MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------- ∞0∞-------- THAI NGUYEN HOANG TUAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPACT OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING VIA PADLET PLATFORM ON WRITING PERFORMANCE AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AT VIEN DONG COLLEGE MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022 Tai Lieu Chat Luong MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------- ∞0∞-------- THAI NGUYEN HOANG TUAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE IMPACT OF COLLABORATIVE WRITING VIA PADLET PLATFORM ON WRITING PERFORMANCE AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AT VIEN DONG COLLEGE Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Major code: 8 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: NGUYEN THUY NGA, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC GIẤY XÁC NHẬN Tôi tên là: THÁI NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUẤN Ngày sinh: 14/10/1992 Nơi sinh: TP.HCM Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và PPDH Bộ môn Tiếng Anh; Mã học viên: 1981401111032 Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Ký tên (Ghi rõ họ và tên) i Statement of authorship I hereby confirm that the thesis “An Investigation into the Impact of Collaborative Writing via Padlet Platform on Writing Performance and Students’ Attitudes at Vien Dong College” is my original work.
Except the reference, the paper does not include any materials published before or extracted on the entire or in section from a thesis by which I have enrolled for or been received another degree or diploma. There is no other person’s work mentioned without acknowledgement in the thesis. The thesis has not been submitted for any degrees in any other tertiary instutitions. Ho Chi Minh City, April 2022 THAI NGUYEN HOANG TUAN ii Acknowledgement I desire to express my grateful feeling to all who have supported and assisted me during the time I tried to finish my thesis.
First and foremost, I am thankful for the supportive assistance given by my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thuy Nga. Without her dedicated involvement and guidance throughout the process, this thesis would have never been completed. She not only helped me in finishing the study but also encouraged me to overcome the hardship during conducting the research.
Second, I am deeply grateful to all instructors in the courses I studied in my master degree. Their lectures and sharing helped me in every step from the start to the end of the thesis. Third, I want to show gratitude for my classmates in MTESOL019 class and my colleagues. Their encouragement and support are an essential part in order that I could complete my thesis.
Last but not least, my words of appreciation are for my mom and my fiancée. None of this could have been done without their endless love and unconditional care. iii Tóm tắt Bài nghiên cứu được thực hiện với những mục tiêu sau: (1) tìm hiểu những tác động của hoạt động viết cộng tác trên Padlet đối với khả năng viết của sinh viên và (2) điều tra thái độ của sinh viên đối với hướng ứng dụng này. Nghiên cứu được xây dựng dựa trên thực nghiệm.
Số lượng mẫu là 61 sinh viên năm nhất học môn Tiếng Anh 1 ở hai nhóm: nhóm kiểm soát và nhóm thực nghiệm. Bài kiểm tra trước thực nghiệm, sau thực nghiệm và bảng hỏi khảo sát được dùng làm công cụ nghiên cứu trong việc thu thập dữ liệu định lượng. Sau đó, điểm số của các bài kiểm tra và phản hồi của sinh viên được phân tích. Các kết quả cho thấy điểm số viết chính xác được cải thiện đáng kể.
Bên cạnh đó, thái độ của sinh viên đối với viết cộng tác trên Padlet là hoàn toàn tích cực. Nói một cách ngắn gọn, nhờ vào sự cải thiện điểm viết chính xác và sự đồng ý của sinh viên, bài nghiên cứu gợi ý rằng giáo viên tiếng Anh nên cân nhắc sử dụng viết cộng tác trên Padlet trong việc dạy viết. Hơn nữa, các nghiên cứu sau này với số lượng sinh viên nhiều hơn cùng những dạng bài viết khác nhau như viết đoạn hay viết luận nên được ứng dụng để cải thiện khả năng viết của sinh viên. iv Abstract The study was conducted with the following objectives: (1) to find out the impacts of collaborative writing via Padlet to students’ writing performance and (2) to investigate the attitudes of students towards the application of collaborative writing via Padlet.
The study employed experimental design. The study population was 61 first-year students who learn English 1 in two groups: control and experimental. The pre-test, post-test and a questionnaire were carried out as the research instruments for the quantitative data collection. Afterwards, the data of the tests and students’ responses are analysed and explained.
The results show that the score of writing accuracy was improved significantly. Besides, students’ attitudes towards collaborative writing via Padlet were totally positive. Briefly, due to the increase in writing accuracy and students’ affirmative, it is suggested that English teachers should consider using collaborative writing via Padlet in teaching writing. Additionally, further studies with a larger number of participants and other writing task types such as paragraph or essay should be taken to improve students’ writing performance.
v The table of contents Statement of authorship .iv The table of contents. v List of figures and tables .ix CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION .1 Background of the study .2 Statement of the problem .5 Significance of the research .6 Scope of the study.7 Outline of the study. 5 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Collaborative learning and collaboration in writing .1 Characteristics and benefits of collaborative writing .4 Previous studies about collaborative writing and Padlet .6 Summary of chapter 2.5 Data collection procedures .6 Reliability and validity of the instruments .7 Summary of chapter 3.32 CHAPTER 4 – DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.1 Impact of collaborative writing via Padlet on tests’ results .1 Students’ overall scores .2 Students’ writing accuracy .3 Students’ writing fluency .1 Students’ attitudes towards writing skill aspects .2 Students’ attitudes towards other skills .3 Students’ attitudes towards motivation and confidence .4 Students’ attitudes towards collective effort and responsibility .5 Students’ attitudes towards problem-solving and knowledge exchange .6 Students’ attitudes towards academic enhancement.7 Students’ attitudes towards negative comments about collaborative writing via Padlet .4 Summary of chapter 4.54 CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .2 Contribution of the study .1 Implications to students .2 Implications to English teachers .5 Suggestions for further research .6 Summary of chapter 5.60 Appendix 1 – The tests in pre-test and post-test .69 Appendix 3 – Key points in lesson plan .78 Appendix 4 – Writing rubric .79 Appendix 5 – Students’ mean scores in the tests .80 ix List of figures and tables Figure 2.1 The conceptual framework of the study .1 Participants’ personal information .2 Pre-test and post-test writing topics .3 Groups of question, attitude’ related domain and example questions .4 Teaching activities in two groups .5 Writing topics in English 1 course .6 Key points of lesson plan in the CG .7 Key points of lesson plan in the EG .1 Mean difference of the overall scores in the pre-test .2 Mean difference of the overall scores in the post-test .3 Mean difference between the pre-test and post-test overall scores of the CG .4 Mean difference between the pre-test and post-test overall scores of the EG .5 Results of the overall scores .6 Mean difference of writing accuracy in the pre-test .7 Mean difference of writing accuracy in the post-test .8 Mean difference between the pre-test and post-test’s writing accuracy of the CG .9 Mean difference between the pre-test and post-test’s writing accuracy of the EG .10 Results of writing accuracy .11 Mean difference of writing fluency in the pre-test .12 Mean difference of writing fluency in the post-test.13 Mean difference between the pre-test and post-test’s writing fluency of the CG .14 Mean difference between the pre-test and post-test’s writing fluency of the EG .15 Results of writing fluency .16 Students’ attitudes towards writing skill .17 Students’ attitudes towards other skills .18 Students’ attitudes towards motivation and confidence .19 Students’ attitudes towards collective efforts and responsibility .20 Students’ attitudes towards Problem-solving and knowledge exchange .21 Students’ attitudes towards academic enhancement .22 Students’ attitudes towards negative comments. 50 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION The impact of collaborative writing via Padlet on writing performance and student’s attitudes are the aims of the study.
In the first chapter, relevant background information, statement of problems, research purposes and research questions. The significance of the study ends the chapter along with the outline of five chapters in the current study.1 Background of the study English, which is viewed as a foreign language in Vietnam, has recently acquired more and more attention in families, companies and institutions as the country saw a rapid economic and social development. In the context of Vietnamese tertiary education, approximately 90% students select English as their compulsory language subject (Canh, 2007). Although being an important skill to be taught to help students communicate efficiently, writing is seemingly viewed as the most difficult language skill to master.
However, Nunan and Carter (2001) state that writing skill is viewed as an act to communicate socially when teacher-centered model has been transformed into learner-centered approach. Additionally, collaborative activities have been used in language classroom ubiquitously (Shehadeh, 2011). This study also points out that collaborative writing can support students to improve writing ability and achieve other skills through collaboration. Handayani (2012) illustrates that collaborative writing owns a broader concept than plain opinion of cooperating together to create a text.
In fact, students can learn from one another when they work collaboratively such as giving and receiving feedback or discussing ideas. Besides, Johnson and Johnson (1999) also indicate collaboration helps students achieve better performance in learning writing than working individually. 2 In line with the common use of collaborative writing in language classrooms around the world, there is plenty of studies pointing the new methods or techniques can be used to assist collaborative writing. In fact, Qiao and Mu (2015) show that collaboration created and assisted by technology can help students develop their writing ability.
Besides, Fuchs (2014) also indicates that new advanced technologies assist language acquisition processes efficiently, particularly the writing skill. Therefore, the study aims to use an online platform so as to improve students’ writing performance including writing fluency and writing accuracy.2 Statement of the problem English writing instruction and learning is not a new issue. There are a plenty of research has been carried to investigate writing. However, it has still faced difficulties.
According to Nguyen (2009), most of students find it quite challenging to learn English writing well. Being an English lecturer at Vien Dong College since 2018, the writer has had nearly four years working in this vocation-oriented college. At Vien Dong College, English is a mandatory subject which is divided into three four courses: Basic English, English level 1, English level 2 and English level 3. Due to the objectives of the school board of director, language communication skills are more emphasized in English classes.
Besides, from the writer’s own teaching experiences, students are seemingly more interested in practising skills like speaking, listening, grammar and vocabulary exercises rather than writing. This tendency is probably due to the fact that writing is not concentrated enough in the preceding level when it is not accounted in examinations.