VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ MAI HƯƠNG CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING WRITING SKILL
WITH THE TEXTBOOK ENGLISH 11 ( BASIC STREAM) AT TINH
GIA 5 HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA PROVINCE

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT
THEO SÁCH TIẾNG ANH 11 ( HỆ CƠ BẢN) ĐỐI VỚI GIÁO VIÊN VÀ
HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA 5, TỈNH THANH HÓA)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Hanoi, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
v

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Table 1: The differences between the process writing and the product writing
Table 2: Checklist of writing tasks in the new „Tieng Anh 11‟ textbook
Table 3: The purposes of teaching writing
Table 4 : Teachers‟ general thoughts of the writing lesson
Table 5: Problems in teaching writing
Table 6: Students‟ actions in the writing lesson
Table 7: Factors influence students‟ participant and interests
Table 8: Evaluation of forms of writing texts in the textbook
Table 9: Activities to attract students to the lesson
Table 10: Activities to improve students‟ writing skill
Table 11 : Purposes of learning writing skill
Table 12: Problems in learning writing
Table 13: Activities to make lesson more interesting
Table 14: Activities after writing
Chart 1: The importance of writing skill

3. Research questions …………………………………………………….
2
4. The scope of the study …………………………………………………
2
5. Design of the study……………………………………………………
3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
4
1. Definitions of writing :………………………………………………….
4
2. Roles of writing…………………………………………………………
5
3. Approaches to the teaching of writing…………………………………
6
3.1 Controlled-to-Free Approach:…………………………………………
7
3.2 The Free-Writing Approach:………………………………………….
7
3.3 The Paragraph-Pattern Approach:…………………………………….
7
3.4 The Grammar-Syntax- Organization Approach………………………
8
3.5 The Communicative Approach……………………………………….
8
3.6 The Process Approach………………………………………………
8
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3.1 Teacher‟s survey questionnaires……………………………………….
20
3.2. Students‟ survey questionnaires………………………………………
28
3.3. Class observation…………………………………………………
34
3.4 Main findings………………………………………………………….
35
3.4.1 Poor facilities and large size classes…………………………………
36
3.4.2 Teachers‟ and students‟ inappropriate attitudes towards the writing
skill…………………………………………………………………………
36
3.4.3 Unsuitable tasks in the textbook ……………………………………
36
3.4.4 Students‟ poor linguistic competence………………………………
36
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3.4.5 Students‟ lack of background knowledge…………………………….
37
3.4.6 Passive learning style…………………………………………………
37
3.4.7 Teachers‟ difficulties…………………………………………………
3.5 Suggested solutions to overcome the challenges………………………
37
38
3.5.1 Raising the students‟ awareness of the importance of the writing
skill………………………………………………………………………….
38

1

PART I: INTRODUCTION
This very first part of the thesis is to introduce the rationale for the study, the
aims and objectives of the study as well as the research questions which the study
was to carry out to find out the answers. It also presents the scope of the study as
well as the design of the study.
1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, as learning a second language is paid more and more special
attention to, there has been a growing tendency towards the emphasis on
communicative competence in language teaching and learning. Writing, therefore,
is regarded as a productive skill which provides students with opportunities to put
all the language elements they have learnt into practice and to show communicative
competence effectively.
However, in fact, writing is not often as important to many students as other
skills such as reading and speaking and it tends to get rather neglected in many
Vietnamese language classes.
Furthermore, writing itself is a very complex and difficult skill to acquire.
Therefore, teaching students to write well is one of the most challenges in
education. In studying the teaching writing skill process at Tinh Gia 5 high school, I
have been found that there are a lot of difficulties in teaching and learning English,
especially the writing skill. Among four language skills, taught in English, writing
can be seen as the most boring and hardest one. Thus, teaching and learning writing
skill at Tinh Gia 5 high school isn‟t paid attention, even that some teachers had to
cut down this skill lessons. Facing up this problem, so many questions about
teaching and learning writing skill always concern me a lot: “What problems might
the students face when learning skill? What should be done to help them overcome
those problems? How should we teach each form of written text so that the students
can learn it effectively? etc….” I, therefore decided to do the research on
“Challenges in teaching and learning writing skill with the textbook English 11

including literature review, the study, data analysis and study findings, Part C –
Conclusion.
3

The introduction part presents the rationale, aims and objectives, research
questions and scope of the study, and design of the study.
The literature review chapter conceptualizes the framework of the study
through the discussions of writing.
The study gives the specific details of school and the new „Tieng Anh 11‟
textbook. Besides, a general description of method is presented in this chapter.
The last chapter concentrates on the data analysis, study findings and some
suggestions to help the grade-11 students and teachers at Tinh Gia 5 high school
overcome the challenges in teaching and learning of the writing skill with the new
„Tieng Anh 11‟ textbook.
The conclusion part at the end gives a conclusion, limitation and suggestions
for further research.
4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, some definitions of writing, the roles of writing will be presented
to help the readers be clearer about writing. Besides, this chapter gives an overview
of relevant literature and researches that deal with approaches in teaching writing
skill and finally the researcher will give the answer for the question „what make
writing difficult to acquire?‟.
1. Definitions of writing
Writing is an important language skill so we have to understand “what is
writing? How to write well ? ” There are many definitions of writing. Byrne
(1991:1) stated about writing that “When we write, we use graphic symbols that is,

intellectually, manage everyday affairs, express ideas or argue. By writing they can
have control of both information and people.
2. Roles of writing
Writing emerges with its own functions and brings along communicative code of
the writers. When making a piece of writing, the writer implies a message or a
certain purpose. In the modern world, writing (written language) severs a range of
functions in everyday life. Nunan (1991:84) pointed out, writing is:
1. Primarily for action: public signs ( on roads and stations), product labels
and instructions ( on food, tools or toy purchased), recipes, maps,
television and radio guides, bills, menus, telephone directories, etc.
2. Primarily for social contact: personal correspondence, letters, postcards,
greeting cards.
3. Primarily for information: newspapers and magazines, non-fiction books
(text books, public notices, advertisement, guidebooks and travel
literature, etc.)
4. Primarily for entertainment: light magazines, comic trips, fiction books,
poetry and drama, film subtitles, games including computer games.
To master language, obviously it is impossible for learners not to learn writing
skill well. As a basic productive skill, writing provides students with a chance to put
all the language elements they have learned into practice. White (1991:1)
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emphasized the significance of writing that “Through writing we are able to share
ideas, arouse feelings, persuade and convince other people. We are able to discover
and articulate ideas in ways that only writing makes possible.”
3. Approaches to the teaching of writing
Writing seems to be a difficult skill and a challenge to both teachers and
learners. Identifying approaches adapted in teaching writing can help teachers find
out effective techniques to overcome difficulties and attain the objectives in
teaching, therefore help students improve writing skill.

PROCESS
Getting ideas,
Getting started,
Writing drafts,
revising
GRAMMAR
rules for verbs,
agreements, articles,
pronouns, etc.
MECHANIC
handwriting,
spelling,
pronunciation, etc.
AUDIENCE
The reader(s)
ORGANIZATION
paragraphs,
topic and support,
cohesion and unity
PURPOSE
the reason for writing
WORD CHOICE
vocabulary
idiom, tone

Clear, fluent and
effective
communication
of ideas
7

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one. Byrne (1991:23) pointed out the advantages of this approach: “this approach
identifies and tries to overcome one of the central problems in writing: getting
students to express themselves effectively at a level beyond the sentence.”
3.4 The Grammar-Syntax- Organization Approach
This approach mainly stresses the necessity to work simultaneously on more
than one feature in the composition diagram: grammar, syntax and organization.
Teachers give students writing tasks that lead them to pay attention to organization
while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax. For example, to write a
clear set of instructions on how to use a mobile phone, students need more than the
appropriate vocabulary. They need the simple forms of verbs; an organization
planned based on chronology; sequence words like first, next, then, finally, etc. In
general, this approach is the combination of the purpose and the form of the writing.
3.5 The Communicative Approach
The goal of this approach is communicative competence, so it emphasizes on the
purpose of the writing and the audience for it. Students are encouraged to behave
like writers in real life and to ask themselves the key questions: Why am I writing
this? And who will read it?
Conventionally, the teacher acts as the audience for the students‟ writing.
However, to make it more real life closed communication, students become readers
for each other. They read each other‟s writings, respond, rewrite in another form
and make comments, but not correct. Also teachers can specify readers outside
classroom, thus giving student writes a context in which to select appropriate
content, language and levels of formality.
3.6 The Process Approach
The teaching of writing has recently moved away from a concentration on the
written product to an emphasis on the process of writing, which leads to the
emergence of process approach. This approach encourages students to share the
ideas, feelings and experience. It is more global and focuses on purpose, theme, text

final product) as they attempt to bring their expression closer and closer
to attention.
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8. encourage feedback from the both the instructor and peers.
9. include individual conference between teacher and students during the
process of composition.
There are various approaches to teaching writing as mentioned. It is true to say
that there is not necessarily any “right” or “best” way to teach writing skill. The best
practice in any situation will depend on the type of student, the text type being
studied, the school system and many other factors (Steele, 2004). Hereunder wants
to clarify the two most popular approaches used in ESL/ EFL classroom, namely:
Product Approach and Process Approach
3.6.1 Product Approach
Product Approach is a traditional approach which is a largely “prescriptive and
product-centered” way of teaching. This approach pays much attention to the final
outcome of a writing process and supposes that students need to produce only one
writing version of the task. The model of this approach is outlined by Steele (2004)
as follows:
Stage 1: Students study a text model and mimic its highlighted feature. For
example, if studying a formal letter, student should pay attention to the importance
of paragraphing and the language used to make formal requests. If studying a story,
the focus may be on the techniques used to make story interesting, and students
focus on where and how the writer employs these techniques.
Stage 2: Students are involved in controlled practice of the highlighted features,
usually in isolation. If studying a formal letter, they may be asked to practice the
language used to make formal requests.
Stage 3: Students work to organize ideas.
Stage 4: Students choose from a choice of comparable writing tasks.
Individually, they use the skills, structures and vocabulary they have been taught to


* more than one draft
* more global, focus on purpose, theme,
text type, i.e., reader is emphasized
* collaborative
* imitate model text
*organization of ideas is more important
than ideas themselves
* one draft
* features highlighted including
controlled practice of those features
* individual
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* emphasis on creative process
* emphasis on end product
Table 1: The differences between the process writing and the product writing
From the analysis and the comparison of the two approaches, it is undeniable
that each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses. It is also the fact that
there are few classrooms where teachers are devoted to one approach as to exclude
all others. Normally, they still use techniques drawn from other approaches as the
students need them and those techniques are useful in the context of the class. The
writing lessons in new „Tiếng Anh 11‟ textbook were compiled following both
Product Approach and Process Approach. This Combined Product- Process
Approach is found to be more popular, appropriate and effective. The suggested
general outline for a writing lesson following this approach may be:
Stage 1: A model is given.
Stage 2: Students work on the model, analyze its typical features, and pay attention
to the language and structure of the model.
Stage 3: Students work in groups/ pairs to find out the ideas for the writing topic/

expand and so on, depending on how people react to what we say. Incomplete and
even ungrammatical utterances usually pass unnoticed.
In writing, we have to keep the channel of communication open through our
own efforts and to ensure, both through our choice of sentence structure and by the
way our sentences are linked together and sequenced, that the text we product can
be interpreted on its own.
 Cognitive problems :
Writing is learned through a process of instruction: we have to master the
written form of the language and to learn certain structures which are less used in
speech, or perhaps not used at all, but which are important for effective
communication in writing. We also have to learn how to organize our ideas in such
14

a way that they can be understood by a reader who is not present and perhaps by a
reader who is not known to us. Furthermore, writing is a task which is often
imposed on us, perhaps by circumstances. This is not only has a psychological
effect; it may also cause a problem in terms of content – what to say. Being at a loss
for ideas is a familiar experience to most when we are obliged to write.
Summary
This chapter has so far touched upon issues relating to the topic of the study. It
has discussed issues concerning writing: definitions of writing, roles of writing, the
reason for teaching writing, approaches to teaching writing and what make writing
difficult. Although writing in terms of definition can be seen differently, its roles
cannot be denied. Writing skills, therefore, must be taught thoroughly at school. It is
unavoidable that they have a problem with teaching methodology in writing lessons.
Hence, writing activities has taken into consideration because teaching techniques
will be discussed in the next chapter.

desks are arranged traditionally with two rows of six desks. There is a narrow isle in
the middle and two narrower ones on the sides, no other empty space left where the
teachers and the students can move to and fro if they implement different interactive
activities. Moreover, the classrooms are not equipped with modern facilities such as
television, computer, and projector, except for a board.
2.2 . The new ‘Tieng Anh 11’ textbook
The new „Tieng Anh 11‟ consists of sixteen units and six revision lessons. Each
unit presents a topic and is represented via five lessons: reading, speaking, listening,
16

writing and language focus respectively. Such division aims to improve students‟
communicative skills and systematize important linguistic components.
2.2.1 Objectives
* General objectives:
The textbook helps students with the following general objectives:
(i) Using English as a communicative tool to read, speak, listen and
write in target context at basic level.
(ii) Acquiring fundamental and systematic target English knowledge
(iii) Getting an overview of English speaking countries: people and
cultures; conserving and developing out national traditions and
cultural identity.
* Specific objectives:
Students will be able to achieve certain goals of each language skills
underpinning in the textbook.
(i) Reading: comprehending texts via practicing different reading skills:
skimming, scanning, etc… enriching vocabulary and structures.
(ii) Speaking: asking – answering, presenting the given topics, using daily
communication species: asking and giving opinions, instructions, asking
directions, and so on.
(iii) Listening: comprehending main and specific information of the text or

Writing a formal letter expressing gratitude
5
Illiteracy
Describing information in a table
6
Competition
Writing a letter reply
7
World population
Interpreting statistic on population form a
chart
8
Celebrations
Describing a celebration‟ s activities
9
The post office
Writing a formal letter to express satisfaction
or dissatisfaction
10
Nature in danger
Describing location
11
Sources of energy
Describing information from a chart
12
The Asian Games
Describing the preparations of the coming
Asian Games
13
Hobbies

questionnaires were delivered to 200 grade-11 students and 8 teachers of English at
Tinh Gia 5 high school in order to investigate the challenges that teachers and
students face up with in learning and teaching the new „Tieng Anh 11‟ textbook.
The questionnaires for students consisted of 9 questions and the questionnaires for
teachers include 10 questions.