MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND REPORTED CLASSROOM PRACTICES IN EFL WRITING INSTRUCTION AT THE SELECTED HIGH SCHOOLS IN HO CHI MINH CITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by TRUONG MINH HOA Supervised by Assoc Prof Dr PHAM VU PHI HO Ho Chi Minh City, October 2016 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “Teachers’ Beliefs and Reported Classroom Practices in EFL Writing Instruction at the Selected High Schools in Ho Chi Minh City” is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Cam Ranh City, October 2016 Truong Minh Hoa i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master of Art in TESOL thesis is the result of a fruitful collaboration of all the people whom have kindly contributed with an enormous commitment and enthusiasm in my research Without the help of those who supported me at all times and in all possible ways, it would not have been feasible for me to complete my M.A thesis I would like to thank the Buddha and the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, who made all things possible I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Pham Vu Phi Ho, from Ho Chi Minh City Open University, whose compassion, encouragement and guidance throughout the research have helped in the completion of this thesis I have truly learned from the excellence of his skills and from his wide experience in research; no words are adequate to describe the extent of my gratitude I would like to express my particular gratitude to my beloved mother Pham Thi Lien and younger sister Truong Thi Phuong Hong Thao as well as my respectful teacher Truong Viet Khanh Trang (Dean of Faculty of Garment Technology and Fashion, Ly Tu Trong Technical College) for their unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, financial and spiritual support over time and distance I would like to thank my TESOL classmates, including Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Phan Thi Mien Thao, Mai Thi Ngoc Hanh, Luu Thi Huyen Tran, and Le Thi Minh Sang, who shared their constructive opinions on my thesis I am also much obliged to the high school teachers, namely Vo Thi Bich Vien, Nguyen Le Yen Thuy, Van Thanh Minh Trung, Tran Thi Hoang Trang, Nguyen Thi Phuc Trinh, and Nguyen Thi My Chau, who enthusiastically helped me to distribute and collect questionnaires as well as participated in my interview sessions I owe a great debt of gratitude to the anonymous participants who contributed data to this thesis ii ABSTRACT Writing in a foreign language is deemed to be the most difficult language skill to learners, especially at high school level; consequently, its teaching has become a challenging task for the high school teachers in Vietnamese context Teacher belief related literature indicates that what teachers in the classroom is directly governed by what they think and believe Thereby, the current study adopted features of a survey research design in order to examine the EFL high school teachers’ beliefs about writing and its teaching, their actual classroom practices, as well as the interplays between their beliefs and practices in the realm of EFL writing instruction A sample of seventy–six EFL teachers from the eight selected high schools situated in Ho Chi Minh City was recruited to the current survey The beliefs and practices of EFL writing instruction of these studied teachers were elicited through two instruments of thirty–nine– item questionnaires and semi–structured interviews Then the questionnaires were quantitatively analyzed and the interviews were qualitatively analyzed Results of the study showed that most of the participants held different views/orientations about writing skill and teaching writing, consisting of form–based, cognitive process–based, functional social–based, and interactive social–based views; nevertheless, the form–based orientation was still most favored in their beliefs On the contrary, in practical, most of the high school teachers much followed the product approach, which underlies form–based orientation instead of different approaches This can evidently account for the low results of writing section in the National GCSE examination in consecutive recent years when high school students only were asked to learn sample writing texts by rote (form–based orientation) rather than being guided basic writing steps (process–based orientation) as well as being developed their social awareness of what to be written (social–based orientation) From the interviews, there was evidence to reveal that high school teachers’ ability to transfer their beliefs into teaching practices was primarily impacted by schooling–related factors (e.g., class duration, curriculum, examination demands, teaching materials), and student–related factors (e.g., students’ lack of motivation, students’ knowledge and language proficiency) as well as teachers–related factors (e.g., teacher’ preparation time) Ultimately, some implications of this study for high school teachers are also discussed iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ………………………………………………………………….i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………………….ii ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………… …………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………………………………iv LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………….viii LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS ………………………………………………………………………x ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………… …………………………………… xi Chapter One: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study 1.2 Rationale for the Study ……………………………………………………………………… 1.3 Research Questions ……………………………………………………………………………7 1.4 Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………………8 1.5 Key Words …………………………………………………………………………………… 1.6 Overview of the Thesis Chapters …………………………………………………………… Chapter Two: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Teaching Writing 11 2.1.1 Writing: Natures, Levels, and Aspects ………………………………………………….11 2.1.1.1 Natures of Writing ……………………………………………………………………11 2.1.1.2 Writing Levels ……………………………………………………………………… 13 2.1.1.3 Aspects of Writing ………………………………………………………….……… 14 2.1.2 Theoretical Orientations to Teaching Writing ………………………………………….15 2.1.2.1 Behaviorist Learning Theory…………………………………………… 16 2.1.2.2 Cognitive Learning Theory ………………………………………………………… 16 2.1.2.3 Social Constructivism Learning Theory …………………………………………… 16 2.1.3 Approaches to Teaching Writing ……………………………………………………….17 2.1.3.1 Product Approach ……………………………………………………………………17 2.1.3.2 Process Approach ……………………………………………………………………18 2.1.3.3 Genre–based Approach ………………………………………………………………19 2.1.4 Roles of Writing Teacher ……………………………………………………………….21 2.1.4.1 Knowledge Transmitter………………………………………………………….……22 2.1.4.2 Facilitator…………………………………………………………………………….22 2.1.4.3 Feedback Provider ………………………………………………………………… 24 2.2 Teacher Beliefs ……………………………………………………………………………… 24 iv 2.2.1 Definition of Teacher Beliefs ………………………………………………………… 24 2.2.2 Categories of Teacher Beliefs ………………………………………………………… 25 2.2.2.1 Teachers’ Beliefs about the Subject Matter ………………………………………….26 2.2.2.2 Teachers’ Beliefs about Teacher Roles and Teaching ……………………………….28 2.2.2.3 Relationship between Beliefs about the Subject Matter, about Teacher Roles and Teaching …………………………………………………………………………… 28 2.2.3 Importance of Teacher Beliefs on Practices of Teaching Writing …………………… 29 2.2.4 Factors Impacting Teacher Beliefs and Teachers’ Practices of Teaching Writing …… 30 2.3 Summary of English Writing Curriculum at Vietnamese High School ………………… 31 2.3.1 English Textbooks for High School ……………………………………………………31 2.3.2 Objective of MOET towards Writing Skill at High School ……………………………32 2.3.3 Description of the Writing Sections ……………………………………………………33 2.4 Studies on Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Teaching Writing …………………………34 2.5 Research Gap …………………………………………………………………………………40 Chapter Three: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Pedagogical Settings and Participants ………………………………………………………42 3.1.1 Sampling Methods …………………………………………………………………… 42 3.1.2 Pedagogical Settings ……………………………………………………………………44 3.1.3 Participants …………………………………………………………………………… 45 3.2 Research Design and Process ……………………………………………………………… 46 3.2.1 Research Design ……………………………………………………………………… 46 3.2.2 Research Process ……………………………………………………………………… 47 3.2.2.1 Pre–study Interviews …………………………………………………………………48 3.2.2.2 First Questionnaire Construct ……………………………………………………….51 3.2.2.3 Expert Comments on First Questionnaire ……………………………………………51 3.3 Research Instruments ……………………………………………………………………… 54 3.3.1 Questionnaire for Teachers …………………………………………………………… 54 3.3.1.1 Rationale for Questionnaire …………………………………………………………54 3.3.1.2 Description of the Questionnaire ……………………………………………………55 3.3.2 Interview for Teachers ………………………………………………………………….58 3.3.2.1 Rationale for Interview ………………………………………………………………58 3.3.2.2 Description of the Interview …………………………………………………………59 3.4 Validity and Reliability ………………………………………………………………………60 3.4.1 Reliability ……………………………………………………………………………….60 3.4.2 Validity ………………………………………………………………………………….61 3.4.2.1 Content Validity ……………………………………………… ………………… 61 v 3.4.2.2 Construct Validity ……………………………………………………………………62 3.5 Data Collection ……………………………………………………………………………… 63 3.5.1 Administering the Questionnaire ……………………………………………………….63 3.5.2 Conducting the Interview ……………………………………………………………….64 3.6 Data Analysis Procedure …………………………………………………………………… 66 3.6.1 Quantitative Analysis for Questionnaire ……………………………………………… 66 3.6.2 Qualitative Analysis for Interview …………………………………………………… 66 Chapter Four: FINDINGS and DICUSSION 4.1 Research Question …………………………………………………………………………68 4.1.1 Beliefs about Importance and Nature of Writing ………………………………………69 4.1.1.1 Beliefs about Importance of Writing …………………………………………………69 4.1.1.2 Beliefs about Nature of Writing …………………………………………………… 73 4.1.2 Beliefs about Teacher Roles and Teaching Writing ……………………………………78 4.1.2.1 Beliefs about Teacher Roles …………………………………………………………79 4.1.2.2 Beliefs about Teaching Writing ……………………………………………… ……81 4.1.3 Summary of the Teachers’ Beliefs …………………………………………………… 87 4.1.3.1 Teachers’ Beliefs about the Importance of Writing to High School Students …… …88 4.1.3.2 Teachers’ Beliefs about the Nature of Writing at High School Context …… ………88 4.1.3.3 Teachers’ Beliefs about Teacher Roles in Writing Classroom ………………………88 4.1.3.4 Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching ……………………………………………………89 4.2 Research Question ………………………………………………………………………….90 4.2.1 Pre–writing phase ………………………………………………………………………91 4.2.2 During–writing phase ………………………………………………………………… 93 4.2.3 After–writing phase …………………………………………………………………….95 4.2.4 Summary of the Teachers’ Classroom Practices ……… …………………………… 97 4.3 Research Question ……………………………………………………………………… 98 4.3.1 Form–based Orientation: From Beliefs to Classroom Practices ……………………… 99 4.3.2 Cognitive Process–based Orientation: From Beliefs to Classroom Practices ……… 100 4.3.3 Functional Social–based Orientation: From Beliefs to Classroom Practices …………102 4.3.4 Interactive Social–based orientation: From Beliefs to Classroom Practices………… 104 4.3.5 Summary of the Interplays between the Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices …………….105 Chapter Five: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of Key Findings ………………………………………………………….………108 5.1.1 The Teachers’ Beliefs about Importance and Nature of Writing, Teacher Roles and Teaching Orientations at High School Level ……………………………………….…108 vi 5.1.2 The Teachers’ Actual Classroom Practices of EFL Writing Instruction at High Schools …………………………………………………………………………………………110 5.1.3 The Extent of Congruence between the Teachers’ Beliefs and Classroom Practices…111 5.2 Implications of the Findings ……………………………………………………… ………112 5.3 Limitations of the Study ……………………………………………………………….……114 5.4 Recommendations for Further Research …………………………………………….……115 5.5 Contributions of the Study …………………………………………………………………116 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………… 117 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………………… 125 vii LIST OF TABLES Page Chapter Two: LITERATURE REVIEW Table 2.1: Teacher Roles Proposed by Uddin (2014) …………………………………… 23 Table 2.2: Teacher Beliefs Suggested by Some Authors ………………………………… 25 Table 2.3a: Examples of Teachers’ Beliefs about Subject Matters ……………………… 26 Table 2.3b: Teachers’ Beliefs about Nature of Writing Skill …………………………… 27 Table 2.4: Objective of MOET (2006) toward Writing Skill at High School ……… …… 32 Table 2.5: Text Types of Writing Sections …………………………………… ………… 33 Chapter Three: METHODOLOGY Table 3.1: The Pedagogical Settings …………………………………… ……………… 44 Table 3.2: Demographical Information of Participants …………… …………………… 45 Table 3.3a: Results of Pre–study Interview 1………………… ………………………… 48 Table 3.3b: Results of Pre–study Interview ………… ………………………………… 50 Table 3.4: Profiles of Participants in the Pilot Study……………………………… …… 52 Table 3.5: The Link between Research Questions and Instruments ……….….………… 54 Table 3.6: Description of the Questionnaire (Part II) …………………… …………… 56 Table 3.7: Description of the Questionnaire (Part III) ……………… …………………… 57 Table 3.8: Reliability Analysis (Cronbach’s Alpha) …………… ……………… ….… 60 Table 3.9: Process of Questionnaire Delivery and Collection ………………….… … 63 Table 3.10: Demographical Information of the Interviewees ………………….………… 65 Chapter Four: FINDINGS and DISCUSSION Table 4.1: Teachers’ Beliefs about the Extent of Importance of Writing …………………69 viii Table 4.2: Teachers’ Beliefs about Reasons for Importance of Writing ……….…….…71 Table 4.3: Teachers’ Beliefs about Nature of Writing ………………………….… … 74 Table 4.4: Teachers’ Beliefs about Teacher Roles ………………………… ………… 79 Table 4.5: Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching Writing …………….…………….……… 82 Table 4.6: Teachers’ Classroom Practices on Pre–writing Activities ……………….… 91 Table 4.7: Teachers’ Classroom Practices on While–writing Activities ….…………… 93 Table 4.8: Teachers’ Classroom Practices on After–writing Activities… ………….… 95 Table 4.9a: A Comparison between the Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices …… …………99 Table 4.9b: A Comparison between the Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices … ……….… 100 Table 4.9c: A Comparison between the Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices …… … … 102 Table 4.9d: A Comparison between the Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices…………… 104 ix materials as efficiently as possible, although I think that authentic materials beyond the textbooks will have positive effects on encouraging my students to learn writing Interviewer: Thank you so much for your enthusiastic help I wish you are always happy and successful in your life and work Teacher B: You are welcome Wish you complete your thesis at the best Interviewer: Thank you so much 146 APPENDIX D.3 Interview transcript General description Date: 21 August, 2016 Participants: Teacher C, Interviewer Text transcript Interviewer: Foremost, I would like to show my gratitude to your enthusiastic participation In this short interview, I am going to seek your personal views about importance as well as nature of writing skill at high school context; then about teacher roles, teaching orientations such as choice of instructional materials, choice of corrective feedback ways, and preference of teaching activities, so on Afterwards, I also need information about your actual teaching practices of writing skill; and finally, some causal factors impacting on your beliefs and actual classroom practices of writing instruction at high school Can we start? Teacher C: Okay We can start right now Interviewer: Do you think writing is an important skill in learning language at high school? Teacher C: In my opinion, writing is as quite important as other language skills due to the fact that learners want become proficient users of language, they must master all four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing Interviewer: Do you consider writing at high school is a form–based activity? Teacher C: Yes It is When checking how well my students write, I mostly focus on grammatical and lexical accuracy, as well as structure of the text This is under same line with Vietnamese MOET requirements Interviewer: Do you think writing at high school is a cognitive activity in which students should master some specialized skills such as how to gather ideas, how to organize them coherently, how to use grammar items and vocabulary, how to revise the text, etc.? Teacher C: For this, I totally agree You know, students at high school level have been growing up in terms of physical state and cognition If possessing steps to write, knowing what to write and how to write, high school students may enhance their writing ability 147 Interviewer: So in order to activate cognitive process of high school students in writing, what you often teach in your classroom? Teacher C: Although I believe that writing should be cognitive process at high school, there are some factors which make me reluctant to guide my students steps to write such as time for each writing class, students‟ level, and even examination pressures It is examination demands that drive me to focus much more on grammatical correctness, vocabulary choice and text structure as well Interviewer: Also in term of writing nature, you think writing should be reckoned as a social activity used to achieve certain communicative functions such as inviting, narrating, or reporting, etc.? Teacher C: Of course When doing anything, we also have to identify clear goals, and writing does, too Before writing, writers need to clearly identify what they write for, who will be their message receivers, so on and so forth From that, writers will know what to Thus, like speaking skill, writing is also an activity used to achieve any purpose Interviewer: So in your writing classroom, what you often to help students clarify their writing purposes? Teacher C: Simply, before analyzing any sample text, I often ask my students some questions such as “What is purpose of the text? Who is the writer of the text? Who will be readers of the text? How is the text presented?” Interviewer: Is it true to say that writing at high school is social activity whose interaction among students? Teacher C: Maybe Actually, I think that writing at high school should deal more with grammar items, vocabulary and structure of a text On the whole, I seldom build up interaction among students in my writing classroom Interviewer: Belief about teacher roles is important, which then help us define effective teaching orientations According to you, what roles should high school teachers perform in order to help students learn writing effectively? A knowledge transmitter? A facilitator? Or both? Or else? Teacher C: In my opinion, flexibility in teacher roles in accordance with each lesson and each stage is the most important thing Interviewer: Can you show me a couple of examples about this? 148 Teacher C: For instances, before having students to write, I have to provide them a sample text and then analyze its structure, key expressions and a few grammatical items Following this, I sometimes give my students chance to write by themselves, and I move around the class to support in case any students confront difficulties, so on and so forth To frankly speak, I prefer to play my active role as a knowledge transmitter in my writing class because it can help me save time and reduce pressure, especially due to short length of time for each lesson Interviewer: Can you specify your teaching activities in your writing classroom? Teacher C: Foremost, I show the sample text to my students on the projector screen Then I analyze it on the basis of grammar, key expressions and genetic structures If time allows, I will give my students one or two exercises related to the structure of this text type Finally, I let my students to free writing activity within cues given in the textbook Normally, duration is not sufficient for my students to finish this activity; therefore, I ask them to complete it into their notebook at home Interviewer: So, at the end of your writing class, you often assign another similar topic for your students to practice at home? Teacher C: In principle, “practice makes perfect” But in reality, I almost never it because I know that my students will not skip it Furthermore, I recognize that many my students don‟t really like and they have no much time for extensive writing at home However, in the last year, I began giving a list of topics for my grade 12 students to practice at home so that they could be able to the writing section well in the coming national GCSE examination Of course, with each topic, I also suggest some ideas to enable them to write Interviewer: I got your ideas I think that we should let students write their own texts independently, they then will complete the writing section in the national GCSE at best In term of teaching materials, you think textbook series mandated by MOET like Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11 and Tieng Anh 12 are sufficient to help high students develop their writing? Teacher C: I consider these books provide enough information about text types; however, sometimes I have to find the sample texts in case these books not supply I find it time–consuming to prepare a sample text Interviewer: So, you reckon that authentic materials (e.g., magazines, newspaper, videos) along with textbooks will bring out positive effects as many as possible? 149 Teacher C: It is much possible For examples, these authentic materials foremost motivate students by colorful formats of magazines, videos Also, they can offer sample texts of genuine language written by native speakers; as a result, high school students will have chances to familiarize standard writing texts, and they are capable of getting high score in international proficiency tests such TOEFL, IELTS Yet, I find it challenging and time–consuming for preparation Interviewer: To help students write better, how you perceive about the ways that high school teachers give corrective feedback on students‟ writing? Teacher C: In principle, I believe that teachers should correct students‟ writing in terms of grammar, vocabulary, content, text structure, mechanics, and so on Interviewer: You mean the overall quality of students‟ writing, don‟t you? Teacher C: Yes, overall quality Interviewer: So, in reality, you focus on the overall quality of students‟ writing? Teacher C: To be honest, when giving corrective feedback or grading my students‟ writing, I mostly concentrate on grammatical mistakes and check if there are enough parts of a text or not, for example, opening, body and ending; but I seldom evaluate students‟ writing content good or not Interviewer: The last question I would like to ask you, what factors impact your practice of teaching writing? Teacher C: I think that… At first, my students‟ knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, social issues; hence, although I want to have my students to write by themselves much more, it seems impossible Secondly, due to examination requirements, I focus on merely grammatical patterns, text structures rather than content Furthermore, I am under a lot of pressure in schooling duties, so I haven‟t got much time for careful preparation for writing classes Interviewer: Thank you so much for your enthusiastic help Wish you are always happy and successful in your life and work Teacher C: Not at all Wish you finish your master thesis successfully Interviewer: Thank you so much 150 APPENDIX D.4 Interview transcript General description Date: 21 August, 2016 (Afternoon) Participants: Teacher D, Interviewer Text transcript Interviewer: Dear, teacher Foremost, I would like to show my gratitude to your enthusiastic participation In this short interview, I am going to seek your personal views about importance as well as nature of writing skill at high school context; then about teacher roles, teaching orientations such as choice of instructional materials, choice of corrective feedback ways, and preference of teaching activities, so on Afterwards, I also need information about your actual teaching practices of writing skill; and finally, some causal factors impacting on your beliefs and actual classroom practices of writing instruction at high school Can we start? Teacher D: You are welcome Interviewer: Do you think writing is an important skill in learning language at high school? Teacher D: Yes, it is Writing is one of four language skills which are taught at high school level, and it is equally important as other skills according to prescription of MOET Interviewer: Do you consider writing at high school is a form–based activity in which students learn, practice and manipulate linguistic forms and genre structures? Teacher D: Certainly true At high school level, students must learn and manipulate the learnt grammar, vocabulary, and text structure when they learn writing; then when entering tertiary level, they are able to use these structures to develop their writing skill deeply You know, like building a house, foremost we need brick, cement, and water and then make a mixture of these materials Interviewer: Do you reckon writing at high school level is a social activity in which students will interact with each other to construct a text? Teacher D: I don‟t think so I think that high school students should receive knowledge of vocabulary and grammar as well as content of what to write from their teachers and teachers then play an authority in their writing classroom Having students to work together may be a good idea, but it take much time 151 when a writing class only last forty–five minutes Furthermore, when students work together, some of them will make noise or not concentrated on what they are working Interviewer: Do you think it is true to say that writing at high school is a social activity used to achieve communicative purposes? Teacher D: I entirely applaud this opinion Before writing, students need to identify the purpose of their written text It may be due to this view that Writing sections in textbook series mandated by MOET introduce different text genres adhered to various goals such as letter of invitation, letter of confirmation, personal narratives, and so on Interviewer: So how you often so that your students capture the purpose of their written text? Teacher D: Before analyzing the sample text of writing, I ask my students to skim it and then I make some question on them like “What is writer of the text? What is receiver of the text? What is the text written for?” These questions, according to me, are important since they help my students understand more about the function of the text genre to be learnt Interviewer: In relation to nature of writing at high school, is it a cognitive process from preparation to the completion of the text? Teacher D: Of course, it is such that Like doing anything, we need to have clear plan or path Writing does, too Writing doesn‟t mean merely learning grammar, vocabulary and structures by rote Besides, writers need to know how to compose a text Recalling what I had learnt from university, I had practiced writing through several stages such as idea gathering, outlining, drafting, editing and producing the final draft Also, I often practiced the given topics at home with the motto of “practice makes perfect” After the first year of university program, I really made much improvement in his writing skill because I could handle my writing skill Interviewer: Can you specify a couple of examples about your teaching activities in your writing classroom? Teacher D: I usually start writing lessons by drawing my students‟ attention to the sample texts available in the textbook Then I ask them some questions about these sample texts such as what is the purpose of the writer? What type of this text? My students are allowed to give their responses by either English or Vietnamese Then depending on the textbook content, I can proceed in different ways For examples, if the textbook includes controlled tasks of grammatical points and key expression, my students are asked to complete them first On the contrary, if the textbook has students to write a text similar with the given 152 sample text and cues, then I will help them to complete this free activity Primarily, I let my students familiarize with structures of different text types Interviewer: Understanding of the roles of teachers in classroom is very necessary It helps these teachers identify what orientations they need to follow According to you, what roles should high school teachers perform in order to help students learn writing effectively: A knowledge transmitter, a facilitator, or both, or else? Teacher D: In my opinion, I think both Foremost, teachers have to provide writing knowledge to their students For instances, writing components as lexis, syntax, mechanics, so on; or, various text types such as letter, invitation, report, narrative, etc After that, teachers will facilitate their students to write like organize work arrangements among students Nevertheless, teachers at high school should perform the role of knowledge transmitter more than facilitator due to several factors Interviewer: What are they factors? Teacher D: As a matter of fact, high school students are less capable of writing by themselves They are quite weak at vocabulary size, grammatical knowledge Furthermore, due to limited time for each period, teachers have to monitor the lesson in a hurried way to catch up with the curriculum in time Therefore, it is not time for helping students work together or teachers facilitate or support much instead of directly transmitting knowledge Interviewer: To see whether students‟ writing is good, giving corrective feedback is a dispensable part of teaching process According to your opinion, to help students learn writing effectively, in which ways language teachers give corrective feedback on their students‟ writing? Teacher D: According to my personal view, by any degree, teachers should correct their students‟ writing in term of overall quality… I mean form and content Thus, students are able to develop their writing better Although I have no much time, when giving corrective feedback to my students‟ writing, I usually concentrate on vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and even idea development However, I admit that sometimes I only focus on vocabulary, grammar, punctuation Interviewer: Besides textbook series mandated by MOET such as Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11 or Tieng Anh 12, you think teachers should employ other supplementary materials? Teacher D: If possible, high school teachers need to use other supplementary materials along with textbook series since this choice may make writing class livelier and more interesting, helping students much engage into writing classes 153 Interviewer: “If possible”, what does it mean? Teacher D: I mean… if I have enough time for seeking such materials and adapt them This task takes much time more than we think because we have select materials suitable to students‟ level, requirements of the lesson Hence, in fact, I just employ textbook series mandated by MOET Interviewer: Do you think that let students write more will get considerable effect on improving their writing ability? Teacher D: Of course I totally appreciate this Interviewer: At the end of each writing class, you often assign another similar topic for your students to practice it at home? Teacher D: Seldom I often ask my students to complete the writing topic given by the textbook into their notebook at home Afterward, I will mark them Interviewer: And the last question I would like to ask you is what factors that lead to mismatch between what you believe and what you actually in teaching writing to your high school students? Teacher D: Many reasons Simply, my students lack motivation or interest in writing Especially, total writing classes for each grade are too short, so my students don‟t have many chances to build up their solid writing abilities On the other hand, although MOET prescribes English education curriculum to focus on all four skills, the fact shows that all types of exams ignore writing skill, even listening and speaking Recent three years, writing skill has occupied 20 percent of English paper in the National GCSE examination; from that, teaching writing is treated by having high school students to learn the sample texts by rote Interviewer: What else? Teacher D: I think that‟s all Interviewer: Thank you so much for your enthusiastic help I wish you are always successful in your life Teacher D: Not at all Wish you succeed in defending your thesis 154 APPENDIX D.5 Interview transcript General description Date: 28 August, 2016 (Morning) Participants: Teacher E, Interviewer Text transcript Interviewer: At first, I would like to show my gratitude to your enthusiastic participation In this short interview, I am going to seek your personal views about importance as well as nature of writing skill at high school context; then about teacher roles, teaching orientations such as choice of instructional materials, choice of corrective feedback ways, and preference of teaching activities, so on Afterwards, I also need information about your actual teaching practices of writing skill; and finally, some causal factors impacting on your beliefs and actual classroom practices of writing instruction at high school Can we start? Teacher E: Yes Interviewer: Do you think writing is an important skill in learning language to high school students? Teacher E: Yes, it is Writing is one of four skills when we learn any language Therefore, it is as important as other skills like listening, speaking and reading Interviewer: Do you think writing at high school is a form–based activity? Teacher E: What you mean “form–based”, I haven‟t understood obviously yet Interviewer: It means an activity in which students will learn, practice, and manipulate the linguistic form, genre structure that teachers have provided Teacher E: Alright In writing class at my high school, I often have my students practice, and manipulate the grammatical items as well as genre structure that teachers have analyzed from the sample text of writing Interviewer: Do you believe that writing at high school is a cognitive process in which students should master some specialized skills such as how to gather ideas, how to organize them coherently, how to use grammar items and vocabulary, how to revise the text, etc.? 155 Teacher E: Of course Writing proficiency of student writers is accumulatively developed through a set of specific steps When they handle the ways to write, they can compose their texts well; for instances, the way to gather ideas, the way to organize them, the way to choose correct words and structures, and so on Interviewer: Do you reckon writing should be a social activity in term of interaction among students? Teacher E: I think so If students have opportunities to participate in collaborative activities in pair or groups, they will surely write better To add one important point, when helping each other to revise the text, these students may play the role of readers; they will check if they understand what other students have written From that, students will know what to be revised Interviewer: In your own viewpoint, you consider that writing is a social activity used to achieve certain communicative functions such as inviting, narrating, or reporting, etc.? Teacher E: About this view, I strongly applaud It is an apparent thing Writing, like the other skills, is used to convey what we want to mean Speaking skill is an oral means of communication, and then writing skill is a written means of communication Interviewer: What you think you should to help your high school students learn writing effectively in terms of teaching ways? Teacher E: For high school students, I consider that providing language input is the most important thing In other words, students will be able to write well until their teachers provide enough necessity of key linguistic forms, genre structures From whatever the teachers provided, students will manipulate in composing their own text Afterwards, giving students opportunities to write by themselves is as important as providing language input At that time, students will become more proactive and confident to a new writing topic, because they hold what they will write and how they will start Under my viewpoint, I highly appreciate a balance in roles to be performed by both teachers and students Interviewer: Do you think you should employ other supplementary authentic materials to help your high school students learn writing effectively? Teacher E: You mean… both the textbooks mandated by MOET and supplementary materials, don‟t you? Interviewer: Yes, that‟s my view Authentic materials are what in connection to daily life such as story, magazines, newspapers, etc 156 Teacher E: Sincerely speaking, for me, I believe that these materials may provide different genuine contexts for writing, which make writing more meaningful I make sure that high school students will become motivated to learn writing Besides, authentic materials drive communicative functions effectively To give some examples, a short story can be used to teach students how to narrate, or a magazine can be used to teach students how to report data, etc Interviewer: So, in fact, you employ authentic materials along with the textbooks mandated by MOET? Teacher E: No, I don‟t Selection and adaption of these supplementary materials will occupy much time and I only use the sample texts in the textbooks In case there are not any sample texts for that period, I will write down outline which I prepared in lesson plan onto the board so that my students can follow and imitate Also, I am always under a lot of pressure of schooling duties Thereby, I almost never seek or replace by any other authentic materials Interviewer: To help your high school students learn writing effectively, it is important to define our roles in writing instruction So, according to your own view, should a knowledge transmitter, a facilitator or both of them be fulfilled in our writing classroom? Teacher E: I totally believe that a flexible combination between a direct knowledge transmitter and an active facilitator enables high school students learn writing as effectively as possible However, the role of a knowledge transmitter should still be prioritized first Interviewer: Can you specific your thoughts, please? Teacher E: As a matter of fact, high school students need direct help from their teachers in learning writing First, they don‟t know how start writing Second, their lexis size is limited Next, in term of grammar, many high school students don‟t master many grammar items Especially, these students, as whatever I think, have too little social knowledge Thus, if I don‟t directly provide information, I think they will have several troubles in developing their ideas Interviewer: So how about the role of a facilitator? How you think we fulfill it successfully? Teacher E: Facilitator will help high school students become more active in learning writing In other words, we should create many more chances for them to practice writing independently At the same time, with the role of an effective facilitator, teachers will establish groupwork or pairwork among students, they will be then more enthusiastic 157 Interviewer: So in reality, you often set up different work arrangements among your students in writing class? Teacher E: Sometimes if the tasks in textbooks require If not, I mostly interact with my students Having students to work collaboratively can occupy much time while they have to learn the sample text and one or two controlled exercises so that they then write their text without any errors Interviewer: Giving corrective feedbacks is a dispensable thing in any teaching process As for you, which is the most effective way to give corrective feedback in order to help your high school students improve their writing? Teacher E: According to my personal view, I consider that in order to help our students improve their writing better, we should give comments on overall quality of their writing such as correct grammar, correct spelling, suitable punctuation, clarity and coherence as well Interviewer: In practical, you often concentrate on the overall quality of your students‟ writing when giving corrective feedback? Teacher E: Sometimes I often make my comments on grammatical and lexical errors, punctuation mistakes or unclear text structures, and sometimes ideas Yet, most of these ideas are available in the textbooks or suggested by me Nevertheless, I still primarily correct students‟ linguistic errors in the texts Interviewer: It is said that practice makes perfect So, you believe in the effectiveness of out–of–class practice activities for your high school students? Teacher E: Yes, I It is out of question The more my students practice, the more their writing skill is improved Interviewer: In practical, how often you assign another topic for your students to write at home? Teacher E: It is regrettable that I don‟t frequently such that Since my students have much time to this; moreover, if I assign another topic for writing at home, most of them will not surely that, except for a few students who are really concerned about Interviewer: Can you describe some teaching activities that you frequently employ in your writing classes? Teacher E: Normally, what I teach depends on whatever is included in the textbook It means I teach writing section based on writing tasks in these textbooks Actually, these writing tasks just concentrate on 158 key grammatical items, for examples, tenses, sentence patterns, structures of the texts, etc Sometimes, there are a few free writing activities for students to practice on a particular topic Interviewer: What factors you think that influence transferring what you believe into what you actually in the area of teaching writing skill at high school environment? Teacher E: Actually, many To give some examples, teachers have no much time to make writing class become more interesting and effective; furthermore, students are uninterested in writing and they not still find writing skill important yet Besides, teaching materials for writing skill are not much appropriate More importantly, the curriculum is rather rigid and restricted about total number of writing periods, although MOET equalizes the four language skills I think they are primary causes leading to difficulties in teaching and learning of writing skill at high schools Interviewer: Thank you so much for your enthusiastic help I wish you are always happy and successful in your life and work Teacher E: Not at all Try your best to implement your thesis as well as possible 159 APPENDIX E CONSENT FORM (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Thư gửi Tổ trưởng Tổ Ngoại ngữ – Trường Trung học phổ thơng …………………… Kính gửi Thầy (Cơ) Tổ trưởng Tổ Ngoại ngữ – Trường Trung học phổ thông ……………………… , Em tên Trương Minh Hòa, học viên cao học chuyên ngành Lý Luận Phương Pháp Dạy Học Bộ Mơn Tiếng Anh (Khóa 2014–2016), Khoa Sau đại học, trường Đại học Mở TP Hồ Chí Minh Hiện Em tiến hành đề tài nghiên cứu để hồn thành chương trình thạc sĩ chun ngành giảng dạy tiếng Anh Đề tài nghiên cứu Em liên quan đến vấn đề dạy kĩ viết bậc phổ thông Để thực đề tài này, Em cần tham gia tất giáo viên tiếng Anh trường THPT ………………………………………… Em viết thư này, mong nhận đồng ý từ phía Thầy (Cơ) Tổ trưởng cho phép giáo viên tiếng Anh trường tham gia vào nghiên cứu Nếu Thầy (Cô) đồng ý cho tất giáo viên tiếng Anh trường tham gia vào nghiên cứu này, Thầy/ Cô hoàn tất bảng khảo sát gồm 39 câu Bảng câu hỏi chia làm phần, cụ thể: (1) Thông tin chung; (2) Niềm tin giáo viên việc dạy kĩ viết tiếng Anh; (3) Các hoạt động giáo viên thường sử dụng việc dạy viết; (4) Các yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến niềm tin thực tế dạy kĩ viết Câu trả lời q Thầy/ Cơ được đảm bảo BÍ MẬT tên quý Thầy/ Cô không nêu phần báo cáo kết nghiên cứu Xin lưu ý việc tham gia vào nghiên cứu hồn tồn TỰ NGUYỆN Nếu Thầy (Cơ) Tổ trưởng đồng ý, xin ký vào thư Chỉ có người phép tiếp cận liệu nghiên cứu Em – người tiến hành nghiên cứu khảo sát Tiến sĩ Phạm Vũ Phi Hổ, giảng viên hướng dẫn luận văn Em Ngoài khơng có rủi ro liên quan đến khảo sát Để biết thêm thông tin chi tiết, Thầy (Cơ) Tổ trưởng liên hệ Em theo số điện thoại 0984.430.699, email: ngut_minh_hoa@yahoo.com.vn Tiến sĩ Phạm Vũ Phi Hổ, khoa Sau đại học, trường Đại học Mở TP Hồ Chí Minh, số điện thoại 0909.850.699, email: phamvuphiho@gmail.com Đề tài xem xét chấp thuận khoa Sau đại học, trường Đại học Mở TP Hồ Chí Minh, số điện thoại văn phịng (+84) 83.39300.947 Cuối cùng, Em xin trân trọng cảm ơn trợ giúp quý báu Thầy (Cô) Tổ trưởng Tôi đọc kỹ nội dung thắc mắc giải đáp cách thỏa đáng Các thông tin liên quan số điện thoại liên lạc giữ lại Chấp thuận 160 ... what beliefs the selected high school teachers in Ho Chi Minh City hold about the importance and nature of writing, as well as about their roles and orientations to teaching writing for high school... these teachers understand about their teacher roles and teaching orientations in writing instruction at high school context A considerable amount of literature indicates that the teachers? ?? practices. .. teachers? ?? beliefs about writing and its teaching, their actual classroom practices, as well as the interplays between their beliefs and practices in the realm of EFL writing instruction A sample of