speech, or perhaps not used at all, but which are important for effective communication
in writing” (Byrne 1990: 4)
However, to teachers of language, writing is “a language skill which is difficult to acquire”
(Tribble, 1996: 3) and “writing normally requires some forms of instruction” (1996: 11).
In short, writing is an art that writers want to communicate with certain groups of
audience. Essay writing is like academic writing but a special skill that does not spring naturally
from an ability to speak a language. Thus, essay writing is a skill in the process of
communication and related to other language skills on its own social role. An essay writer has a
particular obligation to communicate information that is as precise and correct as possible. The
audience is usually an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the statement. The
writing task is to present a written argument or essay to persuade the reader to understand the
writer’s own ideas, knowledge and experience by supporting the essay with examples and
relevant evidence.
2. 2 Patterns of essay organization
According to Alice O. and Ann H. (1983), there are four different patterns of essay
organization in English: chronological order, logical division, cause and effect, and comparison
and contrast.
Chronological order is order by time. It is used in almost all academic fields to describe
historical events as well as to write biographies and autobiographies. It is also used to explain
physical, chemical, biological, and mechanical processes that rarely appear in a real TWE.
Therefore, it is not advisable to apply chronological order in TOEFL essay writing.
Logical division is used to group related items according to some common quality.
Logical division can be useful in planning a paper, which needs to be subdivided into several
categories or groups. Logical division can be used for TWE where essay topic and the subtopics
are larger than usual.
Cause and effect is another common method of organizing an essay where the reason
and result for something is discussed. There are two possible organizations of cause and effect
essay: block and chain. In block organization, all the causes are discussed as in a block and the
all the results are mentioned in another block. In chain organization, a first cause goes with a
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first effect, the second cause goes with its effect and the next appear accordingly as in a
“chain”.
Lastly, comparison and contrast is a very common and useful pattern of essay
organization and it is frequently used in academic writing. Comparison shows how certain
aspects of one item are similar to the same aspects of another item in the same general class
while contrast points out the difference between these items.
However, in Barron’s TOEFL Essay Models (Lin 2004), Lin proposed four major types
of essay such as: Making an argument (MA); Agreeing and disagreeing (AD); Stating a
preference (PR); and Giving an explanation (EX) that learners can flexibly apply to their
writing with each pattern of essay organization. Sometimes, a combination of two or three types
is applied depending on different kinds of essay topic.
Generally, there are three parts of an essay including Introduction (general statement/
thesis statement); Body (logical and appropriate pattern of organization for the topic/ between
paragraph transitions) and Conclusion (summary of the main points or paraphrase of the thesis
and your final comments on the topic). Therefore, whatever kind and organization should be
applied, an essay must contain Introduction, Body and Conclusion. A five-paragraph essay is
preferred for its ease in arranging and controlling main and supporting ideas. This means one
paragraph for the Introduction, three for the Body and one for the Conclusion.
In summary, logical division, cause and effect, and compare and contrast are common
patterns of essay organization. Learners of TWE can apply these flexibly on each kind of essay
topic. There is no fixed rule for this or that organization going with certain kind of essay. The
skill for a better choice will be improved with gradual practice of writing.
2. 3 Major approaches to teaching writing
2. 3. 1 Introduction
Attempts to teaching writing- since the time when student were merely given a topic of
some kind and asked to produce a composition without further help-have usually focused on
some particular problematical aspect of the writing situation. Byrne (1990) identified four
principle ways of approaching the task, namely: focus on accuracy; focus on fluency; focus on
the text and focus on purpose. Raimes (1993) considered three approaches to the teaching of
writing: focus on form; focus on the writer and focus on the readers. From these perspectives,
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there have been three main classroom methodologies: the text-based or traditional approach and
the process approach respectively.
Although some writing schemes and programs have tended to rely largely or
exclusively on one or other of these approaches, in practice most teachers and text book writers
have drawn on more than one and have combined and modified them to suit their purpose. In
recent years, classroom teaching method has been heavily influenced by the communicative
approach, with its emphasis on task-oriented activities that involves the exchange of
information and the free use of language without undue concern for mistakes.
2. 3. 2 Features and limitations of major approaches to teaching writing
2. 3.2.1 The product approach
Examples of the product approach show that the teacher provides models to which
learners are asked to underline or circle the thesis statement, topic sentences, supporting ideas,
transitional devices and so on. Then learners are to identify the kind of grammatical structure
that follows the essay organization of whether logical division, cause and effect or compare and
contrast signals. They also construct paragraphs even a sentence from frames, tables and other
guides, and then produce an essay through answering a set of questions. Minor changes and
substitutions of blank space, punctuation marks, and capitalization are also added to expand an
outline or summary. Moreover, students learn how to combine sentences, develop complex
sentences following different rules of combination, and how to use transitional devices is
applied through the course. Therefore, the incoming data from the teacher or the textbook enter
the learners’ mind through the best fitting schema.
The major limitation of the product approach is that students are very passive and less
creative. All learners’ knowledge of writing skill is based on the teacher and textbook. What if
they are lazy in practicing writing regularly and what if the course of writing is over? The skill
that they obtain passively may return to the textbook or lay in the teacher’s lecture.
Furthermore, they spend most of their time working alone with their own thinking that they
assume may be enough but not various and creative. If they discuss and brainstorm with their
peers, they may discover or hit upon new fresh ideas that seem to be alive in their learning
situation. They will be more motivated and self-confident to show their own ideas and write
down for their first or last draft. Last, mistakes are corrected seriously during the writing, which
to some extent discourages students to write more. Most students are worried about mistakes
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that are considered common in writing for beginners. Thus, motivation is of a little help if
mistakes are not regarded naturally in writing.
However, there are two strong points of product approach that many researchers cannot
deny. First, it is much easier for beginners of writing to formulate from how to write a good
sentence, how to join good sentences into a good paragraph to how to connect paragraphs into a
good essay, their last product. Not all learners can write a good essay as soon as they begin the
course. They should be up step-by-step with imitation and repetition from textbooks or the
teacher. Second, the teacher still have to impart the knowledge of writing theory including
grammatical structures, word choices, cohesive device uses, how to vary the content, how to
organize the essay in this way but not that way and sorts of the like. The important thing is that
the teacher knows how to handle or lose his or her control in the writing class. Learners are
bound to go to imaginatively various directions without the guide from their teacher, which is
not really good for TWE learners who need to write on specific topics for academic readers.
In short, the product approach still has some strong points that can be applied in
teaching TOEFL essay writing. This means teacher’s guidance and knowledge of writing theory
is the good base for beginners of writing to lead their writing practice. However, if learners owe
their knowledge and skill of writing to the teacher and textbook strictly, they will be very
passive and often get shocked in the real official writing test where a new topic or a new kind of
essay is introduced. TWE does not require a variety of topics or patterns of essay organization
but test takers must have the skill of solving the writing task under the pressure of time. Within
30 minutes for an essay of about 250 words, they have to plan for the outline, write the essay
and revise the writing. Their first draft will be the last one so they must be well skilled at
writing independently.
2. 3. 2. 2 The process approach
The process approach to writing looses more teachers’ guidance than the product one.
Students discover effective writing techniques and strategies with the guidance of the teacher.
Writing is viewed as collaborative, social process where students assist one another in
composing texts. Writing topics are controlled and chosen by students. Writing shapes and
refines thought and students create meaning through writing and write for real audiences. Errors
are considered natural and are corrected in the final stages of the writing process. Grammar
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points are given throughout the writing process. Students are evaluated on the basis of the
quality of their total writing process.
There are some good points from this approach. First, students’ writing creativity is
encouraged in the class. They can choose the topic and writing techniques that they are good at
while the teacher guide and organize the group work or pair work. The atmosphere in the class
will be more relaxed when mistakes and errors are considered naturally. As a result, students
will be more independent and creative in their writing. Then, interaction and cooperative work
among students enrich ideas in the content. Students can help each other with outlining the
supporting ideas; punctuation and spelling and so on. Other language skills such as speaking,
listening and reading will be improved at the same time. Lastly, the teacher works little and
plays a role of an observer in the class time. Learners play a central active role and make their
own decision for what and how to write for their real audience.
However, the limitation of this approach is outweighed the strong points when this way
is applied in TWE situation. First, students cannot choose whatever they want to write in
whatever technique they are interested in. The reason is that TOEFL writing task is narrowed in
some major fields of topic and kinds of essay. Student may like or be good at some certain topic
or kind of essay that rarely appears in TWE. Therefore, they will waste their time learning not-
TOEFL specific things. Second, discussion and cooperation in the class encourages learners’
motivation but without much of the teacher’s guidance of writing theory (including grammar
points, word choices, cohesive devices, patterns of essay organization and so on), it will be a
waste of time if their discussion is off the focus. Last, TWE score is given for each individual’s
product, last version. But in the process approach, students are evaluated on the basis of their
total writing process - their cooperative paper. Learners can work well in their group; yet, they
are supposed to work on their own for their complete version. They need to practice carefully
for their test which they have to write on their own and marked for each individual.
In brief, the process approach encourages students’ creativity and motivation in writing.
It is a learner-centered approach that stimulates students to play an active role and the teacher
works as an observer. However, beginners of writing still need help and guidance from the
teacher, especially TOEFL learners who come from various background in ages, jobs and
majors and they, of course, are not at the same level of language command. This procedure is
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good for class practice but students are still encouraged to write on their own and get feedback
from their teacher for mistake corrections.
2. 3. 3 Summary
Based on the strong and weak points of both product and process approach discussed
above, a new approach of teaching is raised to make use of the strong points and limit the weak
points of both approaches. Firstly, students should be provided knowledge of writing theory
focused on each topic at the beginning of each lesson because not all learners are English
professional before they take the course. They can come from other academic fields such as
engineering, architecture, economy, and medicine… and need TOEFL score for their specific
purpose. Therefore, they cannot be said at the same level of English and the teacher cannot
track their knowledge of language skills in general and writing in particular. Learners need a
base for their writing practice that the teacher must be a good guide. Secondly, in the process of
teaching and learning, it will be less motivated and interesting if either the teacher or learners
work all the time. It should be a combination between the teacher and learners in which the
teacher is a good guide and organizer and learners are good actors. Moreover, not only writing
skill is focused all the time but also other skills of language should be dealt with like a support
to perfect one another. Lastly, feedback and mistake correction are expected from learners for
the improvement of their later version. But if the teacher takes more care of tracking the whole
errors, learners feel less motivated to go on writing. The suggested teaching approach will
include all above features and will be applied flexibly in each particular class situation.
CHAPTER THREE: THE STUDY
3. 1 Methodology
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The quality and quantity action research is applied to make the data more authentic,
realistic and objective. The methodology conducted in the research including the participants,
instrumentation, data collection and data analysis and findings will be presented in this part.
3. 1. 1 Participants
Fifty students were chosen at random from American International College, SITC and
some TOEFL Preparation courses in VNU and Foreign Language Study University, Apollo and
my private classes at home or online. The ratio of male and female in both interviews and
classes was 27/50 (the number of male learners counted for 54% of the population). They came
from different parts of Vietnam, from the countries to the cities. They were at the age between
16 and 32 and at different fields of occupation. Notwithstanding, the majority came from the
countryside in the north and was still studying. Most of the learners had just taken the
placement test or trial test and were supposed to be at an intermediate level of proficiency in
English. These learners had studied English for at last two years and at most ten years at schools
or English centers where vocabulary and grammatical structures of the English language were
mainly focused. They spoke Vietnamese, their mother tongue to communicate in daily
conversations and rarely use English in their job or study. However, some used English for their
job as a receptionist, officer and consultant. Each of the 50 learners was numbered from 1 to 50
on a separate piece of paper, which were put into a box, then picked out one by one without
being looked at.
3. 1. 2 Instruments
Instrument 1: the studied subjects completed a structured questionnaire including four parts:
Part one was about the personal information of the learners including gender, age,
living place, job, English learning duration; the frequency of English using; and the reasons to
take part in the course.
Part two was conducted to gain a snapshot of the learners’ opinion on essay kinds;
writing topics, the materials; and writing lessons.
Part three was about the activities on essay learning-teaching process to get the data of
the writing activities that the learners often did during the course and of what they would like
their teachers to do to help them in essay writing.
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Part four aimed at students’ opinions on revising stage where the content; clarity;
punctuation and spelling were mainly questioned.
The questionnaire was based on The Postgraduate Research Handbook (Gina, 2001)
and conducted in English. It was also founded on the frame of the core book: Barron’s How to
Prepare for TOEFL Essays, (Lin 2004). However, the learners were suggested to answer in
either English or Vietnamese. Refer to Appendix A.
Instrument 2: Proofing checklists for writing tasks were given to 30 learners in 3 classes during
the course from the beginning of June to the middle of August; 2005 - the time the study was
done. The checklists were completed by the researcher and handed to the students. The copies
of the checklist were kept for data analysis. The checklist was adapted from the model essays in
“Barron’s How to prepare for TOEFL Essays” (Lin, 2004). Refer to Appendix B.
Instrument 3: Personal learning logs focusing on 3 classes are noted down to track the changes
in attitudes and the build-up of knowledge and understanding of the studied subjects. The
researcher felt about undertaking the new method and took a diary carefully in the classroom
environment. The personal learning logs and group observation were based on The
Postgraduate Research Handbook (Gina, 2001) Refer to Appendix C
Instrument 4: The course outline, handout question, and samples of writing were added as the
reference. Refer to appendix D, E and F
3. 2 Data collection procedures
On the first three weeks, the questionnaire was handed to 50 students in different
classes. It took a lot of time because the subjects were not at the same place and they were from
different classes. The students were selected randomly and completed the questionnaire
seriously within 5-10 minutes in their classroom. The researcher asked for time with the studied
subjects in order to explain the purpose, relevance and importance of the study, as well as to
clarify any questions that the learners had. The data were collected and analyzed to survey the
learners’ activity and opinion on essay writing that they had learnt before. The checklists of 10
writing papers at the beginning of the course and the checklist of 10 writing papers at the end of
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the course for the same subjects were coded from Paper 01F to 10L. The purpose of the
checklist was to investigate the changes in students’ writing skill in essay writing. The learning
logs were noted down carefully after each class during the course. After nearly ten weeks, all
the data from the checklist and learning logs were reported to show the change in learners’
attitude in essay writing learning as well as the change in writing skill.
3. 3 Data presentation and data analysis
First, all collected data were read through to obtain the general information. The
observational reports were written down carefully. The results were then shown in tables and
charts. So as to quantify the open-ended questions from the questionnaire, a series of analytical
forms was also conducted. Next, the collection of checklists from experimental classes will be
analyzed comprehensively. Finally, the actual problems affecting the process of teaching and
learning will lay the foundation for a discussion of a better methodology in the following
chapter.
3. 3.1 The questionnaire report
Part 1 was designed to achieve the general information reported in Table 1.
Table 1: Learners by age, gender and job
Age Gender
Male Female
Total
number
Jobs
Student Official/
worker
Jobless
16-18
19-22
23-25
26-32
9
7
6
5
8
8
4
3
17 (34%)
15 (30%)
10 (20%)
8 (16%)
25 19 6
Total 27 (54%) 23 (46%) 50 (100%) 50% 38% 12%
The total number of the learners selected in the study was 50 for the questionnaire, of which 23
were female and 27 were male. The majority was at the age of from 18 to 22, at which students
had just finished their secondary school and began to enter a university. That is also the reason
why 50% of the objects are students. The second group of subjects works in offices (38%). The
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third group of learners (12%) was those who failed the entrance exam took TOEFL examination
to study abroad. The following is the results of Part 1.
Table 2 below shows the learners’ experience in English learning. The number of years they
have spent learning English ranged from 2 to 10 years. About 44% (22 learners) had been
learning English for 3 or 4 years and 22% (11 students) had spent 7 to 8 years learning English.
Only 3 students had experienced 2 years in learning English. The number of learners had spent
5, 6 years is the same that of those who having spent more than 9 years (14%).
Table 2: Learners’ experience in learning English in years
Years 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 >9
No of
learners
3 22 7 11 7
Percentage 6% 44% 14% 22% 14%
Freque nc y o f us ing Eng lis h
6%
14%
72%
8%
very ofte n ofte n s ome time s ra re ly/ne ver
Chart 1: Frequency of using English
Table 3: Learners’ purpose of English
use
Work Study Pleasure
12 33 5
24% 66% 10%
Table 3 shows that most students had been learning and using English at school 66% (33
learners). Some of them graduated from universities and used English at work but not very
often (24%). 10% of the subjects used English for pleasure. According to Chart 1, only 3
learners (6%) spoke English frequently at work or both at work and in study while 4 learners
rarely used English both at work or study. Most of the learners sometimes used English (72%)
and 14% often spoke English. The reason for this may be that the learners used their mother
tongue in daily conversation and only used English at class time or at work.
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