A study onteaching graph description to english majors using project based learning

SỞ GIÁO DỤC &ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA
TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN LAM SƠN
A STUDY ONTEACHING GRAPH DESCRIPTION
TO ENGLISH MAJORS
USING PROJECT BASED LEARNING
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ DẠY MIÊU TẢ BIỂU ĐỒ CHO HỌC SINH CHUYÊN ANH 
SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP HỌC QUA DỰ ÁN
Người thực hiện: Vũ Thị Thu Hiền
Chức vụ: TTCM tổ Ngoại ngữ
SKKN thuộc môn: Tiếng Anh
THANH HÓA NĂM 2019
TABLE OF CONTENT
PART I. INTRODUCTION
Rationale: .
2
Aims of the study ..
2
Scope of the study ..
2
Method of the study........
2
PART II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Data interpretation .
Role of project-based learning in a language classroom: ...
2
3
PART III. GRAPH DESCRIPTION TECHNIQUES
Language use .
Language of Introduction 
Language of Change .
Language of Comparison and Contrast ..
Linking Devices ........
Prepositions ...............
Tenses ...........................
Subskills .
Paraphrasing skill ....
Identification of Main Features 
Organization of Information ..
Chart of Different Types ..
Line Chart ......
Pie Chart ...
Bar Chart 
Table ...
Two Graphs Together 
PART IV. A CLASSROOM PROJECT ON GRAPH DESCRIPTION WRITING
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5
5
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7
7
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10
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12
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14
Topic ..
14
Participants 
14
Procedure 
14
Samples 
15
Effectiveness of using PBL 
19
PART V. CONCLUSION and SUGGESTION
20
REFERENCES ....
PART I. INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Chart description is a challenging task for English learners because it requires not only a strong vocabulary, good grammar but also high level of analytical skills. Many English majored high school students are struggling to fulfil this task. They often go to details andfail to recognize the distinguishing features of the graph. Besides, the flow of their writing is rather difficult for the readers to follow as the interpretation is often poorly organized. Another difficulty they meet lies in the content of the graph which is generally unfamiliar to them and far from their interest.For these reasons, the author of this study decided to research different approaches to teaching this section in hope of enabling the students to overcome the aforementioned obstacles. 
Aims of the study
The four main objectives of this study include
to review some literature related to data description and statistical analysis;
to provide several samples of student work;
to find out an effective method in teaching this part of knowledge.
Scope of the study
The object of my study is restricted to English majored 10 graders in Lam Sơn gifted high school because a majority of them want to sit the IELTS exam and the national competition for the excellent students in which chart description is a required part. Thus, the students have motivation to learn and the teacher can assign extra time out of the whole curriculum for this section. 
IV. Method of the study 
The study is conducted after the teacher’s instruction of the language, types of graphs and how to describe different types of graphs. A thirty six student class is divided into 6 groups, each will do a project using the recently learned knowledge. The project aims to investigate students’ satisfaction with their school. After ten days, all students in class are questioned about their opinion on the new method. 
PART II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This research is developed from the popular instructions on data interpretation in general and chart description in particular. Moreover, the theories about project-based learning is also discussed to provide the ground for a minor project on motivating students to interview their friends and analyze the data collected using the chart description techniques they have learnt.
Data interpretation
Data, in simple language, is the name given to basic facts like names and numbers. Time, dates, weights, prices are some simple examples of data. Handling data interpretation questions is difficult and it is one of the important aspects of almost every competitive examination. 
The job requires a set of subskills including:
Attention to Details
Ability to pay attention to details allows interpreters to find and see initially unseen details and links.
Numeracy Skills
These refer to mathematical skills which include a wide range of abilities including:
Have good knowledge of figures and numbers
Understand the relationships existing between numbers
Interpret any mathematical information
Have the ability to organize information
Be conversant with trends
Know how to measure and analyze data
Be able to work with graphical information
Possess calculation skills
To read and interpret charts, the reader should be able to: 
• Read the title on the chart to find out what content is being presented. 
• Read all the headings and labels in the chart to determine what is being grouped andpresented in each subcategory (each column and each row). Begin by reading the headings atthe top to find out what categories of information they contain. 
• Identify similarities, differences, and other relationships among the data. 
• Compare the information being presented. Numerical data often can be ranked from smallestto largest.
• Identify trends, patterns and relationships in order to reveal information and connections about thesubject/topic. 
Project-based learning in EFL classroom:
The pedagogical concept of Project-Based Learning (PBL) is not new. PBL is described by Moss and Duzer as an instructional approach that contextualizes learning by assigning students with products to develop. Students then have to explain their answers to real-life questions, problems, or challenges. It starts with a driving question that leads to inquiry and investigation. 
The approach involves skill-integration learning. Complex skills includingreading, listening,writing, speaking and complex tasks such as sorting information, designing, presenting, problem-solving, decision-making tasks are sequenced and combined in multiple states of development for the success of project. These tasks are often centered on a theme, or topics, relevant to the specific content being studied. 
PBL is common and useful in second language classroom because the target language then is used as a tool for communication and functions as a vehicle for acquiring knowledge. Students have opportunities to recycle known language while focusing on topics or themes. As a result, linguistic features found in texts students read or listen are likely to appear at some point in their written or spoken project report. Besides, PBL is engaging as students learn the language through meaningful activities, in natural context and use the language for real purposes. PBL also helps enhance student’s autonomy. Actually, they are responsible for planning their own project, for each step of shaping their own products and for their own learning outcome in general. 
Thus, teachers are encouraged to assign projects which motivate students to access information presented in their target language in order to solve real problems. This way their language skills are also improved automatically. 
PART III
GRAPH DESCRIPTION TECHNIQUES
Language Use
Language of Introduction
Starting
Presentation type
Verb
Description
The given
The supplied
The presented
The shown
The provided
Chart
table
graph
data
figure
illustration
Shows
represents
depicts
enumerates
illustrates
presents
gives
provides
describes
delineates
denotes
compares
contrasts
figures
the comparison of
the differences
the changes
the shift
the information on
the data on 
the proportion of 
the percentage of
the trend of
Language of Change
Visualization does help learners to strengthen their vocabulary in writing graph description. The illustrated images and language below may be used for thatpurpose.
Language of Comparison and Contrast
Halved
Equalled
Doubled
Trebled / tripled
Linking devices
Expression to focus on an item in the graph
 With regards to, In the case of, As for, Turning to, When it comes to ..... , Where ... is/are concerned,......Regarding
Expression to compare 
Similarly, In a similar fashion, In the same way, Same as, As much as, Meanwhile.
Expression to show contrast
However, On the contrary, on the other hand, in contrast.
Prepositions
Certain prepositions go with certain words when you use the language of change.
If you put them in the wrong place or use the wrong preposition you may confuse what you are trying to say. First, take a look at this graph model answer and notice how some of the prepositions in the graph are used. They have been highlighted.
Sample Task 1 Answer
The line graph compares the number of car thefts for every thousand vehicles in four countries from 1990 to 1999. Overall, it can be seen that car thefts were far higher in Great Britain than in the other three counties throughoutthe whole time frame.
To begin, car thefts in Sweden, France and Canada followed a fairly similar pattern overthe first five years, all remaining at between 5 and 10 per thousand. The general trend though for France and Canada was a decline inthe number of vehicles stolen overthe period, with both at around 6 in 1999. In contrast, Sweden experienced an upward trend, starting the period at approximately 8, and finishing at just under 15.
Interestingly, car thefts in Great Britain started at 18 per thousand, which far exceeded that of the other countries. It then fluctuated overthe next nine years, reaching a peak of 20 thefts per 1000 in 1996, and ending the period slightly lower than where it began, at approximately 17 per thousand.
Tense
When you are presented with a line graph to analyze (or a bar graph if it is over time) you should always look carefully to check what time frame is being referred to.
If you get the time frame wrong, this could have a very negative impact on your score as a lot of the information will then be presented incorrectly.
Take a look at the line graph below.
As you will see, it runs from 2012 until 2022. In some graphs you may be given a time frame that includes the past and the future (or possibly only the future). In this case you need to be very careful that you are using the past tense when appropriate and the future tense when appropriate.
These are some common phrases you can use to discuss a graph in the future:
 + infinitive
is/are expected to + infinitive
is/are predicted to + infinitive
Now take a look at the line graph and a part of the model answer and the different tenses employed: 
The line graph illustrates the financial position of a New Zealand local authority from 2012 to 2022. It is measured in millions of New Zealand dollars. Overall, it can be seen that while rates revenue and user charges are predicted to increase over the period, borrowings and grants and subsidies will remain much lower.
Rates revenues and user charges will follow a very similar pattern over the time frame. Rates revenue stood at just under 1.5 billion in 2012, which was the highest of the four criteria. Though they remained stable until 2013, they are expected to climb to approximately 2.4 billion dollars in 2022. Like rates revenues, use charges are predicted to continuously increase. They began the period at 1 billion and will stand at twice this level by 2022
Subskills
Paraphrasing skill
Method Number 1: Using Synonyms
Synonyms are different words that have the same meaning. For example, ‘humans’ is a synonym of ‘people’ and ‘attractive’ is a synonym of ‘beautiful’. This method simply replaces words with the same meaning in order to produce a new sentence.
For example:	My car needs petrol.
My vehicle requires fuel.
As you can see, I have replaced 3 out of 4 words with synonyms to produce a new sentence, with the same meaning as the first one. You will notice that I did not replace all of the words, but you should try to replace most of them.
This is the most common method that students use and it can be used effectively, but you should be careful. The biggest mistake students make is trying to paraphrase and the word having a similar meaning, but not the same meaning. Similar meanings are not good enough and will lose you marks. Let’s look at some examples of poor paraphrasing because of using similar instead of the same meanings.
Violent crime is on the rise among teenagers.
Violent offences are rising among young people.
This student has changed the word ‘teenagers’ for ‘young people’. They are similar words and teenagers are of course young people; however, children and young adults, aged between 18-30, could also be described as young people. A more term would be ‘adolescents’ or ‘young people between the ages of 13-19.’ A better way to paraphrase this sentence would therefore be:
Violent offences are rising among adolescents.
You should therefore only use words you are 100% sure about. Don’t change a word unless you are 100% sure that it is a direct synonym, otherwise you are likely to make mistakes and this will bring down your score.
Let’s look at another good example:
Global warming is mostly caused by emissions from internal combustion engines.
Climate change is mainly caused by the release of fumes from motor vehicles.
Method Number 2: Change the Word Order
Changing the word order also allows us to effectively paraphrase a sentence, but again, we have to be careful. Don’t change the word order without thinking about how this affects the grammar of the sentence. By changing the word order you may have to add a word, subtract a word or change the form of the word.
The 100% rule applies again; don’t change it if you are not 100% sure it is grammatically correct. Remember that you are being judged on your ability to produce error free sentences in the IELTS test as well as use a range of grammar structures.
Fortunately, there are two straightforward ways we can change the word order in most IELTS questions.You can easily change the order of the clauses, if the original sentence has more than one clause.
As languages such as Spanish, Chinese and English become more widely used, there is a fear that that many minority languages may die out.
Paraphrased by changing word order: 
There is a fear that many minority languages may die out, as languages such as Spanish, Chinese and English become more widely used.
	We could also add some synonyms to paraphrase it even more:
	Paraphrased with changing word order AND synonyms:
There is dismay that many lesser used languages may pass away, as languages such as Chinese, English and Spanish become more broadly spoken.
You can also change the word order if there is an adjective or noun in the question. You do this by simply changing the adjective into a relative clause.
Learning to manage money is one of the key aspects to adult life.
Paraphrased using a relative clause:
Learning to manage money is one of the aspects to adult life that is key.
Method Number 3: Change the Form of the Word
There are many different forms of words including nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Changing the form of a word allows us to paraphrase effectively. Again, don’t just change the form of the word; you also need to check that your changes make grammatical sense. You might need to change the words around it to make the sentence error free.
Longer life spans and improvements in the health of older people suggest that people over the age of sixty-five can continue to live full and active lives.
Paraphrased by changing word form: 
Longer life spans and improvements in the health of older people are suggesting that people over the age of sixty-five can continue living full and active lives.
Method Number 4: Change from Active to Passive
The passive voice is often used in academic writing and can therefore be used in the IELTS academic writing test. Only verbs with an object can be turned into the passive.
Example active sentence: The property developers invested $20 million in the development of the shopping center.
Example passive sentence: $20 million was invested in the development of shopping centers.
We often use the passive voice in academic writing when we don’t want to say it is our opinion.
Example active: People say that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Example passive: Global warming is said to be caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Identification of Main Feature 
This is often the area most students struggle with and it is because of one main reason. Students need to prioritize. Prioritizing means you should choose two or three significant features and just write about these. Things that you should be looking for include:
High/low values
Erratic values
Biggest increase/decrease
Volatile data
Unchanging data
Biggest majority/ minority (pie charts)
Biggest difference/similarities
Major trends
Notable exceptions
Organization of Information
Paragraph 1 (Introduction)
Sentence 1- Paraphrase Question
Paragraph 2 (Overview)
Sentence 1- Overview of first main feature
Sentence 2- Overview of second main feature
Sentence 3- Make general comparison, if appropriate
Paragraph 3 (Details of significant feature )
Sentence 1- Supporting details
Sentence 2- Supporting details
Sentence 3- Supporting details/comparison details/exceptions, if appropriate 
GRAPHS OF DIFFERENT TYPES
Line Graph
1.1.Tips for Line graph
Line graphs always show changes over time. Here's some advice about how to describe them:
•	Try to write 4 paragraphs - introduction, summary of main points, 2 detail paragraphs.
•	For your summary paragraph, look at the "big picture" - what changes happened to all of the lines from the beginning to the end of the period shown (i.e. from the first year to the last). Is there a trend that all of the lines follow (e.g. an overall increase)?
•	You don't need to give numbers in your summary paragraph. Numbers are specific details. Just mention general things like 'overall change', 'highest' and 'lowest', without giving specific figures.
•	Never describe each line separately. The examiner wants to see comparisons.
•	If the graph shows years, you won't have time to mention all of them. The key years to describe are the first year and the last year. You should also mention any 'special' years (e.g. a peak or a significant rise/fall).
•	Start describing details (paragraph 3) with a comparison of the lines for the first year shown on the graph (e.g. in 1990, the number of...).
•	Use the past simple (increased, fell) for past years, and 'will' or 'is expected/predicted to' for future years.
•	Don't use the passive (e.g. the number was increased), continuous (e.g. the number was increasing), or perfect tenses (e.g. the number has increased).
What is important when you plan a task one is to think about how you can organize your graph in the most logical and clear way.This often means grouping the information in some way, and you can do this by looking for patterns - look for similarities and differences.
 Pie Chart 
Choose the most important points to write about first. 
These will be the largest ones. As you can see in the model answer, definite job, looking for work, and formal study were all written about first, in order of importance, as these are the main reasons that were chosen for moving.Items such as ‘other’ are usually less important and account for small amounts, so can be left till the end.
Make it easy to read. 
When you write a task 1, you should always group information in a logical way to make it easy to follow and read.With an IELTS pie chart, the most logical thing to do is usually to compare categories together across the charts, focusing on similarities and differences, rather than writing about each chart separately.If you write about each one separately, the person reading it will have to keep looking between the paragraphs in order to see how each category differs.
Vary your language
As with any task 1, this is important. You should not keep repeating the same str