VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT -------------**0**------------- ĐOÀN THỊ HƯƠNG IMPROVING LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC IELTS WRITING PERFORMANCE THROUGH MODELING (NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG VIẾT IELTS HỌC THUẬT CHO HỌC VIÊN QUA VIỆC GIỚI THIỆU BÀI MẪU) M.A MINOR THESIS PROGRAM 1 Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2012 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT -------------**0**------------- ĐOÀN THỊ HƯƠNG IMPROVING LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC IELTS WRITING PERFORMANCE THROUGH MODELING (NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG VIẾT IELTS HỌC THUẬT CHO HỌC VIÊN QUA VIỆC GIỚI THIỆU BÀI MẪU) M.A MINOR THESIS PROGRAM 1 Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: LAM THI PHUC HAN, M.A Hanoi, 2012 z LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EAP: English for Academic Purposes IELTS: International English Language Testing System TOEFL: The Test of English as a Foreign Language L2: A second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language iv z LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Learners’ view on IELTS writing Table 2: Learners’ feelings when writing Table 3: Factors causing difficulties for the learners to write Table 4: Learners’ problems in their writing Table 5: Teaching techniques in IELTS writing class Table 6: Learners’ preference on teachers’ teaching techniques Table 7: The frequency and percentage of errors in pretest and posttest of group A Table 8: The frequency and percentage of errors in pretest and posttest of group B Table 9: The learners’ opinions about the use of model texts to improve their IELTS writing skills Table 10: Teachers’ opinion about the use of model texts to improve their learners’ IELTS writing skills Table 11: Teachers’ suggestions for the use of model texts in IELTS writing classes v z TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Statement of Authorship………………………………………………….…………iii List of Abbreviations………………………………………………….iv List of tables.v Table of contents……………………………………………………………….vi PART A: INTRODUCTION…………………………. Rationale of the study……………………. Aims of the study………………………………………………. Significance of the study………………………….
Scope of the study…………………………………………………. Method of the study……………………………………………. Organization of the study………………………………………….5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………….1 The nature and theory of writing……………………….1 The nature of writing…………………………………….2 Types of writing…………………………………………….3 Approaches to the teaching of writing……………….1 General information of IELTS…………………………….2 IELTS writing test………………………….4 Situation of teaching and learning IELTS in Viet Nam and in London Foreign Language Centre……………………………….3 Data collection procedure………………………………….4 Data analysis procedure…………………………………….…………20 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………….1 Report of the results……………………….1 Report on students-questionnaire data…………………….2 Report on the results of pretest and posttest……………….3 Report on interviews with learners and the teachers……….2 Discussion of the results………………………………………. The major findings of the research…………………………….
Pedagogical Implications and Recommendations………………. Limitations and suggestions of the study………………….…………39 REFERENCE APPENDIXES vii z PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study During the last decades, there have been a number of English learners wishing to work and study in English speaking countries. However, one of the prerequisites for their entrance is that they have to sit for either the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
As a result, many non-native learners are trained to pass these kinds of tests. IELTS, which is widely recognized as a language requirement for entering universities and working mainly in the United Kingdom, Australia, USA and New Zealand, is administered by the British Council or IDP Education Australia in Hanoi. The test aims at testing candidates’ four skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing. As a matter of fact, those who want to get high score to be admitted to target universities try to take part in some preparation courses before taking the test.
Therefore, there are a great number of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Centers in Hanoi who run IELTS preparation courses to meet the demands. Clearly, IELTS writing is one of the important skills for both teachers to teach effectively and for learners to improve themselves. However, due to the complexities of learning to write well in a second language (L2), there has been a vigorous debate on more efficient and effective teaching methods and feedback among EAP teachers and L2 writing researchers.