VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDEES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES. GIANG THỊ TRANG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF IELTS WRITING TASK 1 IN VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thị phần 1 ctia bai thi viét IELTS ở Việt Nam) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Methodology Code: 60.10 HANOL- 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNEVERSIFY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES GIANG THI TRANG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF IELTS WRITING TASK 1 IN VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc day và học luyện thì phần 1 của bài thí viễt IELTS ở Việt Nan) MLA. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Methodology Code: 60.
Nguyén Phuong Nga HANOE 2013 DECLARATION I declare that this minor thesis entitled “An exploratory study on the teaching and learning of IELTS writing task 1 m Vietnam” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masler of Arts is the resulls of my own work and that this thosis docs not contain material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any university, nor does it contain material previously published or written by any other person, except where duc referenec is made in the text of the thesis. Giang Thi Trang English for Vietnamese leamers, including English for Specific Purpose Courses, Oversea Study Consulting, International Tests Preparation Courses with its considered-the-most- oufstanding-field IELTS, and so on, EQuest is attracting more and more IELTS test takers irrespective of ages, genders, life goals, and so on for its reasanable tuition fee and good quality of couses. Ths conter equips classrooms with moder teaching facitities like computers, projectors, and whiteboards, Likewise, library is well-equipped with various Kinds of books, material, newspapers, magazines and computers connected to the intemet. Moreover, there are also two informatics Lechnatogy rooms with many inlcmet-conncotod compaters, which arc often available for students to ect accoss, Equest's teaching staff were qualified by prestigious universities like University of Languages and International Studies, VNU, [lanoi National University of Rducalion and so on.
Besides, lecturers who are teaching at universities and colleges are cooperating as part-time lecturers in here. The teaching materials are synthesized from a variety of global famous reliable course books and are continously revised to suit Isamners’ demand and features aroumd the different regions in the country. For those features, namely, the large number of learners, well- qualified Vietnamese teachers, good condition of equipment and matetials, | decided to choose Quest to be the context for my research. 2, Aims of the study ‘The study aims to explore the situation of teaching and Jeaming IELT'S writing task 1 in Vieinam.
Tho focus is on the difficultics (iced by Vietnamese learners int ta hing TELTS waiting task 1 and what teachers could do to help their students improve their score in this task corresponding to their ability, ‘Three research questions will be addressed as follows: 1. What are taught and learnt in LELI'S writing task 1 classes at EQuest? 2. What are the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning to write TELTS writing task 1? 3. What should Vietnamese teachers do to teach their students to write TELTS writing task | as required? Table of contents DECLARATION.
Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. $ Scope of the study ww 4. Signifiicance of the study.
Design of the study. in Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. 1 The writing skill and academic writing skill in English 2. What makes writing đifficult2.
The wrtting task 1 in IELUTS. 3:;1ELTEwntig taGle 1 WARM GD euccooi.iSii-Dedisaaaainiassaueavadauaoxaua,sit 6, Affective factors in IELTS leaming 7. Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam nd Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 1. Context of the study.
Methodology 5 19 Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS et 22 1. What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes at EQuest. 3, Students’ difficulties in learning to write task 1 of IELTS writing. 4, Difficult expressions for learners.
Common errors among students’ graph-based writings. Teachers’ recommendations and leamers’ expectations for teaching focus. 34 1, Summary of the study. implications of the sindy.
Limitations of the shudy. Suggestions for further study - - - 36 AppandixA; The IELTS 9-band seale. sành H0 00,1, die Appendix I1: Writing task 1 hand đescriptors. - " Appendix C: Questionnaire for Ieachers.
- Mm AppendixD: Questionnaire for [eamets:. Scope of the study Within the limitation of the scope of this study, if is not my ambition to cover all aspects of icaching and learning IELTS wriling task [in Vietnam, Therefore, learners” difficaltics and teachers’ suggested activities in class to help their students overcome their problems are focused. Also, the intention to investigate all the Equest’s houses around the country is not so feasible for many obstacles namely time, distance, expense and so on, the subjects of this study are lcamers of IELTS writing courses in Hanoi and teachers teaching IELTS writing task for those learners at EQuest Hanoi. 4, Significance of the study There are many different types of difficulties of leamers when leaming IELTS writing task |; however, tue to the limitation of time and the scope of the study, this paper aims ta explore the most common difficulties dung the process of teaching and lcaming of IELTS waiting task 1.
The study conducts an insightful analysis of those difficulties so as to find out the causes and to identify suitable solutions of in class activities to help leamers deal with those difficultios as sug: hy participants. Methodology In order to answer the three research questions, this shuly involves both qualitative and quantitative methodologies; specifically, it conducts document analysis and survey questionnaires. ‘fhe documents are relevant researches on academic writing, wating based on graph, and ospovially TEETS writing lask | as well as difficullics experienced by EFT. and ESL leamers.
The sample of the survey questionnaires consisted of Vietnamese teachers and leamers from 10 branches of EQuest in Hanoi, The detail of the methodology applied in the study is discussed in Chapter 2 of Part IL 6, Design of the study ‘rhe study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. Part | is Introduction whieh presents the ratiomile, the aims, the scape, the significance, the methodology, and the design of the study. The second part is Development which includes three chapters: Chapter 1, Literature review, deals with the theoretical background of the shidy relating to writing skill and IRI.TS writing lask T. Chapter 2, Methodology, presents methodology of the study including data collection procedure and data analysis.
Chapter 3, Table of contents DECLARATION. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. $ Scope of the study ww 4.
Signifiicance of the study. Design of the study. in Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. 1 The writing skill and academic writing skill in English 2.
What makes writing đifficult2. The wrtting task 1 in IELUTS. 3:;1ELTEwntig taGle 1 WARM GD euccooi.iSii-Dedisaaaainiassaueavadauaoxaua,sit 6, Affective factors in IELTS leaming 7. Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam nd Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 1.
Context of the study. Methodology 5 19 Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS et 22 1. What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes at EQuest. 3, Students’ difficulties in learning to write task 1 of IELTS writing.
4, Difficult expressions for learners. Common errors among students’ graph-based writings. PART 1: INFRODUCTION ‘This part introduces briefly about the study including rationale, aims, scope, significance of the study, methodology used in the study, and design of the study, 1, Rationale of the study ELS (Che International English Language Testing System) is among the most popular and reliable means af English ability asscssmont.5 million (oat lakers cach your worldwide, (In recent years, the candidature has continued to grow rapidly, with over 2 million tests taken in the twelve months to May 2013.) Indeed, it has been widely used as a ininimum or qualifying siandard (or international enterprises or universities Lo enroll their potential employees or students with 7,000 organizations in over 130 countries recognize and use IELTS for selection purposes. Therefore, in Vietnam, more and more people inrespective of genders, ages, and occupation are taking the IELTS preparation course in order to get good scores in this test.
Dring my time teaching IELTS preparation cowses, I got my interest in IELTS writing task 1, In IELTS test, writing task 1, in which test takers are required to write a report based on some graphic information provided on the question paper. is very challenging for candidates. TRLTS writing task 1 class, therefore, is lo help them overcome those difficulties and achieve task requirement. Indeed, my students and 1 have repeatedly experienced many difficulties in leaming and teaching this task, so do my Vietnamese counterparts and their students.
We are always trying to scck cffective teaching methods in order to help their leamers get as high score as possible in this task, Accordingly, I have a desire to explore the situation of IELTS writing task Meaming and teachingin Vietnam, so much so, actually, that my empirical observations developed into conscms strong cnough to carry out this study, There is a fact that in Vietnam there are no state schools which organize courses for IELTS. ‘test takers at the moment. In contrast, more and more private centers are founded in order to meet the inercasing demand of learning IELTS preparation courses. EQuest Academy is one of the curently large and prestigious English centers in Victnam with its headquarter in Hanoi and nearly 20 branches in big cities such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang city, and other regions nationwide.
Tk was established by Viebramese people to train 3. Scope of the study Within the limitation of the scope of this study, if is not my ambition to cover all aspects of icaching and learning IELTS wriling task [in Vietnam, Therefore, learners” difficaltics and teachers’ suggested activities in class to help their students overcome their problems are focused. Also, the intention to investigate all the Equest’s houses around the country is not so feasible for many obstacles namely time, distance, expense and so on, the subjects of this study are lcamers of IELTS writing courses in Hanoi and teachers teaching IELTS writing task for those learners at EQuest Hanoi. 4, Significance of the study There are many different types of difficulties of leamers when leaming IELTS writing task |; however, tue to the limitation of time and the scope of the study, this paper aims ta explore the most common difficulties dung the process of teaching and lcaming of IELTS waiting task 1.
The study conducts an insightful analysis of those difficulties so as to find out the causes and to identify suitable solutions of in class activities to help leamers deal with those difficultios as sug: hy participants. Methodology In order to answer the three research questions, this shuly involves both qualitative and quantitative methodologies; specifically, it conducts document analysis and survey questionnaires. ‘fhe documents are relevant researches on academic writing, wating based on graph, and ospovially TEETS writing lask | as well as difficullics experienced by EFT. and ESL leamers.
The sample of the survey questionnaires consisted of Vietnamese teachers and leamers from 10 branches of EQuest in Hanoi, The detail of the methodology applied in the study is discussed in Chapter 2 of Part IL 6, Design of the study ‘rhe study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. Part | is Introduction whieh presents the ratiomile, the aims, the scape, the significance, the methodology, and the design of the study. The second part is Development which includes three chapters: Chapter 1, Literature review, deals with the theoretical background of the shidy relating to writing skill and IRI.TS writing lask T. Chapter 2, Methodology, presents methodology of the study including data collection procedure and data analysis.