Improving Students’ Writing Skill through the School Online Newspaper at a Public University in Vietnam

Lê Thị Thu Trang, Lê Thị Khánh Linh

Abstract


Writing is a crucial skill for students, particularly for those at tertiary level, yet it is a fact that many find writing challenging to master. A number of methods and strategies, therefore, have been employed in an attempt to develop students’ writing skill, and a student-run school newspaper is one of them. This paper aims at reporting whether the school newspaper The SFLook results in its members’ improved writing and how the students self-evaluate the impact of the project. First, the students’ (n = 20) pre-test and post-test before and after a twelve-week action were examined to assess their writing performance. Besides, a questionnaire was delivered to investigate their attitudes towards different aspects during the time working for the newspaper. The findings indicate that the school newspaper has reinforced its members’ writing skill and their motivations for writing are bound to external factors. The research results would suggest further applications of student – run newspapers in various educational contexts.

Keywords


Writing; Student-run School Newspaper; Attitudes

Full Text:

PDF

References


Alber, S. R. (1999). “I Don’t Like to Write, But I Love to Get Published”: Using a Classroom Newspaper to Motivate Reluctant Writers. Reading &

Writing Quarterly, 15, 335-360.

Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Berkshire, England: Open University Press - McGraw-Hill Education.

Baker, C. (1992). Attitudes and Languages. British Library Cataloguing in Publication data: Multilinguial Matters Ltd.

Barbora, L. (2006). Using magazines and newspapers in ELT with interpersonal and intrapersonal types of students. Masaryk University: Department of English Language and Literature.

Berg, E. C. (1999). The effects of trained peer response on ESL students' revision types and writing quality. Journal of second language writing, 8(3), 215-241.

Dang, T. N. (2001). Exploring CALL Options for Teaching EFL in Vietnam. Theses, Disertations, and Other Capstone Projects. Paper 273.

Ellis, G. (1996). How culturally appropriate is the communicative approach? ELT Journal, 50(3), 213-218.

Ferrance, E. (2000). Action research. Northeast and islands regional educational laboratory at brown university: Brown University, Providence, RI.

Gipps, C. V. (1994). Beyond testing: Towards a theory of educational assessment. Routledge: London & New York.

Halova, E., & Kobilarov, R. (2010). Advantages and Disadvantages of the Test Method for Checking and Evaluating of the Knowledge, the Skills and the Habits of Students. Paper presented at the 7th International Conference of the Balkan Physical Union.

Hapney, T. L & Russo. C.J (2013). Student Newspapers at Public Colleges and Universities: Lessons from the United States. Marshall University: Educational Leadership Faculty Publications.

Hedge, T. (2005). Writing (2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kalaja, P. (1999). Beliefs about SLA: New Research Approaches. Springer: Netherlands.

Krajka, J. (2000). Some possibilities for using online newspaper in the ESL Classroom: The Internet TESL Journal, VI(4). Retrieved December 14th, 2017, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Krajka-OnlineNews.html

Le, V. (2000). Language and Vietnamese pedagogical contexts. In J. Shaw, D. Lubelska & M. Noullet (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Language and Development (pp. 73-80). Bangkok: Asean Institute of Technology.

Mazdayasna, G., & Tahririan, M. H. (2008). Developing a profile of the ESP needs of

Iranian students: The case of students of nursing and midwifery. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7, 277-289.

Nguyen, D. K., Phan, T. V., & Ly, T. A. N. (2011). The Effectiveness of Activities for Teaching EFL writing in a Context of Vietnam: Journal of NELTA, 16(1-2), 82 - 96.

Nguyen, T. K. T. (2016). Critical Thinking’s Effect on Vietnamese Students’ Writing Attitude and Performance: Action Research. IORS Journal of Research & Method in Education. 6(6), 38-43.

Nguyen, T.T.N (2012). The effects of Using Peer Correction on the students’ writing performance at Hanoi Food Industry College. MA. Thesis, Hanoi University, Vietnam.

Nunan, D. (1989). Understanding language classrooms: A guide for teacher-initiated action: Prentice Hall Hemel Hempstead.

Oskamp, S. & Schultz. P.W (2005). Attitudes and Opinions (Third edition). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc & Psychology Press.

Pham, H. (2000). Traditional versus Modern methods. Teacher’s Edition, 2, 20-24.

Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Writing: New York: Oxford University Press.

Stanley, J. (1992). Coaching student writers to be effective peer evaluators. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1(3), 217-233.

Wenden, A. (1991). Learner strategies for learner autonomy: Planning and implementing learner training for language learners. ELT Journal, 48(3), 280 – 281.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.2p.47

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2013-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies  

You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.