VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- LẠI THANH TÌNH Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam.A Minor thesis) Field: English methodology Code: 60140111 Ha noi - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- LẠI THANH TÌNH Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam.A Minor thesis) Field: English methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Hoàng Văn Vân, Prof. Ha noi – 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. I confirm this is my own research and this thesis has not been published or submitted for any other degrees. Researcher's signature Lại Thanh Tình i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Prof.
Hoàng Văn Vân for his generous assistance and guidance while I was conducting this study. I am grateful for his precious advice, constructive criticism and constant support. Without his help, this study would not have been completed. My special thanks go to all the teachers in the faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Language and International Studies for their useful lectures.
I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues and all grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School in Ha Nam. Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, especially my dear husband, who have always encouraged me wholeheartedly and supported me to fulfill this study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to design a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam province in order to be used in extra classes. The author of the study hopes that it will provide the teachers with a useful teaching document to improve students' writing ability.
The study begins with a small survey research with the participation of 8 teachers and 35 grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School, Ha Nam province. The aim is to find out the needs for a supplementary writing syllabus. Then, basing on the current situation of teaching and learning writing of grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa gifted High School, the review on syllabus design and the data gained from the survey a supplementary writing syllabus is proposed with clear goals, objectives, contents, time allotment. Suggestions for teaching methods and assessment were also presented.
Hopefully, the proposed supplementary writing syllabus will meet the teaching and learning needs and point out the contents that the teachers have to teach in order to fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) for the gifted as well as of the tests for the gifted students with the aim of enhancing the students' results. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration.iii Table of content. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Methods of the study. Design of the study. An overview of syllabus design. Definitions of syllabus in language teaching.
Types of syllabus. Steps in designing a language syllabus.Literature review on writing syllabus design. The Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces. The needs to have a supplementary writing syllabus.
THE supplementary writing syllabus.23 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Goals and objectives of the syllabus. Principles of designing the syllabus. Selection of contents.
Difficulties of students in writing. Types of writing task and topics in the syllabus. Language functions in the syllabus. Aspects of writing.
Time allocation of the syllabus. The organization of the syllabus. The proposed writing syllabus. Forms of testing.
A sample of a test. Conclusions and suggestions.V v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Rationale of the study Bien Hoa Gifted High School is the only school in Ha Nam province to train gifted students in some subjects, one of which is English. In April every year, there is a contest for grade 10 and grade 11 students coming from gifted high schools in Coastal Area of the North, Viet Nam.
English is one of the subjects to be tested in this contest. The test level in this contest is nearly the same as that of the National Contest held every year for gifted students all over the country. This is a great opportunity for students to broaden their experience in test-taking, to get to know students from other gifted high schools as well as to improve knowledge and skills for their coming National Contest. Writing is one of the three language skills (listening, reading, writing) to be tested in the Contest.
It is often considered to be a real challenge for students, particularly for grade 10 students, who are new-comers at high school and just start to get familiar with writing skill. To help students gain the best results, the teachers of English specializing classes have to work hard to select materials from different sources such as the Internet and different materials, etc. That is because the current textbook for grade 10 students does not help students to reach the level as required by the test even though it is designed for students of the advanced category? They need more than what are provided in the text book in order to achieve better results in the tests for the gifted. Therefore, all these above mentioned issues have inspired me to carry out the study "Designing a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa gifted High School, Ha Nam Province" with the hope to help teachers at Bien Hoa Gifted High School to have an insight into language syllabus design and writing syllabus design and provide an example of supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 students so that they can improve the quality of writing of their grade 10 students.
1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims and objectives of the study The main aims of the study are: 1. To establish the theoretical and practical bases for a supplementary writing syllabus. To propose a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English- majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School.
To offer some suggestions for suitable teaching methods and assessment. In order to achieve the above aims, the study sets the following objectives for exploration: - providing a brief overview of Bien Hoa Gifted High School including the school, the teachers, the students and of the English Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces. - identifying the needs for a supplementary writing syllabus - providing an overview of the main syllabus types which are relevant to the content of the study - considering some suggestions for teaching and assessment methods 3. Research questions This study is carried out to find the answers to the following questions: 1.
Why is a supplementary writing syllabus needed for teaching and learning at Bien Hoa Gifted High School? 2. How to design a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English- majored students to prepare for the English Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces? 3. What are suggestions for teaching methods and ways of assessment? 4. Scope of the study This study would focus on only designing supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10, English-majored students so that they can perform successfully in the English Contest for gifted students in Northern Coastal Area provinces.
Methods of the study 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims, qualitative method and quantitative method are used. Qualitative method is with situation analysis and document analysis, which aim at finding out the need to design a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School. Quantitative method is used to identify and confirm the needs for a supplementary writing syllabus. Design of the study The study is organize into three main parts: The first part, INTRODUCTION, provides the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, methods and the design of the study.
The second part, DEVELOPMENT, consists of 3 chapters: Chapter 1: "LITERATURE REVIEW" provides an overview of syllabus design, definitions of syllabus in language teaching, types of syllabus, steps in designing a language syllabus and literature review on writing syllabus design. Chapter 2: "situation ANALYSIS" analyzes the context of the study including the school, the teachers, the students, the textbook, the Contest for gifted students from Northern Coastal Area provinces to find out the necessity to design a supplementary writing syllabus for grade 10 English-majored students at Bien Hoa Gifted High School. Chapter 3: "THE SUPPLEMENTARY WRITING SYLLABUS" presents the content of the writing syllabus with the description of the aims, objectives, principles of designing, selection of contents and suggestion on teaching and assessment methods. The third part, CONCLUSION summarizes what has been studied and offers some suggestions for further research.
3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART II. DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1. An overview of syllabus design 1. Definitions of syllabus in language teaching The term "syllabus" can be defined in many different ways by different authors.
According to Nunan (1988, p.5), there are even some disagreements about "the nature of syllabus". He suggests that syllabus design is defined based on two views: the broad and the narrow views. In the narrow view, the authors support the idea that syllabus and methodology should be clearly separate.5) says: "syllabus design is seen as being concerned essentially with the selection and grading content, while methodology is concerned with the selection of learning tasks and activities". Allen (1984, cited in Nunan 1988, p8) distinguishes between syllabus and methodology: "Syllabus is concerned with a specification of what units will be taught as distinct from how they will be taught, which a matter for methodology is".
Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.80) also agree: "A syllabus is a document which says what will (or at least what should) be learnt" and that document "is handed down by ministries or other regulating bodies". In the broader view, the authors believe that the distinction between content and task is difficult to sustain. One of the advocates of this view is Breen (1984, cited in Nunan, 1988, p8), points out: "Any syllabus will express, however indirectly, certain assumptions about language, about the psychological process of learning and about the pedagogic and social process within a classroom". Holding the idea that syllabus is another term for methodology, Yalden (1984, p.14, cited in Nunan, 1988, p.5) states: "The syllabus replaces the concept of method, and syllabus is now seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve a degree of fit between the needs and aims of the learner (as social being and as individual) and the activities which will take place in the classroom".
Another author supporting this view is Dave (1990, p1). He states 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com "There need be no conflict between the two. We can specify a syllabus in whatever way seems sensible; and can then use whatever methodology we want in order to transmit our syllabus content". Candlin (1984) suggests a perspective implying that syllabuses are "social constructions, produced interdependently in classrooms by teachers and learners.
They are concerned with the specification planning of what is to be learnt, frequently set down in some written form as prescriptions for action by teachers and learners." According to Munby (1978), syllabus design is seen as "a matter of specifying the content that needs to be taught and then organizing it into a teaching syllabus of appropriate learning units.