Hung Yen University of Education and TechnologyFaculty of Foreign Language

“Difficulties in writing essay of the third-year English major students at Hung Yen University

of Education and Technology”

By Nguyen Thi Nga Supervisor: M.A Nguyen Thi Duyen

Presentation outline1. Rationale2. Aims of the study3. Research questions * 4. Scope of the study5. Methods of the study *6. Results of the study *7. Conclusions *8. Limitations of the study 9. Suggestions for further study

1. Rationale

Importance of writing essay at UTEHYDifficulty of writing essay tasks Impact of mother tongue language to

ESL writers strongly

2. Aims of the study

To find out the problems relating to the essay structure in writing essays

To give some suggestions for students to solve these problems to help them write essays better.

3. Research questions What are the problems relating to the structure of

the essays third-year English major students at UTEHY?

What are some suggestions for students to solve problems relating to the structure of essays to help them to write essays better?

4. Scope of the study Focusing on difficulty relating to the structure

format in writing essays of the third-year English major students at UTEHY.

5. Methods of the study

Qualitative and quantitative methods: writing analysis, questionnaire and interview.

Writing analysis: analyzing 27 essays of the third- year English major- students of English Department, UTEHY, reading to find the problems

5. Methods of the study

1. The questionnaires: 13 questions, 3rd year students, 15’ - 20’ & collected right after.

2. The interview: 1st interview: 4 opened questions, 2

teachers of English, 10’- 15’ & took note. 2nd interview: 4 opened questions, 10

students of English, 5’- 10’ & took note

Subjects

83 third-year English major students from the Department of Foreign Language at UTEHY.

2 instructors teaching Academic Writing 5, semester 1, academic year 2015-2016 of English at the Department of Foreign Language , UTEHY.

6. The results of the studyResearch question 1: What are the problems

relating to the structure of the essays third-year English major students at UTEHY face?

The weakness in mastering the structure of English essays (Table 1)

Effects of writing essays in the mother tongue

Research question 2:

Ways to achieve a good essay: Mind-mapping ( example of mind-mapping) tree diagramming (example of tree diagramming) Linear outlining (example of linear outlining)

7. Conclusions

The study obtains its objectives.

- Covering the theories related to the study

- Finding out the answers for two research questions

- Suggesting some solutions

8. Limitations of the study

The present study could not conduct with the larger number of participants.

This study is conducted in the second semester, it could not reach the target participants.

Because this study is conducted in the second semester, it could not reach the target participants.

The result of the study cannot be said that the results are general to all Vietnamese students.

9. Suggestions for future studies It might be a good idea to do the same research

with experimental approach. Further research should focus on the impact of

reading on essays in order to learn many things such as: word choices in English style, how to organize structure of the essay from native writers through their writings

Thanks for your attention!

Chart 1: students’ attitude toward some kinds of English essays .

Chart 2: The factors affect students’ writing style

Chart 3: Students’ frequency of getting mistakes relating to essay structure

Chart 3.4: The challenging part in an essay

Chart 3.5: Factors making a coherent essay

Chart 6: Students’ feeling about using four strategies before writing

Chart 7: Methods applied in an essay

Chart 8: Ways of organizing a Cause- Effect Essay (CEE)

Chart 9: Ways of writing a Comparison Essay (CE)

Chart 10: The structures for the Argumentative Essay (AE)

Chart 11: Factors including in an argumentative conclusion.