VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------------------- NGUYỄN NGỌC HÀ THE IMPACT OF A GENRE-BASED APPROACH ON 11TH STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT TUYEN QUANG GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL, TUYEN QUANG (Nghiên cứu hành động về tác động của phương pháp dạy viết dựa vào thể loại tới kỹ năng viết của học sinh lớp 11, Trường THPT Chuyên Tuyên Quang, Tỉnh Tuyên Quang) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.111 HANOI – 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------------------- NGUYỄN NGỌC HÀ THE IMPACT OF A GENRE-BASED APPROACH ON 11TH STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT TUYEN QUANG GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL, TUYEN QUANG (Nghiên cứu hành động về tác động của phương pháp dạy viết dựa vào thể loại tới kỹ năng viết của học sinh lớp 11, Trường THPT Chuyên Tuyên Quang, Tỉnh Tuyên Quang) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60. Lê Văn Canh HANOI – 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I, NGUYEN NGOC HA, hereby certify that the thesis entitled ―The impact of a genre-based approach on 11th students’ writing performance: An action research at Tuyen Quang Gifted High School, Tuyen Quang” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Hanoi 2013 Nguyen Ngoc Ha TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This research was carried out in an attempt to solve the problems of students‘ poor writing performance at Tuyen Quang Gifted High School. A hypothetical solution –the use of genre-based approach to teaching writing – was tested in this study through a small-scale action research project. This study was conducted in two cycles following the procedures of the action research. In the first cycle, a questionnaire was administered to gain information about the difficulties the students had been encountered with in completing the writing tasks in the textbook.
Then in the second phase, the genre- based approach was experimented to teach writing to these students. By the time the experiment terminated, another questionnaire was administered to the students to find out their opinions on the usefulness and appropriateness of the genre-based approach to their learning to write. Students‘ writings were also analysed to complement the questionnaire data and to measure the impact of the treatment upon students‘ writing. The results showed that students did make progress in their writing, and students‘ opinions were positive about the treatment.
ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe special debts of gratitude to my lectures, colleagues, family, friends and my students for their support in my completing the thesis. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Le Van Canh for his crucial advice, critical comments, invaluable suggestion and also his devoted lessons. I take this opportunity to thank all the lecturers of the Post Graduate Faculty of University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their scholarly knowledge and amazing lectures that have helped to increase my interest for English Methodology and my teaching job.
My special thanks are dedicated to Assoc Pro. Le Hung Tien, Nguyen Quynh Trang, M.A whose lectures have inspired my interest in Research Methodology. I would also like to thank the library staff for being so helpful and supportive. I would like to extend my thanks to my 11th grade students at Tuyen Quang Gifted High School, Tuyen Quang Province for their willingness to help me complete my thesis.
Finally, my heartfelt sense of gratitude goes to my family for their emotional support in accomplishing this graduation thesis. Nguyen Ngoc Ha iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES.
vii LIST OF CHARTS. viii LIST OF APPENDICES. ix PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the research.
Aims and objectives of the research. The research questions. Method of the research. Structure of the thesis.
Why focus on writing?. Approaches to teach writing. The product approach. The process approach.
The genre-based approach. Definition of a genre. 9 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Genre-based approach:.
Review of the related studies. Rationale of the using action research. Writing tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 .3 Selection of participants. The Research Design.
The teaching cycle used in this study. Methods of data collection and analysis. Methods of data collection. 21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
The results of phase I. Analysis of students’ general information. Analysis of the difficulties students had encountered. Analysis of students’ expectation of new teaching approach.
The results of phase II. The results of the students’ writing test. The performance of students in the content of the writing test. The performance of students in the organization of the writing test.
28 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. The performance of students in using the vocabulary of the writing test. The performance of students in using the language. The performance of students in using the mechanics.
The results of the writing samples. The results of the questionnaire for students after the teaching cycle. The strengths and weakness of this genre-based approach. Students’ self-report on their reduced difficulties.
The things they have learned from this approach in writing. If they want to continue this genre-based approach in writing in the next semester. The necessary conditions for each student to write better. Summary of major findings.
Plan for the next research cycle. 41 APPENDICES vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Martin‘s models of genre Table 1- The overall results of students‘ writing tests Table 2- Students‘ performance in the organization of the writing tests Table 3- Students‘ self report on their reduced difficulties Table 4-Students‘ responses on their wanting to continue with new approach Table 5- Students‘ responses on the necessity for each student vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1- Students‘ duration of studying English Chart 2- Students‘ perceived difficulty of writing in comparison with other language skills Chart 3- Students‘ self assessment of their writing competence Chart 4- Students‘ difficulties to encounter Chart 5- Students‘ expectation of the new approach Chart 6- Students‘ performance in the content Chart 7- Students‘ performance in using the vocabulary Chart 8- Students‘ performance in using the language Chart 9- Students‘ performance in using the mechanics Chart 10- Students‘ responses on the strengths and weaknesses of new approach Chart 11- Students‘ responses on the things they gained from new approach viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: The writing tasks in textbook Tieng Anh 11 Appendix 2: Model texts to teach the aspects of a recount Appendix 3: Activities to build the field Appendix4: Modeling Appendix 5: Questionnaire to investigate the difficulties of students in writing Appendix 6: The first writing sample Appendix 7: The second writing sample Appendix 8: The writing test Appendix 9: Survey questionnaire for students to find out the appropriateness of the new approach Appendix 10: Marking scheme Appendix 10.1: Marking scheme for writing ix TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the research Writing is one of the four skills that are mandated in the English textbooks for high school students. However, the writing competence leaves much to be desired.
Students find it too challenging to write well while teachers feel frustrated. The question is ―how can teachers help to improve students‘ writing in the context of a high school in a mountainous area?‖. Through reading the literature, I was impressed by the idea of teaching writing through a genre-based approach. However, the literature review also showed me that this approach to writing was little researched in Vietnamese high schools.
So, I decided to experiment this approach to my teaching writing to my own students in my school. The aim of this action research is to examine whether a genre-based approach to writing is helpful to my students or not. Aims and objectives of the research The research is aimed at investigating students‘ attitudes towards the genre- based approach, which was new to them, and examining whether this teaching approach helped students to make progress in their writing performance. In order to achieve these aims, the following objectives were set out for the study: 1.
To gain understanding of what students like and dislike about the genre-based approach to teaching writing; 2. To identify the extent to which this new approach to teaching writing helped the students to improve their writing performance. The research focused only on the students‘ difficulties in learning the writing skill and the impact of genre-based approach to their writing performance at 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Tuyen Quang Gifted High School, Tuyen Quang, Vietnam. The research lasted for 5 weeks and the treatment was applied to all students in a classroom.
The research mainly focused on 11th form students majored in Mathematics. The research questions In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study as presented in section 2, the following research questions were raised: 1. What are the students’attitudes towards learning to write in English with the genre-based approach? 2. To what extent does the use of the genre-based approach help to improve my students’ writing performance? 4.
Method of the research Quantitative methods were used in this action research. To be more specific, the questionnaire was an instrument that was applied for collecting the data. Questionnaire responses were analysed by means of descriptive statistics. This research method was aimed at providing information on students‘ attitudes towards, and opinions about, the genre-based approach that their teacher (also the researcher) used.
In addition to the questionnaire, students‘ writings were collected and analysed throughout the treatment period to measure the students‘ progress in their writing performance. Structure of the thesis This thesis is divided into three main parts: Part I is the INTRODUCTION. In this part, the rationale of the research, the aims, objectives, research questions, methods of the research, and also its design Part II is the DEVELOPMENT which includes 3 smaller chapters. Chaper I deals with some theoretical background that is relevant to the purpose of the study.
Chapter II describes the situation where the research was conducted and the informants involved in the research. It includes the writing tasks in the textbook, 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com research design, the teaching cycle in the study. The method of data collection and its procedures. Chapter III presents the results found out about the impact of genre-based approach to the 11th form students‘ writing performance.
This chapter is by far the most dominant one Part III is the CONCLUSION which includes the major findings, concluding remarks and plan for the next research cycle. APPENDICES and REFERENCES are presented in the last pages of the research. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW Since its commencement in Sydney, Australia in 1980s, genre-based approach to teaching language in general and teaching writing in particular has gained considerable prominence. Although there are many factors contributing to the preference of applying this approach, this review will focus on three main factors that make genre-based approach outweigh the previous ones, i.
product approach and process approach.