A SURVEY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING ESSAYS OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Thi Minh Uyen Phan, Thi Thuy Hang Nguyen, Thanh Trung Le

Abstract


This thesis “A study on the difficulties in writing essays of English-majored sophomores at Tay Do University” was conducted to examine the difficulties that second-year students majoring in English often met in writing essays. For this purpose, the participants in this study were 100 English majored sophomores in classes 14A, 14B and 14C at Tay Do University. The interview with 3 extended statements for English majored teachers and a questionnaire with 25 closed statements for students is used as instruments to collect the data. The data from the interview and questionnaire were collected to make clear and prove the problems that the students have had in writing essays. The study figured out some difficulties about background knowledge, vocabulary, grammar structure, idea arrangement and orthography in writing essays faced by English majors sophomores at Tay Do University. Besides, this study also helps students realize their challenges and improve their writing essays.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


writing essays, difficulties in writing essays, English majored sophomores

Full Text:

PDF

References


a. References from books

Adams, K. & Keene, M. (2000). Research and writing across the disciplines. California: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Ahmadi, D., Maftoon, P., & Gholami Mahrdad, A. (2012). Investigating the effects of two types of feedback on EFL students' writing. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46,2590-2595.

Allen S. Goose (2001). 8 Kinds of Writing: Lessons and Practice for Writing Tests and Samples.

Boonpattanaporn (2005). Comparative Study of English Essay Writing Strategies and Difficulties as Perceived by English Major Students: A Case Study of Students in the School of Humanities, The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Chastain K. (1988). Developing second language skills: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Florida: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Dang Thi Hanh, Chau Thanh Hai and Tra To Quyen (2020). A study on the difficulties in writing argumentative essays of English-majored sophomores at Tay Do University.

Dudley-Evans & St. John M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press.

Ebow P. (1973). Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. New York. Oxford University Press.

Graham, S. (2006). How Do Primary Grade Teachers Teach Handwriting? A National Survey. Reading and Writing, 21(1-2), 49-69.

Jalaludin, I. (2001). Teacher's assistance in developing rural learners' writing skills and writing self-efficacy: A case study. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

James, D. (2005). The teacher’s Grammar Book. Soka University. Lawrence Erlbaum. Associates.

Kroll B. (2001). Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing. Cambridge University Press.

Langan, J. (2004). College Writing Skills (6th Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Lannon (1989). The writing process: A concise rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook, 11th Edition.

Mehdi, M and Mojgan, R. (2012). The Effect of Instruction on Writing Performance of Intermediate EFL Persian Students.

Mukulu, 2006. An Investigation into Students’ Attitude towards basic Writing Skills: The Case of Civil Engineering at Hawassa University.

Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Pham Thu Uyen and Phan Thi Minh Uyen, (2020). Difficulties in writing essays of English-majored sophomores at Tay Do University.

Nyang’au Benard Nyasimi (2008). Challenges Students Face in Learning Essay Writing Skills in English Language in Secondary Schools in Manga District, Nyamira County, Kenya.

Oshima, A. and Hogue, A. (2006). Writing Academic English (4th edition). New York: Pearson Longman.

Pakir (1896, p.75). A vocabulary size test of controlled productive ability. Language testing 16, 33-51.

Phillips, J. D. (1979). The essay writing skills of undergraduate students. University of Canterbury.

Rahmatunnisa, W. (2014). Problems Faced by Indonesian EFL Learners in Writing Argumentative Essay. Journal of English Education, 3(1), 41-49.

Richards J.C. and Renandya, W. A. (2002: 252). Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. New York: Cambridge University Press

Scott Thornbury (2002, p.33). How to teach vocabulary. TEXTBookAMAZING.

Tiryaki, E. N. (2011). University students’ skills of writing argumentative text and writing anxiety and critical thinking skills. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey.

Tribble, C. (1996). Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

White, F & Billings, S. (2008). The well-crafted argument: A guide and reader (3rd Ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

William, J. (2005:2). Teaching writing in a second and foreign language classroom. Boston: McGraw Hill.

b. References from the Internet

The organization of an essay. Retrieved from https://www.jalc.edu/files/uploads/global/english/pdfs/writing_center_tutorials/03_the_organization of_an_essay.pdf.

Definition of writing. Retrieved from https://eprints.uny.ac.id/9805/3/CHAPTER2%20-%2005202244187.pdf.

The importance of writing skills. Retrieved from https://www.adlit.org/article/27894/.

Definition of essay writing. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay.

Importance of English. Retrieved from https://effortlessenglishclub.com/importance-of-english

Importance of English. Retrieved from https://www.elc-schools.com/blog/4-reasons-why-learning-english-is-so-important/




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v7i2.4216

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2015 - 2023. European Journal of English Language Teaching (ISSN 2501-7136) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing GroupAll rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).