MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LE PHUONG THAO AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHER FEEDBACKS ON 11TH GRADER’S WRITING PERFORMANCE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh Nghe An, 2017 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere Author Le Phuong Thao ii ABSTRACT Although teacher feedback to students’ writing plays an important role in teaching and learning writing, both teachers and students at high school not pay much attention to this problem To get much more information about this reality, the researcher make an effort to investigate into teacher feedbacks on 11 th grader’s writing performance at Nghe An No Boarding Ethnic high school This thesis is implemented with co-operation of 50 students and teachers of English with the combination of some survey instruments Firstly, questionnaires were delivered for students and teachers Next, an interview with a list of questions was carried out between the researcher and the other teachers After that, some samples from students’ writing drafts were collected and analyzed These sources of data collection will provide new insights into teachers’ feedback giving practice The findings of the study revealed that there existed a lot of problems concerning teachers’ responding methods, their feedback focus, their frequent types and forms as well as their help for students’ comprehension of teacher feedback The results also showed the misfit between what the teachers often give, what the students would like to get as well as give out some solutions for the giving teacher feedback on students’ writing with the hope to help the teachers and students to change the current condition and make students to be more and more interested in writing skill iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and support of many individuals in assisting me to accomplish this study First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, whose useful instructions and advice, as well as detailed critical comments and encouragements help me a great deal from the beginning to the end of the thesis writing process Without her help, the study would have never fulfilled Additionally, I also would like to thank all the teachers of English and my students at Nghe An No Boarding Ethnic high school who help me much to collect the important data for the research Finally, my special thanks also go to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates and especially my beloved family for valuable comments and criticism, their interest and encouragement iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Page iv LIST OF CHARTS Page vi LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Research questions 1.6 Design of the study 4 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Writing 2.1.1 Definitions of writing 2.1.2 Types of writing 2.1.3 The importance of writing 2.1.4 The importance of writing skill to students of high school .9 2.1.5 Teaching Writing .10 2.2 Feedback 12 2.2.1 Definitions of feedback 12 2.2.2 The importance of feedback 14 2.2.3 Strategies for writing feedback 17 2.2.4 Approaches to feedback giving .18 2.2.5 Types of feedback 19 2.3 Focus on Teacher Feedback 23 2.3.1 Forms of teacher feedback .24 2.3.2 Types of teacher feedback .25 2.3.3 Issues in the teachers' written feedback 26 v 2.3.4 Principles of teacher feedback 28 2.3.5 Major issues in giving teacher feedback 28 3.1 The context of the study 30 3.2 The textbooks 31 3.3 Participants .32 3.4 Instruments for Data Collection .33 3.4.1 Questionnaire for Students 33 3.4.2 Questionnaire for Teachers 34 3.4.3 Follow-up Interview 34 3.4.4 Document analyses of teacher feedback 35 3.5 The instruments 35 3.6 Data collection methods 35 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 Data analysis 37 4.1.1 Data analysis of questionnaire for students .37 4.1.2 Data analysis of questionnaire for teacher .50 4.1.3 Analysis of the interview 56 4.1.4 Observation of teacher commentary on the students’ drafts 59 4.2 Findings and discussion 60 4.2.1 Findings 61 4.2.2 Discussion 64 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Conclusion 68 The study point out limitations as well as give out some solutions for the giving teacher feedback on students’ writing with the hope to help the teachers and students to change the current condition and make students to be more and more interested in writing skill 68 5.2 Recommendations 68 5.3 Suggestions for further studies .70 REFERENCES APPENDIX 1: vi LIST OF CHARTS Page Figure 4.1 The students’ interest toward writing skill Figure 4.2 The students’ attitude towards topics of writing in textbook Figure 4.3 Amount of time a day students spend on writing Figure 4.4 The most difficult problem encountered when studying writing skill Figure 4.5 Things students before writing Based on figure 4.5, only 13 students (26%) think about the main ideas before starting to write, 40% of them discuss with friends while of them (16%) even nothing, just write naturally If students nothing before writing, they maybe write disorderly and even have nothing to write students (18%) get information from Internet or books; which provide them with a lot of useful information to support for their writing Figure 4.6 The students’ attitude towards the time of studying writing skill in class Figure 4.7 People who correct students’ writing task Figure 4.8 The importance of teacher feedback on students’ writing Figure 4.9 Students' expectation for frequency of teacher feedback on each assignment Figure 4.10 Students’ expectation for teacher feedback types Figure 4.11 Students’ expectation for the focus of teacher feedback As can be seen from the figure above, 36 students (72%) prefer their teachers to focus the feedback on grammar Beside that, about 40 of them (80%) want the feedback to be focused on vocabulary It can be said that most informants prefer more feedback on form rather than on content (36%) for following reasons First, the writing lesson at grade 11 is a kind of guided writing The learners are provided vii with models, structures even content for writing The learners’ task is using suggested information to write a complete paragraph However, they not realize that a good writing paper is not merely the combination of grammatically correct sentences but it also reveals the good language use, suitable organization (including coherence and cohesion) and the unity of topic sentence and supporting ideas Second, the data in figure 4.4 show that 36 students (72 %) find vocabulary and grammar are the most difficult problems when they study So, students often make these types of mistakes The statistics in this chart also indicate that a half of the students (50%) expect the teacher comment to be focused on language use, whereas, 21 of them (42%) on styles and (18%) on idea organization 46 Figure 4.12 Students’ expectation for teachers’ indication of errors in the writing Figure 4.13 Students’ expectation for teachers’ treatment if there are many errors in the writing Figure 4.14 Students’ comprehension of teacher feedback Figure 4.15 The reasons for not understanding teacher feedback Figure 4.16 The solutions for the problems Table 4.1 The purpose of teacher’s giving feedback Figure 4.17 Frequency of teacher feedback to each assignment Table 4.2 Frequency of teacher feedback types Table 4.3 Focus of teacher feedback Figure 4.18 Treatment with errors in the student writing Figure 4.19 Teacher’s consideration about students’ comprehension of teacher feedback viii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS EFL : English as foreign language ESL : English as a secondary language ETC : Et cetera % : percent ix 73 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Handbook on Research on Teaching Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association 45 Stanley, J (1992) Coaching student writers to beeffective peer 76 evaluators Journal of Second Language Writing, 1,3, pp 217–234 46 Straub, R (1997) Students' reactions to teacher comments: An exploratory study Research in the Teaching of English, 31 (1), 91-119 47 Taylor, I (1997) Developing learning in professional education Buckingham: SRHE 48 Truscott, J (1996) The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes Language Learning 46, 327-369 49 Truscott, J (2004) Evidence and conjecture on the effects of correction: A response to Chandler Journal of Second Language Writing, 13, 337343 50 Urquhart, V & McIver, M (2005) Teaching writing in the content areas Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum 51 Zamel, V (1985), “Responding to student writing”, TESOL Quarterly, 19, pp.79-202 52 Zhu, W (1995) Effects of training for peer response on students’ comments and interaction Written Communication, 12,4, pp 492–528 77 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For Students) This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “An investigation into teacher feedbacks on 11th grader’s writing performance” This is not a test, so there are no “right” or “wrong” answers and you not even have to write your names on it Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is reserved only for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please, give your answers sincerely as only this will guarantee the success of the study Instructions: There are three parts in this questionnaire Please, put a tick in the appropriate box or give short answers in the space provided Part I: Personal Information * Gender * Class * How Male  long have you Female been  learning English ? years * Your English writing performance (according to your assessment): Excellent  Good  Fair  Poor  Part II: Your opinions/ (attitudes towards) on your writing task Which of the following skill you like best? a Listening b Speaking c Reading d Writing * Other ideas: ……………………………………………………… ……… 78 What you think about the topic of writing tasks in your textbook? a Easy b Normal c Difficult d Very difficult * Other ideas: …………………………….… …………………………… How much time you spend on self study at home? a 30 minutes per day b hour per day c not every day d Not self study at home * Other ideas: ……………………….……… …………………… What is the most difficult problem when study writing skill? a Vocabulary b Grammar c Lack of ideas d Different topic, lack of teacher help * Other ideas: ……………… …………………….………………… What you before starting to write? a Think about the main ideas b Discuss with your friends c Get information from the Internet or books d Do nothing, just write naturally * Other ideas: ……………… ……………………….………………… What you think about the time of one writing skill practice lesson? a It is too long b It is too short c It is enough for practicing writing skill d It is not enough for practicing writing skill * Other ideas: ……………… ……………………….………………… Who corrects your written works? a Friends b Teacher 79 c Yourself d No one * Other ideas: ……………… ……………………….………………… Part III: Your opinions/ (attitudes towards) on your teacher feedback 8.How important is the teacher feedback to your writing? a extremely important b very important c important d not important How many times you want your teacher respond to each of your writing task? a Once/ assignment b Twice/ assignment c Three times/ assignment d Many times/ assignment 10 What types of feedback would you prefer to receive? a Positive feedback b Negative feedback c Specific feedback d General feedback * Other: 11 Which aspect (s) in the writing does your teacher often focus on? (you can choose more than one answer or give other short answer in the space) a Grammar b Vocabulary c Content d Organization e Language use f Organization of ideas g * Other: 12 How you want your teacher to indicate an error in your written work? a by showing the errors without correcting them b by showing the errors and correcting them 80 c by showing the errors and giving clue about how to correct them d by paying attention to the content, ignoring the errors in grammar, vocabulary, spelling… e * Other: 13 If there are many errors in your task, what you think your teacher should do? a Correct all the errors b Correct the major errors, but not the minor ones c Underline all the errors without correcting them d Correct only the major errors that are the most important e * Other: 14 Is your teacher feedback easy to understand? a Yes b No If no, can you give the reason why? a Teacher gives too many feedbacks b The feedback is not clear c Teacher uses many symbols d Teacher uses new feedback strategies e * Other: 15 When you not understand the feedbacks, what you do? a Ask the teachers c Consult a dictionary or a grammar book b Ask the friends d Do nothing e * Other: Thank you very much for your cooperation! 81 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For teachers) This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “An investigation into teacher feedbacks on 11th grader’s writing performance” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is reserved only for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please, give your answers sincerely as only this will guarantee the success of the study Instructions: There are two parts in this questionnaire Please put a tick in the appropriate box or give short answers in the space provided (You can use either Vietnamese or English) Part I: Personal Information * Gender: Male  * Age: * How long have Female  you been teaching English ? years Part II: Your opinions on giving feedback to students’ writing What is the purpose of giving feedback to the students’ writing? (you can choose more than one answer) a b c d e to help students improve their writing to justify the grade you give to heir writing to evaluate their writing progress to indicate students’ strength and weakness to enhance the relationship between the teacher and students How many times you often respond to each of your students’ writing task? a Once/ assignment c Three times/ assignment b Twice/ assignment d Many times/ assignment 82 How often you use the following types of feedback to respond to the students' writing? a b c d e Types of feedback Often Sometimes Never Positive feedback Negative feedback Specific feedback General feedback Others Which aspect (s) in the students’ writing you often focus on? (you can choose more than one answer or give other short answer in the space) Focus of feedback Grammar Vocabulary Content Style Language use Organization of ideas * Other: Often Sometimes Never How you indicate an error in your students’ written work? a Underline the error without correcting it b Underline the error and correct it c Underline the error and give clue about how to correct it d Pay attention to the content only, ignore the errors in grammar, vocabulary, spelling… * Other: Do you think your feedback is suitable for your students’ level and easy to understand? a Yes b No 83 Have you ever asked students to tell you what they think about the feedback they receive? a Yes b No Thank you very much for your cooperation! APPENDIX 2: LISTS OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 84 Question 1: Do you think giving feedback on the student writing is important?” Question 2: What is purpose of giving feedback to students’ writing papers? Question 3: What types of feedback you often use when correcting students’ errors? Question 4: Which parts of writing you often focus your feedback on? Question 5: Do you correct all the errors in students’ writing task? 85 TRANSCRIPTS OF INTERVIEWS - Researcher (R): First of all, thank you for your agreement to participate in the interview Now, I would like to tell something about objective of my action research and that of my interview This interview aims to: + Investigate teacher feedbacks given to 11th form students’ writings: their responding method, the feedback focus, feedback types and forms, as well as their problems in responding to the students' writing + Propose some recommendations for teachers in order to help students write more effectively So, I’d like to ask you some questions related to giving feedback on students’ writing papers Do you think giving feedback on the student writing is important?” - Teacher (T 1): In my opinion, I cannot ignore feedback when teaching writing because it is necessary to show out students’ errors so that they can improve their papers.” - Teacher (T 2): For me, I not correct the errors all the time because in some cases, the topic is not very difficult for students to write when they are asked to write something similar to the sample - R: What is purpose of giving feedback to students’ writing papers? - T 1: I want to improve my students’ writing skill so I try to give feedback as clearly as possible so that they will not make the same mistake again and rewrite better paper - T 2: It is a useful way to point out their advantages and the weak points of students when they practice writing skill So, I often give comments and mark to students’ writing task so that they can know how they write and what level they are in -R: What types of feedback you often use when correcting students’ 86 errors? -T 1: My students not like to receive a question or an exclamation in their paper They want some things in detail How can I write something clear enough with a question? I like to write my comments in the margin of students’ paper because I want to show specific comments to my students Also, I often use a red pen to underline and correct the mistakes at the end of the sentence because it is easy for students to recognize their problem Students will be confused a lot if we write our comment in general at the end of the paper -T 2: I often write such comments “Quite good, very good or try harder” in my students’ paper because I want to encourage them to write more and more R: Which parts of writing you often focus your feedback on? - T 1: My students often make a lot of errors in grammar such as verb tenses, article use, subject and verb agreement…etc and errors about using vocabulary -T 2: I try to focus my feedback in pointing out errors in grammar, spelling, and vocabulary because students need to improve their knowledge about these features to complete successfully the English current test which focus much on form” R: Do you correct all the errors in students’ writing task? -T 1: We have only forty-five minutes for a writing lesson, so it is difficult for us to correct all the words in a paper However, we always try to help our students to improve their skill So, I often indicate students’ errors by underlining the errors and write the correct ones -T 2: I think most of the students are not very good at writing, so they want to have all errors corrected Most of them make a lot of different mistakes, so if I indicate and correct all the errors, they can exchange their papers to 87 improve all errors easily However, I cannot have enough time to correct all the errors if there are many of them in a paper, I only focus on the errors that relate to the requirement of the writing task R: Thank you for your cooperation! ... students’ writing skill All of these motivated me to conduct a research titled ? ?An investigation into teacher feedbacks on 11th grader’s writing performance? ?? with the aim at improving writing skill... feedback: focus on language form, focus on content, focus on text functions, focus on creative expression, focus on the writing process, and focus on genre Focus on language structures, as Hyland explains,... most importantly, how to improve future performance One of the most valuable contributions anyone can make to another person’s learning is constructive feedback As a student or as a teacher, each