VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL studies FACULTY of postgraduate studies TrÞnh ThÞ Thanh Xu©n PEER- FEEDBACK IN IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS: PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND SECOND-YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY Ng-êi häc ch÷a bµi cho ng-êi häc trong ph¸t triÓn kü n¨ng viÕt: NhËn thøc cña gi¸o viªn vµ sinh viªn n¨m thø hai kh«ng chuyªn tiÕng Anh t¹i tr-êng §¹i häc Kinh Doanh vµ C«ng NghÖ Hµ Néi MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 Course: K16 SUPERVISOR: Vò THóY QUúNH, M. HANOI - 2010 z iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement i Abstract ii Declaration iii Lists of tables, figures and appendices iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. The rationale of the study 1 1. Aims of the study and research questions 2 1.
Scope of the study 2 1. Significance of the study 3 1. Methods of the study 3 1. Organization of the thesis 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.
Definitions of feedback to students’ writing 5 2. Types of feedback to students’ writing 6 2. Advantages and disadvantages of doing peer written feedback in the teaching and learning of writing 8 2. Guiding principles for effective peer written feedback 11 2.
Summary 14 CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY 3. The current situation of teaching and learning writing at HUBT 15 3. Data collection procedure 18 3. Data analysis procedure 19 3.
Summary 19 CHAPTER 4: DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION 4. Teachers’ perception on students’ written feedback 20 4. Teachers’ perception on the advantage of students’ written feedback 21 z v 4. Teachers’ perception on the disadvantage of students’ written feedback 22 4.
Students’ perception on peer written feedback 24 4. Students’ perceived difficulties in indicating the mistakes in their peers’ writing 25 4. Students’ perceived difficulties in providing suggestions for the mistakes in their peers’ writing 29 4. Students’ perception on the advantage of peer written feedback 34 4.
Students’ perception on the disadvantage of students’ written feedback 36 4. Improvement of students’ writing after receiving peer written feedback 37 4. Implications of using peer written feedback in improving teaching and learning writing skill 40 4. Summary 41 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.
Limitations of the study 43 5. Suggestions for further studies 43 References Appendices z vi LISTS OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ perceived difficulties in indicating the mistakes in their peers’ writings 25 Table 2: Students’ perceived difficulties in providing suggestions for the mistakes indicated in their peers’ writings 30 Table 3: Students’ improvement in grammar and vocabulary after receiving peer written feedback 39 Table 4: Students’ improvement in grammar after receiving peer written feedback 40 Table 5: Students’ improvement in vocabulary after receiving peer written feedback 41 LISTS OF FIGURES Figure 1: Teachers' perception on students’ written feedback 20 Figure 2: Teachers’ perception on the advantage of students’ written feedback 21 Figure3: Teachers’ perception on the disadvantage of students’ written feedback 22 Figure 4: Students’ perception on peer written feedback 24 Figure 5: Students’ perception on the advantage of peer written feedback 34 Figure 6: Students’ perception on the disadvantage of peer written feedback 36 LISTS OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire I Appendix 2: Checklists V Appendix 3: Symbols for correcting mistakes VI z 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. The rationale of the study. Nowadays, English is considered to be one of the key factors that help our country make faster progress on the way of industrialization, modernization and integrate into the world.
Therefore, the demand to master English, that is to use the four language skills fluently, is becoming essential to students in general and students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) in particular. Of the four language skills, writing seems to be the most difficult but really important skill among the other three: listening, reading, and speaking, because it is especially necessary for students to acquire English for Specific Purpose (ESP) lessons in their academic program. Thus, one of the vital responsibilities of English teachers is to help students enhance their writing skills. With the effort to help students improve their writing skills, peer feedback is employed in the writing classes at HUBT.