Thai Nguyen University Batangas State University Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of Philippines NGUYEN THANH TU ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF FRESHMAN COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OFTRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM IN THREE PROVINCES OF VIETNAM: BASIS FOR FUNCTION AL WRITING ACTIVITY Speciality: English language and literature Ph.D DISSERTATION SUMMARY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE THAI NGUYEN, 2014 The Dissertation was completed in: THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Advisor: Matilda H.Dimaan.Ph.D. Reviewer No.1: Reviewer No.2: Reviewer No.3: The Dissertation will be evaluated at the State Council held at: ……………………………………………………………………… At: hour date month year 2014 Dissertation can be found at the libraries: - National library of Vietnam; - Learning Resource Center - Thai Nguyen University; - Library of International Training and Development Center; - Library of Batangas State University, Philippines. 1 The study of the English language has taken a multifaceted dimension and has span from the knowledge-based format to the skill- based format. It has also moved from theory to practice and much more as the business world has taken an aggressive position to demand the criteria for hiring their personnel to include certified demonstrable English language skill. Writing as an act is encoding an idea, a thought, a reflection; a process of putting one’s thought into words. And this would require that the words are organized to convey the idea, the way the writer would want the reader to receive the message and experience the writer’s concept. Thus the demand for writing is more rigorous than speaking. In writing, one must have an extensive vocabulary at once disposal to be able to use the right words corresponding to the idea or message. Thus the writer, must have a full grasp of the common meaning and special meaning and use of those words. The writer must also know how sentences are constructed in the English language so that these sentences become coherent and cohesive. Then comes the other fine details of grammar, syntax, morphology to further create a linguistic impact. The educational system with its language curricula considers this gradating degree of writing skills development where at the elementary levels, students are required to write formal themes compositions with a freedom of topic choice at the beginning and later a specific chosen topic given by the teacher as the basis. In the secondary level, writing skills are developed through essays and reaction papers. In the tertiary level, it is a blend of the secondary level materials as well as the writing of a thesis, a more extensive 2 type of writing piece that would cover an analytical step where an idea is expounded, from the information of previous literatures and moving forward to a proposed idea or concept and providing evidence for the new proposal. The process goes on and on in the tertiary and higher levels of education. Hence, cognitive skill is vital in each step of the writing skills development. As college teacher teaching Basic English, the author observed students have difficulty in writing longer composition. They tend to commit errors in the construction of sentences, failed to observed correct punctuations, and other aspects in mechanics of writing. Their levels of critical thinking in terms of cognitive, affective, and their disposition are needed to determine as they also play significant role to their learning. Thus, the theme of "English Writing Skills and Critical Thinking Skills of Freshman College Students in the University of Transport Technology System in Three Provinces of Vietnam: Basic for Functional Writing Activity" is choosen to study. The structure of dissertation include of 5 chapters 3 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND OF STUDY: Writing as an act is encoding an idea, a thought, a reflection; a process of putting one’s thought into words. And this would require that the words are organized to convey the idea, the way the writer would want the reader to receive the message and experience the writer’s concept. Thus the demand for writing is more rigorous than speaking. In writing, one must have an extensive vocabulary at once disposal to be able to use the right words corresponding to the idea or message. Thus the writer, must have a full grasp of the common meaning and special meaning and use of those words. The writer must also know how sentences are constructed in the English language so that these sentences become coherent and cohesive. Then comes the other fine details of grammar, syntax, morphology to further create a linguistic impact. The educational system with its language curricula considers this gradating degree of writing skills development where at the elementary levels, students are required to write formal themes compositions with a freedom of topic choice at the beginning and later a specific chosen topic given by the teacher as the basis. In the secondary level, writing skills are developed through essays and reaction papers. In the tertiary level, it is a blend of the secondary level materials as well as the writing of a thesis, a more extensive type of writing piece that would cover an analytical step where an idea is expounded, from the information of previous literatures and 4 moving forward to a proposed idea or concept and providing evidence for the new proposal. The process goes on and on in the tertiary and higher levels of education. Hence, cognitive skill is vital in each step of the writing skills development. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDIES This study addresed the following research questions: 1. What is the demographic profile of students in terms of 1.1 gender; 1.2 parent's educational attainment; 1.3 student's place of origin 1.4 type of school attended (high school); and 1.5 exposure to English media 2. What is the level of writing skills of students relative to: 2.1 discourse component (cohesion, coherence) 2.2 grammatical component; 2.3 mechanics; 2.4 morphology; and 2.5 syntax? 3. How do teachers assess the critical thinking skills of students? 4. How do students level of writing skills and teacher assessment of students’ critical thinking skills compare? 5 5. What functional writing activities may be proposed to enhance student's writing and critical thinking skills? SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The results of the dissertation help students identify limitation in English writing skills and critical thinking skills in order to learn how to improve their language skills. Teachers of English are aware of the critical thinking skills and English writing skills students through the findings of the dissertation and their responsibility for designing a suitable activities to improve students’ skills. Findings of the dissertation will improve relevant data for administrators at University of Transport Technology System to design an effective curriculum for the students. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY This study is focused on determining the level of students’ writing skills in terms of discourse components, grammatical components, mechanics, morphology and syntax as well as the level of students’ critical thinking skills. Responses of 306 first year students from University of Transport Technology system in three provinces in Vietnam and the respective English teachers of these students using the stratified random technique were analysed. The students were made to answer to a validated teacher made questionnaire designed to assess their level of writing skills while the teachers were asked to answer a survey cognitive skill assessment questionnaire where they rated, based on their perception, the critical thinking skill level of their students 6 These two questionnaires were the source of quantitative data that were analysed statistically. The study site were University of Transport Technology system in three provinces (Ha Noi, Thai Nguyen, Vinh Yen) in Vietnam and the study covered a period of six months from July to December 2013. Demographic information was gathered from the students and teachers through the questionnaires but their names were not revealed. The respondents were those currently enrolled in an English course. The teacher respondents were the respective teachers of the evaluated students as they were the ones assessed their students’ cognitive skills. The students’ respondents were limited only to those who were enrolled in their Basic English course in the stated covered period. Descriptive method of research was used in the study to determine the levels of writing and critical thinking skills of students. The study made used of teacher made test for student respondents and survey questionnaire for teacher respondents 7 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 2.1 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES This section present of some literature and studies related to the topic. 2.2 RESEARCH PARADIGM Figure 1. The Reasearch Paradigm Input Process Output Figure 1 Conceptual Paradigm of the Study sed Functional Writing Activities Assessment made through: Teacher-made Test Survey Questionnaire A . Demographic profile of the respondents in terms of: 1. gender 2. parent's educational attainment 3. place of origin 4. type of high school attended 5. student's exposure to English media, B Respondent's level of writing skills relative to: 1. cohesion/ coherence 2. grammatical component a. mechanics b. morphology c. syntax D. Teachers assessment of the students' critical thinking skills in terms of: 1. cognitive skills 2. affective and 3. disposition 8 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY RESEARCH DESIGN This study made used of descriptive research design to describe the data and characteristics of the study. According to Arriola (2006) descriptive research aims to describe the present behaviour or characteristics of a particular population and the data are collected to describe persons, organizations, settings and phenomena. The study utilized a combination type of questionnaire the survey and test questions. The subjects’ answered to the questionnaire will constitute the data that will be analyzed statistically. Sampling will be purposive to include the target population consisting of students who were currently enrolled in a first year Basic English course and their respective teachers for the cognitive assessment of their students. RESPOND OF THE STUDY The subjects of this study composed of 306 first year English students and at least 20 first year English teachers from the three campuses of the University of Transport Technology System in the three provinces of Vietnam. In Hanoi Campus the total number of student population is 501 with seven English teachers and the student respondents of the study are 102, while in Thai Nguyen campus , the total student population is 499 with 6 English teachers and the student respondents used are 102. In Vinh Yen Campus the total student population is 500 with seven English teachers. The number of student respondents utilized in the study is 102. All [...]... critical thinking skills 17 CHAPTER V SUMMARY, FINDING, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY This study aimed to assess the English writing skills and critical thinking skills ofFreshman college students in the University of Transport Technology in the three provinces of Vietnam with the end view of proposing a functional writing activity This sought answers to the following questions: • What is the demographic... How do students level of writing skills and teacher assessment of students critical thinking skills compare? • What functional writing activities may be proposed to enhance student's writing and critical thinking skills? • The concepts to be included in the Conceptual Framework are the following: • English language skills • Writing skills • Critical thinking skills • Functional English Writing Activities... Activities The study made used of the descriptive method of research to determine the English writing skills and critical thinking skills of Freshman college studentsin the University of Transport Technology in the three provinces of Vietnam There were 306 students and 20 teachers who were the respondents of the study The statistical tools used were: T-test FNDINGS 1 Demographic Profile of Students As... The critical thinking skills that most students develop are cognitive skills • Both the cognitive and the affective component of the critical thinking skills are equally related to the performance level in the different components of the writing skills • The proposed functional writing activities as the output of the study comprised set of exercises designed to improve the students critical thinking. .. longer foreign to the English language as the English media has now been ubiquitous and comes in various forms and means that the students got exposure through television, the internet or the foreign English movies, which are the rich sources of learning for new words to expand their vocabulary and the use of these words and their correct pronunciation 2 Level of writing skills of students in Basic English. .. out of 65 combinations or 38.5 percent are recognizable in the cognitive skills For the affective skills, 36 out of 100 combinations or 36 percent are recognizable This indicates that both the cognitive and the affective component of the critical thinking skills are equally related to the performance level in the different components of the writing skills Comparing the p-values below 0.05 among the. .. out of 65 combinations or 38.5 percent are recognizable in the cognitive skills For the affective skills, 36 out of 100 combinations or 36 percent are recognizable This indicates that both the cognitive and the affective component of the critical thinking skills are equally related to the performance level in the different components of the writing skills Comparing the p-values below 0.05 among the. .. Critical Thinking Skills The proposed functional writing activities as the output of the study comprised set of exercises designed to improve the students critical thinking especially for this population of Vietnamese students based on criteria These include writing skill components where the students showed poor performance; as well as having statistically significant relationship with critical thinking. .. Critical Thinking Skills The proposed functional writing activities as the output of the study comprised set of exercises designed to improve the students critical thinking especially for this population of Vietnamese students based on criteria These include writing skill components where the students showed poor performance; as well as having statistically significant relationship with critical thinking. .. types of critical thinking skills are equally well practiced by the students as perceived by the teacher respondents and implies further that teacher respondents believe that students have developed the skill in gaining full understanding of developing social skills and responsible behaviors The same critical thinking skills were evaluated by the teacher respondents according to their degree of importance . limitation in English writing skills and critical thinking skills in order to learn how to improve their language skills. Teachers of English are aware of the critical thinking skills and English writing. words to expand their vocabulary and the use of these words and their correct pronunciation. 2. Level of writing skills of students in Basic English The level of writing skills of the student. student's writing and critical thinking skills? • The concepts to be included in the Conceptual Framework are the following: • English language skills • Writing skills • Critical thinking skills