1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES --------------------- ĐẶNG THỊ KIM OANH A study on using group writing to improve writing skills for 10 th form non - English majors at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school ( Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng hoạt động viết theo nhóm nhằm phát triển kỹ năng viết cho học sinh lớp 10 không chuyên Tiếng Anh tại trường THPT chuyên Phan Bội Châu- Nghệ An) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60.10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES --------------------- ĐẶNG THỊ KIM OANH A study on using group writing to improve writing skills for 10th form non - English majors at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school ( Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng hoạt động viết theo nhóm nhằm phát triển kỹ năng viết cho học sinh lớp 10 không chuyên Tiếng Anh tại trường THPT chuyên Phan Bội Châu- Nghệ An) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Phạm Minh Hiền, M. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 Table of contents Candidate’s statement.
iii Table of contents. iv List of abbreviations. vii List of tables and charts. vii Table of contents.
vii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationales of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Methods of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study. 5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Communicative language teaching (CLT). 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. An overview of communicative language teaching (CLT). Group work in communicative language teaching.
Overview of writing. Definitions of writing. Writing skills in foreign language teaching. Approaches to writing skills in foreign language teaching.
Group writing in foreign language teaching. What is Group writing?. Advantages of using group writing in improving writing skill for high school students. Disadvantages of using group writing in improving writing skill for high school students.
How to organize group work. Using group writing in the classroom. Pre- writing stage. While- writing stage.
Post- writing stage. 19 CHAPTER II: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY. 20 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.Setting of the study. Description of the teaching and learning English at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school.
Description of writing program in English 10 textbook. Design and methodology. Data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire. Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire.
31 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USING GROUP WRITING TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS. Some suitable activities for group writing. Summary of the study. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.
I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 9 Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students. I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers. III Appendix 3: Particular samples of group writing activities used in Tieng Anh 10. V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching PBC: Phan Boi Chau ELT: English Language Teaching LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Approaches to teaching writing skills.
11 Table 2: Checklist of writing tasks in English textbook 10. 22 Table 3: Students’ attitude toward English learning. 25 Table 4: Benefits of using group writing in writing classes. 28 Table 5: Students’ expectations of teachers’ using group writing.
30 Table 6: Benefits of using group work in writing lessons. 33 Table 7: How to group students. 34 Table 8: Activities at which group writing is used. 35 Table 9: Teachers’ solution to overcome their difficulties.
36 Figure 1: Students’ perspectives towards writing class. 25 Figure 2: Students’ view on writing lessons. 26 Figure 3: Students’ opinions about the way they like to do writing in class. 27 Figure 4: The frequency of using group work in writing lessons.
27 Figure 5: The students’ attitude towards group writing. 28 Figure 6: Difficulties students have experienced when writing in groups. 29 Figure 7: Students’ opinions on the stages of group writing. 30 Figure 8: Teachers’ attitude towards teaching writing.
31 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 10 Figure 9: The frequency of using group writing. 32 Figure 10: The students’ response to group writing. 32 Figure 11: Teachers’ preparation for implementing group writing. 34 Figure 12: Teachers’ difficulties in implementing group writing.
36 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION I. Rationales To get good results in teaching process is the expectation of all teachers. However, the ways to achieve it are not always easy. This requires the teachers to have not only good qualities, deep knowledge about their subjects but also suitable methods to adapt in teaching.
In fact, in the late 20th century linguists, teachers and learners have witnessed the “birth” of a popular way in teaching foreign language, the so-called “Communicative Language Teaching”. The approach focuses most on improving four basic skills for learners: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Equally important to others, writing skill has been currently paid much attention to because writing is regarded as highly significant in civilized societies. Through writing human beings transmit their needs, desires, problems, and thoughts as well as histories, cultures, social evolutions, advancement in technologies, etc…Writing is a means of connecting the past, the present and the future.
It can transcend space and time giving it the qualities of being eternal and international. Realizing that fact, teachers should do more researches to improve writing skill for learners, especially the high school students. Traditionally, teachers often let students work individually or in pairs. This led to both good and bad consequences.
The good one is that the student is more independent to express his ideas and knowledge. However, it is no doubt that his writing contains a lot of errors, thus the result is unpleasing. To meet the demand of learners of English, teachers of English in Vietnam have been trying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching English. They always try to catch up with the world's latest frameworks of English Language Teaching.
Therefore, as in other countries, teachers of English in Vietnam are now using Communicative Language Teaching Approach to teach English to learners of all levels. They hope that by using this teaching method, they can help their learners improve their English and use it effectively and fluently in communication. The effort of this thesis is trying to encourage teachers in creating new methods in teaching writing skill for learners and to help students to learn writing subject more LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Having students work in groups not only makes them more involved in learning but also give them opportunities to practise foreign language.
There are many reasons for choosing the study but the above reasons are the main ones that encourage us to choose the thesis: “A study on using group writing to improve writing skills for 10 th form non - English majors at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school” II. Aims of the study The study is aimed at: - Investigating the situation of teaching and learning writing to the 10 th form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school. - Investigating the effectiveness and difficulties of using group work in teaching writing to the 10th form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school. - Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of writing teaching at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school by using group writing.
Research questions This study is implemented to find answers to the following research questions: 1. How group work is used in the writing class of the 10 th form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school? 2. What facilitates and hinders the teachers in using group work in the writing class of the 10th form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school? 3. What recommendations for improvement are needed to make group work successful in the writing class of the the 10th form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school? IV.
Scope of the study Because of the limitation of a minor study, the author only carries out research on teachers and students at Phan Boi Chau high school. The study also mainly focuses on the effectiveness and difficulties in using group writing and the activities used in helping students work well in writing lessons. Methodology In order to realize the aims of the study, quantitative method was used. Two survey questionnaires were used to collect information and evidence for the study.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 13 - The first survey questionnaire was for 70 tenth form non- English majors from two classes of Phan Boi Chau specializing high school: one specializes in Literature and the other specializes in Biology. - The second one was for 8 English language teachers at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school. All comments, remarks and recommendations given in the study were based on the data analysis. Significance of the study Theoretical significance of the study: The study supplies the English language teachers with the understanding of group work in teaching writing, advantages and disadvantages when employing them.
The study also suggests some ways to exploit group writing technique successfully during all stages in teaching writing. Practical significance of the study: The research provides the language teachers and learners with a variety of group writing activities used in all stages an writing classes based on new “ Tieng Anh” 10 textbook. Design of the study The study consists of the following three main parts: Part A, introduction, rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods and design of the study. Part B, development, is organized into three chapters.
Chapter I presents the basic theoretical background from the literature on CTL, writing skill, group work and using group work in teaching writing. Chapter II presents the design and analysis of the research, provides an overview of the current situation of teaching and learning writing skills at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school through the analysis of collected data. Chapter III are some findings and recommendations, discusses the finding of the research and suggests practical recommendations for improvement of using group work in the writing class of the 10th form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school. Part C is the conclusion which includes the summary of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are also included in this part.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 14 The thesis has been done firstly in order to make a contribution to the improvement of teaching writing. The other aim of the thesis is that it suggests some suitable group writing activities to improve writing skills of high school students. The thesis also gives us more opportunities to study and research. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 15 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW I.
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) I. An overview of communicative language teaching (CLT) In its history, language teaching has witnessed many changes in teaching methodology. In his book Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology, Le Van Canh (2004) claims that the changes in the second language teaching in general and the changes in English language teaching in particular are not the changes in the way we teach. These are the changes in the aims of language teaching and learning.
In the past, foreign language teaching was aimed at enabling learners to read and write. Learners who had good reading and writing abilities were considered good learners.