MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ----------------- NGUYEN HOANG BAO KHANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE OF APPLYING DISCOURSE-BASED ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING WRITING SKILLS TO ENGLISH MAJORS AT HUFL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ----------------- NGUYEN HOANG BAO KHANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE OF APPLYING DISCOURSE-BASED ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING WRITING SKILLS TO ENGLISH MAJORS AT HUFL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: DO THI XUAN DUNG, Ph.D HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ----------------- NGUYỄN HOÀNG BẢO KHANH ĐIỀU TRA VỀ NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ THỰC TẾ ỨNG DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG DỰA VÀO DIỄN NGÔN TRONG DẠY VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. ĐỖ THỊ XUÂN DUNG HUẾ, 2019 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. i ABSTRACT For long, Discourse competence has been considered a constituent part of different models of Communicative competence, and developing learners' knowledge of discourse is crucial in teaching language communicatively.
Strong evidence regarding the positive impacts of discourse pedagogy on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' overall English proficiency has accumulated in different contexts worldwide. However, in Vietnam, there is a dearth of studies that look into the integration of discourse knowledge and implementation of discourse-based activities in teaching EFL writing. This paper presents an investigation into teacher's perceptions and practice of applying discourse-based activities in teaching writing to English majors at University of Foreign languages, Hue University (henceforth HUFL). It was conducted following the mixed methods design, with the participation of 30 teachers from different departments of the school, mainly English Department and Department of English for Specific Purposes.
Data were collected by means of questionnaire, interview, and class observation, and then analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Results of the study reveal that teachers hold an overall positive perception about the benefits of discourse-based activities in teaching writing communicatively to English majors, especially in the Organizational and Communicative aspects. Furthermore, the research points out that teachers utilize discourse-based activities on a relatively frequent basis, and the purpose of using these activities is mainly to teach the Organizational and Communicative aspects of writing, which is in line with the aforementioned finding, suggesting a firm correlation between teachers’ perceptions and practice. The conclusion and implications drawn from the findings emphasize the role of different agents (teachers, curriculum developers, course book writers, and educational institution) in promoting the integration of discourse- based activities in EFL teaching.
Keywords: EFL writing, Discourse, Discourse-based activities ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Do Thi Xuan Dung. With her professional experience and wide knowledge about the field of research conducting in general and Discourse-based teaching in particular, she has constantly pr5ovided me with attentive guidance, insightful comments, and constant encouragement throughout all stages of the research. Had it not been for her inexhaustible patience and invaluable advice, this research paper could not have been successfully completed.
Secondly, I would also like to express my profound gratitude towards the teachers of Hue University of Foreign Languages who participated in the data collection stages. Thanks to their active and enthusiastic participation, I was able to obtain the valuable data needed for this research. My heartfelt thanks also go to Ms. Truong Thanh Bao Tran, Ms.
Ton Nu Hoang Minh Tam, and Ms. Ho Thi Nhu, who spent their precious time discussing with me, and offering me substantial assistance throughout. Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to my loving family. Their unconditional love and support has been a huge source of motivation for me during the tough time of conducting the thesis.
Hue, October 15th, 2019 Nguyen Hoang Bao Khanh iii TABLES OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLES OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES .vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Significance of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Writing as a communication skill in language learning. The nature and importance of writing skills.
Teaching and learning writing skills in the EFL context. Discourse in linguistics. Discourse competence as an integral part of communicative competence. Discourse knowledge in teaching writing.
Previous studies on the application of discourse-based activities in ELF classroom. Research approach and design. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure.
Administering the questionnaire. Administering the interview. Data analysis methods. 27 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Teachers’ perceptions towards the implementation of discourse-based activities in teaching writing skills to English majors. Teachers’ evaluation of students’ difficulties in learning writing. Teachers’ level of familiarity and theoretical understanding about the concepts of discourse and discourse-based activities. Teachers’ level of familiarity with different discourse-based activities.
Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity to integrate different aspects of discourse knowledge in teaching writing skills. Teachers’ perceptions of the possible use of different discourse- based activitites in teaching writing skills. Teachers’ practice of applying discourse-based activities in teaching writing skills for HUFL English majors. Teachers’ frequency of using discourse-based activities in teaching the four skills.
Teachers’ frequency of using different discourse-based activities in teaching writing. Teachers’ reflections on the benefits brought by the practice of using discourse-based activities in teaching and learning to write. Teachers’ reflections on the difficulties brought by the practice of using discourse-based activities in teaching and learning to write. Teachers’ suggestions on ways to effectively integrate discourse-based activities in teaching writing skills for HUFL English majors.
50 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of the key findings. Teachers’ perceptions of using discourse-based activities in teaching writing. Teachers’ practice of using discourse-based activities in teaching writing.
Implications for teachers. Implications for students. Implications for administrators. Limitations and suggestions for further research.
62 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Demographic information of the questionnaire participants .2: Description of Part B of the questionnaire.3: Detailed information of the observed samples .1: Teachers theoretical understanding of the concepts of discourse and discourse-based activities .2: Teachers’ level of familiarity with different discourse-based activities .3: Teachers’ suggestions on ways to effectively integrate discourse- based activities in teaching writing skills for HUFL English majors. 48 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: What does a person learn when writing in a second or foreign language .2: Schematic Representation of Communicative Competence .1: Teachers’ evaluation of students’ difficulties in learning writing .2: Teachers’ level of familiarity with the notions of discourse and discourse-based activities .3: Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity to integrate different aspects of discourse knowledge in teaching writing skills .4: Teachers’ evaluation of the relevance of discourse knowledge in teaching specific writing skills .5: Teachers’ perceptions of the possible use of different discourse- based activitites in teaching writing skills .6: Teachers’ frequency of using discourse-based activities in teaching the four skills .7: Teachers’ frequency of using specific discourse-based activities in teaching writing.8: Teachers’ frequency of using discourse-based activities in teaching specific writing skills.9: Teachers’ reflections on the benefits brought by the practice of using discourse-based activities in teaching and learning to write .10: Teachers’ reflections on the difficulties brought by the practice of using discourse-based activities in teaching and learning to write. 46 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION First of all, this chapter provides the readers with an introduction to the background and rationale that highlights the need for the present research. Next, the research objectives are presented along with the questions it set out to answer.
Then, the chapter elaborates on the research scope and how it would contribute to the field. Lastly, a brief description of the paper’s structure is presented. Research background The role of English has become increasingly prominent in today’s world. Particularly in Vietnam, a good command of English opens doors for a multitude of opportunities in terms of employment, business, and higher education.
This has led to a growing demand for English language learning among Vietnamese. In academic settings, Vietnamese EFL learners’ competence in writing is strongly emphasized, yet this productive skill has long poses great challenges to learners. Writing has always been considered a challenging task in language production, even for native speakers of the language. In the case of foreign language learning, particularly in the EFL context, student writers have to face with a multitude of problems, which makes the process of writing even more daunting to them.
According to Celce-Murcia and Yoo (2014), one of the central problems that hinder EFL learners’ development in writing is their lack of knowledge in discourse, i. the use of language in context. That is, at a sentence-level, they might be able to construct correct sentences on the basis of their existing knowledge about grammar and vocabulary. However, when the whole written product is examined at a discourse-level, weaknesses such as lack of coherence, incorrect use of lexical items, or monotonous repetition of grammatical structures, can be observed.
Vietnamese EFL learners are not exceptions to this situation. Although the communicative approach to teaching has been adopted for years, it can be observed from the actual teaching and learning practices in Vietnamese EFL classrooms that language forms are still given more focus as compared to language meanings. Generally, important factors that need to be considered in the writing process such as contexts, audience, and purposes for writing, seem to be inadequately addressed by teachers. It is often the case that students practice writing with the mindset that a text without grammatical mistakes is a good one.
As a result, even EFL students at tertiary level suffer from apparent weaknesses that hinder them from composing meaningful texts at length. Hence, for teaching and learning practices to truly reflect the communicative 1 approach, modern Vietnamese EFL teachers have to assist learners in developing other aspects of writing besides the grammatical one. Research rationale Many researchers have stressed the importance of knowledge of discourse in the teaching and learning English communicatively. Birjandi, Alavi, and Salmani-Nodoushan (2004) underlined that while it is important for learners to master micro skills in writing (grammar rules and vocabulary), these are just the elementary prerequisites to be a competent writer.
In order for one to write well in English, he or she also needs to obtain an operational system of macro skills (knowledge of discourse structure and of background information related to the topic). In the past, knowledge of discourse did not use to receive a sufficient amount of attention in EFL classrooms. Instructions in class normally focused more on language forms rather than language meanings, which consequently resulted in learner’s inability to put what they learn in context. Additionally, as noted by Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000), it was often the case that EFL learners received instructions of grammar and vocabulary which were at sentence-level.
In these days, the matter of how to effectively integrate discourse knowledge into the teaching and learning process has become of utmost importance in EFL writing pedagogy with various attempts being made by researchers worldwide to justify the impacts of applying discourse knowledge in ELF writing lessons.