An action research on the effects of pre - Writing activities on motivating 11th form students in writing lessons

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
NGUYEN MONG TUAN COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL
EXPERIENCED INITIATIVE
AN ACTION RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF
PRE - WRITING ACTIVITIES ON MOTIVATING 11TH FORM STUDENTS IN WRITING LESSONS
Writer: Ha Thi Thanh Tam
School’s post: Teacher
Experienced initiative of subject: English
THANH HOA, 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
A. INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale 
Nowadays English has become an international language because it is widely used in many parts of the world. In the tendency of integration of the global economy, English is one of the effective communicative tools for everybody. The role of English is considered to be very important in the fields of economics, politics, science, culture and education. Especially, Vietnam’s official membership of WTO on 7th November 2006 opened a new door for integrating into the world economy, and more and more people want to learn English for communicating with foreign partners, tourism, study tours, etc.
Thanks to the innovation of ways in teaching English, English lessons are taught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) in one unit. Moreover, there exists three stages - Pre - while - post - teaching in one lesson. This really helps students improve their skills beside the grammar exercises to pass the exams.
When teaching writing skill to the 11th students at Nguyen Mong Tuan Comprehensive School the author found out that pre - writing stages are very important in teaching writing and it also has significant effects on the students’ writing performance. If students do not prepare well enough they can not write well, they can not even write anything in their notebooks.
The author of this research decided to carry out the action research to find out how pre - writing stages affect the students’ writing performance and whether the pre - lesson activities are important to teachers of English.
II. Research questions 
Do teachers highly appreciate the pre - writing activities in a writing lesson?
How do pre - writing activities affect the students’ writing performance?
III. Methods of the study 
The study is basically a qualitative research, which employs the following methods:
1. Data is collected by means of three sets of questionnaires, one on the teachers and the others on the students in pre - improvement stage and post - improvement one. The questions are of the three - kinds: close - ended questions, open - ended questions and scaling
2. Other sources of data come from writing tasks from the textbooks. The analysis of the data hopefully will bring about reliable findings useful for the teaching of writing to non - major students at Nguyen Mong Tuan Comprehensive School.
III.1 Participants 
The subjects chosen for the research include 85 grade 11th students in class 11A2, 11A4 of Nguyen Mong Tuan Comprehensive School with the survey questionnaires, and 9 teachers who are currently teaching English. To be more specific, among 9 teachers answering the questionnaires, there was no male teacher. The teachers’ ages range from 32 to 44. Their experience of teaching English varied from nine years to 22 years. The research was carried out during the first term of the academic year 2018 - 2019 at Nguyen Mong Tuan Comprehensive School.
III.2 Instrumentation 
Instrumentation one: A set of questionnaires answered by the students in pre - writing stage. The questionnaires were designed with 5 questions to elicit from students the information about the situation of their class in pre - writing stage, the way the teacher carried out these activities. The questions is multiple choice
Instrumentation two: A set of questionnaires completed by the teachers. This set of questionnaires were designed with the aim to find out the attitude of the teachers toward teaching pre - writing activities in a writing lesson, the difficulties they often meet while conducting these activities and solutions to solve the problem. In addition, their suggestions of how to make the pre - writing activities effectively were also mentioned. To complete the questionnaires, teachers had to tick the appropriate boxes or to give answers.
Instrumentation three: A set of questionnaires answered by the students in post - writing stage. This was done with a view to exploring the changes that the teachers made to change the situation, the changes from the students appreciated by themselves
Instrumentation four: A collection of students’ writing papers in both pre - improvement stage and post - improvement one. The researcher wants to find out the results of how pre - writing activities affect to students’ writing performance. The students’ writing papers were analyzed to withdraw the compared results.
IV. Research procedure 
This action research consists of three main stages: Pre - Improvement stage, Trying - out stage and Post - Improvement stage
Stage 1: Pre - Improvement
Step 1. Identifying the problem which was wished to solve or an area which was wished to improve by:
Observing a lesson that illustrated the problem
Conducting a survey to get information from students
Step 2 Finding causes of the problem by:
Consulting with colleagues: a number of colleagues were asked to answer three questions about the effectiveness of conducting the pre - writing activities in writing lessons
Reading professional books/ journals for ideas and suggestions
Stage 2: Trying - out
Step 3: Designing strategies for improvements (plan for action)
Step 4: Trying - out the strategies (action) and making records of what happened in class.
Stage 3: Post - Improvement
Step 5: Evaluating the try - out by:
Observing a lesson (Focusing on the students’ writing performance at the end of try - out period) that illustrated the changes that have been made;
Reflecting on the reasons for those changes (which could include things that had been improved or that had been got worse)
Carrying out a survey to get information from the students
Giving comments and conclusions.
V. Scope of the study 
This study was carried out in two English classes with 85 11th grade students at Nguyen Mong Tuan Comprehensive School. The research focused on how pre - writing activities affect the student’ writing performances in writing lessons.
VI. Design of the study 
The research consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
Part 1: Introduction presents the rationale, the research questions, the method of study, the research procedure, the scope of the study, the significance of the study and the design of the study.
Part 2: Development consists of “Literature Review” and “Action Research Procedure”. In the first part, the theoretical background of action research are introduced with its definition, three reasons to use it, and ways to carry it. The concepts of writing, approaches to teaching writing and some pre - lesson factors affecting students’ writing performance are also presented in this chapter. What is more, the writing program for grade 11th students at Nguyen Mong Tuan School is described in this chapter, too. In part two namely “Action Research Procedure” describes the procedure of this action research with the following main steps: defining the problem, observing class, conducting a survey using questionnaires, collecting data and analyzing data, and giving out conclusions from findings.
Part 3: Conclusion is the last part which offered a summary and suggestions for more effective writing activities and some limitations and suggestions for further studies
VII. Significance of the study 
Writing, one of the two productive skills, has always a significant position in language teaching. Nevertheless, how to teach and learn writing effectively often poses great problems to both teachers and students. For the teachers of English at high school, writing is considered a difficult skill to teach. Some of them even ignore teaching writing skill and focus only on grammar exercises for the exams. However, nothing is difficult if we, the teachers make decision to make it easier. Hopefully, with a range of suggestions of how to make pre - writing activities effectively in writing lessons introduced in this research, it will be more motivating for the teachers to teach and make progress in teaching writing Therefore, their students will be interested in writing lessons.
B. CONTENTS
I.1. Action research 
I.1.1. What is action research?
According to Jerry G. Grebhard (1999), the concept of action research originated in the work of Kurt Lewin (1948, 1952). He was a social psychologist who brought together experimental approaches to social - science research and the idea of “social action” to address social issues. Stephen Corey (1952, 1953), a Columbia University Professor, was among the first to use action research in the field of education. He argued that formal research following a scientific method had little impact on educational practice. Through action research, he argued, changes in educational practice were possible.
In the general meaning, it is “research which has the primary goal of finding ways of solving problems, bringing about social change or practical action, in comparison with research which seeks to discover scientific principles or develop general laws and theories”.
In teacher education, it is “..teacher - initiated classroom research which seeks to increase the teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning and to bring about improvements in classroom practices”. In brief, action research is a kind of scientific study which is often carried out by a teacher or an educator in order to solve a practical problem in a classroom. As it was named, it focuses mainly on the actions of both students and teachers. So, it can solve the problems which are related to all actions and activities in a classroom. The problems which are solved by action research are often practical and useful for teachers.
I.1.2. Why does a teacher need action research?
Action research in schools, colleges or universities solves everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the “theoretical problems” defined by non - teaching researchers. It should be carried out by the teachers themselves or by someone they commission to carry out for them.
Action research in education focuses on the three related stages of action:
Initiating action, such as, adopting a text, choosing an alternative assessment strategy.
Monitoring and adjusting, such as, seeing how a pilot project is proceeding, assessing the early progress of new programme, improving a current practice.
Evaluating action, such as, preparing a final report on a completed project”
I.1.3. How does a teacher carry out action research in a language classroom?
Step 1: Identifying problems you wish to solve or an area you wish to improve by:
Reviewing an audio - or a video - taped lesson and the transcription of a segment of the lesson that illustrates the problem.
Conducting a survey to hear from your students
Step 2: Finding causes of the problem by:
Consulting with your colleagues, trainers
Reading professional books/ journals for ideas and suggestions
Step 3: Designing strategies for improvement (plan for action) and writing a proposal for action research
Step 4: Trying out the strategies (action) and keeping a diary of what happened in the class
Step 5: Evaluating the try - out by:
Reviewing a lesson (taped at the end of the try -out period) that illustrated the changes that have been made
Reflecting on the reasons for those changes (which could include things that have been improved or that have been gotten worse)
Carrying out a survey to get information from students.
I.1.4. Summary 
Action research is a kind of scientific study carried out by a teacher which solves the practical problems in a classroom. The teacher needs action research to adapt theory (findings of conventional research) to practice (his/ her own problems). Action research consists of three stages:
Pre - improvement: Firstly, the teacher identifies the problem in his teaching job in class. He. She observes by himself/herself or asks somebody to observe or has his/ her lessons video - taped in class to get data to prove the problem. He/ she also proves the problem by conducting a survey to get information from his/ her students. Secondly, the teacher tries to find out the causes of the problem from professional books or journals, colleagues and students.
Try -out: The teacher designs the strategies for improvement and tries them out in some following lessons. Next, a lesson is observed or video - taped to get data to illustrate the changes and improvements.
Post-improvement: The teacher reflects on the reasons for the changes and improvements. To ensure the success of the applied strategies in action research a survey is necessary to get the evaluation from students. From the results of the action research some conclusions and comments will be made.
I.2. Writing 
I.2.1. What is writing?
In teaching a language, writing is considered one of the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) that a learner is expected to master. Writing is the process in which the writer expresses his thoughts or ideas in the form of handwriting. “Writing is communicating. Good writing gets your ideas out of your head and into the reader’s head without losing or distorting those ideas” (Leki, 1976). To understand thoroughly the nature of writing, some more academic definitions of writing should be studied.
I.2.2. Why teach writing?
When we learn a second or a foreign language, we learn to communicate with other people: to understand them, talk to them. An integral part of participating fully in a new culture setting is learning how to communicate when the other person is not right there in front of us, listening to our words and looking at our gestures and facial expressions. Visitors to another country will often have to leave a note for the mailman, fill out a customs declaration form, give written instructions, or write a thank - you letter.
First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students.
Second, when our students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond that they have just learned to say, to take risks.
Thirdly, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with the new language, the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning.
I.2.3. Approaches to teaching writing 
Nowadays there are many different approaches to teaching writing. In this part six approaches to teaching writing presented by Ann Raims (1983, pp 5 - 10) were mentioned.
According to Ann Raims (1983, pp 5 - 10), there were six approaches to teaching writing namely: Controlled - to - Free Approach, Free - Writing Approach, Paragraph - Pattern Approach, Grammar - Syntax - Organization Approach, Communicative Approach and Process Approach.
I.2.3.1 Controlled - to - Free Approach 
According to this approach mistakes shown up in written work was regarded as a major problem. The teacher assumed that students made mistakes because they wrote what they wanted freely. This approach stressed the importance of control in teaching writing skills to students in early stages. Students were taught how to write and combine various sentence types and manipulation exercises were used to give students the experience of writing connected sentences.
I.2.3.2 Free - Writing Approach 
This Free - Writing encouraged students to write as much as possible and as quickly as possible - without paying attention to mistakes. The important thing students did was to get their ideas down on a paper. The drawbacks of this approach were that many students wrote badly because they did not write enough and for the same reason they felt inhibited when they picked up a pen to write. This approach might be useful when writing a journal or a diary.
I.2.3.3 Paragraph - Pattern Approach 
This Paragraph - Pattern Approach stressed the importance of paragraph as the basic unit of written expression. Students were taught how to construct and organize paragraphs. This approach helped students express themselves effectively at a level beyond the sentence.
I.2.3.4 The Grammar - Syntax - Organization Approach 
Writing can not be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned one by one. So some teachers devise writing tasks that lead students to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax. This approach links the purpose of a piece of writing to the forms that are needed to convey the message.
I.2.3.5 Communicative Approach 
This Communicative Approach emphasized the communicative role of writing. Students should have a reason for writing and think about whom they wrote to or for. This approach required situations which allowed them to write purposefully. This approach motivated students to write and showed how writing was a form of communication.
I.2.3.6 The Process Approach 
In this approach, particular stress is paid on a cycle of writing activities which move learners from the generation of ideas and the collection of data through to the “publication” of a finished text:
PRE - WRITING
(Specify the task/ planning and outlining/ collecting data/ making notes)
↓
COMPOSING
↓
REVISING
(Reorganizing/ shifting emphasis/focusing information and style for your readership)
↓
EDITING
(Checking grammar/ lexis/ surface features)
To sum up, there is no one perfect way to teach writing. We teachers have to take into consideration the many factors of our context before deciding which approach to apply or very likely, develop one of our own which is the combination of some approaches and which suits our settings best.
I.2.4. What is Pre - Writing?
For most of us, getting started is often the hardest part of writing. A blank page, begging to be filled with ink, can be intimidating, especially when our words come slowly or when our minds go blank. Pre - writing is considered to be very important in teaching writing. Smith (1989) stated that Pre - writing is the complex network of initial mental sequences we undergo when we write a paper. In addition, Richmond (1985) pointed out that Pre - writing is the first stage of the writing process and is also called the idea - generating stage which stretches back to include anything that you have ever done or have ever been that might have given you ideas to write about
I.3. Pre - lesson factors affecting students’ performance in writing lessons 
Students ‘performance in writing lesson can be affected by a variety of factors originating from students, teachers and other external factors. In the following sections, some of the major factors will be discussed.
I.3.1. Student factors 
I.3.1.1. Students’ learning styles 
Harmer (2001) emphasizes the importance of understanding that there are different individuals in our class if we are to plan appropriate kinds of activities for them. Different individuals may have different learning styles, prefer different kinds of work, and expect different degrees of care and attention from the teacher. This can be seen clearly that there are different reactions from students toward the pre - lesson stage. We can conclude with certainty that if teacher realizes the differences among the individuals in the class when an activity is in progress, the students will participate in the lesson actively.
I.3.1.2. Students’ motivation 
Regarding the issue, there are sample definitions of motivation. Lightbown and Spada (1999) consider motivation a complex phenomenon and define it in terms of two factors: learners’ communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community while Harmer (2001) defines motivation simply as “some kind of inte