PART I : INTRODUCTION
( Phần I : Đặt vấn đề)
English has become the most popular foreign language in Vietnam. The
number of people learning and using English for different purposes has been
unceasingly increased day by day. This has resulted in changing the outlook of
the Ministry of Education and Training for teaching and learning English at
upper secondary school. It has become a compulsory subject in the state
examination and it is one of three subjects for some universities’ entrance exam.
However, both of teaching learning of English are still far from being
satisfaction. Both teachers and learners have faced many difficulties in English
teaching and learning, especially in teaching and learning writing.
In Vietnam in general, teaching writing has not paid much attention as it
deserves, which is really a problem in teaching and learning a foreign language .
Therefore, educationists should take this into consideration.
At Quảng Xương 1 High School, the problem of teaching and learning
writing skill is rather difficult. The main reason is that the class size with 45-50
students and learners’ proficiency of English is rather low. Another reason is the
course book with a large number of new words and structures. Therefore,
learners are often confused and find difficult to remember all of them which are
necessary for them to write a composition.
1. The reason for choosing this theme ( Lý do chọn đề tài ) :
As a teacher of English at the upper-secondary school, the author has
realized the reality of teaching writing for English language learners.
English is a required subject for high school students in Vietnam
nowadays. Theoretically,

the curricula and teaching philosophy are

communicatively oriented with four skills equally developed. In practice,
writing is a largely ignored area due to the washback of examinations. Most of
important tests including graduation and university entrance exams do not have

3. The scope of the theme ( Phạm vi của đề tài ):
The study is narrowed down to the area of teaching and learning writing for
grade 12 students at Quảng Xương 1 High School with the textbook English 12.
Specifically, this theme deals with the present situation in teaching and learning

2


writing skill. Accordingly, the study deals with the use of writing process to
improve 12th graders’ writing skill at Quang Xuong I high school.
The study focuses on the students’ revising and editing the drafts after
they receive feedback from teacher and the changes made to each paper between
first and final drafts. The text type was descriptive text.
4. The method of the study ( Phương pháp nghiên cứu ) :
The study employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
It involves the analysis of students’ writing, interviews, reflexive journals, and
statistical data. Multiple drafts approach is used for error treatment and content
development. Interviews and reflective journals provide in-depth information
that supplements the analysis of writing drafts.

3


PART II : DEVELOPMENT
( Phần II: Giải quyết vấn đề )
1. Reasoning basis (Cơ sở lý luận ):
Nowadays, Vietnam opened its doors to the world, beginning a new period
of scientific, educational and commercial cooperation with many countries.
English has become an essential means for Vietnamese people to enter into
international communication. In this context, new approaches and methods of

with writing because nowadays all English tests they have to do at exams are
multiple-choice tests. They have not been aware of the fact that writing is also
an effective way to pracice English grammatical structures and new words,
which helps them to do the tests better.
The results of my students’writing in Unit 10 , English 12, part D
( Writing) in 12T1 and 12C3 before applying the new method:
Class

Results
Mark 9-10
Mark 7-8
Mark 5-6
Mark
linguistic skills, such as planning and drafting, and there is much less emphasis
on linguistic knowledge, such as knowledge about grammar and text structure.
There are different views on the stages that writers go through in producing a
piece of writing, but a typical model identifies four stages: prewriting;
composing/drafting; revising; and editing (Tribble 1996: 39) [4]. This is a
cyclical process in which writers may return to pre-writing activities, for
example, after doing some editing or revising. A typical prewriting activity in
the process approach would be for learners to brainstorm on the topic of houses.
3.3. The process of writing:
Of the two methods metioned, the process of writing is known as the
better. The process of writing comes through several stages before reaching

6


the final draft. It is a process that involves six distinct steps: prewriting,
drafting, responding, revising, editing and publishing.

Stages in Writing Process (Hyland, 2003) [3]
3.3.1. Prewriting
In this stage, students involve the activities such as reading,
brainstorming,

mind

mapping,

discussing,

fast

*have opportunity to live abroad.
I have opportunity to live abroad.
* have chance to travel the world
I will have chance to travel the world
3.3.2. Drafting
Drafting is to start writing according to the ideas planned before. The result
of brainstorming session provides a plan of description of topic. Oshima and
Hogue (2002; 28) [1] call this stage as writing and revising drafts. They argue that
no piece of writing is perfect the first time and the writer has to write and revise
several drafts until he/she produces the final draft. In the first step, the
composition might be written without considering to grammar, punctuation, or
spelling and no importance to the structure. Students may add new information in
the drafting stage; there is no matter to hesitate because the focus is on ideas,
purpose, coherence and relevance, unity, sufficient supporting ideas and
concluding sentences. As a last step in the drafting stage, the student checks the
grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes.
For example:
Suppose I were offered a job with one of the international organizations, I
like to work for WWF for an amount of reason. I really love animals wild and
plants. plants rare and animals also good research. It make me better biology.
On the other hand, I have opportunity to live abroad. I can use English at work

8


and return high salary. I will have chance to travel the world, meet people and
works at remote and mountain .Finally, I can protect dangerous species, which I
love the most (added information). That’s why WWF is the best suitable fun for
me .
3.3.3. Reviewing/Revising

ibid.)[1].
• Check over each sentence for correctness and completeness: no
fragments and no choppy or run-on sentences.
• Check over each sentence for a subject and a verb, subject- verb
agreement, correct tenses, etc.
• Check the mechanics: punctuation, spelling, capitalization, tying errors,
etc.
• Change vocabulary words as necessary.
In this stage, the students review a draft to check errors based on the
feedback from himself or herself and teacher or peers. The writers need to make
changes to another draft before having someone else read it and offer further
feedback and suggestions. Thus, drafting and revising could theoretically be
completed and repeated indefinitely.
For example:
Teacher’s comments:
You had many good ideas in the paragraph. To make your writing better,
consider the following suggestions:
- Your writing is under length. Add some more ideas to make it least 120 words
- Do not copy the question, use your own words by paraphrasing it.
- Use more linking words to connect your ideas.
Student’s writing:
Everyone has his or her own choice. To me, suppose I was offered to work
for one of the international organizations, I’d like to work for WWF for an
amount of reasons. First, I really love animals wild and plants. I want to do
reseach on plants rare and animals. It will make me better at biology. Second, I
have ^. opportunity to live abroad. I can use English at work and may have ^
high salary. Third, I will have chance to travel all over the world, meet different
10



11


at work and may have ^ high salary. Third, I will have chance to travel all over
the world, meet different people and works (S-V A) in remote and mountain
(WF) areas. Finally, I can protect dangerous (WC) species, which I love the
most. That’s why WWF is the best suitable fun (WC) for me.
3.3.5. Publication
This stage takes place when a product of the writing process is shared
with its intended audience. Publication can occur in a variety of forums as well
as numerous times for a single product. The rewards of the writing process are
often revealed at the publication stage, when readers of a product express that
the purpose of a written project has been fulfilled. The writers realize the
payments of their hard work at the publication stage.
For example:
Everyone has his or her own choice. If I was offered to work for one of the
international organizations, I’d like to work for WWF for a number of reasons.
First, I really love wild animals and plants. I want to do research on rare plants
and animals to understand more about them. I will be better at biology. Second,
I have an opportunity to live abroad. I can use English at work and may have a
high salary. Third, I will have a chance to travel all over the world, meet
different people and work in remote and mountainous areas. If I work in these
environments, I can protect endangered species, which I love the most. That’s
why WWF is my first career choice (125 words).
Teacher’s comments:
You have made good progress. Your writing is now well written with
convincing ideas and coherent organization. I hope to see greater achievements
of yours.
4.Researched results: ( Kết quả đạt được ):
4.1.For myself as a teacher:

23%
0.6%
This table shows the students’ improvement in part of organization and
content. It clearly gives sample evidence that most students’ writing ability is
improved under the participation in the process of writing. For content and
organization, the errors in the first drafts account for 67.7% of the total errors.
Then they were greatly reduced to 37 errors or 23 % in draft 2. There was only
1 error or 0.6 % in the final draft. It can be concluded that the target has been
achieved, in this case the students already made good content and organization
of text in final drafts.
Table 4.1.2: Errors in vocabulary and language use of the students’ drafts
The 2nd drafts

The 3rd drafts

Total
13


Number of error
226
15
327
Percentage
69.1%
4.6%
100%
The table shows the students’ improvement in vocabulary and language
use aspect and it gives the strong impression that the process of writing can
improve their writing ability. From the table, it can be concluded that numbers

their problems because it helps them see what has been done and what has been
achieved during the process of writing.
The results of my students’writing in Unit 14 , English 12, part D

14


( Writing) in 12T1 and 12C3 after applying the new method:
Class
Mark 9-10
12T1 (45students)
6
12C3(42 students)
1
4.3. For colleagues:

Results
Mark 7-8
Mark 5-6
24
15
13
27

Mark
them. These mistakes and errors will decrease in the next draft and final product
will be good in all aspects of writing.
It is also found that the teacher’s indirect feedback provided to students’
drafts in the process of writing is very useful in encouraging them to discover
the language and develop improvements. It is helpful on students’ long-term
writing because it guides students to learn by providing problem solving and
encouraging them to self-correct their writing. Based on teacher’s feedback,
students are able to express their ideas more clearly in writing and to get
clarification on any comments that teacher has made. As a result, students can
improve their performance by solving the problem themselves. Especially, the
process of thinking and composing develop their writing ability as well as
language competence.

XÁC NHẬN
CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

Thanh Hóa, ngày 20 tháng 5 năm 2017.
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là sáng kiến kinh
nghiệm của mình viết, không sao chép
nội dung của người khác.

16


Lê Thị Yến

REFERENCES
[1].Oshima, A. & Hogue, A. Writing Academic English (Third edition). (Lê Huy
Lâm-giới thiệu và chú giải). (2002). NXB Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.
[2].Trimbur, J. (1999). The call to write. Longman.