i THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF FRESHMAN COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM: BASIS FOR FUNCTIONAL WRITING ACTIVITY A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Of Doctor of Philosophy Major in English By: NGUYEN THANH TU April 2015 ii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation entitled “ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF FRESHMAN COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM: BASIS FOR FUNCTIONAL WRITING ACTIVITY” prepared and submitted by NGUYEN THANH TU in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy major in English has been examined and is recommended for Oral Examination. Adviser PANEL OF EXAMINERS Approved by the committee on Oral Examination with a grade of _________. BANAAG Chairman DR. PANOPIO Member Member DR.
SULIT External Representative Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy major in English. Comprehensive Examination: ____________ PASSED _____________ MATILDA H. Date Dean, Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences iii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines ABSTRACT Title : English Writing Skill and Critical Thinking Skill of Freshman College Students in The University of Transport Technology System: Basis for Functional Writing Activities Author : Nguyễn Thanh Tú Degree : Doctor of Philosophy Major : English Year : 2015 Adviser : Dr. Dimaano Summary: This study aimed to assess the English writing skills and critical thinking skills of Freshman College students in the University of Transport Technology System in the three provinces of Vietnam to be utilized as basis for functional writing activity.
It made use of the descriptive method of research. There were 306 students and 20 teachers who were the respondents of the study. The data gathering instruments used were the teacher-made test for student respondents and survey questionnaire for teacher respondents. The statistical tools used were the mean, percentage, percentile rank, ranking, standard deviation, t- test.
Results of the study showed that majority of the respondents are iv THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines males which comprise 98 percent or 300 of the 306 total populations. This indicates that in the universities that were studied, they were gender-based either, they were all male school and have only started to accept female students. In their parents’ educational attainment majority of the students’ parents have educational attainment in the “other” level or education higher than the tertiary with 48. For place of origin, the students come from at least 13 different places in Vietnam with majority or 21.0 percent coming from “Others” or different places in Vietnam, which indicates that the three University campuses under study cater to students coming from different places in Vietnam.
As to type of school, majority come from public high school which comprise 287 of 306 respondents or 93.8 percent which indicates that the public high schools are the main institutions catering to the students because public high school is free and subsidized by the Vietnamese government. Further, the level of writing skills of student in terms of the discourse component is average as indicated in their average score of 9.5 correct items with a mean score equivalent of 67.8 percent which is above 50 percent. This value has a percentile rank of 34. In terms of grammatical components, the level of students’ writing skills is average based on the v THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines average score of 6.6 correct items with an equivalent mean correct score of 66.
The students have average level of skill performance in mechanics; component skill of morphology as well as in syntax. As regards teachers’ assessment of the critical thinking skills of students, findings of the study showed that the critical thinking skill that most respondents agree garnering a score of 19 or 95 percent belongs to the cognitive skills classification. This is followed by four skills that rank 2 position and all belong to the affective skill classification. The evaluation of critical thinking skills of students according to their frequency of use as perceived by teacher respondents indicated that the skills ranged in frequency from 2.95 with equivalent rating of “Rarely” to “Often” respectively.
The same critical thinking skills were evaluated by the teacher respondents according to their degree of importance of which result ranged from 2.25 with equivalent ratings of “Less Important” to “Moderately Important” respectively. In terms of relationship of the ratings on level of writing skill to the teachers’ assessment of critical thinking skills of students, findings of the study showed that majority of the p-values of the different mean combinations were greater than or equal to 0.05 with 104 combinations out of 165, indicating vi THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines these means as not significantly related. This implies that these mean combinations that is critical thinking item skill x writing test component skill are statistically independent of each other. In relation to the output of the study in the form of functional activities, it is designed to improve the students’ critical thinking especially for this population of Vietnamese students.
The study recommended that English teachers must engage students to varied writing activities; that the writing activities developed may be reviewed by language teachers prior to its utilization; and further studies may be conducted on other components of language to determine students’ English proficiency. vii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines ACKNOWLEGMENT The researcher wishes to express her sincerest thanks and appreciations to those who, in one way or another, have helped her make this dissertation a reality. The author is most grateful to: Prof. Dang Kim Vui, President of Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam for his contribution and support to the Doctor of Philosophy major in English Program in collaboration with Batangas State University, Republic of the Philippines; Dr.
Dimaano, Dissertation Adviser, for her guidance, suggestions, critical comments and tenacious effort to see through the completion of this work; The Panel of Examiners: Dr. Amada Banaag, Dr. Luisa Valdez, Dr. Felix Panopio for their invaluable insights, candid remarks and recommendations to enhance this study; Dr.
Do Ngoc Vien, Rector of University of Transport Technology for the approval of the request to conduct the study; The Respondents of the Study, for their active involvement and cooperation in making this study possible; Her Classmates and Colleagues, for their support friendship and viii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines inspiration; and Finally, to her Parents, Husband, Beloved Children, Relatives, and Friends for their whole-hearted encouragement, financial, moral and spiritual support. Nguyen Thanh Tu ix THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my loving and ever supportive husband, Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh and my loving sons, Khanh Nam, Duc Minh, to my family, and to my dear University of Transport and Technology (UTT) community. Nguyen Thanh Tu x THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .ix TABLE OF CONTENTS .x LIST OF TABLES .xiii LIST OF FIGURES.
THE PROBLEM Introduction.1 Statement of the Problem .7 Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study.8 Significance of the Study. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature.42 xi THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines Synthesis .57 Definition of Terms. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE Research Environment .61 Subjects of the Study .61 Data Gathering Instrument.63 Data Gathering Procedure.64 Statistical Treatment of Data. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA.
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings.135 xii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines APPENDICES A. Questionnaire on Teacher’s Assessment of the Critical Thinking Skills of Students.175 CURRICULUM VITAE xiii THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page 1 Distribution of Sample Respondents.62 2 Gender of Student Respondents.68 3 Parent's Educational Attainment.69 4 Place of Origin of Student Respondents.71 5 High School Attended by the Student Respondents .72 6 Performance in the Different Components of the Writing Skills Test.73 7 Student Cognitive Skills Assessed by Teacher Respondents.84 8 Students’ Affective Disposition Skills Assessed by Teacher Respondents.85 9 Students’ Cognitive Skills According to the Frequency of Use.86 10 Students’ Affective Skills According to the Frequency of Use.88 11 Students’ Cognitive Skills According to the Degree of Importance.89 xiv THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines 12 Students’ Cognitive Skills According to the Degree of Importance.91 13 Levels of Writing Skill and Critical Thinking Skills of Students (Shown as p-values).93 14 Bases for Functional Writing Activity.97 xv THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page 1 Conceptual Paradigm of the English Writing Skills and Critical Thinking Skills of Freshman College Students.56 1 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction The study of the English language has taken a multifaceted dimension and has span from the knowledge-based format to the skill- based format. It has also moved from theory to practice and much more as the business world has taken an aggressive position to demand the criteria for hiring their personnel to include certified demonstrable English language skill. While it is true that the skill components of the English language include macro and micro skills, it becomes a challenge to the various investigators, evaluators, learners and teachers where the focus of the skills acquisition should be.
Other linguistic experts advocate that the focus should be in speaking or oral communication and this should be developed to an advance level like a functional speaking skill. If this direction is pursued, it will carry with it the necessary pedagogical components from the theory to practice, that would best and effectively achieve the objective of becoming a functional speaker. In the same way that others would focus on writing or written communication as a skill requiring advanced level of competency, there are 2 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines bandwagon of concepts and pedagogical practices gearing towards the effective development of writing skills. Surprisingly, in the literatures and in practice, these two linguistic skills are biasedly given the priority focus, seldom can be heard of for functional listening or functional reading as if these skills are not equally important.
Apparently these skills are considered to be assumed skills at the back of speaking and writing skills. Moreover, the business sector, the sector that creates the demand for the commercial value of human skills would put a high tag price for highly competent speakers and writers rather than the highly competent listeners and readers. Thus, the speaking and writing skills especially in the English language are valuable items, hot assets that can make or break one’s career. Between speaking and writing however, linguistic experts would consider writing as the more advanced skill for a number of reasons.
Speaking is a skill that is easily learned first and one need not be an expert in grammar to be able to speak English fluently. A fluent speaker like a TV host or news commentator may be very eloquent but could be in fact, a lousy writer. A good writer however, implies an expertise and skill in speaking.