THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL
-------***-------

INNOVATION IN TEACHING

APPLYING SOME INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO
IMPROVE THE GIFTED STUDENTS’
ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING SKILL AT NHU
THANH HIGH SCHOOL

The writer: Nguyen Thi Kim Lien
The post: The teacher
Innovation of subject: English

THANH HOA, 2019
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TABLE OF CONTENT
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................1
I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY.......................................................................1
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY..................................................................................2
III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS...........................................................................2
IV. METHODS OF THE STUDY........................................................................2
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT........................................................................2
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................2
I. OVERVIEW OF WRITING SKILL................................................................2
II. THE ARGUMENTIVE ESSAY......................................................................3
III. THE DIFFICULTIES OF WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS........4

Although many Vietnamese students get excellent certain qualifications,
their ability of communicating in English is limited. As a result, they must give
up their dream jobs. There is no doubt about that English is the optimum
standard for applicants into foreign and state- owned companies. On account of
the above demands, English is compulsory not only at school but also in
examinations at certain stages of the school education system. According to the
national curriculum, English is built with the aim of communicating. Creating
the ability of communication in English for students is the most important target
in the process of teaching.
As teachers, I think we’d all agree that communication is important. In fact,
it’s a necessary component of education, livelihood, and basic functionality in our
society. It’s also fairly obvious that there are two main ways to communicate,
although more obscure forms exist. Basically, we talk and we write. That’s how we
let other people know what’s going on, and it’s an important skill to have. Just
about every student can talk, but how many Vietnamese students can truly write
well? Writing is important because it’s used extensively in higher education and in
the workplace. If students don’t know how to express themselves in writing, they
won’t be able to communicate well with friends, teachers, professors, employers,
peers, or just about anyone else.
Much of professional communication is done in writing: proposals,
memos, reports, applications, preliminary interviews, e-mails, and more are part
of the daily life of a college student or successful graduate. Even if students
manage to learn the material in their college classes without knowing how to
write well, they won’t be able to express their knowledge to the people who are
making the big decisions. Potential employers won’t know whether or not head
knowledge can be applied to everyday demands unless it’s through a spoken
interview. Even the majority of certifications and licensures require basic writing
skills to obtain. The inability to write makes for a stillborn career.
Argumentative writing has been confirmed by researchers to be the
hardest model in writing. This genre of writing is important for gifted students to

The question has been addressed to one group of students that I have been
teaching in Nhu Thanh High School with the aim to examine how innovative
solutions affect the process of argumentative writing here.
IV. METHODS OF THE STUDY
- The method of collecting and analyzing materials for the research:
research for materials concerning about the subject, analyze and get certain
knowledge from previous researches, finally give the foundation to the research.
- The method of talking to students: through talking to students, I have got
to know real situation of students’ writing learning in language classes at Nhu
Thanh High School.
- The method of surveying through answer sheets.
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
I. OVERVIEW OF WRITING SKILL
What is writing?
"Writing" is the process of using symbols (letters of the alphabet,
punctuation and spaces) to communicate thoughts and ideas in a readable form.
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To write clearly it is essential to understand the basic system of a language. In
English this includes knowledge of grammar, punctuation and sentence
structure. Vocabulary is also necessary, as is correct spelling and formatting. A
writer may write for personal enjoyment or use, or for an audience of one person
or more. The audience may be known (targeted) or unknown. Taking notes for
study purposes is an example of writing for one's self. Blogging publicly is an
example of writing for an unknown audience. A letter to a friend is an example
of writing for a targeted audience. As with speaking, it is important to consider
your audience when writing. There are many different styles of writing, from
informal to formal.

Please note: Some confusion may occur between the argumentative essay and
the expository essay. These two genres are similar, but the argumentative essay
differs from the expository essay in the amount of pre-writing (invention) and
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research involved. The argumentative essay is commonly assigned as a capstone
or final project in first year writing or advanced composition courses and
involves lengthy, detailed research. Expository essays involve less research and
are shorter in length. Expository essays are often used for in-class writing
exercises or tests, such as the GED or GRE.
Argumentative essay assignments generally call for extensive research of
literature or previously published material. Argumentative assignments may also
require empirical research where the student collects data through interviews,
surveys, observations, or experiments. Detailed research allows the student to learn
about the topic and to understand different points of view regarding the topic so that
she/he may choose a position and support it with the evidence collected during
research. Regardless of the amount or type of research involved, argumentative
essays must establish a clear thesis and follow sound reasoning.
The argument essay is the most common type of writing assignment that
gifted students will encounter throughout their exams. While there are different
variations of the argument essay, the overall foundation is always the same: the
writer is tasked with investigating an issue, taking a stand on the issue, and
finding and incorporating a multitude of evidence in a logical manner to support
the overall claim.
Most of us have experience with arguing, but an argumentative essay is quite
different than a verbal argument that arises out of the blue. Verbal arguments often
become heated and unreasonable, while the goal of an argumentative essay is the
opposite: the argument must be specific, reasoned, detailed and supported with a
variety of evidence. Furthermore, a verbal argument often focuses on who is right

argument, and bombarding your readers with overly emotional personal opinion.
With strong facts and reliable sources you will find that harsh or passionate
language is unnecessary to prove your point.
Consider Your Audience
Your audience quite frequently influences the way you approach your
topic. The means to convince an audience of college professors will surely be
different from adolescent readers.
IV. THE IMPORTANCE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD ARGUMENTAIVE ESSAY.
Most people do not require special skills to prove their point of view when
providing arguments on various day-to-day issues. All of us sometimes argue
why the movie we have watched is so impressive or why we should get a
promotion. This means that we argue not only in the academic field, but also in
our everyday lives. That is why writing an argumentative essay does not require
any additional skills and most students can deal with the assignment with
much success. However, it is also important to structure an argumentative essay
in a correct way. For this reason, before writing an essay, you need to find out
what elements should be included in your argumentative essay. You also need to
support your viewpoint by providing an explanation of your ideas and specific
examples. Let us discuss the fundamental elements of argumentative essays.
* Organization and focus. When writing an argumentative essay, you need to prove
the main viewpoint by providing enough evidence and well-grounded arguments.
* Description and analysis: Description and analysis are two more elements of
an argumentative essay that should be included in your paper if you want it to be
consistent and relevant.
* Evidence. Evidence can be provided in different way. You should support your
ideas with certain examples and make the readers accept your point of view by
providing well-grounded evidence in favor of your position.
* Answering a counterargument. If you add a counterargument in your essay,
it will make it clear for the readers that you fully understand the material you are
discussing in your paper.

ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING SKILL AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL
The whole procedure of teaching and learning is implemented similarly to
all students of the class after all of them give consent to be part of the research.
However, due to the limit of the study, I only focus to collect information from
the learning engagement of one gifted student group ( total: 30 students) during
this process as the data for analysis. Below is the survey of the practical
situation of learning English writing skill at Nhu Thanh High School.
Table 1: Frequencies of argumentative writing difficulties faced by students
Number of students
Difficulties faced by students
have difficulty
fulfilling task demand
20
grammar structure
27
Topic sentence of each paragraph
20
Length
20
organized ideas
23
Pacing
20
solid evidence
20
The structure of argumentative writing
27
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identify the argumentative writing difficulties that students encountered when
they compose argumentative essays. It was noted that teachers have realized that
there is a critical need to accord greater attention to the improvement of writing
teaching for students. The way to improve writing instruction is to develop
insights into the diagnostic evaluation of writing. This type of evaluation
provides valuable data about students‟ weaknesses in argumentative writing.
Therefore, I have applied some innovative solutions to improve the gifted
students’ argumentative writing skill at Nhu Thanh High School.
II. PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS
A. The solution of determining the structure of an argumentative essay
through the network.
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I have given my students the following structures and ask them to get to
know them and analyse them in detail.

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The structure of paper's outline is the same as the structure of their entire
essay. The difference is that they include the entire information in the body text
while students only name the arguments in their outline. An English essay
outline is worth their time as it figures as their plan during the whole writing
process.
There are three basic sections of any argumentative essay students should
follow:
1. Introduction paragraph
2. Body with 2-3 strong arguments and refusing opposing arguments in one
paragraph

essay introduction with a hook.

Outline Section 2: Working on students’ arguments and refusing
opposing arguments
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As you remember, every claim is supported by the corresponding
evidence you found during the research. If you have more information to share,
you may include up to five body paragraphs.
1. Claim
It is a statement to support your argumentative essay's thesis. An example
of an opening sentence in body paragraph is: "Making Spanish the second
official language in the IS would positively impact the economic relationships
between Mexico and the United States." Without a good evidence, no one is
going to believe my words.
2. Evidence is based on credible facts and statistics the writer finds during
the research process.
It has nothing to do with your personal knowledge or information based
on your experience. Choose sources carefully. The example is: "12% increase in
trade between the US and Mexico was a notice in 2014 when Arizona's local
government send people who spoke Spanish to take part in the deal." Also, the
reader will think your judgments are subjective until you add an opposing
argument.

Looking for Opponent's Claims
You need to understand that different people have different points of view
regarding the same topic, so be patient. Check the arguments of the US citizens
who do not support the idea of the second national language. They may be
helpful while working on the third section of your argumentative essay. You may

point of view, I support the ideal that: no smoking in public sites is a good
decision. I have some reasons for this.
One of major disadvantages of smoking a lot in public places is that it has
a negative effect on both healths’ active and passive smokers. Every year, in the
world, a large number of people who get lung cancer result from smoking
frequently. Furthermore, non- smokers also inhale poisonous substances from
cigarettes. As a result, they also get the same diseases as smokers. According to
some statistics, there is a strong link between smoking and cancer. A recent
medical survey shows that the cancer rate among smokers is as high as nonsmokers
Another point of view in favor of banning smoking is that it causes
environment pollutions, fire accidents and financial problems. In fact, smoking
makes the air polluted, especially when smokers use means of public transports
with numerous passengers including children and pregnant women. What is
more, a plenty of fire accidents happens from smoking such as forest fire, market
one…In addition, smokers must spend much money on smoking.
Supporters of smoking in public sites would argue that this can take
away their privacy freedom. Nevertheless, as stated previously, smoking is
always badly influential to other people.
In the final analysis, I am convinced the idea that the government should
give the law of banning smoking in public places. It is likely that in the future
smokers will have a tendency to smoke less and we will live in the clean world
without smoke.
Students will read the completed essay and find out its own structure and here
are their typical work:
INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH: The question of whether smoking should be
banned in public places or not remains controversial. Some people advocate
while others criticize. From my point of view, I support the ideal that: no
smoking in public sites is a good decision. I have some reasons for this.
BODY: PARAGRAPH 1: One of major disadvantages of smoking a lot in
public places is that it has a negative effect on both healths’ active and passive

that: Parents play the most important role in educating their children. I have
some reasons for this.
BODY: PARAGRAPH 1: The first reason is that parents who bear and
take care of us, teach us everything in our lives such as how to eat, speak, drink,
stand, walk, communicate( TOPIC SENTENCE 1)….Parents are the first
teacher that are always with us whenever we need. With parents’ teaching, we
are growing –up and become an independent person(SUPPORTING IDEAS).
PARAGRAPH 2: Another reason is that parents are influential to our
behavior( TOPIC SENTENCE 1). Nobody can understand as deeply as our
parents can. If we make any mistakes, it is easy for them to realize reasons for
the problem and give advice to us. Whenever we get into troubles, parents are
persons who worry about us, make us more optimistic about life. Furthermore,
they are willing to share happiness and sadness with us. Last but not least,
there is no doubt about that parents always try to have the most perfective
conditions at the time we are at the primary school where professional teachers
join hands in teaching us. (SUPPORTING IDEAS).
PARAGRAPH 3: FOR REFUSING OPPOSING ARGUMENTS Some
people say that teachers at school are really the best ones because they are welltrained and skilled in teaching, each teacher is good at a certain subject and
knowledgeable. However, as stated previously, parents are always with us at the
time we are born.

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CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH : In the final analysis, I am convinced of
the ideal that our best teachers are parents. Each child will get good
development of character providing that he has educational environment from
his parents.
By this way my students are able to determine the structure of an
argumentative essay and its own paragraph through the network, which helps

4
- One
of
major Give the 1st reason
(dis)advantages of.........is ( topic sentence)
that…….
Paragraph
5 This means that……….(effect)
Explain more
1
This is because……….(cause)
specifically
Supporting
If……….not………( opponent
idea
approach).
6 So/ Therefore, ………………..
The idea is basic
7
Paragraph
2
Giving an
example

8
9

- Another point of view in Give the 2nd reason
favor of + ........ is that…
( topic sentence)

the opposite idea
However/yet…………………
Indicate that there was
12 Nonetheless,
it
is
more no rational aspect for
important to remember that…/
the opposite idea
- In the final analysis, I am Restate their own idea
convinced of the idea that.......
- In conclusion
13 - To sum up
- Overall/ all in all
- On the whole

Conclusion
Meanwhile,………………..
14
15

By
doing
…………………………

Simultaneously,
they
shouldn’t
disregard
completely the opposite



1
Paragraph
2

2
3

Paragraph
3

1

2

Another point of view in favor of not using facebook is that
it has a bad impact on your health and communicative skill
In addition, online facebook limits our direct
communication. Too much time spent online makes us feel
afraid of going out, talking with neighbors
It causes many bad effects to your eyes, your skin. Sitting
all day long before the Pc even makes you fatter
Opponents of not using facebook would argue that it has
lots of advantages as it helps you communicate with anyone
easily with little money, make friends in wherever you like,
or express your own interests….
However, as stated previously, it has its great
disadvantages especially for students’ study.


to adapt to this.
Paragraph
Nevertheless, studying English is not only way for them to
2
1 master the language because learners still study English
well in other countries.
2 Moreover, they can take the advantage of the language
conditions in their homeland such as television, internet,
magazines, language websites…..

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3
Paragraph
3
(counterargument)
Making
concessions

1
2

1
Conclusion

2

…..In fact, a large number of English learners who
master it have increased considerably.

can also be combined with other appropriate teaching approaches toward
making significant contributions in having a detailed profile of students’
weaknesses in writing argumentative essays. Such information would be
beneficial for teachers to design and improve their writing programmes and
teach effectively to further support students’ writing improvement.
The benefits of determining the right structure of argumentative writings
and taking this fifteen- phrase/sentence solution help students not only write a
logic essay but think and write more quickly and easily. It also helps students
overcome the pressure of structure of argumentative writing, providing solid
evidence, time constraints, organized idea, fulfilling task demand, understanding
the questions, writing the thesis statement, interpreting the questions, pacing.
* The following is the result :
Before applying innovative
After applying innovative solutions
Group of
solutions
30
Excellent
Good Fair
Excellent
Good
Fair
students
30

3

8

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During the research, I also learn more about the methods of doing research
in a scientific way. Firstly, I learn to look at the situation of my English teaching
and learning critically and make research questions with the hope of improving
it. I also learn to arrange and organize my ideas and my work systematically to
fit the timetable of the research procedure. But the most important thing is that I
learn how to put my background knowledge into the knowledge repertoire of
related previous studies to have a broader view of the situation and to make my
research skills (such summarizing and synthesizing) useful by activating them
creatively and critically.
The Headmaster’s identification

Thanh Hoa, the second of May, 2019
I ensure that this study has been written by me
The writer

Nguyen Thi Kim Lien

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REFERENCES
1. David Cross (1994): Practical handbook of language teaching
2. Penny Ur ( 1998) A course in language teaching - Practical and Theory
Cambrige university press
4. Nguyen Hanh Dung Methods of teaching English at Secondary education

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