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Tài liệu Integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities an action research project at an english center in vietnam

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ DIỄN INTEGRATING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN WRITING ACTIVITIES: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN VIETNAM LỒNG GHÉP KỸ NĂNG TƯ DUY PHÊ PHÁN THÔNG QUA CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG VIẾT: NGHIÊN CỨU CẢI TIẾN SƯ PHẠM TẠI MỘT TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI, 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ DIỄN INTEGRATING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN WRITING ACTIVITIES: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN VIETNAM LỒNG GHÉP KỸ NĂNG TƯ DUY PHÊ PHÁN THÔNG QUA CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG VIẾT: NGHIÊN CỨU CẢI TIẾN SƯ PHẠM TẠI MỘT TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm HA NOI, 2017 STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contained no material previously published or written by another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements), nor material which has been submitted for award of any degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning. Signature:………………………………… Name: Đỗ Thị Diễn Date: ………………………………….. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In order to complete this thesis, I owe profound indebtedness to many people their enthusiastic help during the conduct of my research. I would like to give my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Tam, for her invaluable support, helpful guidance and considerable encouragement, which plays a highly significant part in the completion of this paper. Besides, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to twelve students in my class, who enthusiastically participated in the data collection process. In fact, without their help, I could not complete this thesis. Also, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my parents and my husband, who have constantly encouraged me during the time when I conducted my research paper. Last but not least, I would like to thank my readers for their interests and comment on this study. ii ABSTRACT Critical thinking skill is an important aspect in learning and teaching a foreign language. Thinking skills lessons should be part of the curriculum if students are to solve problems individually, cooperatively and creatively. Teachers on the other hand must be conversant with relevant techniques needed for teaching critical thinking skills. This study was conducted in an English class with 12 student of grade 7 in the design of an action research. The hypothesis of this study is integrating of critical thinking skills in writing activities can promote students‟ creative writing skills and learning motivation. The teacher used action research of integrating the detailed requirements for student‟s use of critical thinking skills of higher levels, or higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in writing activities. Class observation, writing analysis and group interview were employed for data collection. After data analysis, the finding was discussed to figure out what extent student‟s use of HOTS in learning process to promote student‟s academic achievement, creativity and motivation to learn. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HOTS: Higher order thinking skills EFL: English as a Foreign Language L2: Second or Foreign Language iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: The framework of integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities . 12 Table 2: HOTS integrated in writing activities ........................................................ 21 Table 3: HOTS levels as evidenced in their writing ................................................. 25 Chart 1: Students‟ levels of motivation throughout five weeks ............................... 23 Chart 2: Summary of students‟ writing analysis ...................................................... 25 v TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP ............................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................ii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS ......................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 1.1. Rationale for the study ......................................................................................... 1 1.2. The purpose of study ............................................................................................ 3 1.3. Significance of the study ...................................................................................... 3 1.4. Method of the study ............................................................................................. 4 1.5. Structure of the study ........................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2 :LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 5 2.1. Theory of learning ................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Critical thinking skills and language skills development ..................................... 8 2.3 Writing skills and creativity ................................................................................ 10 2.4 Teaching critical thinking skills .......................................................................... 11 2.5 Review of previous study .................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 14 3.1.Rationale for the use of action research .............................................................. 14 3.2.Data collection instruments ................................................................................. 15 3.2.1. Class observation ...................................................................................... 15 3.2.2. Writing analysis ........................................................................................ 15 3.2.3. Group interview ........................................................................................ 16 3.3. CONTEXT OF THE STUDY ............................................................................ 16 3.3.1. An overview on English center ................................................................ 16 3.3.2. Students .................................................................................................... 17 3.3.3. Teachers .................................................................................................... 17 vi 3.3.4. Materials ................................................................................................... 17 3.4. THE ACTION RESEARCH PROCEDURE ..................................................... 18 3.4.1. The action research process ...................................................................... 18 3.4.2. Research procedure .................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................... 23 4.1. Findings............................................................................................................... 23 4.1.1. Findings from observation........................................................................ 23 4.1.2. Findings from writing analysis ................................................................. 24 4.1.3. Findings from the interview ..................................................................... 28 4.2. Discussion .......................................................................................................... 30 4.2.1. Students‟ creative writing skills ............................................................... 30 4.2.2. Students‟ motivation in learning .............................................................. 36 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ....................................... 39 5.1 Recapitulation ..................................................................................................... 39 5.2. Implications for classroom practice ................................................................... 41 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 42 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... I vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale for the study The practice of teaching critical thinking skills has recently attracted increased interest in the field of the teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language (L2). It is no doubt to say that critical thinking is one of the most important skills in learning and teaching a foreign language. Students are expected to show evidences of critical thinking in their academic essays in the form an argument and by demonstrating related skills such as analyzing, evaluating and creating. This means that L2 teaching should no longer focus on the compartmentalized teaching of language skills, but should embrace critical thinking instead, although this is not going to be easy. Willian and Burden (1997) state that critical thinking is cognitive process, in which the students are emerged to use their minds to observe, think, categorize, and hypothesize. Therefore, it takes a long journey to make the students become more critical and more independent. In Western countries, integrating critical thinking has been significantly started from elementary school while most Asian countries still consider critical thinking as a challenging in the education. In fact, this can be related to the culture of Asian learners who always believes that “silence is gold”. And the students tend to be quite, passive and obedient in order to get information from their teachers. Having been an English teacher for 5 years at some centers in Hanoi, I have recently realized the fact that most of my students lack the ability to present their own original views or opinions which are regarded as a key criterion of successful academic writing. This clears that Vietnamese students are not often taught argumentative or persuasive writing at schools. They rarely had a chance to write in situations and write a topic in class, so their writing skill was even worse although they were very good at doing exercises in structure forms. Students should be trained to know how to share and communicate their ideas through writing because this ability has been proved to be very important in education in general and in 1 higher education in particular. Writing skill is regarded as the means through which many educational objectives and values are achieved and disseminated (Condon et al., 2004). I have a sense of the responsibility to train and equip my students with critical thinking skills in their learning process because without comprehensive practice in critical thinking, my students would miss the opportunity to be more independently and self-confident to actively participate in the international environment. Hence, teaching critical thinking is necessary to help my students develop their ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate problems. A statement by Condon and Kelly-Riley (2004, p. 56) that “writing is a tool of thinking” means writing is a real practice tool of critical thinking skills because “when we teach students how to write, we are teaching them how to think‟. Not only do the students need to have a good command of the language, they also need to be critical as they examine viewpoints, facts and arguments and synthesize them. In Vietnam, the aim of the new English curriculum for Secondary School includes developing student‟s ability to use language ịn combination with other skills such as negotiating, questioning, hypothesizing, critical thinking, and evaluating creatively. Among these skills, students‟ creative and critical thinking skills and their ability to write logically and intelligently are parts of the objectives of English teaching in Vietnam nowadays. Therefore, I have always been wishing and trying to find the way to help my students develop creative thinking and critical thinking skills through language skills in my classes, and then apply these skills in their writing effectively. All the things stated above drives me to the decision of conducting the research entitled “An action research on integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities at an English center in Vietnam”. Especially, the study will be conducted with the focus on thinking skills of high levels which all students should learn and apply it to solve unfamiliar problems, difficult questions, uncertainties and dilemmas. With this action research, I hope to coin a different method in teaching of writing at my workplace and also contribute a reference to the literature in this field. 2 1.2. The purpose of study This research aims at integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities to promote students‟ ability to express their view creatively in writing and engage students in critical and creative learning activities in English classes. These objectives can be achieved through the process of finding the answer to the following questions: -To what extent does the integration of critical thinking skills in writing activities promote students’ creative writing skills? - To what extent does the integration of critical thinking skills in writing activities improve students’ learning motivation? 1.3. Significance of the study The study focuses on how to integrate critical thinking skills in writing activities to improve students‟ creative writing and learning motivation at an English center in Vietnam. It can be useful contributions for both students and teachers at my workplace. In term of useful contributions for teachers, the researcher is expected to provide more lesson plan and scaffolding of integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities. More interestingly, the research also supports a useful teaching strategy with the applying critical thinking skills to the diverse activities in writing skills. In addition, this thesis is hoped to serve as a reliable and useful reference material about integrating critical thinking skills in academic writing in Vietnamese pedagogical environment for other readers and researchers in their further studies on related subjects. For students, the findings and conclusions of the research are anticipated to encourage their use of critical thinking skills to perform meaningful tasks. More importantly, they will to be able to find news and means to solve their daily problems and make appropriate decisions. Furthermore, students are trained to know how to share and 3 communicate their ideas through writing, which is an important goal of education in general and in higher education in particular. 1.4. Method of the study In order to achieve the aim, in this action research, qualitative method was exploited with the facilitation of some statistical analysis. The data were collected from a combination of three different instruments: classroom observation, writing analysis and group interview. 1.5. Structure of the study The study will be presented in four chapters: introduction, literature review, methodology, data collection and discussion, and conclusion. Chapter one, Introduction, introduces the rationale, the aims of the study, scope of the study, method of the study, signification of the study and structure of the study. Chapter two, Literature Review, aims at reviewing some concepts as well as the theory involving critical thinking, classroom activities that will be a firm foundation for the study. Chapter three, Methodology, describes the participants of the study, the research questions, data collection and data analysis procedure. Chapter four: Findings and Discussion – reveals the results of the study and gives some suggestions. Chapter five: Conclusion – summarizes the main points of the study. Implications and suggestions for designing classroom activities to teach writing skills with an integration of critical thinking skills development will be presented in this part. 4 CHAPTER 2 :LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will present the theoretical background of the study, including the insights of teaching writing and critical thinking skills. It reviews issues related to both writing and critical thinking such as theory of learning, thinking skills and language skills development, writing and creativity, and review of previous studies on developing critical thinking skills. 2.1. Theory of learning A theory is a scientifically acceptable set of principles offered to explain a phenomenon. Theories provide frameworks for interpreting environmental observations and serve as bridges between research and education (Suppes, 1974). Research findings can be organized and systematically linked to theories. Without theories, people could view research findings as disorganized collections of data, because researchers and practitioners would have no overarching frameworks to which the data could be linked (Learning Theories, Daleh Chunk, p.23). Integrating may lack theoretical conceptualization which is necessary for making applications of findings to other integration. Hence, it is integral to determine a theory which is capable of orientating the study so that the information about a phenomenon can be systematically unified so the findings from studies add to the body of knowledge and deep understanding of the theoretical basis of the research topic. Additionally, according to Chapelle (2003), theory is acted as the framework for the research on some levels: from literature review of the study to the research questions as well as development of methodology and the interpretation of data to gain the findings, which then can be discussed to reach the results and conclusions of the study. For these reasons, it was principal to clearly determine a theoretical framework for the present study. Learning theories are an organized set of principles explaining how individuals acquire, retain, and recall knowledge. By studying and knowing the different learning theories, we can understand better how learning occurs. The principles of the theories can be used as guidelines to help select instructional tools, techniques and strategies that promote learning. Although there are many different 5 approaches to learning, the three dominant learning theories are: Behaviorism, Cognitive and Constructivism. Behaviorism originated as a social science, the goal of which was to predict and control behavior. Learning was manifested by a change in behavior, with an emphasis on a connection between a stimulus and a response. From a behaviorist perspective, the goal of education is to „ensure survival of human species, societies and individuals‟ (Merriam and Caffarella, 1999, p.252). The main principles of behaviorism have a visible impact on third level education, producing the appearance in the curriculum of behavioral objectives or outcomes, the importance of feedback, skills development and training, computerized and programmed instruction, competency-based education, and constructive pre-alignment of content, teaching methods and assessment Cognitive theorists recognize that much learning involves associations established through contiguity and repetition. They also acknowledge the importance of reinforcement, although they stress its role in providing feedback about the correctness of responses over its role as a motivator. However, even while accepting such behaviorist concepts, cognitive theorist view learning as involving the acquisition or reorganization of the cognitive structures through which humans process and store information (Good and Brophy, 1990, p.187). In Constructivist model, learning is viewed as a process of making meaning. The learner interacts with experience and environment in the construction of knowledge. The process is essentially learner-centred. However, while the Constructivist theory encompasses a number of inter-related perspectives, theorists „differ as to the nature of reality, the role of experience, what knowledge is of interest, and whether the process of meaning making is primarily individual or social‟ (Merriam and Caffarella, 1999, p.261). In general, most definitions of learning involve a change in an individual's knowledge, ability to perform a skill, or participate in an activity with other individuals; there is considerable variation among the theories about the nature of this change. All three theories contribute greatly to enlightening readers, especially 6 teachers, in their understanding about students learn and what learning strategies they could use. For the teachers, when deciding which teaching strategies to use, it is important to consider about the level of learner‟s knowledge, the thought processing demands and the desired outcome. In my research, I choose Cognitive theory to follow in my teaching process because of some reasons. Firstly, this theory focuses on Educational problems and solutions. It emphasizes on the role of learners‟ thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values. The ways that learners process information determine what, when, and how they learn, as well as what use they will make of the learning. In addition, to guiding students practice more in Education and think to learn. Cognitive learning theory is best used to guide learning when trying to build useful knowledge structures and teach clinical reasoning. Cognitive, on the other hand, overcomes the key limitation of the previous learning theory by viewing the learning as a thought processes behind the observable behavior, which means that “Learning is viewed as a process of inputs, managed in short-term memory, and coded for long-term recall” (George Siemens 2005, p.4). Furthermore, the Cognitive Learning Theory explains why the brain is the most incredible network of information processing and interpretation in the body as we learn things. Willian and Burden (1997) state that critical thinking is cognitive process, in which the students are emerged to use their minds to observe, think, categorize, and hypothesize. This theory can be divided into two specific theories: the Social Cognitive Theory, and the Cognitive Behavioral Theory. In the Social Cognitive Theory, there are three variables: behavioral factors, environmental factors (extrinsic), personal factors (intrinsic). According to Bloom (1956), Cognitive Objectives are concerned with intellectual outcomes. The classification system ranges from lower – level knowledge outcomes to higher-level intellectual abilities and skills. The mental processes in the Cognitive System take action from the knowledge domain, give people access to the information and procedures in their memory and help them manipulate and use this knowledge. 7 2.2 Critical thinking skills and language skills development Critical thinking is a fundamental skills for both language and literacy success. Language and critical thinking grow together and nurture each other‟s development. Firstly, concerning about critical thinking skills, it involves the development of dispositions which, among other things, include probing, inquisitiveness and keenness of mind, zealous dedication to reason, and hunger or eagerness for reliable information. Secondly, critical thinking refers to the development and application of interrelated cognitive and meta-cognitive skills involved in solving problems, understanding and expressing meaning, identifying relationships, assessing credibility of statements, identifying elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions, presenting the results of one‟s own reasoning coherently and selfconsciously monitor one‟s own cognitive actions. In the third place, critical thinking comprises the development of habits of mind (Costa & Kallick, 2009:15-41). Critical thinking is associated with quality thinking, it provides learners with more skillful way of communicating with other people, acquiring new knowledge, problem solving. In critical thinking approach to teaching both language skills and thinking skills are of much importance, and are integrated. In fact, they are not isolated anymore. The activities categorized as critical thinking activities are on appearance writing, that is the final product is a piece of writing. In order to assess student‟s critical thinking, teachers use academic writing as an effective tool in learning process. There are mainly two kinds of ways for teaching critical thinking. One is to set a special course to directly teaching critical thinking strategies and rules, emphasizing the cultivation of students‟ critical thinking skills. The other is to combine subject teaching with the training of critical thinking, focusing on cultivating students‟ query and analytical thinking about the subject, and combining the cultivation of critical thinking with individual quality. Fisher (2007) and Fisher and Scriven (1997) argue that critical thinking should be seen as a basic academic competency, akin to reading and writing, which needs to be taught. Beyer (2001) claims that teaching thinking skills is worth considering for the crucial role it plays in teaching, learning, and daily life. Swartz (2001) believes that teaching skillful 8 thinking not only enhances students‟ thinking abilities and learning in the content areas but also greatly improves the quality of their lives, including their professional work, after they leave school. Such thinking also improves their self-image and their motivation to learn. Beyer (2001) indicates that mastery of at least four thinking skills - comparing, classifying, sequencing, and predicting - is essential for students to become effective readers, writers, and learners. In term of the language skills, which are divided into two groups: productive and receptive skills? “Both production and comprehension form the basis of language teaching" (Richards, 1998), students language skills must be developed through speaking, writing, listening and reading tasks or activities: These tasks must be provided in a way that helps learners to "make transition from the classroom to the real world". Tasks, such as pair work, role plays and group works which aim at providing opportunities for optimal learning must be presented in the Second Language teaching materials. These activities are facilitated by the teacher and then completed by the students using their own resources of language. Through these activities students are engaged in active and creative participation in classroom. They are free to express their own knowledge, idea, opinions and experiences. Not only does teacher‟s task help them become proficient in the English language, but also make them become critical thinker. Studies about the characteristics of good language learners have shown that good language learners make efforts to think in their second language as soon as possible (Rubin, 1979). Carroll writes that one characteristic of good language learners is that they try to understand the logic and strategies that native speakers use in communicating (1977). Rubin concluded that they are good at making guesses and inferences. (Rubin, 1979). It appears that good language learners have at least some of the same characteristics of critical thinkers. Perhaps in teaching critical thinking skills teachers can help them to become better language learners. To conclude, there is a strong link between critical thinking and language skills development. It is necessary to integrate critical thinking into English academic purposes and English second language classroom. Developing the critical 9 thinking skill help prepare to students who are learning English attend an international community and their workplace in the future. 2.3 Writing skills and creativity “Writing - the art of communicating thoughts of the mind - is the great invention of the world…. Great, very great, in enabling us to converse with the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and space, and great not only in its direct benefits, but its great help to all other inventions.” --Abraham Lincoln--- Writing skills are specific abilities which help writers put their thoughts into words in a meaningful text and to convey their message. Hampton (1989) stated that writers gain creativity when they can write their own ideas, not copy what has already been written, so that they can be read and understood. One of the expectations of students in essay writing is to demonstrate the ability to develop an argument (Wingate, 2012). A good academic writer should be able to present “evidence and arguments that he can then defend and from which he can draw conclusions” (Alagozlu, 2007, p.119). In order to become an academic writer, he is needed to support about argument writing skills which related to critical thinking which is regarded as a part of the process of evaluating the evidence collected solving or the results produced by thinking creatively ( Crowl et al.,1997;Lewis &Smith, 1993). Furthermore, other scholars claimed that writing ability depends on the ability to think clearly about substantive matters (Nickerson, Perkins, & Smith, 1985).So, writing skills are invariably dependent on clarity of thought. Moreover, Marzano (1991) suggested that “writing used as a mean to restructure knowledge, improves higher-order thinking and in this context, writing may provide opportunity for students to think through arguments and use higherorder thinking skills to respond to complex problems” (p.521). A statement by Condon and Kelly-Riley (2004, p.56) that “writing is a tool of thinking” marks the link between critical thinking and writing. McNamara et al. (2008) stress that, although a challenge for many, writing well is of great importance for success in a wide variety of institutions and professions. They share the same view that writing skills are among the best predictor of student success at university, describing good 10 writing as writing that articulates ideas clearly, argues opinions, synthesizes multiple perspectives, presents information effectively and consistently with wellchosen details, and avoids grammatical and mechanical errors. Similarly, Paul and Elder (2006, 2007) describe „substantive writing‟, as that which has a clearly defined purpose, makes a clear point, and supports it with specific information which is clearly connected and coherent. In general, though definitions of writing skills are numerous, all linguists share the same idea that a good writing is related to creativeness, ideas clearly, argues opinions, synthesizes and writing is a tool of thinking. There is also strong link between critical thinking and academic writing skills developing. 2.4 Teaching critical thinking skills Critical thinking skills are teachable and learnable, students should apply these to their learning to solve unfamiliar problems. The development of critical thinking skills are from low levels to higher levels, from lower order thinking skills to higher order thinking skills (HOTS). In this study, HOTS were expected to be integrated in different activities in learning processes in the writing classes. In this study, the framework describing how thinking skills could be integrated into learning activities was designed basing on Marzano‟s (2007) thinking skills taxonomy. This framework was used as the reference to design prewriting, whilewriting and post-writing activities with detail requirements of thinking skill levels. This framework was then used to be the reference for seeking the evidence of how thinking skills, especially HOTS, were actually used by students. The revised version of framework is designed as follows: No. CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS TOBE INTEGRATED IN WRITING TASKS IV.20 IV.19 Figure out a way to reach your goal under certain conditions Figure out a way to solve a problem under certain conditions IV.18 Figure out a way to solve the problem raised IV.17 Decide the best solution for the problem raised IV.16 Select the best among the following alternatives solution III.15 Specify the argument/ideas on a certain issue III.14 Generalize information from the given input data 11 MARZANO’S TAXONYMY UTILIZATION (IV) ANALYSIS (III) LEVEL HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS
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