1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
MBA/MBT = Model-based approach/Model-based teaching
L1= Mother tongue or first language
L2= Foreign language or second language
CLT = Communicative language teaching
EFL = English as a foreign language

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS
1


Table 1. Writing tasks in English Textbook 10.....................................................4
Table 2. Classification of writing tasks in English Textbook 10..........................5
Chart 1. Comparison of the mean values of the paragraph-level question items. 6
Chart 2. Test-based scores of the two groups.....................................................10

TABLE OF CONTENT

2


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................i
LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS.................................................ii
PART A - INTRODUCTION...............................................................................1
1. Rationales.........................................................................................................1

Education (An Nguyen, 2011) leads to a focus on development of all the four
macro language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) so that
Vietnamese, L2 students are able to communicate well in the target language.
However, teaching-learning quality at many places is still far from being
satisfactory, and Vietnamese learners have encountered many difficulties in
English learning, especially with English writing skills.
The first is that English at high school, and nearly at all levels of the
Vietnamese educational system, is primarily treated as a compulsory subject, so
its learning and teaching is heavily exam-driven rather than communicationoriented despite the call for the use of CLT. Multiple choice tests are extensively
used to assess language learners’ English competence, with a focus on grammar,
vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing–which only requires L2
learners’ performance on a surface level like sentence-rewriting and jumbledword activities. This practice definitely cannot enhance students’ written
communication skills and leads to teachers’ teaching of ‘non-communicative’
writing skills.
Teaching composition in the Vietnamese EFL context today emphasizes
the assistance for students to produce the error-free texts based on the models of
correct language by providing student writers with vocabulary relating to the
required topic and some guiding questions to form their ideas into the finished
paragraphs. This predominantly language-based teaching of writing cannot help
the student writer create compositions to serve the many purposes outside the
classroom context. The endeavour to seek innovative methods to enhance
students’ writing skills and building up their positive attitudes towards learning
this skill is the very drive for us to engage in this study entitled ‘Using a modelbased approach to teach English writing to 10 th Graders in Ba Dinh High
School, Nga Son, Thanh Hoa’, which implements the model-based approach in
an actual classroom to discover its down and up sides of the teaching technique
in a Vietnamese context.

1



participants encountered during their composition in English. The questionaire
consists of 13 items which are selected basing on the literature on the problems
which L2 learners encounter in their L2 writing (see Appendix A). It does not

2


aim to investigate all kinds of the difficulties that language learners might have
but focus on linguistic aspects of the writing process only, with some questions
relating to timing and the effect of L1 ways of thinking into L2 writing.
PART B - DEVELOPMENT
1. English teaching and learning at Ba Dinh High School
Though Ba Dinh High School is the only gifted high school in Nga Son,
its English teaching and learning has several difficulties. Firstly, the class size
far exceeds the standard number for a language class, with approximately 40
students each. Secondly, the number of technology-aided classrooms is very
limited; therefore, teachers can not apply electronic lessons to the extent that
they desire for. Finally, there is lack of visual aids such as pictures and
portable boards from the school. Thus, the teachers and students are not offered
the most convenient and modern environment to the teaching and learning of
English.
As regards students, they are strictly selected to enroll in the school, most
are academically qualified. There are 10 classes in the 10 th grade with one
English gifted class whose students’ English proficiency are supposed to be
better than those from the others. In this study, the average level of the majority
of the 10th graders in the school was selected.
2. Writing tasks at the 10th grade and MBA/MBT
CLT underpins the design of English Textbook 10, so the structure of each
unit includes four skills: reading, speaking, listeningand writing. Linguistic
knowledge such as phonetics, vocabulary and grammar areconsidered the means

Technology
A set of instructions
6
Travel
A confirmation letter
7
Mass media
Advantages and disadvantages of the mass media
8
Hometown
An informal letter: giving directions
9
Undersea
A description of given information
world
10 Conservation
A letter of invitation
11 National parks A letter of acceptance or refusal
12 Music
A profile
13 Films
A description of a film
14 Sports
An announcement
15 Cities
A description of a city
16 Historical
A description of a chart
places
With careful consideration, it can be easily recognised that each writing

Table 2 clearly allows a suggestion that using MBA/MBT to teach writing
to the 10th graders is definitely appropriate since all the writing tasks required
the students to master a particular text type and its features and signal
expressions. More importantly, if the 10 th graders have mastered a given text
type in one writing task, this will benefit them when they work with others as
several tasks are based on a certain type of texts. Students’ prior knowledge of
text types will also reduce their cognitive loads when they cope with other
writing tasks, which helps them free from the focus on writing conventions in
order to focus on vocabulary and expressions when the text types are used for
different communicative purposes. A clear example for this argument is the case
of writing a letter: students can apply the letter format that they master in Unit 4
to solve the writing tasks in Unit 10, and they just need to acquire some
grammatical structures for inviting others politely.
3. Students difficulties in writing tasks
The mean comparison was employed to compare the mean values of all
the items in the questionnaire. The results of this analysis indicate that the
students from the two groups share a number of writing difficulties. However,
there are several items where lots of participants from the control group have
experienced obstacles in their writing, whereas those from the experimental
group appeared to have fewer difficulties.
The chart below compares the mean value of these question items between the
two groups:

5


Chart 1. Comparison of the mean values of the paragraph-level question
items
The chart shows that the students who experienced MBA/MBT have more
positive attitudes towards their ability to write a paragraph compared to their

patterns of language use, without which our interactions would be random and
chaotic, and this requires us to recognize the generic expectations of various
situations to produce an acceptable response (Derewianka, 2003). Thus,
MBT/MBA does not neglect students’ self-sufficiency but guarantee the use of
their self-sufficiency to achieve their communicative purposes in various
contexts.
Finally, the availability of model texts could create a condition for
students to copy and become lazy in the process of learning. Hare (1992) argues
that introducing students to the rules of writing can, in fact, avoid their use of a
low level strategy of copying. Students are likely to copy the model if they do
not know how and what to write. This inadequacy can be easily avoided with a
careful lesson plans and wise strategies used to scaffold students in the process
of learning and teaching.
5. Implementation of the model-based approach
In regard to the lesson plans and the worksheet, all observers recorded
that the layout, the time alloted to tasks/ activities and the task sequence is
suitable for the 10th graders. Especially, one observer strongly supports the
providing of new words and expressions in the model texts; she noted that this
“enables low-achieving students to accomplish their learning activity while does
not affect the learning of average and high-level students since the very aim of
the activity is to develop students’ awareness of text type, not their lexicon or
grammar”.
More importantly, all the four observers expressed their positive attitudes
towards the use of MBA/MBT to teaching composition to the 10 th graders, and
there were no negative comments on the teaching procedure suggested by the
7


researcher. Actually, in the first teaching segment, the data from the observation
tools indicates that many students seemed to be anxious during the process of

lesson plans and worksheets so that low-achieving students could ease their
difficulties in their writing process. One observer suggests the level of
scaffolding requires certain adjustments to meet the students’ various
8


backgrounds and English proficiency, especially in case that there are students
from the rural area. She noted that “more scaffolding benefits low-achieving
students and is not likely to harm the higher level ones since they can ignore a
task or finish them quickly and move to another if it is too easy for them”.
Further, acting as a role of a facilitator when the participants compose
their own text, the researcher recognised that a number of students lacked skills
of brainstorming and making an outline in the first teaching segment. This could
result from the fact that these participants had not experienced these teaching
strategies at their lower levels of schooling. This phenomenon implies that
classroom teachers need to model these strategies in front of the whole class
right in their first teaching segment.
odels texts are properly illustrative or accessible to studentsthe
linguistic features which define a particular form of writing. They should be
authentic, thematically relevant and provocative, culturally rich and
linguistically challenging, yet appropriate to the students’ level of competence
(Watson, 1982). In this study, model texts were, however, composed by the
researcher based on the text book and some internet resources. This is supported
by Stolarek (1994) who claims that language teachers could utilize appropriate
student models, or even write models themselves and Harrison and Treagust
(1998) who suggest that analogical models are always simplified and enhanced
in some way to emphasize the attributes required and that they should be easily
understood and remembered by students.
(1). Introducing a model: students read, analyze and examine a model text;
(2). Focusing on a model: teachers and students discuss the model explicitly by

The present study has suggested several important findings. The most
striking one is that those 10th graders who experienced MBA/MBT outperformed
their counterparts who were not taught using the teaching technique based on
their test scores. More importantly, a cross-case analysis suggests that
MBA/MBT affects the 10th graders’ writings directly. This implies that the
teaching technique can be productive when it is used to teach composition to the
10th graders in a Vietnamese context.
Secondly, an in-depth analysis of English Textbook 10 indicates that
MBA/MBT is suited to the instruction of writing to the 10th graders. At the micro
level, it meets the requirement of the writing tasks in the textbook, each of
which requires the 10th graders to grasp different types of text. At the macro
level, it meets the requirement of the present Vietnamese EFL context: an
10


emphasis on English learners’ communicative competence–which, in fact,
underpins the design of English Textbook 10.
Next, the 10th graders experience a variety of difficulties in the writing
tasks required in English Textbook 10. The two groups share a number of
difficulties, which is actually experienced by language learners worldwide: lack
of vocabulary, lack of grammatical structures and lack of ideas when writing.
Besides, there are several obstacles which many students in the control group
suffered whereas fewer ones in the experimental had, including ways of
organising a text, connecting ideas togethter and confidence in coping with a
writing task.
Finally, the procedure of implementing MBA/MBT in an actual classroom
situation–which includes ‘modelling’ ‘joint construction’ and ‘independent
construction’—is beneficial in a Vietnamese context, with some adjustments
needed though.
PART C: CONCLUSION

Finally, MBT/MBA significantly improves the student’s writing quality. A
comparison of the test-based scores of the two groups indicates that the students
who were taught using MBA/MBT outperformed their counterparts who did
experience the teaching technique. Further, across-case analysis of the
experimental students’ writings suggests that those textual factors which are the
focus of MBA/MBT are the core factors for their success.
2. Pedagogical suggestions
Classroom teachers should prepare themselves to deal with low-achieving
students in a multi-level classroom when they use the teaching technique. Such
teaching strategies as small group work should be incorporated into their
teaching to produce students’ mutual assistance. In case that there is only a small
number of low-achieving students, learning materials could be individualized for
these students by suggesting some ideas and providing useful phrases and
structures for students to use when they write. Individualizing of learning
materials and worksheets is not time-consuming since it is totally based on the
previous ones with more scaffolding being added.
Besides, the consumption that the 10th graders might have been taught
writing strategies elsewhere should be avoided. In this study, the researcher has
met many students who faced difficulties relating to such technique as
brainstorming. Consequently, in a model-based classroom, teachers should also
act as a model for the student’s learning. Additionally, after a brainstorming
activity, time should be given for students to deal with their lack of vocabulary
and grammatical structures. This could be done with help from the teacher, a
dictionary or the internet.
Next, to encourage peer teaching in a model-based classroom, a clear
criteria sheet should be designed for peer-correction.

12



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người học tiếng Anh. Ngôn Ngữ & Đời Sống, 3(185), 15-21.
IN ENGLISH

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Amer, M. (2013). The Effect of Explicit Instruction in Expository Text Structure
on the Writing Performance of Arab EFL University Students. AWEJ, 4(1), 224238.
Berman, R., &Slobin, D. (1994). Relating Events in Narrative: A Crosslinguistic
Developmental Study. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university.
McGraw-Hill International.
Bloor, T.&Bloor, M. (2004). The functional analysis of English (2th ed.).
London: Arnold
Brannon, L., Knight, M., & Neverow-Turk, Y. (1982). Writers writing.
Montclair, NJ: Boynton.
Burns, A. (2001). Analysing spoken discourse: Implications for TESOL. In A.
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London: Routledge.
Burns, A. & Joyce, H. D. S. (2001).Explicitly supporting learning: An overview.
In A. Burns & H. D. S. Joyce, Teachers’ voices 8: Explicitly supporting reading
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Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University.

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APPENDICES
Appendix A: QUESTIONNAIRE

8. I took me plenty of time to write an essay.
9. I don’t write well in both Vietnamese and
English.
10 I clearly know how to cope with a writing
.
task.
11. I didn’t have enough structures to express
my ideas.
12 I often translated Vietnamese into English
.
word-to-word.

Disagree

Strongly
disagree

1.
2.
3.


13
.

I felt hard to express my Vietnamese
thoughts into English.
Thank you very much for your assistance!

2

.................................................................................................
Evaluation:
2. Joint construction
a. Ways of introducing the model: ......................................
b. Sts’ participation: .............................................................
c. Sts’ reaction: ......................................................................
d. Sts’ difficulties: .................................................................
e. Sts’ performance: .............................................................
f. Teacher’s behaviour: ........................................................
g. Teacher’s manner: ............................................................
h. Others (if any): .................................................................
.................................................................................................
Evaluation:
3. Independent construction of text
a. Ways of introducing the model: ......................................
b. Sts’ participation: .............................................................
c. Sts’ reaction: ......................................................................
d. Sts’ difficulties: .................................................................
3


e. Sts’ performance: .............................................................
f. Teacher’s behaviour: ........................................................
g. Teacher’s manner: ............................................................
h. Others (if any): .................................................................
.................................................................................................
Evaluation:
C. AFTER TEACHING
Sts’completion of the task: ..................................................
D. OVERAL EVALUATION OF THE TEACHING SEGMENT