of what their group are doing, as the result tasks are not completed by
deadline. Some groups are lack of teachers’ help when necessary so they get
confused to carry on their work.
4. Recommendations to overcome the difficulties in using group writing
Realizing that fact, the teachers should consider the advantages that the
use of group writing brings for writing teaching. The teacher should then:
* Regular observation
It is necessary for the teacher to circulate among groups, watch the
performance of students, remind them not to lapse into their native language, not
to make too much noise and offer them suggestions as well.
* Clearly defined tasks
As you would when making any writing assignment, explain the
objectives of the group task and define any relevant concepts. In addition to a
well-defined task, every group needs a way of getting started, a way of knowing

when its task is done, and some guidance about the participation of members.
Also explain how students will be graded. Keep in mind that group work is more
successful when students are graded against a set standard than when they are
graded against each other (on a curve).
*Be conscious of group size:
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Ingeneral, groups of four or five members work best. Larger groups
decrease each member's opportunity to participate actively. The less skillful the
group members, the smaller the groups should be. The shorter amount of time
available, the smaller the groups should be.
* Provide mechanisms for groups to deal with uncooperative members.
Walvoord (1986) recommends telling the class that after the group task is
completed, each student will submit to the instructor an anonymous assessment
of the participation of the other group members: who did extra work and who
shirked work. If several people indicate that an individual did less than a fair
share, that person could receive a lower grade than the rest of the group. This
system works, says Walvoord, if groups have a chance in the middle of the
project to discuss whether any members are not doing their share. Members who
are perceived as shirkers then have an opportunity to make amends. Perhaps the
best way to assure comparable effort among all group members is to design
activities in which there is a clear division of labor and each student must
contribute if the group is to reach its goal.
* Ensure that individual student performance is assessed and that the
groups know how their members are doing
Groups need to know who needs more assistance in completing the
assignment, and members need to know they cannot let others do all the work
while they sit back. Ways toensure that students are held accountable include
giving spot quizzes to be completed individually and calling on individual

students to present their group's progress
* Create assignments that fit the students' skills and abilities
* Set up "competitions" among groups
5. Some suitable activities for group writing
There are many suitable activities for group writing which teachers can adapt
in each writing lesson.
a. Building up sentences
Procedures:
1. Divide the students into groups. The size of group may vary depending
on total number of the class.
2. Give words making up meaningful sentences in a wrong order and
explain the sentences to students.
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3. Ask the students to write out sentences correctly, read out the sentences
and then write on the board.
b. Writing consequences
This is a fun activity to create a group story. Each student needs a blank
sheet of paper and a pen. If possible, sit in a circle to play. Each student adds one
stage to the story then folds the paper to cover the information and passes the
paper to the student on the right.
Procedures:
1. The teacher asks the students to get into groups of six or seven.
2. The teacher reads aloud to provide the students with the following
instruction:
- Write the name of a man. It can be a famous man or a man everyone in
the class know. (Depending on the group, allow them to put the names of
classmates).
- Write the name of a woman. It can be a famous woman or a woman

everyone in the class knows. (Depending on the group, allow them to put the
names of class mates)
- Write the name of the place where the two people meet.
- When they meet, he says something to her. What does he say? Students
write what he says to her.
◊ She replies to the man. What does she say?
◊ What’s the consequence of this encounter? What happens?
◊ What’s the opinion of the whole story? What does the world say
as a comment?
3. After each command the student writes down the information that he
has been asked to provide, fold the paper over to hide what he has written to the
person on his right. The next command is given and the procedure is repeated.
4. When the work has finished, groups open them and, in writing, join the
fragments of information together to make it more interesting and logical.
5. The students read the story aloud.
c.Correct the facts
Preparation: Prepare handouts which contain one picture and sentences
with wrong description of the picture.
Procedures:
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1. Divide the class into groups.
2. Deliver handouts to each group. Then ask them to correct the sentences
to match the picture.
3. Go around and observe the performance of groups.
4. When the groups have finished their work the teacher calls
representatives of groups to write the answer on the board.
5. The teacher and the students correct sentences together. The group that
does better and more quickly will be the winner.

d. Exchange letters

The complaining customer:
In this activity, students write complaining letters about goods they have
bought after seeing an advertisement. The students represent the company who
make the goods then have to reply to those letters.
Procedures:
1. Students are divided in to small groups. Each group is given an
advertisement
2. The groups are told to imagine they have bought the item that is
advertised but are not satisfied with it for some reasons.
3. The letters are then given to different groups. The new group has to
study the letter of complaint and decide what to do about it. When the decision
has been reached they can write a reply to the original letter.
4. The letters are then returned to the original group who read them and
discuss what they have been sent.
e. Writing games
As for games, needless to say they are enjoyable and lively at all levels.
This means that students should not be too much inhibited by the fear of making
mistakes.
 Describe and identify
Students write the description of people or places and the rest of the class
have to guess who the people are what the places are.
Procedures:
1. The teacher divides the class into 2 groups.
2. The students are all instructed to write a description of famous person
or a member of the class, without mentioning that person’s name.
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3. A member of one of the group reads his description. If someone from
the opposing team can identify the person, the group scores a point from the
group reading the description if the information about the person in wrong or the
English is totally unpredictable.
f.Fluency writing
The aim of the activity is to get students to write as much as possible in a
definite period of time.
Research has suggested that if this is done frequently, students are able
not only to write greater quantities but the quality improves as well.

The picture story
Students are given series of pictures just as they were for oral
composition. They are given a time limit and told to write as much as they can
about the pictures.
Procedures:
1. The teacher asks the students to get into groups of five or six.
2. Students are told that they are going to do some free writing, and that
the objective is to write as much as they can within a certain time limit.
3. Students are shown the picture sequence and told to write about it.
4. The teacher goes around groups and observes the performance of
groups.
5. When the time limit expires the teacher stops the students and collects
the work.
g. Role playwriting
Writing can be much more motivating if the teacher gives students a
chance to play a role. In this activity the students will have the chance to write to
an imaginary romantic partner.
Procedures:
1. Prepare the role cards for the students.
2. Read the situation from the role play.

3. Divide the class into groups and then give out role cards to each group
for them to read. Explain to them that the different groups do not talk to each
other.

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4. Give the students time to write the letter but be sure to give them a firm
time limit. Remind them that they must finish the letter with the last line
provided.
5. When they have finished the letter the teacher can either ask them to
read the letter aloud. The important thing is that they must the letter in the
correct order to tell the story.
h. Writing according to an outline
Procedures:
1. Ask the students to get into groups of four or five.
2. Deliver handouts, which contain an outline of a given topic.
3. Ask groups to write a composition based on the information in the
outline.
4. When the activity stops, the teacher calls representatives of groups to
write their composition on the board.
5. Check up and give feedback to groups’ performance.

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PART III: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusions
Of the four skills in English teaching- learning process, writing is
considered rather difficult because it requires much accuracy in grammatical

structures or word choices. It is a complex process that allows students to
explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete.
The thesis has been completed to enable teachers to avoid difficulties that
learners may have in writing as well as improve their writing skill. The use of
group writing is a new effective way to improve writing skill of high school
students. It helps learners have chance to exchange information, to share
knowledge, ideas and to help each other in a natural and creative way.
It is obvious that to organize group work in any lesson of English at high
school is not very easy due to the problems mentioned in the Chapter II.
However, suggested techniques, activities and particular examples have been
discussed in Chapter IV of this paper can bring about many significant
advantages for the teachers in improving writing skills of their students. And this
is the main aim of the study. We have also referred to the real situation of using
group writing Ba Đình high school at present and gave some suggestions for its
more effective usage in Chapter III. Besides, the Survey Questionnaire 1 and
Survey Questionnaire 2 that were done by students and teachers at high school
provided us with useful information to carry out this thesis.
The result or the aim of the study is that the application of group writing
brings benefits to the teachers and students in teaching and learning writing
skills. This is also the researcher’s wish to have a suitable and interesting
method in teaching writing and helps students at Ba Đình high school improve
their ability in writing.
2. Limitations of the and suggestions for further study
Due to the limitation of knowledge and scope of the study, we only
studied the use of group writing on a small groups of the tenth form students, so
their onions about using group work in improving writing skills could not be
considered as representative of all students learning English. In addition, we
would not cover all the uses of group work in four language skills. Therefore,
we hope that the further studies will be carried out on other aspects to find out
some interesting and useful methods which can be used to improve writing skill

of the eleventh and twelfth form students
Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this
study will be highly appreciated.
19


CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
“The experience on using group writing to improve writing skills for 10th
class at Ba Đình high school” is the result of my own research in Ba Đình high
school and this experience initiative has not been submitted for any other
reseaches .

Nga Sơn, 25th May, 2021
IMPLEMENTER

Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh

20


REFERENCES
1. Andrian Doff. (1988). Teaching: A Training course for Teachers.
Cambridge University Press.
2. Brannon, L, Knight. M and Neverow- Tunk, V (1982). Writers Writing.
Hienemann Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/ Cook Publishers.
3. Brown, H.D ( 1994), Teaching by Principles: An Interaction Approach to
Language Pedagogy, Prentice- Hall Regents: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
4. Byrne, D. (1988). Teaching Writing Skills, Longman Group Ltd, London.
5. Evans, T.D & St John, M.J (1998). Development in ESP- a multidisciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

6. Fries, C. (1945). Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language,
University of Michigan Press.
7. Greenall, S. (1984). Language Games and Activities, Hulton Educational
Publication Ltd.
8. Hadfied & J. Hadfied. (1983). Writing Games, Nelson (Hong Kong) Ltd.
9. Harmer, A. (1996). The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman
Group UK Ltd.
10.Hedge T. (1990), Writing: Resource books for teachers, Hongkong:
Oxford University Press.
11.Hoàng Văn Vân (2006). Tiếng Anh 10, Nhà xuất bản giáo dục.
12.Honeyfield, J. ( 1991, June), The formation of small group in the
language classroom. Guidelines- A periodical for classroom language
Teachers.
13. />14. />15.I- Jung, C. (2004, April), Utilizing group work effectively in the English
language classroom, TESL Reporter.
16.Ilona Leki (1998). Academic writing ( Exploring processes and
strategies). Cambridge.

21


DANH MỤC
CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG ĐÁNH GIÁ
XẾP LOẠI
Họ và tên tác giả: Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh
Chức vụ và đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên tại trường THPT Ba Đình

TT

1

2

3

4

5

Tên đề tài SKKN
Kinh nghiệm dạy kỹ năng nghe Tiếng
Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 có hiệu quả
Using a model-based approach to teach
English writing to 10th Graders in Ba
Dinh High School, Nga Son, Thanh
Hoa’
The application of communicative
activities to develop speaking skills
for 10th graders at Ba Đình High
School - Nga Sơn – Thanh Hóa
Teachers’ corrective feedback on the
11th form students’ writing at Ba Đình
high school, Nga Sơn, Thanh Hóa
Applying cooperative learning
principles to the teaching of English
speaking skills in large classes at Ba
Đình high school

Cấp
đánh giá

Kết
quả
đánh
giá

Năm học

Sở GD

C

2011 - 2012

Sở GD

B

2014 - 2015

Sở GD

C

2016 – 2017

Sở GD

B

2017 – 2018

Sở GD

C

2019 - 2020

22