VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRỊNH THU HƯỜNG An investigation on 10 graders’ anxiety at pre-stage in English writing lessons at Tien Thinh High School, Me Linh, Hanoi: Causes and Solutions (Nghiên cứu lo lắng học sinh lớp 10 giai đoạn trước viết học viết trường THPT Tiến Thịnh – Mê Linh – Hà Nội: nguyên nhân giải pháp) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Phạm Thị Thanh Thủy, MA HANOI – 2011 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TTHS: Tien Thinh High School SS: Students T: Teacher Ts: Teachers S: Student VNU-ULIS: Vietnam National University-University of Languages and International Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………….……………….ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………….…….iv TABLES OF CONTENTS……………………………………………….……… v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale……………………………………………………………….………1 1.2 Research questions………………………………………………….…….… 1.3.Method of the study…………………………………………………….…… 1.4.The participants…………………………………………………………….….2 1.5 Scope of the study………………………………………………………….….2 1.6.Overview of the thesis……………………………………………….…………2 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Writing 2.1.1 What is writing? .4 2.1.2 Pre- writing/ What is pre-writing? 2.1.3 Pre - writing activities………………………………………….……… ……5 2.1.4 Methodology in teaching writing……………………………….…… …… 1.5.Teaching writing procedures……………………………………… ………7 2.2 Anxiety 2.2.1 What is anxiety? 2.2.2 Anxiety in learning Foreign Languages…………………………….… ……8 2.2.3 The factors causing students' anxiety in writing lessons ……….……………10 2.2.3.1 Students' factors……………………………………………… …… …….10 2.2.3.2 Teachers' factors……………………………………………………………10 2.3 Summary CHAPTER THREE: Methodology 3.1 The context 3.1.1.Students…………………………………………………………… …….10 3.1.2.Teachers………………………………………………………………… …10 3.1.3 Facilities…………………………………………………………….… … 11 3.1.4 The Textbook " English 10"………………………………………… ……11 3.2 The Study 3.2.1 Addressing the problem……………………………………….…… …… 12 3.2.2 Data collections……………………………………………………… ….12 3.2.3 Data analysis……………………………………………………….… ….13 3.2.3.1 Classroom observations………….…………………………………… 14 3.2.3.2 Questionnaires……………………………………………………… ….23 3.2.3.2.1 Data analysis of students' survey questionnaires……………… …… 23 3.2.3.2.2 Data analysis of teachers' survey questionnaires……………… ……25 3.2.4 Findings and discussions 2.4.1 Tien Thinh High school students' anxiety and the causes ………… … 29 2.4.2 The ineffectiveness in using pre-writing activities of Tien Thinh High school teachers……………………………………….………… …… …………………30 3.3 Summary CHAPTER FOUR: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 4.1 Suggestions for teachers to reduce students' anxiety in pre-writing stage 4.1.1 Giving clear and understandable instructions……………………….… … 32 4.1.2 Providing students with new words and structures in effective ways…… 32 4.1.3 Creating free anxiety classroom……………………… ……………………32 4.2 Suggestions for students to reduce their anxiety in pre-writing 4.2.1 Having more writing practice ………………………………… ……… …33 4.2.2 Participating pair work and group work……………………… ……… ….33 4.2.3 Improving English proficiency……………………………………….… …33 4.3 Summary CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusions 5.1 Summary of the study …………………………………………… … ……34 5.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study…………………………….35 References…………………………………………………………………… ….37 Appendices Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaires for Teachers…………………………… ……I Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaires for Students…………………………….….…II Appendix 3: Tasks in writing lessons…………………………………… ………IV CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In the economic integration process, English has become an important key to get a good career Understanding the importance of English, Vietnamese government has paid more and more attention to teaching and learning English at High Schools The English textbooks give teachers a chance to teach all skills (Reading, Speaking, Writing, Listening), instead of focusing on grammar like before Now, each lesson is taught with stages: Pre-while-post- teaching This helps students learn English better As an English teacher with years of experience at a high school in Hanoi, the author has found out that of all the four skills, writing is the one that both teachers and students have problems in teaching and learning When teaching writing, I myself realized that pre-writing stage is very important that affects the result of students’ writing In the writing lessons, most students always feel anxious and they can not write anything if they not prepare well Using suitable prewriting activities can give a better result in teaching writing skill This research was carried out to investigate the causes of students’ anxiety at Tien Thinh High School at pre-stage in English writing lessons to find out solutions to improve the quality of teaching and learning writing skill 2.2 Research questions In this minor thesis, the author seeks answers for the following questions: What are the factors causing students’ anxiety in writing lessons as perceived by Ts and Ss at TTHS ? In the opinion of TTHS’s Ts and Ss, which solutions should be done to reduce students' anxiety in writing lessons? 3.3 Methods of the study The research employs the survey methods: using questionnaires and classroom observations + Data is collected by surveying teachers and students to get the information about the present situation of teaching and learning writing at Tien Thinh High School + Classroom observation is also carried out to get more reliable information + Analyzing data: Descriptive statistic analysis is used to gain view of teaching and learning writing at school 1.4 The participants + Students: 128 students from 10A2, 10A4, 10A6 at Tien Thinh High Schools in Hanoi are the target subjects of the study These students were chosen as participants of the study as their writing paper results have always been observed to be worse than other classes They are both male and female students aged sixteen and have been learning English at least four years at secondary schools However, they appear to be beginners of English in reality + Teachers: There are teachers (including the author) who are teaching English for 10 th grade students Two of them graduated from VNU-ULIS, two from the in -service course in Thai Nguyen University, the last from Hai Phong University 1.5 Scope of the study This study is carried out at Tien Thinh High School, Me Linh, Hanoi in order to investigate the causes of 10th - graders’ anxiety at pre-stage in writing lessons and try to find out solutions to improve the quality of teaching and learning writing skill 1.6 Overview of the thesis This minor thesis is divided into five main chapters: Chapter One: Introduction, presents the Rationale, the research questions, the method of the study, the participants, the scope of the study and the overview of the thesis Chapter Two: Literature Review, deals with the definitions of writing, pre-writing, anxiety in learning writing Chapter Three: Methodology, presents the study in which the context of Tien Thinh High School is introduced Then The Textbook “English 10" is analyzed Then, the methods underlying the research and descriptions of data analysis are shown to give specific explanations and findings Chapter Four: Suggested Solutions: In this chapter, the author offers some personal recommendations to improve the learning and teaching writing at Tien Thinh High School to get better results Chapter Five: Conclusion, offers a summary, limitations and suggestions for further study CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Writing 2.1.1 The definition of writing Different researchers have defined writing in many different ways Byrne (1988, p.1), the author of Teaching Writing Skill, considers writing “the act of forming graphic symbols” such as letters or a combination of letters According to this definition, any act that results in the forming of letters with or without a meaning can be defined as writing On the other hand, Lannon (1989) views writing as “the process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error, or whatever into a message with a definite meaning- writing is a process of deliberate decision” (p.9) In this way, writing must convey a message with a meaning Another definition by Tribble (1996) considers writing a language skill involving “not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way” (p.3) Besides, writing is defined by several contrasts (Sokolik, 2003, p 88) Firstly, in her opinion, writing is both “a physical and a mental act” in the sense that it requires writers to commit words or ideas to some medium and at the same time to invent ideas, think about how to express them, and organize them into statements and paragraphs Secondly, writing aims at expressing and impressing Writers typically try to express their ideas or feelings; meanwhile they need to impress their readers in certain ways Thirdly, writing is a process and a product Writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read and reread to produce a product: a paragraph, an essay or a report According to Rivers (1981) “writing is not a skill that can be learnt or developed in isolation but it should be taught and developed in cooperation with other skills and aspects of the language studied” Each researcher has their own definition of writing but as a teacher of English, I share my point of view with Lannon’s because it presents all the characteristics and nature of writing 2.1.2 Pre- writing It is always difficult to start everything In my opinion, of all writing stages: prewriting, while-writing and post-writing, pre-writing is the most difficult one We have to some work, such as brainstorming, listing, clustering, quick writing and making Whquestions in this stage, etc Therefore, in order to have a good writing, it is necessary to prepare for this first stage carefully “Pre-writing is any activity in the classroom that encourages students to write It stimulates thoughts for getting started Pre-writing activities help students prepare raw materials for the composing stage, and organize them in the best way” (Coffin et al., 2003); “therefore, they develop students’ fluency” (Byrne, 1988) In the same way, Richmond defines that “Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process and is also called the idea-generating stage which stretches back to include anything that you have ever done or that might have given you ideas to write about” 2.1.3 Pre - writing activities Following are some main pre - writing activities: Brainstorming: This can be done individually, in pairs or in groups Students list all the ideas they can think of related to a topic, either in writing or speaking aloud, quickly and without much planning Listing: This can be a quiet and essentially individual activity Students are encouraged to produce a list of all the subcategories that come to mind as they think about the topic Clustering: This begins with a key word or central idea placed in the centre of a page (or on the blackboard) around which students jot down in a few minutes all of the free associations related to the key word or central ideas provided These associations are simply words or short phrases Quick writing: Within a limited time of to 10 minutes, individual students freely and quickly write down single words and phrases about a topic without paying attention to spelling, grammar or punctuation 5.Wh -questions: Students generate who, what, where, when and how questions about a topic More such questions can be asked of answers to the first string of wh-questions Model analysis: Students are provided with a model writing and have to analyze its language, structure or typical features Then based on the model students generate ideas for their writing After having the ideas, students work to develop them, choose the ones to keep and those to be erased, and finally order them Then, teachers help students structure their ideas, and make a plan or an outline for their writing (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2001) 2.1.4 Methodology in teaching writing Teaching writing is a complex work Each teacher has her own method to teach writing No method is said to be the most effective Teacher must consider her situation, students’ level, etc, to have a suitable method Below are some writing approaches presented by Raimes (1983, pp5 -10): (1) The Communicative Approach Communicative approach aims at communicative competences which focus on the purpose of the writing and the audience for it The teacher creates a context in which students are real readers by making them play roles, exchange letters, ask questions and teachers gives comments (2) Free- writing approach: this approach focuses on the fluency and quantity of writing rather than quality Students write freely without worrying about grammar and spelling (3) The process approach: Nowadays, the teaching of writing no longer focuses on the written product It concentrates on the process of writing This approach encourages students’ communication of ideas, feelings and experiences It has an emphasis on purpose, theme and text type Writing is a process, so students are given time to set out ideas, make plan, write a draft In fact, there are many approaches to teaching writing but the two most popular ones are Process and Product Here are some features of the process approach according to Steele (2002): ... 2.1.1 What is writing? .4 2.1.2 Pre- writing/ What is pre-writing? 2.1.3 Pre - writing activities………………………………………….……… ……5 2.1.4 Methodology in teaching writing……………………………….…… ……... writing lessons ……….…………? ?10 2.2.3.1 Students'' factors……………………………………………… …… …… .10 2.2.3.2 Teachers'' factors…………………………………………………………? ?10 2.3 Summary CHAPTER THREE: Methodology 3.1 The context 3.1.1.Students……………………………………………………………... This study is carried out at Tien Thinh High School, Me Linh, Hanoi in order to investigate the causes of 10th - graders’ anxiety at pre-stage in writing lessons and try to find out solutions