VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
***************** BY : TRẦN THỊ HÀ TEACHING ESSAY WRITING TO ENGLISH Language specializing
STUDENTS at L£ Hång Phong specialised
secondary school, Nam §ÞNH city
(nghiên cứu việc dạy viết luận cho học sinh chuyên Anh
trường Trung học Phổ Thông chuyên Lê Hồng Phong, Nam Định)

M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 14 40
MA course 16

HA NOI – 2010

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement
Abstract
List of tables, figures and appendices
Chapter One: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale 1
1.2. State of the problem 2
1.3. Aims of the study 3
1.4. Research questions 3
1.5. Scope of the study 3
1.6. Method of the study 4
1.7 Design of the study 4
Chapter Two: Literature Review
2.1. An overview of writing 5
2.1.1. Academic writing and essay writing 6
2.1.2. Place of writing in foreign language programs 7
2.2. Major approaches to teaching writing 9
2.2.1. The product approach 9
2.2.2. The process approach 10
2.3. Essay writing as a form of Academic writing 12
2.4. Challenges of teaching and learning essay writing 13
v
LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: The frequency of using classroom activities by teachers in writing lessons
Table 2: The students’ perception of the activities used by teachers in terms of their
usefulness
Table 3: The teacher’ perceived value of classroom activities used in terms of their
usefulness
Table 4: The students’ satisfaction of teachers’ classroom activities
Table 5: Teacher’s perceived value of students’ satisfaction of the classroom activities.
Chart 1: The frequency of writing essay by students vi

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A ( A questionnaire completed by the students)
APPENDIX B( A questionnaire completed by the teachers)
APPENDIX C ( Questions for the interview)
APPENDIX D ( Observation classroom) 2
1.2.State of the problem

Nurturing and training the talents is a burdensome and primary mission of the
system of specialized schools through the nation. In order to train the language specializing
students for the nation, nurturing the excellent requires a special education that
differentiates from one for the normal students. Due to this crucial mission, the Ministry of
Education and Training (MOET) has been implementing the renovation of textbooks on
English on a large scale since 2006 and “ Tieng Anh 10, 11, 12 nang cao” have been used
to teach language specializing pupils . In addition, MOET does not intend to fix specific
curricula used for language specializing students but suggest and constructs a frame of
content and skills for the whole grade and for each of the classes basing on the above-
mentioned syllabi. This flexibility of the curriculum for the language specializing students
provides teachers at language specializing schools in general and at Le Hong Phong
specialized secondary school in particular with more chances to collect materials suitable
for their teaching. Besides, according to MOET’s regulations, from 2000 the annual
national tests for language specializing students need to be designed consistently in
structures which are coincident with the required teaching contents and writing essays is
one of the compulsory parts in the test (in the writing part). This is a rather difficult task as
it contains exact measurements and the students have to present them objectively. In
addition, writing essay has been considered a difficult and boring subject for both foreign
language teachers and students. It also takes much time and energy to make progress in this
skill. Approaches to teaching writing have long been classified by many researchers and
applied in many classrooms, modified by many teachers of writing. Teaching essay writing
is one of these above approaches but to Vietnamese learners, teachers of writing are
supposed to three key factors: Motivation, Rhetorical patterns and Coherence. It is mainly

The study is focused on only students from the 11
th
grade, an English language
specializing class at Le Hong Phong specialized secondary school. Because it is the first
time they have officially been taught how to write an essay. Yet, the study results cannot
be true to all Vietnamese students. Thus, my suggestions for essay teaching and learning
writing might work well only groups of language specializing students at secondary
school. 4
1.6. Method of the study

This study is conducted in the combination of quantitative and qualitative method.
Data were collected by means of survey questionnaires, classroom observation and
interview. The researcher believes that the combination of different methods to collect data
could provide more reliable and valid information for analysis. Questionnaires of small
groups of English language specializing students and semi-structured interview are used to
discover their perception of classroom activities used by the teacher in terms of their
usefulness and their learning needs and expectations towards teachers. Questionnaire and
post-classroom observation interview with teachers of writing are to explore their common
activities used in the way that help their students with essay writing skill as well as their
perceived value of those activities.

1.7. Design of the study

The research consists of four chapters. The first chapter presents the rationale, the
statement of the problem, the aims, research questions, the scope of the study, research
methods as well as the design of the study. The second chapter conceptualizes the
framework through the discussion of issues and ideas on theories for academic writing,


From another view of writing, Murray (1978:29) and Perl (1979:43) defined
writing as “a creative discovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay of
content and language: the use of language to explore beyond the known content.”

Moreover, writing is also defined as a social process by Candlin and Hyland
(1999: 107) .They stated that “Writing is therefore an engagement in a social process,
where the production of texts reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies
constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made”

In language teaching, writing is defined as one of the two productive language
skills including speaking and writing skill. According to Ur (1996), “most people acquire
the spoken language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written
form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned” (p.161). He added, “Writing
normally requires some form of instruction. It is not a skill that is really picked up by
exposure” (p11).

6 In short, writing is an art that writers want to communicate with certain groups of
audience. Essay writing is like academic writing but a special skill that does not spring
naturally from an ability to speak a language. Thus, essay writing is a skill in the process
of communication and related to other language skills on its own social role.

2.1.1. Academic writing and essay writing

Academic writing according to Oshima and Hogue (1991:2) stated that “Academic
writing, as the name implies, is the kind of writing that you are required to do in college or
university. It differs from the other kinds of writing (personal, literary, journalistic,

2.1.2. Place of writing in foreign language classroom.
Firstly, writing is not only an important form of communication in day-to-day life
but also an essential skill for students preparing for university study. At higher levels of
education, it is a key aspect of academic literacy that aspiring scholars pursue as part of
socialization in their disciplines. Writing for academic purposes is a particularly
challenging task for students studying English as a foreign language (EFL). The skills
involved are highly complex, while at the same time students’ cultures have their own
norms for structure and rhetoric which are not always compatible with the current
conventions of academic English. As Casanave (2002) points out, academic writing poses
a “clueless” challenge because the rules of the “game” are almost all implicit (p. 19). Of
these, textual competence (Bachman, 1990), or the ability to develop and organize ideas in
an academically persuasive manner according to “rules of cohesion and rhetorical
organization” (p. 88) constitutes the most formidable and crucial challenge. From our
personal experiences as classroom teachers in Vietnam, the author agrees with Hayashi’s
(2005) observation that EFL students’ writings more often than not end up lacking a clear
logical flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument.
If learning how to produce writing that satisfies academic norms is the problem
from a student’s perspective, from a teacher’s perspective this means the challenge is to
prepare students with varying English proficiencies and from a non-English cultural and
academic background to become flexible writers who can effectively tackle academic
writing tasks from a variety of angles. Because students are linguistically of mixed

8
abilities, a particular classroom writing task which is motivating and manageable to some
can turn out to be daunting or impossible for others. It is understandable that teachers of
high school often complain that “writing is the most problematic skill to teach in such
classes” (Hess, 2001, p. 77).
It is obvious that writing is a difficult skill because it requires many characteristics
which are not necessary for speaking such as formality, well- planned, accuracy and time.
Secondly, the nature of writing causes many strategies for writers, According to

which is analyzed and then forms the basis of a task that leads to the writing of an exactly
similar or a parallel text” ( Evan and St John, 1998: 116). To be more specific, this
approach can be used to refer to the concentration on the features of the actual text- the
end- product that writers have to produce that can be summarized in the following
sequence:
Model text -> Comprehension / analysis/ manipulation -> new input -> Parallel text
(Robinson, 1991 cited in Evan and St John, 1998)
The product (or model text) approach sees writing as being primarily about
linguistic knowledge. Attention is given to the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax and
cohesive devices. In EFL contexts, it is rooted in Behaviourist theory and requires the
learner to manipulate fixed patterns which are learnt by imitation. Proponents of the
product approach see the composing process as being linear and consisting of four stages
which is in line with the teaching structure of Present, Practice and Produce which
emerged at around the same time. These stages are:
Stage 1: Familiarization-this makes students aware of certain features of a
particular text.
Stages 2 and 3: Controlled and Guided writing- these stages aim at giving learners
guided practice with increasing freedom to help them practice.
Stage 4: Free writing-This is where the learners are finally given a free reign and
can produce a piece of writing by imitating the sample text. 10
This approach can be used successfully in teaching writing for beginners. All
learners can not write well as soon as they begin the course but can take progress step by
step with imitation and repetition from the model texts or the teachers. Moreover, teachers
can impart the knowledge of writing theory including grammatical structures, word
choices, cohesive device uses, how to vary the content, how to organize the essay.

However, this approach can not avoid some shortcomings. Students are passive and

embraces three steps: pre-writing, planning (outlining), writing, and revising drafts (review
the draft (either by themselves, with their peers or their teacher).
The process approach itself helps organize the writer’s thoughts. White and Arndt
(1991, p.12) argue this is because there is a close link between writing and thinking.
All these efforts in the process approach to writing see the act of writing from a
very different perspective, focusing as much on the means whereby the completed text was
created as on the end product itself. In many instances the writer starts out with only the
vaguest notion of this. The ideas are then refined, developed and transformed as the writer
writes and rewrites.
Main features of the process approach
The process approach concerns itself with individual levels of fluency and
expression. It is a replacement of an approach that considered written language secondary
and merely a mechanism for reinforcing spoken language. The finished product is in focus,
not the learner. The process approach, in contrast, empowered its learners, thereby
enabling them to make clearer decisions about the direction of their writing (Jordan 1997).
Clenton (2003) states in the same vein "It is no longer required to offer a shining example
of the model; the teacher becomes a facilitator in providing formative feedback during the
process of each student's composition. Correspondingly, this approach encourages students
to assume greater responsibility for making their own improvements, as opposed to the
miming of a pre-determined model."
This approach has some problem. First, some learners are not proficient writers in
their own language and struggle to put their thoughts on paper. Many students said that
they hardly ever wrote in their own language and had no prior experience this is
particularly challenging for the teacher and students. Peer teaching would help them notice
successful techniques that other writers use. Second, students are sometimes unable to

12
come up with suitable ideas related to the chosen topic. This therefore depends a lot on the
topics chosen. The teacher must bear in mind the students various life experiences as well
as personality and interests. Another problem is how to assess whether a process approach

you are never simply transferring information from one place to another, or showing that
you have mastered a certain amount of material. That would be incredibly boring-and
besides, it would be adding to the glut of pointless utterance. Instead, writers should be
trying to make the best possible case for an original idea you have arrived at after a period
of research. Depending upon the field, your research may involve reading and rereading a
text, performing an experiment, or carefully observing an object or behavior.
2.4. Challenges of teaching and learning essay writing
Writing is not only an important form of communication in day-to-day life but also
an essential skill for students preparing for university study. Writing for academic purposes
is a particularly challenging task for students studying English as a foreign language
(EFL). The skills involved are highly complex, while at the same time students’ cultures
have their own norms for structure and rhetoric which are not always compatible with the
current conventions of academic English. Of these, textual competence (Bachman, 1990),
or the ability to develop and organize ideas in an academically persuasive manner
according to “rules of cohesion and rhetorical organization” (p. 88) constitutes the most
formidable and crucial challenge. From our personal experiences as classroom teachers in
Vietnam, we agree with Hayashi’s (2005) observation that EFL students’ writings more
often than not end up lacking a clear logical flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive
linear argument.
If learning how to produce writing that satisfies academic norms is the problem
from a student’s perspective, from a teacher’s perspective this means the challenge is to
prepare students with varying English proficiencies and from a non-English cultural and
academic background to become flexible writers who can effectively tackle academic
writing tasks from a variety of angles. Because students are linguistically of mixed
abilities, a particular classroom writing task which is motivating and manageable to some
can turn out to be daunting or impossible for others. Therefore, academic writing teachers
in EFL contexts must cope with such problem as how to make students get involved in
writing tasks, how to encourage stronger students’ motivation and interest be sustained
while opportunities for weaker students to complete tasks be guaranteed and how to help


Secondary school in 1993. It has gained appreciable results which play a crucial role in the
cause of education and training of Nam Dinh province in particular and of the nation in
general. With the total of 166 national and 24 international prizes ( from 1994 to 2009), Le
Hong Phong specialized secondary school has been appreciated as one of the schools
which has the most effective quality in target education through out the country. The
teachers all have good knowledge, experience and they are all enthusiastic, sensitive and
creative. The school equips language teachers with modern teaching facilities like OHPs,
whiteboards and computers. Likewise, each division has its own well-equipped room with
various kinds of books, material, newspapers, magazines and computers connected to the
Internet. In addition, most of the classrooms have been equipped with modern teaching
aids devices such as OHPs, white boards, projectors. Moreover, there are also two
informatics technology rooms with many internet-connected computers, which are often
available for students to get access.
According to Department of Upper School Education Regulations for Specialized
Schools, each province in the country has the right to establish a specialized school in
order to attract and train the talents for the nation. Each year our school is responsible for
forming 33 specializing classes with 11 specializing groups-mathematics, informatics,
physics, chemistry, biology, literature, history, geography, English, Russian and French. Le
Hong Phong specialized school has the right to select students before other schools in
province. The perquisite conditions for these competitors are over the fairly good standard
capacity and 8,0 for the language specializing subject result at the ninth grade. All of them
have to take three compulsory subjects-Maths, Literature, English and a specialized subject
in which the specialized mark will be doubled. In the same way, those who take entrance
examination for language specializing class have to take three compulsory subjects and a

16
specialized English subject. With these requirements and conditions, Le Hong Phong
specialized secondary school has good opportunities to select good students. Therefore, the
basic of English the language specializing students have is at a rather high level. This
creates conditions for the teachers to nurture and foster the talents.

17
lessons and at that time they had a chance to be selected and established the national
combined group (including 11
th
and 12
th
grade students)
The second group is composed of six teachers of English teaching writing skills for
English language specializing students at least for 2 years. These teachers, whose ages
ranged from mid-twenties to over fifties, were invited to join in this study. The proportion
of female teachers to male teacher is prominent, that is, (one male, 5 females)
The reason for choosing these six teachers was that they had experience in teaching
English language specializing students, especially teaching essay-writing skills.
3.2.2. Instruments
Four main instruments were used to obtain the information for the study will be
mentioned as follows:
Instrument one: A survey questionnaire completed by 30 eleventh English language
specializing students
The questionnaire was designed with two main parts. Part one was about the students’
general information which included the students’ gender, age, the number of years they
had been learning English, the frequency of writing an essay in the class. Part two
including 6 questions, 3 of which were closed and the rest were open-ended questions
designed to explore the students’ perception of teacher’s classroom activities in terms of
the usefulness of those activities and the extent to which those classroom activities satisfy
the students’ expectation. The questionnaire was adapted from Research Methodology by
Kanji Kumar (1996). It was conducted in English. However, the students were advised to
use either Vietnamese or English to give their answers to open-ended questions. Refer to
Appendix A.
Instrument two: A questionnaire with 2 sections completed by teachers of English at
school where the study was conducted. Refer to Appendix B

or English within 15 -20 minutes. The researcher asked the teacher for permission to have

19
a personal contact with the study population in order to explain the purpose, relevance and
importance of the study, as well as to clarify any questions that the students had. At the
same time, the survey to the teachers was delivered to 6 teachers of English. They had
three days to complete it.
At last, 10 students of 11
th
English language specializing class were chosen at
random to participate in one-on-one interview. It was conducted in a quiet room from
distraction on the fifth period of the second and third Saturday of May. Before the
interview started, the researcher explained the nature of the research, the purpose of the
interview and the amount of time to complete the conversation. The researcher was ready
to answer any questions that the students had. The interviewees were also informed that the
data were to be recorded and how the data were to be used later on.
The data were collected and then analyzed to survey the students’ perception of
teacher’s classroom activities in terms of the usefulness of those activities and the extent to
which those activities satisfy their expectations as well as compare the opinions of the two
groups
3.4. Data analysis
All collected data were read through to obtain a sense of the overall information.
The observation notes were rewritten down carefully, the interview transcriptions were
jotted down, the results were then shown in tables, figures and charts.
So far, this part had presented in detail methodology, participants (population),
instruments and procedure of collecting. The following part will deal with the data analysis
and findings on the obtained results. The general information about 30 students and 6
teachers will be presented in the first place.
The total number of the students chosen in the study was 30, of which 27 were
females and 3 were male students. They were 11