VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATES STUDIES *********** LÊ THỊ THÁI A STUDY ON TEACHER’S DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING WRITING SKILL TO THE 11TH GRADE AT A SCHOOL IN BAC GIANG NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRONG VIỆC DẠY KĨ NĂNG VIẾT CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG THPT Ở BẮC GIANG M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Hanoi - 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATES STUDIES *********** LÊ THỊ THÁI A STUDY ON TEACHER’S DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING WRITING SKILL TO THE 11TH GRADE AT A SCHOOL IN BAC GIANG NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRONG VIỆC DẠY KĨ NĂNG VIẾT CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG THPT Ở BẮC GIANG M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60. HÀ CẨM TÂM Hanoi - 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Le Thi Thai, hereby declare that this minor thesis is the result of my own research and I have not been submitted anywhere for any award.
All sources of information in this study which is not my own work has been identified and acknowledged. I also state that the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree to any other universities or substitutions. Le Thi Thai September, 2013 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On the completion of this work, first of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility and encouragement without which my research would be far from finished. I would like to acknowledge with great gratitude the precious advice, enlightening guidance and especially invaluable critical feedback which I have received from my supervisor, Dr.
Hà Cẩm Tâm. I would also like to send my sincere thanks to the principal, the teachers of English groups at Ly Thuong Kiet high school , who have helped me in providing the teaching materials, giving me chance to attend their lessons, willing to take part in the interviews and making constructive and insightful comments for this study. My special thanks also go to Mrs. Lê Thu Hà, the librarian at the Resource center, who introduced and lent me a numerous of interesting books and valuable materials for my thesis.
Last but not least, I would like to express my heart-felt thanks to my beloved people, my parents, my husband whose support and continual encouragement have been indispensable for the fulfillment of this challenging work. Hanoi, September, 2013 Lê Thị Thái ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In an attempt to investigate teachers’ problems in teaching writing skills to 11graders at a high school in Bac Giang, the study was aimed at finding out: (1) the problems the teachers might encounter in the teaching process of the skills; (2) factors causing their difficulties. The study has been conducted in the form of a survey research, with the subjects were 6 English teachers. The classroom observation was the main instruments employed for the data collection.
These teachers were also invited to join interviews. The research reveals that teachers’ time management and teaching methods should really be taken into consideration. Besides, the data from the study confirm the fact that the students’ laziness and negative attitudes towards writing lessons all made it difficult for the teachers in teaching process. In addition, large size classes with multi-level students are also made the situation worse.
For those reasons, the study finally recommends some implications to help improve the quality of teaching and learning writing. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENT. iv PART ONE.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Organization of the study.
An Overview on Writing. Roles of writing in teaching and learning foreign language. Approaches to teaching writing. The controlled to free approach.
Free writing approach. The paragraph-pattern approach. The grammar syntax organization approach. The communicative approach.
The process approach …………………………………………………. Writing teaching procedures. Activities in teaching writing…………………………………………. Stages in teaching writing…………………………………………….
10 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Principles for teaching writing. Review of previous studies on teaching writing. Data collection instruments.
Data collection procedures. Data analysis and discussion. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching writing to the 11th grade students. Suggestions for further study .X v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Writing has always been regarded as an important skill in the teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). On the one hand, it stimulates thinking, compels students to concentrate and organize their ideas, and cultivates their ability to summarize, analyze, and criticize. On the other hand, it reinforces learning in, thinking in, and reflecting on the English language. However, writing is considered a difficult skill as students find composing in English not easy, many students complain that they lack ideas and cannot think of anything interesting or significant enough to write.
While most English teachers are often perplexed by these problems in their writing classes, they have to face many challenges and cannot find an efficient way to teach effectively. English is a compulsory subject and it is one of six subjects in the national examination that students have to take to get General Certificate of Secondary Education (G.E) at secondary school. Since the New English Textbook Tieng Anh 10, 11 and 12 were in use, besides teaching grammar and vocabulary, four skills such as reading, speaking, listening and writing have been focused. Among these, writing seems to be a rather difficult and boring skill as students do not find the lessons given by teachers interesting and attractive enough to take part in and therefore, students do not work with high motivation, they are in class but their mind are absent.
Being an English teacher at a high school for over ten years, I have been deeply aware of challenges in dealing with the interest but demanding subject of English, especially with writing skill, it has urged me to seek for a suitable teaching writing method to help my students overcome the problem of lacking “inspiration” in learning writing and create something for them to write. Besides, not many researchers have been studied the difficulties of teachers in teaching writing at high schools. Hence, it is an urgent need for me to take a serious look at such issue and find a place for writing skills in teaching and learning among teachers and students. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com For all the above-mentioned reasons, I would like to devote my time researching the topic in my thesis: “ A study on teacher’s difficulties in teaching writing skill to the 11 th grade at a school in Bac Giang”.
I hope that my work can help teachers of English have a better look on teaching writing skills and consult some recommendations in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning writing skills at my school and elsewhere. Aims of the study This research is designed to have an insight into the English writing lessons for the 11th form students at a high school in Bac Giang province for continual improvement. Within this purpose, the specific objectives of the study are: To identify the teachers’ major difficulties in teaching writing skills To examine the causes of their difficulties 3. Scope of the study The study is mainly focus on the difficulties that teachers confronted in teaching writing skills to 11 grade students in the classroom setting at a high school.
The study of difficulties of other skills thus would be beyond of the scope. The study involves the participants of 6 teachers of English and 270 students in 11th forms. The findings and suggested implications most appropriately applied to English teachers at a high school, the teachers will be able to find ways to improve their process of teaching English. Methods of the study The study was designed to use a combination of a variety of methods to achieve its objectives.
Firstly, classroom observation with 270 students from 6 classes was carried out to investigate the reality of the teachers’ difficulties confronting in their teaching writing skills. In addition to classroom observation, informal interviews with the informants of 6 English teachers were also employed. The purpose of the survey is to collect data about the teachers’ difficulties in 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com teaching writing to the 11th grade at a high school. Besides, reviewing the related documents is also a method in order to establish the theoretical background for the study.
Organization of the study The study consists of three main parts: Part one includes the rationales, aims, scope, and methods of the study. Part two includes 2 chapters Chapter 1 deals with the roles of writing in language programme, approaches to teaching writing, writing teaching procedures, principles for teaching writing and review of Previous Studies on Teaching Writing Chapter 2 discusses the method of the study, the research questions, the research design, the data analysis and discussion. Part three concludes the major findings of the thesis, offers some implications for better teaching writing skill and suggestions for further study are also pointed out. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1.
An Overview on Writing 1. Roles of writing in language program Writing, like speaking, is the productive skill in the written mode and it is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just using words. In the process of learning a foreign language, writing is considered an integrated skill approaching to language learning, especially, writing serves a variety of pedagogical purposes in the early stages towards oral proficiency, Byrne (1979:7) points out that: (i) Some learners, especially those who do not learn easily through oral practice alone, feel more secure if they are allowed to read and write in the language. (ii)Written work serves to provide the learners with some tangible evidence that they are making progress in the language.
(iii) Writing also provides variety in classroom activities, serving as a break from oral work, and increases the amount of language contact through work that can be set out of class. (iv) Writing is often needed for formal and informal testing. Teaching and learning writing is of great importance in classroom, White (1981, p.1) states that learners expose their success in examination through their ability to write. Moreover, writing has high “face validity” because it is tangible so parents and learners can see what has been done.
4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In second language learning, the teaching of writing also aims at correctness of form over function. According to Nunan (2003:89), “writing was used to show that students had mastered a particular grammatical rule, rather than had a good idea about the subject matter. In fact, correct spelling, grammar, and overall organization were the most important evidence of second language proficiency. A student’s ability to form and write the future perfect tense correctly was seen as evidence of a student’s ability to write, and moreover, of the student’s overall English ability”.
In CLT, besides communication is the purposes of the teaching of writing, writing supports students to learn. Raimes (1983:3) assumes that the grammatical rules, idioms and vocabulary will be reinforces through practising writing, in addition, students will get the chance to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, they are aware of using new language, show their effort to express ideas, therefore, their language learning is improving.