MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ DOAN TIEN HUU ADAPTING THE PROCESS - ORIENTED WRITING INSTRUCTION TO IMPROVE THE 12th - GRADE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS: A CASE STUDY AT HUONG GIANG AND NAM DONG UPPER - SECONDARY SCHOOLS, NAM DONG DISTRICT - THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2014 1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ DOAN TIEN HUU ADAPTING THE PROCESS - ORIENTED WRITING INSTRUCTION TO IMPROVE THE 12th - GRADE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS: A CASE STUDY AT HUONG GIANG AND NAM DONG UPPER -SECONDARY SCHOOLS, NAM DONG DISTRICT - THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: HO THI KIEU OANH, Ph. D HUE, 2014 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- ĐOÀN TIẾN HỮU ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC VIẾT THEO ĐỊNH HƯỚNG TIẾN TRÌNH ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 12 TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG HƯƠNG GIANG VÀ TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG NAM ĐÔNG - HUYỆN NAM ĐÔNG - TỈNH THỪA THIÊN HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. HỒ THỊ KIỀU OANH HUẾ, 2014 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I do hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Doan Tien Huu iii ABSTRACT The field of English language education has seen developments in writing pedagogy, moving from product-based to process-based and then to genre-based approaches. In Vietnam, teaching secondary school students how to write in English is still lagging behind these growing developments. Product-based approach (PBA) is commonly seen in English writing classes in Vietnamese upper-secondary schools. Within that context of teaching and learning writing, this paper outlines the teachers’ perceptions, their knowledge on the POA and POA activities applied in the writing lessons.
Also, the study tried to investigate students’ perceptions on the POA strategy and the effectiveness of the POA implementation in English writing classes at high schools in Nam Dong District. In addition, the study following a two-group pre-test and post-test design aimed to examine the effects of the process-oriented approach on students’ English writing performance. Student participants were 200 12th-grade students at Huong Giang and Nam Dong upper-secondary schools and ten English teacher participants. Student participants were involved in a POA intervention strategy with seven writing sessions, each session was taught every two weeks.
Three instruments were used to collect data: the questionnaire on teacher participants’ perceptions towards the writing process, the questionnaire on knowledge of the teacher participants about the POA, the questionnaire on student participants’ perceptions towards the writing process, the English writing tests, and the classroom observation on their test writing performance. The data collected from the pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires, and the pre-tests and post-tests. They were computed and qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by using Paired-Sample T-test, SPSS,Version 16. The results indicated the positive perceptions of English teachers and the POA activities used regularly by the teachers.
Most of the teachers have high-skill understandings and positive attitudes towards the new teaching approach. Also, the findings identified a significant change in learners’ writing performance and their perceptions towards the writing process between the two groups after the study: student participants in the experimental group improved in their writing performance. Moreover, there was a tightly relationship between students’ perceptions and their writing performance. iv ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr.
Ho Thi Kieu Oanh for her insightful comments and constructive supervision throughout my research. I also wish to thank all the staff members of the Department of Post graduate, Hue Foreign Languages University for providing me best conditions to fulfill my thesis. I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to the administrators of Nam Dong and Huong Giang upper-secondary schools for their constant support and concerns while the work was in progress. My special thanks are sent to English teachers in English Sub-Group at Huong Giang upper-secondary school and English teachers in English Group at Nam Dong upper-secondary school.
I would also like to thank my colleagues, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhu Y at Nam Dong upper-secondary school and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Oanh at Huong Giang upper-secondary school who have helped me with data collection for this study. I also wish to give my thanks to the 12th-grade students at Nam Dong upper-secondary school and Huong Giang upper-secondary school who have actively participated in this research project.
Finally, my sincere thanks go to my family, my friends and especially my wife who encouraged and helped me to carry out this thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Pages SUB COVER PAGE.i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .v TABLE OF CONTENTS .vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .xiii LIST OF TABLES.xiv LIST OF FIGURES .xvi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………. Aims and Objectives of the Study…………………………………………………. Scope of the Research……………………………………………………….
Significance of the Study………………………………………………………. Organization of the Study……………………………………………………….4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND………. Previous Studies Related to the Research…………………………………. Writing and Approaches of Teaching Writing…………………………….
What is Writing?. Some View Points of Writing………………………………. The Importance of Writing…………………………………. Approaches of Teaching Writing…………………………….
The View Points of the Product and Process Writing………. Process - oriented Approach………………………………………………. Theoretical Background of Process - oriented Approach………………. Definition of Process - Oriented Writing Instruction…………….
The Process Approach to Teaching Writing……………………. The Overview of the Writing Process……………………………. The Perception of Writing as Process…………………………. Features of the Process Approach………………………………….
Stages in the Writing Process…………………………………. Process Models of Writing……………………………………………. White and Arndt’s Writing Process Model………………………. Harmer’s Writing Process Model…………………………….
Tribble’s Writing Process Model…………………………………. Seow’s Writing Process Model…………………………………. Procedures for Process Approach Instruction……………………. Process-oriented Writing Framework………………………………….
Advantages of the Process Approach…………………. Evaluation of Writing Performance………………………. Rating Scales Used for Assessment of Upper - Secondary School Students’ Written Products…………………………….34 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY…………. Description of Variables………………………………………………….
Background Information about English Teachers and Eight Classes at two Schools………………………………………………………………………. The Goals of Writing Instruction……………………………. Advantages of Using Peer Evaluation in the ESL Writing Class…. Questionnaires on Teachers’ Perceptions.
Questionnaires on Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English Writing Skill……. Pre - Questionnaires on Students’ Perceptions of the Writing Process………. Post - Questionnaires on Students’ Perceptions of the Writing Process………. Pre -Tests and Post -Tests………….
Pre - Classroom Observation…………………. Post - Classroom Observation………………………………………………. Pre - Questionnaire Pilot……………………………….………………51 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS…………………………………………. The Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Process - oriented Approach (POA) Applicationin English Writing Classes……….
The Reality of the POA Application in Teaching English Writing Skills for the 12th - Grade Students at Huong Giang and Nam Dong Upper - Secondary Schools……………………………………. The Teachers’ Understandings of the POA Application in Teaching English Writing Skills………………………………………………. The Teachers’ Activities in the Implementation the POA Strategy in Writing Classrooms……………………………. The Students’ and Teachers’ Difficulties in Process - oriented Writing Classes………………….
The Students’ Difficulties in Process - oriented English Writing Classes……………………………………………………………. The Teachers’ Difficulties in Applying the Process Approach in English Writing Classes………………………………………. The Students’ Perceptions of the POA before and after the POA Intervention……………………………. The Students’ Attitudes towards Learning Writing in Context of English Writing Classes………………………………….
The Students’ Perceptions of the POA Strategy before and after the POA Intervention………………. The Students’ Pre - stage Perceptions of the POA Strategy……. The Students’ Changes in Post - stage Perceptions of the POA Strategy……………………………………. The Students’ Changes in Their Perceptions of the POA Strategy After the POA Strategy……………….
The Effectiveness of the Process - oriented Writing Strategy on the Students’ English Writing Performance before Adapting the POA Strategy and after Adapting the POA Strategy……………………………………………………65 4. The Control Group’s Written Test Performance without Adapting the POA Strategy……………………………………………………………….2 The Experimental Group’s Improvements in the Written Test Performance before and after Adapting the POA Strategy………………. The Students’ Improvements in the Written Test Performance after Adapting the POA Strategy…………………. The Pre - stage Relationship between the Students’ Perceptions towards the POA Strategy and their Written Test Performance….
The Post - stage Relationship between the Students’ Perceptions towards the POA Strategy and Their Written Test Performance………. Comparison of the Pre - Observation and Post - Observation Results of the Experimental Group……………………………………. The Teachers’ Attitudes and Their Concepts towards the POA Application in English Writing Classes………………………………. The Reality of the POA Application in Teaching English Writing Skills for the 12th - grade Students at Huong Giang and Nam Dong Upper - Secondary Schools……………………………………………………………………….
The Teachers’ Understandings of the POA and the Application of the POA Activities in Teaching English Writing Skills……. The Students and Teachers’ Difficulties in Process Writing Classes…. The Students’ Perceptions of the POA before and after the POA Intervention………. The Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English Writing………………….
The Students’ Perceptions of the POA before and after the POA Intervention…………………………………………………………………. The Students’ Improvements in Written Tests before Adapting the POA Strategy and after Adapting the POA Strategy.79 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS………………………………. Implications for Teaching……………………. Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Further Research.
Limitations of the Research……………………………………………. Recommendations for Further Research………………….I APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE ON TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND THE APPLICATION OF PROCESS - ORIENTED APPROACH IN TEACHING WRITING SKILLS………….II APPENDIX 2 QUESTIONNAIRE ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS WRITING IN ENGLISH AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES IN THE APPLICATION OF THE POA IN LEARNING WRITING SKILL…………………………………………………….VII APPENDIX 3 PRE - QUESTIONNAIRE……………………………………….IX PHIẾU THĂM DÒ Ý KIẾN HỌC SINH VỀ TIẾN TRÌNH VIẾT……………………. IX APPENDIX 4 POST - QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE WRITING PROCESS………………………………………………. XI APPENDIX 5 PRE - TEST ON THE WRITING PROCESS…………………………….
XII APPENDIX 6 POST - TEST ON THE WRITING PROCESS………………………………….XV APPENDIX 7 x MARKING SCALE FOR GRADERS’ EVALUATION………………………………….XI APPENDIX 8 TOPICS FOR WRITING…………………………………………………….XIX APPENDIX 9 ERROR CORRECTION CODE……………………….XX APPENDIX 10 SKETCH OF THE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST…………………….XXI APPENDIX 11 OBSERVATION RECORD FORM…………………………….XXII APPENDIX 12 THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS…………….XXIII APPENDIX 13 THE QUESTIONNAIRE STATISTICS ON TEACHER’ PERCEPTIONS…….XXIV APPENDIX 14 THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE.XXVIII APPENDIX 15 THE QUESTIONNAIRE STATISTICS ON TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE. THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON TEACHERS’ ACTIVITIES……. THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON TEACHERS’ DIFFICULTIES.…XXXII APPENDIX 17 THE QUESTIONNAIRE STATISTICS ON TEACHERS’ ACTIVITIES AND TEACHERS’ DIFFICULTIES…….XXXIII APPENDIX 18 THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES….…XXXIX APPENDIX 19 THE QUESTIONNAIRE STATISTICS ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND DIFFICULTIES………………………………………………………………………….XL APPENDIX 2O THE PRE - QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS. XLVI APPENDIX 21 THE PRE - QUESTIONNAIRE STATISTICS ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS.
XI APPENDIX 22 xi THE POST - QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS. L APPENDIX 23 THE POST - QUESTIONNAIRE STATISTICS ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS. LII APPENDIX 24 STATISTICS OF THE PRE AND POST - QUESTIONNAIRE RELATIONSHIPS. LIV APPENDIX 25 THE TEST RESULTS OF THE CONTROL GROUP…….
LV APPENDIX 26 STATISTICS OF THE SECTION TEST RESULTS OF THE CONTROL GROUP….LIX APPENDIX 27 STATISTICS OF THE PRE AND POST - SECTION TEST RELATIONSHIPS OF THE CONTROL GROUP…………………………………….LX APPENDIX 28 THE TEST RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP………….LXI APPENDIX 29 STATISTICS OF THE SECTION TEST RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP………………………………………………….LXV APPENDIX 30 STATISTICS OF THE PRE AND POST - SECTION TEST RELATIONSHIPS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP……………………………………….LXVI APPENDIX 31 STATISTICS OF THE TEST RESULS OF THE CG AND EG………….LXVII APPENDIX 32 STATISTICS OF THE TEST RESULT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS……………………….LXIX xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CG : Control Group EFL: English as a Foreign Language EG : Experimental Group ESL : English as a Second Language ESOL : English for Speakers of Other Languages M : Mean MOET : Ministry of Education and Training P : Probability Value PBA: Product - Based Approach POA: Process - Oriented Approach SD: Standard Deviation SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences xiii LIST OF TABLES Table Name Page Table 2. 31 Jacobs et al.’s (1981) Scoring Profile Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of Two Piloted Groups 47 Table 3. Independent Samples Test of Two Piloted Groups 47 Table 3.