ABSTRACT
This study examined the effects of short story reading on improvement of
grammar and global quality in EFL narrative writing. In addition, it also explored
learners’ attitudes toward short story reading on narrative writing performance. The 7week study was carried out at a university in Mekong delta, Vietnam with 50 EFL
learners at pre-intermediate level. Participants were chosen and divided into
experimental group with the intervention of short story reading and control group with
course book reading. Two types of research instruments were used to collect
quantitative data including tests and survey questionnaires. Results showed that short
story reading had positive effects on improvement of grammar and global quality in
EFL narrative writing. Moreover, the findings also showed the positive attitudes of
EFL learners toward short story reading on narrative writing performance.
Key words: short story reading, grammar, global quality, narrative writing
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TABLE OF CONTENT
DECLARATION ............................................................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1
1.1 Rationale ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 Necessity of improving writing skill for EFL Vietnamese learners ...................... 1
1.1.2 Present picture of learning to write in EFL context ............................................... 1
1.1.3 Present picture of teaching to write in EFL context............................................... 2
1.1.4 Present picture of accuracy in writing in EFL context .......................................... 3
1.2 Purpose of the research ............................................................................................. 4
1.3 Research questions .................................................................................................... 5
1.4 Significance of the study ........................................................................................... 5
1.5 Organization of the thesis.......................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 7
2.1 Literature in language education and EFL learning ................................................. 7
2.2 The relationship of short story reading and accuracy in writing…………………...8
2.3 The relationship of short story reading and writing performance .......................... 11
2.4. Narrative letter writing in EFL learning ................................................................ 12
2.5 Learner’s attitudes towards effects of short story reading ...................................... 13
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................... 15
3.1. Design of the study................................................................................................. 15
3.2. Participants ............................................................................................................. 16
3.3. Measurement .......................................................................................................... 17
3.4. Course specifications ............................................................................................. 18
3.5. Data collection and analyses .................................................................................. 22
3.6. Reliability of research instruments ........................................................................ 23
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS ................................................................... 26
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4.1 The effect of short story reading on improvement of grammar in EFL narrative
writing ........................................................................................................................... 26
4.2 The effects of short story reading on global quality in EFL narrative writing ....... 30
4.3 The attitudes of EFL learners toward the effect of short story reading on narrative
writing .......................................................................................................................... 34
4.3.1 Learner’s attitudes toward the effect of short story reading on narrative writing
performance. .................................................................................................................. 34
4.3.2 Further qualitative data analysis .......................................................................... 38
4.4 Correlation between grammar achievement and global quality in EFL narrative
writing .......................................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION................................................ 43
5.1 Discussion ............................................................................................................... 43
5.1.1 The effect of short story reading on improvement of grammar in EFL narrative
writing ........................................................................................................................... 43
5.1.2 The effect of short story reading on global quality in EFL narrative writing ...... 44
5.1.3 The attitudes of EFL learners toward effect of short story reading on narrative
writing performance ..................................................................................................... 45
5.1.4 Implications and recommnedations for futher research ...................................... 45
5.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 46
5.3 Limitation ................................................................................................................ 46
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 48
APPENDIX 1…………………………………………………………………….…...1
APPENDIX 2A…………………………………………………………………..…...2
APPENDIX 2B…………………………………………………………………...…..3
APPENDIX 3…………………………………………………………………….…...4
APPENDIX 4…………………………………………………………………..……..7
APPENDIX 5……………………………………………………………………...….8
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Experimental design........................................................................................ 15
Table 2: Procedure of the study .................................................................................... 18
Table 3: Teaching scenario and two conditions ............................................................ 19
Table 4: The correlation in mean scores of three raters for the band score of 3 ........... 24
Table 5: The correlation in mean scores of three raters for the band score of 10 ......... 25
Table 6: The mean scores of grammatical achievement in narrative writing in pre-test
and post-test 1 of two groups........................................................................ 26
Table 7: The independent samples T-test for revealing the differences in grammatical
achievement in narrative writing between two groups in pre-test ............... 27
Table 8: The independent samples T-test for revealing the differences in grammatical
achievement in narrative writing between two groups in post- test 1 .......... 27
Table 9: The independent samples T-test for revealing the differences in grammatical
achievement in narrative writing between two groups in post- test 2 .......... 28
Table 10: The paired sample t-test to show the differences between the pre-test and
post-test 1 in grammar achievement in narrative writing of two groups ..... 28
Table 11: The paired sample t-test to show the differences between the pre-test and
post-test 2 in grammatical achievement in narrative writing of two groups.
...................................................................................................................... 29
Table 12: The mean scores of global quality in narrative writing in pre-test and posttest 1 of two groups ...................................................................................... 30
Table 13: The independent samples T-test for revealing the differences in global
quality in narrative writing between two groups in pre-test......................... 31
Table 14: The independent samples T-test for revealing the differences in global
quality in narrative writing between two groups in post- test 1. .................. 32
Table 15: The independent samples T-test for revealing the differences in global
quality in narrative writing between two groups in post- test 2 ................... 32
Table 16: The paired sample t-test to show the differences between the pre-test and
post-test 1 in global quality in narrative writing of two groups ................... 33
Table 17: The paired sample t-test to show the differences between the pre-test and
post-test 2 in global quality in narrative writing of two groups ................... 33
vi
Table 18: The mean scores of learner’s attitudes toward effect of short story reading on
narrative writing performance in pre-test and post-test................................ 35
Table 19: The independent samples T-test for revealing the difference in attitude
toward the effect of short story reading on narrative writing performance
between two groups in pre-test ..................................................................... 35
Table 20: The independent samples T-test for revealing the difference in attitude
toward the effect of short story reading on narrative writing performance
between two groups in post-test ................................................................... 36
Table 21: The paired sample t-test to show the differences between the pre- post stages
in attitude of learners toward the effect of short story reading on narrative
writing performance ..................................................................................... 37
Table 22: Correlation of grammar achievement and global quality between pre and
post-test of two groups ................................................................................. 41
Table 23: Correlation between grammar achievement and global quality in pre and
post-test of two groups ................................................................................. 42
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. The differences between the means scores in grammar improvement in
narrative writing of two groups in the study .................................................. 30
Figure 2. The differences between the means scores in global quality in narrative
writing of two groups in the study ................................................................. 34
Figure 3. The differences between the means scores in learners’ attitude toward the
effect of short story reading on narrative writing performance ..................... 38
viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The introductory chapter includes five main sections. The rationale of the
research presents the current picture of writing skill and accuracy in writing in EFL
context. These realities lead to reasons for conducting the current study. The next
parts are related to research aims, research questions and significance of the study.
Lastly, organization of the thesis is introduced.
1.1 RATIONALE
1.1.1 Necessity of improving writing skill for EFL Vietnamese learners
Today, teaching and learning English language in Vietnam is considered as the
key to open the world of academics, integration and economic development. In all
forms of language art, writing is referred to as one of the most complex processes that
require a lot of time and effort in mastering up such skill. It plays a significant role in
the communication process by being an essential factor (Suleiman, 2000). Writing is
applied in all fields of life: it is a more durable medium than any form of language use
to express and establish institutional values of the civilizations (Widdowson, 1994).
Harste (1989) upheld another perspective of the skill, he identified writing as a tool of
thinking and a vehicle for sorting out and clarifying thought of human beings.
However, according to the observation of the researcher, perception of learners as well
as recent test results in the university in Mekong delta, writing was still one of the
most problematic skills for the EFL learners. This reality could be partly attributed to
the current approaches in teaching and learning English writing.
1.1.2 Present picture of learning to write in EFL context
Vietnamese learners are strong in their L1 written communication, but fail in L2
writing due to the different expectations of the two cultures. According to some of
researcher’s colleagues who have been teaching EFL learners, they recognize that EFL
learners at the university in Mekong delta are smart, dynamic and creative. They have
lots of ideas in their mind when it comes to drafting texts and they are able to
communicate very well both in oral and written forms in their native language.
However, these strengths are not successfully transferred in writing in L2. Based on
the writing test results of EFL learners in the University as well as observations of the
1
researcher, the ability to write is a major barrier for EFL learners in language learning
as well as in written communication.
They all learnt English from elementary,
secondary, and tertiary academy. Learners even have opportunities to learn English in
language centers but despite of the exposure, a lot of them are still unable to
effectively use English in real communication situations, in spite of the strong records
stated in their English academic profile.
As a common understanding, writing, especially L2 writing requires a high
cognitive effort of the learners to set out stance for their text and support it with their
own perspectives. However, Vietnamese learners are affected by their L1 writing habit
of a more indirect and circular expression. A very visible limitation of the learners in
presenting their personal ideas is that they always feel the pressure of expressing good
aspects, being pleasant and in harmony with other people at all times; what they think
may be influenced by what other people think in their community (Nguyen, 2012). In
addition, regarding to learner's expectations and motivation in writing, Pham (2000)
pointed out that Vietnamese EFL learners would be disappointed and confused if the
explanation of grammatical structures was absent in a writing lesson (p. 25). Learners
conceive that grammar should be an important component in the learning of writing.
Traditionally, writing has been conducted in the classroom as an individual activity of
language teacher and most of learners seem to be quite quiet.
In general, students think of writing in L2 as something unnatural because of the
way L2 writing requires writer students in highly technical writing. In addition, they
are under pressure to exactly produce texts as what they learnt from their teacher's
instruction.
1.1.3 Present picture of teaching to write in EFL context
In teaching writing in Vietnam, the process of writing may not often be made
explicit for learners. Rather, the teacher often analyses the model for a particular type
of writing, presents the main structures used in this model, and then potential use in
exercise will be discussed. Therefore, the teaching writing approach in this context
seems to be mostly product-based (Ly, 2007). Sharing the similar view point, Trinh
and Nguyen (2014) stated that most academic writing classes, learners are provided a
topic and a related model text. Then some sentences from the model texts will be
picked out by their teachers and learners will study grammatical structures through
2
their teachers’ explanation. They may not have chance to discuss how and what to
write (p.64).
1.1.4 Present picture of accuracy writing in EFL context
Teaching EFL in Vietnam context, several activities applied to writing classes
are not sufficient and effective enough to foster the learners in this skill and limitation
on grammatical knowledge is one of factors affecting to quality of writing (Nguyen,
Phan, & Ly, 2011). A few years of teaching English to EFL leaners in university
context have provided researcher some insight of difficulty in writing which derived
from limitation in grammar performance. In most of the writing classes, correct usage
of the grammatical structure is highly concentrated. Learners are provided with writing
prompts and some related model texts. However, these texts are used as a source for
only grammatical explanation from the teachers and the potential use of these grammar
structures in real writing context are rarely focused. However, the results go against
the expectations of teachers. Via analyzing grammar of model text, grammar is still a
serious problem for learner. When they come to write their own text, they still fail to
write with good grammar structure to express their ideas. The opportunities in using
the second language in a meaningful way haven’t been carried out accordingly.
Therefore, learners should be given more authentic tasks for grammar improvement to
stimulate their participation, interest and practical use of grammar in communication.
Do (2013) mentioned that the purpose of language teaching is to help language
learners to be able to use the language for communication purposes, so grammar and
communication should be integrated. In addition, as pointed out by Larsen-Freeman
and Long (2014), grammar items should not be taught separately and in isolation of
communication activities, instead, language teachers should draw learners’ attention to
grammar form during communication tasks.
In these lights, grammar teaching should not be a separated activity and not be
taught as an end in itself. Instead, it should be integrated in communication activities
and put into context for the goal of communication.
Literary reading seems to be one of the most effective and cultural rich resources
that can be integrated in language classroom and used to teach a variety of language
items such as sentences patterns, vocabulary… As mentioned in Roe, Smith, and
Burns (2011), when children start learning to read, they acquire new understandings
3
about reading and writing as communicative events and develop an appreciation of
how reading and writing tasks intersect It implies that there is a positive correlation
between reading and writing proficiency. Although the use of reading to improve
writing is beneficial for learners and it has been proved by many scholars, some
objections may be raised against this activity due to the limit time at school,
overloaded syllabus and even overcrowded classes.
Currently, through the course book named Objective Pet for pre-intermediate
level which is used in teaching non- English major students at the university in
Mekong delta, the researcher recognizes that there are some writing activities,
including letter writing, however, reading activities to support the development of
writing skills are limited, and the reading texts are highly technical. They may mention
the issues of daily communication such as family, friends, fashion, food, etc., rather
than inspire or positively influence the letter writing process. While an effective letter
should be appealing and caused special impression from the readers to the writer.
Reading texts in this book are intended to guide learners in writing technically, rather
than acting as a bridge to writing. In addition, grammar sections in this book are
presented as a set of forms and rules, teacher may teach grammar by explaining these
forms and rules and then drilling learners on exercises. Later, learners may produce
correct form on exercises or tests but consistently make errors when they try to apply
these grammar structures in real context.
Hence, within the scope of the study, the researcher focuses on the effect of short
story reading which is defined as a genre of literary reading on EFL narrative writing
performance. Because narrative writing is also a genre in letter writing which is
popular for students and teachers as it provides the writer with an opportunity to share
their imagination, creativity, skill and understanding of nearly all elements of writing.
1.2 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of short story reading on the
improvement of grammar and global quality in EFL narrative writing. In addition, the
study also explores learners’ attitudes toward the effect of short story reading on their
narrative writing performance.
4
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.
Are there any effects of short story reading on improvement of grammar in EFL
narrative writing?
2.
Are there any effects of short story reading on global quality in EFL narrative
writing?
3.
What are the attitudes of EFL learners toward the effect of short story reading on
narrative writing performance?
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The findings of the research could provide further evidence for the effects of
short story reading on the improvement of grammar and overall writing quality in EFL
narrative writing. Teachers may answer the question how to effectively integrate
grammar into teaching writing due to short story reading. Hence, writing lesson can
meet EFL learners’ needs and be in line with the writing curriculum objectives.
Furthermore, the result of this study could make contribution to enhancing teacher and
learner’s awareness to the advantages of integration short story reading in language
teaching and learning.
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
The thesis consists of five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Research
Methodology, Research Findings, Discussion and Conclusion.
Chapter One presents rationale of the study, research aims, research questions,
significance of the study and organization of the thesis.
Chapter Two reviews literature related to literary reading, short story reading
and writing including Literature in language education and EFL learning; The
relationship of short story reading and accuracy in writing; The relationship of short
story reading and writing performance; Narrative letter writing in EFL learning;
Learner’s attitudes towards the effects of short story reading.
Chapter Three describes the research methodology of the study including
design of study, participants, measurements, course specifications, data collection and
analysis and reliability of research instruments.
Chapter Four reports the results from the data collected through the use of tests
and questionnaires.
5
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