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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY
MASTER’S THESIS OF TESOL
THE IMPACT OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK
ON PARAGRAPHS IN IETLS WRITING
TASK 2: A CASE STUDY OF VUNG TAU
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Tran Thi Que Han
Student’s code: 18114201
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan
BA RIA – VUNG TAU, 2022
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGBA RIA VUNG TAU
UNIVERSITY
MASTER’S THESIS OF TESOL
THE IMPACT OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK
ON PARAGRAPHS IN IETLS WRITING
TASK 2: A CASE STUDY OF VUNG TAU
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Tran Thi Que Han
Student’s code: 18114201
Supervisor: D r . Nguyen Hoang Tuan
BA RIA – VUNG TAU, 2022
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that the thesis “ The impact of corrective feedback on paragraphs in ietls
writing task 2: A case study of Vung Tau High School students” is my work.
No other person’s work has been used without acknowledgment in the thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other
tertiary institution.
Ba Ria – Vung Tau, August 2022
TRAN THI QUE HAN
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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I, Tran Thi Que Han, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Teaching
English to Speakers of Other Languages accept the requirement of the University
relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis
deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan,
and reproduction for theses.
Ba Ria – Vung Tau, August 2022
TRAN THI QUE HAN
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My special thanks are due to all those who have made great contributions to my
thesis completion.
First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Nguyen
Hoang Tuan, my supervisor, for his valuable comments and suggestions during the
whole research process. His dynamism, enthusiasm, vision as well as his patience have
deeply inspired me. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have
been completed.
Secondly, I am very grateful to the Postgraduate Institute of Ba Ria – Vung Tau
University who have supported me much time to implement this thesis.
My sincere thanks also go to my friends and colleagues for all her help and
encouragement. I would like to thank the research participants who have contributed to
this study.
Last but not least, I warmly thank my family for their countless support, greatest
sympathy and unconditional love.
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ABSTRACT
This study focuses on giving corrective feedback (CF) for writing paragraphs in the
context of IELTS writing task 2 preparation. The ultimate goal of this research was to
discover the effectiveness of CF types and its positive impact to IETLS learners writing
performance. Two approaches to teaching paragraph writing were implemented to
disentangle the common confusion of learners’ writing idea and position development.
By the aforementioned systematic methods, teacher could break down the structure and
give learners feedback on each sentence. Therefore, learners could be motivated in
paragraph writing for IETLS writing task 2.
Qualitative case study method was used to identify learner’s writing errors. It
examined 5 learners writing process from the very beginning of online studying IETLS
writing Task 2 . Learners were taught to develop 23 paragraphs through two methods.
115 convenience samplings were collected for content analysis. In addition, interviews
were conducted to evaluate learners’ attitude towards corrective feedback.
The findings indicated that learners appreciated corrective feedback and all of them
achieved band 6.0+ for writing task 2. Thanks to feedback treatment, their writing
performance was improved in terms of task response, coherence and cohesion, accuracy
and lexical resources. The study results may be useful for teachers who teach IELTS
writing task 2.
Keywords: Corrective feedback,
IELTS Writing TASK 2, learners’ attitude,
enumeration, REERR model
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .............................................................................. i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ............................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF CHARTS...................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ....................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1
1.1. Background to the Study ...................................................................................... 1
1.2. Statement of the Problem ..................................................................................... 1
1.3. Objectives of The Study ....................................................................................... 2
1.4. Research questions ............................................................................................... 3
1.5. Scope of the Study ............................................................................................... 3
1.6. Significance of the Study ..................................................................................... 3
1.7. Structure of the Study........................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................. 5
2.1. Overview of IELTS Writing Task 2 .................................................................... 5
2.2. Paragraph writing ................................................................................................. 6
2.3. Corrective Feedback........................................................................................... 10
2.4 Language learning attitude .................................................................................. 20
2.5 Related Studies .................................................................................................... 22
2.6 Conceptual framework ........................................................................................ 29
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 30
3.1. Research Design ................................................................................................ 30
3.2. Research site ...................................................................................................... 30
3.3. Participants ........................................................................................................ 31
3.4. Sampling ........................................................................................................... 32
3.5. Research Instruments ........................................................................................ 32
3.6. Validity and Reliability ...................................................................................... 33
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION ................................................... 34
4.1. Feedback treatment ............................................................................................ 34
4.2 Corrective feedback to IELTS writing task 2 assessment criteria ...................... 40
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4.3. Learners’ Attitudes towards Written Corrective Feedback ............................... 54
4.4. Summary ........................................................................................................... 58
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS....................................... 60
5.1. Summary of the main findings ........................................................................... 60
5.2. Implications ....................................................................................................... 61
5.3. Limitations ........................................................................................................ 62
5.4. Recommendations for Further Studies .............................................................. 62
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 63
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 71
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LIST OF CHARTS
Figure 2.6 Conceptual framework……………………………………………29
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: Summary of IELTS Writing Task 2 assessment criteria ....................... 6
Table 3.3: Learners’ overview ............................................................................ 31
Table 4. 2.2: Common coherence and cohesion mistakes ................................ 48
Table 4. 2.3: Common lexical resources mistakes .............................................. 50
Table 4. 2.4: Common Grammatical mistakes .................................................... 52
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
EFL
English as a Foreign Language
CF
Corrective Feedback
IELTS
International English Language Testing System
WCF
Written Corrective Feedback
REERR
Reason- Explain- Example- Result-Research
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the Study
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has significantly
developed and is now witnessing a rise in popularity, especially in Vietnam (Nguyen &
Tran, 2018). It assesses candidates' English proficiency to verify whether they are
qualified for higher academic study, with English being the language of instructions
(Clapham, 1996). Therefore, IELTS is likely the key to a better future for all learners, as
it grants learners access to prestigious universities and colleges abroad – obviously only
if their band scores meet the prerequisites.
In learners' foreign language learning, writing has always been perceived as an
important skill (Ahmadi, et al, 2012). Zacharias (2005) pointed out that writing is
considered the most challenging ability to acquire for many learners of English as
second language because it demands that they need to have a certain amount of L2
background knowledge about rhetorical organization, appropriate language use or
specific lexicon with which they want to convey their ideas. As a result, many attempts
have been made which targeted at helping learners improve their writing. Providing
feedback is one of such attempts where, studies have been conducted to investigate the
nature of feedback and its roles in L2 teaching and learning despite the dissenting
voices on the efficacy of written corrective feedback (e.g. Truscott, 1999; Kepner, 1991;
Sheppard, 1992). So far, there has been several studies constructed on WCF in Vietnam
(Pham & Iwashita, 2017; Pham & Truong; 2021, Nguyen & Le, 2017; Dang; 2016,).
Most studies in written corrective feedback
concentrate on the specific written
corrective feedback types and study experimental design. However, there is insufficient
data for teachers’ practices at providing written corrective feedback
on writing
paragraph organization in IETLS task 2.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The aim of giving learners corrective feedback on learners’ writing is to help them
realize the errors that they did and be able to make progress by the next writing. The
fact is the writing is scored the lowest compared to other 3 skills.
As four criteria are used to assess essays: Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion,
Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy (see IELTS Scores Guide
(2018) for the complete description of the rubrics). It is important to highlight that these
four standards contributing equally to the overall score of the writing part, and each of
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these categories learners more or less facing challenging.
For Task Response, learners find this the most difficult. They do not know how to
process topic questions and erect the proper outlines from the start. They are trapped in
lacking ideas, confused to develop an adequate passage. The main topic cannot be
explained clearly, the opening viewpoint and conclusion can be unmatched.
Sometimes, they can just try to explain in the most naive way and sound very much
non-academic. This means that learners do not have the technique to process the
relevant positions in the Ielts writing tasks.
For Grammar, many Vung Tau learners tend to write run-on sentences, consisting
more main clauses that are run together without proper punctuation. Indeed, they are
translated by their mother tongue to rewrite in English, and this impact their grammar
point tremendously as they are not written correctly. In other to achieve Grammar 6.0+,
learners are taught to break down sentences into shorter units, they need to develop
complex sentences which is a requirement to have band 6.0+.
For Coherence and Cohesion which can be considered the easy hint for learners to
follow , as long as they keep this requirement contemporaneously to be mentioned in
the whole essays. This means that sometimes when learners concentrate too much about
vocabulary or grammatical structures, they may unconsciously forget these connectors.
Or else, the connectors can be misused between explaining idea or giving new ideas.
Compared with other 3 categories, this band descriptor has the least problem.
For Lexical resources which can be understood as the ability to use an efficient
range of vocabulary. For new learners who first studies IETLS writing, their vocabulary
is very basic which can be mentioned as “poor”. The main challenge is for the learners
to realize there and better alternative words to use, and they need to upgrade their
resources day by day.
There are 2 parts of vocabulary that learners need to practice on a regular basic to
gain their lexical resources marks: the general one and the specified one. The general
ones are repeated every lesson day to make sure all of the learners remember, teacher
consistently looks at this at your writing to ensure they apply these new words. The
specified vocabularies are the one use for each topic, learners can learn from 5-8 words.
1.3. Objectives of The Study
The study aims to give a tool for learners to be confident with their writing skill
in IETLS and perform competently in this test. According, with good writing skill, they
are able to perform their studies in universities and works in their later careers
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efficiently.
1.4. Research questions
The research questions of the study are as follows:
1) To what extent does corrective feedback improve learner’s IELTS writing
task 2?
2) What are the learners’ attitude towards corrective feedback?
1.5. Scope of the Study
This present study was carried out in an online private class in Vung Tau. The
subjects were five high school learners in grade 10 and 11 who had never studied IETLS
before.
The focus of the study was on written corrective feedback to IETLS writing task
2 only for intermediate level of English proficiency.
1.6. Significance of the Study
In the context of Vietnam, the results of this present study may give insights into
under-explored area, online written corrective treatment to IETLS writing task 2.
In particular, the findings related to online written corrective feedback to paragraph
writing could be useful for teachers who teach IETLS writing. IELTS learners could
benefit from the teacher’s feedback treatment so as to avoid common written errors.
1.7. Structure of the Study
The present study consists of five chapters: Introduction, Literature review,
Methodology, Findings and Discussion and Conclusion.
Introduction illustrates the background of IETLS learning situation in Vietnam and
challenges in studying IETLS writing of learners. Therefore, the objectives are to give
a tool for learners to be confident with their writing skill in IETLS and perform
competently in this test. Two significant research questions are identified in terms of
learners’ improvement and their attitude toward corrective feedback in writing IETLS .
Scope of the Study focuses on specific Vung Tau high school learners with intermediate
level of English proficiency. Significance of the study is drawn to be benefit for
teachers who teach IETLS.
Literature review focuses on the definition of paragraph as well as introduction of
two methods of developing a paragraph. In addition, errors, mistakes and corrective
feedback will be studied. This chapter also reviews previous studies on the way English
teachers gave corrective feedback and learners’ attitudes towards corrective feedback in
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writing. Lastly, the conceptual framework was systematically drawn to illustrate the key
points of the entire study.
Methodology chapter describes research design, research site, participants,
instruments used, and procedure as it related to answering the research questions. This
chapter also shows the validity and reliability of the given samplings.
Findings and discussion chapter presents the results of investigating different types
of corrective feedback to IELTS writing task 2 assessment criteria on two methods of
constructing paragraphs which helped learners improve their writing performance. It
also reveals learners’ attitudes towards written corrective feedback.
Conclusion chapter depicts four main types of feedback used in correcting learner’s
paragraph writing associated with particular types of IELTS band score requirement.
This chapter also summarizes attitude of learners toward the feedback treatment. In
addition, implications as well as limitations and recommendations for further studies
are discussed.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the definition of paragraph, two methods of developing a
paragraph efficiently. In addition, error, mistakes and corrective feedback will be
studied. This chapter also reviews previous studies on the way English teachers gave
corrective feedback and learners’ attitudes towards corrective feedback in writing
online. The goal of this part is to search for the research gap of previous studies in order
to carry out new research.
2.1. Overview of IELTS Writing Task 2
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a test of English
proficiency that non-native speakers who plan to study or work in an English-speaking
environment need to take (Coleman et al, 2003). The test consists of four skills;
speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Performance is measured in bands (and half
bands) from 1-9, with 9 representing the highest proficiency.
Task 2 of both Academic and General Training modules are the same. Candidates are
asked to write a short essay of a minimum 250 words within 40 minutes. The essay is
usually a discussion of a subject of general interest. Candidates have to present and
justify an opinion about something, offer solutions to a problem, or speculate about
future trends.
In IELTS, writing is assessed through two tasks, the overall band score being more
heavily weighted towards Writing Task 2. Writing Task 2 is likely a source of difficulty
for many candidates undertaking IELTS. It is commonly accepted that writing is a
“complex and difficult skill to learn” (Uysal, 2009, p. 314). While perhaps less of a
high-pressure situation than the one-on-one spoken encounter with the examiner (Issitt,
2008), undertaking the IELTS Writing test is more likely due to cause tension in
candidates. This is owing to the restricted time allowed to complete two distinct tasks,
the prohibition of reference materials, the unpredictability of the task topics, and other
potential idiosyncratic affective factors.
Concurrently, when writing is formally assessed, the nuances of the task requirements
and assessment criteria take on an elevated level of importance. For Writing Task 2, this
includes a set of distinct rubrics, established approaches to the task (available in course
books for candidates-in-preparation), and the detailed assessment criteria. Learner
familiarity with these factors could influence how they interact with the task
(O’Loughlin & Wigglesworth, 2003), and ultimately impact on their performance.
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Writing Tasks assess whether a candidate meets the requirements based on his or
her ultimate goal of taking the test. However, the Academic Module expects the more
formal requirements of a higher education establishment as is generally demanded in a
academic context.
The IETLS writing tasks are scored based on how the candidate respond on the four
making criteria. Candidates’ compositions are appraised by one examiner using four
equally-weighted criteria, which are categorized in Table 1
Table 2.1 Summary of IELTS Writing Task 2 assessment criteria
Task
Response
Coherence
Lexical Resource
and
Cohesion
How the
prompt is
addressed
Relevance of
the
position
presented
Support and
extension
of main ideas
Clarity and
justification of
conclusions
drawn
Arrangement
and
organisation
of ideas
Paragraphing
Referencing
and
substitution
Use of
cohesive
devices
Range of lexis
Use of
uncommon
lexical items
Accuracy of
lexis
Spelling and
word
formation
Grammatical
Range
and Accuracy
Range of
grammatical
structures
Accuracy of
grammar
Use of complex
structures
Correct
punctuation
Only the overall band score result for writing (incorporating Task 1) is sent to testtakers. General constructive feedback is supplied, which would be of use particularly to
individuals who need to re-take the test or improve their current skills.
2.2. Paragraph writing
A paragraph is a basic unit of organization in writing in which a group of sentences
develops one main idea (Wang, 2019). In academic writing, the goal of a paragraph is
to support a claim or idea that helps build the whole purpose of the writing (Bryson,
2014). This implies that paragraphs play an important role in academic writing. Good
paragraphing helps the reader understand the text because ideas need to be organized to
make them make sense, and “keeping one idea to one paragraph is the most basic rule of
good paragraphing” (“Best IELTS preparation”, 2013).
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Zemach and Rumisek (2005) define a paragraph as “a group of sentences about a
single topic” (p. 11), and the sentences explain the main idea of the topic. Savage and
Shafiei (2007) describe three elements of paragraph organization, namely the topic
sentence, supporting sentences, concluding sentence. The number of supporting
sentences in a paragraph can vary. These elements should be unified and need to be
organized coherently. These may not be easy as learners could find it challenging to
find ideas to include in their writing, and thus learners need clear guidance, effective
feedback, and interesting ideas to write about (Zemach and Islam, 2007).
2.2.1 Process approach to writing
Zemach and Rumisek (2005) state that to create a good piece of writing a writer
must go through several steps of the writing process. This process, which is called the
approach to writing, consists of the stages of pre-writing, drafting, reviewing, and
revising (Badger & White, 2000). Unlike the product approach which emphasizes on
form, this process approach focuses on the facilitation of leaners’ writing. The teacher’s
role is to instruct learners through the writing process to find of strategies for generating
ideas, drafting, and refining ideas (Hyland, 2003). He adds that this could be conducted
through providing pre-writing activities to produce ideas, brainstorming, and outlining.
2.2.2 Developing a REERR paragraph
A technique to develop a paragraph with the structure of presenting REASON EXPLAIN - EXAMPLE - RESULT - RESEARCH is short-called REERR by using the
first letter of each clue. This methods was uniquely introduced in 2021 by David Lang
and Hien Nguyen in the book “ Maximize Your IELTS Writing Score” . This method
gives definite structures for learners to follow, navigate them to think without
distraction, giving high score for task development and unity. Besides this, teacher will
provide learners with more lexical resources and make sure they use complex sentences
to write to achieve good band score.
In order to developing a REERR paragraph, teacher at first will give the learners
a topic sentence. Learners were initially taught that a topic sentence was the main
sentence of a paragraph which described its contents and directions. It had two
important functions. It detailed the controlling ideas of the paragraph. It also sets the
tone for the organization of the supporting sentences that further explain the concept
established by the topic sentence.
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After analyzing the topic sentence to understand fully, there are 3 steps to
develop a comprehensive paragraph which are drafting, editing and correcting.
Step 1 Drafting
Reason: learners think of one reason to explain the controlling idea of the given
topic sentence. For this technique, learners have to bear in mind that REERR model
requires only single reason. In order words, they do not have many ideas for the
paragraph, so R E E RR model is a good choice. However, some learners may
misunderstand to give 2 reasons in this. It results in breaking the whole paragraph and
cause confusion. When the learners have from 2 ideas, they can use the Enumeration
method as mention below.
Explanation: this can be considered the hardest part, as most of the learner can’t
find the way to explain, teacher needs to instruct them on initially several topics, later
on they get used to this notion and can be able to articulate the ideas. Beside giving
explanation, sometime they can use “If” or “ Unless” to clarify the reason instead.
Example: learners must give an example with particular name of the subject that
related to the explanation. It can be fact around the world or even domestically. Notably,
a good example needs to be specific with proper nouns of either an individual, a place, a
specific timeline, or an event.
Result: By explanation and giving example, learners will need to draw the result
which relates to the season that they gave.
Research: learners are taught to look for key words and do their own online
research. The source, content, statistics of the subject must be addressed. Teachers will
need to observe their keywords when searching, then justify if their research is
applicable. This way definitely contributes a part of self-study process later.
Step 2 Editing
Once the outline is finished, learners start to write. They are given linking words
as below, synonyms of the topic to diverse the lexical resource, they are born in mind to
write complex sentences.
R: it is undeniable that / the real reason is that
E: this means that, in other words
E: for example, for instance, namely
R:as a result, consequently, hence, thus, therefore
R: recent survey/ research has shown that
Example of REERR development:
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Topic sentence: Smartphones decrease face- to-face interaction.
Outline:
R: not many people today who meet and talk in person.
E: various communicative platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, more people are using
it because it is fast, easy and more entertaining.
E: most coffee shops, even with friends, people usually text or surfing internet
R: people are not good at talking to each other and they do not find joy in daily
conversation
R: most people today spend more time using their phone than talking or meeting with
friends.
Edited writing product:
Smartphones decrease face- to-face interaction. This means that they are not as many
people today who meet and talk in person. It is true that this device offers various
communicative platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, more people are using it for
interacting because it is fast, easy and more entertaining. For example, most coffee
shops are filled with friends and family using their phone and not talking to each other.
The result of this is that people are not very good at talking with one another and they
do not find joy in daily conversation. Research has shown that most people today spend
more time using their phone than talking or meeting friends.
Step 3 Correcting
After learners complete their writing, teachers will correct their mistakes and
errors. Finally, learners will rewrite the topic into their own notebook and learn by heart.
2.2.3 Developing an Enumeration paragraph
A method of teaching English composition almost necessary for the best results
for learners of ordinary ability can be found in (Wang, 2019). Enumeration type is
usually given when the tittle is about a phenomenon. The learner’s task is to discuss
some problems of and solutions to the identified phenomenon, or to point out the causes
and effect of the phenomenon, or advantages and disadvantages of the phenomenon.
The way to develop this task consists of the below steps:
Paragraph 1: a. a topic sentence which is the main point of the paragraph
B. Supporting sentence 1 (logical inference)
C. Supporting sentence 2 (example)
D. Supporting sentence 3 ect
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