VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE TEACHING TRANSITION SIGNALS IN IELTS WRITING TASK TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY AT A SUBURBAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI TRAM ANH Supervised by LE NGUYEN MINH THO, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE TEACHING TRANSITION SIGNALS IN IELTS WRITING TASK TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY AT A SUBURBAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI TRAM ANH Supervised by LE NGUYEN MINH THO, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to those who have helped and supported me during the hard time doing my research and completing this thesis First, my gratefulness goes to my respectful supervisor, Dr Le Nguyen Minh Tho, for pushing me forward in writing up and revising my thesis and providing me with constructive criticism and precious guidance throughout the stages of doing research and thesis writing I am thankful for the continued support that the management of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature provided when I was working on my thesis My genuine appreciation also goes to one of my colleagues, Mr Nguyen Hoang Kham, for all the generous and enthusiastic support as well as the invaluable and professional advice he has given to help me better understand the issue under study Next, I would like to thank a dear friend of mine, Mr Pham Hoang Huy, for having been there to patiently hear me whining about how challenging and exhausting it was to write the thesis and for reminding me to comply with the APA (6th edition) style My thanks also go to my sweetest friend, Ms Do Thi Thoa, for her words of encouragement when I was doing the thesis Last but not least, I am very grateful to my incomparably caring and loving parents and my affectionate younger brother Without my parents, I would never have had the chance to pursue further study and to concentrate on completing my thesis I also feel blessed to have an extremely helpful younger brother who was always by my side to cheer me up when I suffered stress from my work and study Without the encouragement, support and guidance provided by those named or unlisted, I would not have completed this Master’s Thesis I appreciate all i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHING TRANSITION SIGNALS IN IELTS WRITING TASK TO PREINTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS: A CASE STUDY AT A SUBURBAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER in terms of the statement of Requirements for the Thesis in Master’s Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee The thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other situations Ho Chi Minh City, November 2019 Nguyen Thi Tram Anh ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Nguyen Thi Tram Anh, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of University of Social Sciences and Humanities 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 thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis Ho Chi Minh City, November 2019 Nguyen Thi Tram Anh iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.2 AIM OF THE STUDY 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THESIS CHAPTERS 1.6 SUMMARY CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 AN OVERVIEW OF IELTS WRITING TASK 10 2.1.1 Question types in IELTS writing task 10 2.1.2 Assessment criteria of IELTS writing task 11 2.1.3 Transition signals usage in IELTS writing task 12 2.2 THEORETICAL ISSUES ON TRANSITION SIGNALS 14 2.2.1 Coherence and cohesion 14 iv 2.2.2 Alternative terms to “transition signals” 16 2.2.3 Transition signals 18 2.2.4 The categorization of transition signals 19 2.3 TRANSITION SIGNALS IN EFL TEACHING AND LEARNING 23 2.3.1 The teaching of transition signals 23 2.3.1.1 Illustration 23 2.3.1.2 Interaction 24 2.3.1.3 Induction 25 2.3.2 The learning of transition signals 26 2.3.2.1 Commonly-used transition signals 26 2.3.2.2 Usage issues with transition signals 29 2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 30 2.5 SUMMARY 32 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 33 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 33 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 34 3.3 RESEARCH SITE 37 3.4 POSITION OF THE RESEARCHER 39 3.5 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS 40 3.5.1 Teacher participants 41 3.5.2 Student participants 44 3.6 RESEARCH TOOLS 45 3.6.1 Teacher interview 45 3.6.2 Student questionnaire 48 v 3.6.3 Documents 50 3.6.4 Classroom observation protocol 51 3.7 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 54 3.7.1 Teacher interview 54 3.7.2 Student questionnaire 55 3.7.3 Documents 55 3.7.4 Classroom observation protocol 56 3.8 DATA ANALYSIS SCHEME 58 3.9 ETHICS 60 3.10 SUMMARY 61 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 62 4.1 FINDINGS 62 4.1.1 The teaching of transition signals 62 4.1.1.1 Perception 63 4.1.1.2 Instruction 66 4.1.1.2.1 Textbook instruction 66 4.1.1.2.2 Teachers’ instruction 70 4.1.1.3 Teachers’ evaluation 74 4.1.2 The learning of transition signals 77 4.1.2.1 Commonly-used transition signals 77 4.1.2.2 Usage issues with transition signals 86 4.2 DISCUSSION 89 4.2.1 The teaching of transition signals 89 4.2.1.1 Perception 89 vi 4.2.1.2 Instruction 90 4.2.1.3 Teachers’ evaluation 91 4.2.2 The learning of transition signals 92 4.2.2.1 Commonly-used transition signals 92 4.2.2.2 Usage issues with transition signals 94 4.3 SUMMARY 95 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS 96 5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 96 5.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 97 5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 99 5.3.1 Teaching 99 5.3.2 Learning 102 5.3.3 Future research 103 5.4 SUMMARY 104 REFERENCES 105 APPENDIX A 110 APPENDIX B 111 APPENDIX C 112 APPENDIX D 113 APPENDIX E 115 APPENDIX F 117 APPENDIX G 118 APPENDIX H 119 APPENDIX I 122 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching IB IELTS Basic (the name of the IELTS course under study) IELTS International Language Testing System IWT2 IELTS Writing Task TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages viii Wagner, E (2016) Survey research TESOL Quarterly, 50(1), 48-51 Yin, R K (2009) Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.) Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Yin, Z (2017) Principles of teaching cohesion in the English language classroom RELC Journal, 18(1), 1-18 Zemach, D E., & Rumisek, L A (2005) Academic Writing from paragraph to essay (2nd ed) Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Limited 109 APPENDIX A IELTS Writing Task Evaluation Criteria Task Achievement Did your answer address all of the points in the question? Did you provide a balanced argument and support your ideas with evidence and examples? Were all of your ideas relevant to the question? Did you write 250 words? Coherence and Cohesion Is your writing easy to understand? Are your ideas well organized and clearly linked? Lexical Resource Did you use a wide range of vocabulary accurately and effectively? Grammatical Range and Accuracy Did you use a wide range of grammatical structures accurately and effectively? 110 APPENDIX B Marking Criteria for Coherence and Cohesion in IELTS Writing Task (Initiated by the British Council) Band score Description 5.0 There is some organization but may not use paragraphs Uses linking devices but with mistakes or inappropriate use May be repetitive due to lack of referencing 6.0 Organized information coherently Uses paragraphs but always logically Uses linking devices effectively but there may be errors in linking between and within sentence Uses referencing but not always clearly 7.0 Logically organizes information Good paragraphing Has one central topic for each paragraph Uses a range of linking devices May over or under use linking devices Good referencing 8.0 Information and ideas are organized logically Paragraphing is sufficient and appropriate Manages all aspects of linking and cohesion No problems with referencing 111 APPENDIX C A Sample of an IELTS Trainer’s Paper (IELTS Writing Task 2) Some people believe that it is more important to teach children the literature and history of their own country, rather than the literature and history of other countries To what extent you agree or disagree? People have different views about the teaching of national versus global literature and history in schools Personally, I support the idea that children should study first and foremost the great books and historical events of their own countries There are several reasons why I believe that schools should focus on teaching national literature and history Firstly, children enjoy learning about where they live, and by studying the ideas, culture and history of their own countries they begin to develop a sense of identity At the same time, this approach is appealing to parents, who studied the same books and historical events and can therefore help their children with school work English children, for example, read Shakespeare and learn about the Battle of Hastings just as their parents did, and there is educational continuity across the generations Finally, an emphasis on national literature and history gives educators a narrower teaching scope, making curriculum design an easier task By contrast, the study of global events and foreign novels could cause unnecessary difficulty and confusion for school pupils For example, I not see the point in presenting Russian or Chinese history to a British child who has not yet studied the history of his or her own country in detail Surely the child would be more able to comprehend historical events that took place in London than those that happened in Moscow or Beijing Similarly, any exposure to international literature is likely to require the teaching of a foreign language or the use of translations Young people at primary or secondary school age are simply not ready for such complications In conclusion, I would argue that it is undesirable for schools to cover aspects of foreign history and literature; they should ground their pupils in the local culture instead (Written by Simon Corcoran, ex-IELTS examiner, on October 2018) 112 APPENDIX D Teacher Interview Protocol Project: Teaching transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners: A case study at a suburban English language center Time of interview : Date : Place : Interviewer : Interviewee : Years of expertise in IELTS training : Overall band score of the interviewee : Project description: This study is conducted to explore the teaching practice of transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners It is noticed that there are different alternatives to the term “transition signals” (one commonly-used term is “linking words”) To gain a deeper insight into this issue, teachers in charge of the IELTS Basic course (i.e the course which is designed for pre-intermediate EFL learners) at the research site are interviewed Teacher’s responses from this interview would be analyzed and interpreted with reference to other research tools employed in this project to deepen the understanding of transition signal teaching practice Regarding the confidentiality of the data and of the interviewee, it is pledged that the interviewee’s identity would be kept anonymous and all the information provided is confidential and accessible to the researcher only This interview will be approximately 15 minutes long 113 Note:  TS is short for “transition signals”  IWT2 is short for “IELTS writing task 2”  IB is short for “IELTS Basic” (the course’s name)  SB is short for “student’s book” Questions: How would you define TS or linking words? What is the role of TS in IWT2? What you think about the instruction on TS in the SB? Did you use the TS provided in the SB and SB’s instruction to teach your students? How did you teach TS? (i.e forms and functions; activities) How did you check your students’ use of TS? What are the strengths in students’ use of TS? What are the weaknesses in students’ use of TS? Thank you for your cooperation 114 APPENDIX E Student Questionnaire Dear participants, This questionnaire is conducted for my study entitled “Teaching transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners: a case study at a suburban English language center” Your answers will be significantly helpful for my study It is pledged that all the information provided by the respondents is anonymous and confidential for the research purposes only Before you answer the questions in this questionnaire, please pay attention to the following abbreviations:  TS is short for “Transition signals”  IWT2 is short for “IELTS writing task 2”  IB is short for “IELTS Basic” (the course’s name)  SB is short for “Student’s book” Please write your answer to the following questions in the given space In the IB course, did your teachers emphasize the use of TS in IWT2? In your opinion, how important transition signals are in IWT2? What you think about the instruction on the use of TS in your SB ? Apart from the TS provided in the SB, did your teachers provide other TS? 115 How did your teachers teach you to use TS in IWT2? What you think about your teachers’ instruction on the use of TS? Thank you for your cooperation 116 APPENDIX F A Sample of Teacher’s Teaching Journal Session 01 Unit Unit Phases Types of transition signal taught Form vs Function What students What teacher did - Chose types did of Opinion transition signals essay taught for the lesson (from which source ?) -Introduced the use of - Took note “addition/ example/ …… conclusion” transitional words - Checked students’ understanding of the use of these transition signals with activity A Note: - Students’ attitude when doing the given tasks:…… - Students’ performance:… 02 addition, … Unit (e.g Opinion illustration, result) … essay 117 APPENDIX G A Sample of Student’s Paper (IELTS Writing Task 2) 118 APPENDIX H A Sample of Observation Fieldnotes Class code : IB02 Teacher : T01 Date : W9 (S2) Lesson duration : 18.00-20.00 Note: T = Teacher Stage S = Student IWT2 = IELTS Writing Task Descriptive notes Reflective notes Pre-teaching T asked ss to write a description Ss seemed to not have quite a lot (18.00-18.40) of a place that he/she used to work of writing ideas  instead of at or is working at for the time writing the description, they kept being (18.00-18.10) looking at each other’s written texts and discussing what to write T provided new words if asked by T seemed to be confident with the ss (18.00-18.10) his/her lexical resource to have this kind of free practice activity T asked some ss to read their T written text aloud (18.10-18.20) paid close attention to pronunciation (he/she corrected Ss’ mispronounced words during ss read their written products) T asked ss to describe a typical Ss seemed to get familiar with the day of their work (18.20-18.30) first brainstorming task (i.e and share their ideas once they describe their workplace), so they finished writing (18.30-18.40) had more ideas to jot down this time While- T asked ss to restate the structure Ss seemed to remember IWT2 119 teaching structure well  this could be of an IWT2 (18.40-18.45) possibly because they have been (18.45-19.15) in the 8th week of the course and have learnt two IWT2 sessions (i.e from unit and unit 3) T asked ss structures certain (e.g sentence At first, ss could not remember conditional which sentence structures should sentences, sentences with modal be used in writing an essay, but verbs indicating possibility and so they were able to name some on) that should be used when sentence patterns after receiving writing an essay hints from their T (18.45-18.55) T showed a writing topic on the All of the ss were attentive to screen (Internet does more harm what the T said  they took note than good in a working all the time environment To what extent you agree or disagree with this opinion?), then T provided some relevant vocabulary highlighted some and sentence structures that might be helpful to facilitate ss’ writing practice later (18.55-19.15) T provided a topic sentence: “The T did told ss that the given internet causes a lot of troubles for transition signals are the people at their workplace” and suggested ones, so ss can replace asked ss to develop the given these with other (if they wanted topic sentence with some to) 120 transition signals as follows:  For example,…  This could lead to…  As a result,… (19.30-19.50) Summary Comments What were the teacher’s major strengths as demonstrated in the observation? What suggestions could be made to improve the way teachers instruct students how to use transition signals in IWT2? How were students’ attitudes when being introduced the different types of transition signals? If this was a repeat observation, what progress did the observer discern in the way teachers instruct students how to use transition signals in IWT2? 121 APPENDIX I Consent Form INSTITUTION: For anonymity purposes, the name of the language center where the present project was conducted will be concealed PROJECT: Teaching transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners: a case study at a suburban English language center INVITATION You are being asked to take part in a research on the teaching practice of transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners at a suburban English language center The use of transition signals is essential in such a way that it could contribute to the coherence and cohesion of a writing piece (i.e IELTS writing task 2, in this case) To help students use transition signals effectively, the instruction on the usage of transition signals is highly considered The present research aims to explore the teaching practice of transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners By investigating different types of transition signals and the ways transition signals are used in IELTS writing task as well as investigating teachers’ opinions towards the use of transition signals, suggestions on how to improve the teaching of transition signals in IELTS writing task would be initiated As part of the research, three teachers who are and were in charge of the IELTS preparation course for pre-intermediate learners will be invited to take part in an interview Besides, pre-intermediate students who follow such IELTS preparation course will be invited to provide responses for questionnaire asking for their opinions on their teachers’ instruction on the use of transition signals in IELTS writing task 122 WHAT WILL HAPPEN If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to:  (For students) Complete a questionnaire  (For teachers) Being interviewed for 15-20 minutes on a specific date up to the agreed appointment made by the researcher and the interviewees You will be asked questions involving the techniques or activities you used to teach transition signals in IELTS writing task to pre-intermediate EFL learners The interview will be recorded (if agreed) for data analysis purposes PARTICIPANTS’ RIGHTS Participants have the right to withdraw from the present study at any time Participants could ask the researcher to destroy any data that has been supplied It is noted that participants could refuse to answer any question asked during the interview (for teachers) and in the questionnaire (for students) Upon reading this consent form, participants could ask the researcher if they have any questions regarding the content of the form COST, REIMBURSEMENT AND COMPENSATION The participation in the present study is voluntary CONFIDENTIALITY/ ANONYMITY It is pledged that the participants’ identities would remain anonymous and all the responses provided by the research participants will be kept confidential FOR FURTHER INFORMATION In case there are any questions about this study, please contact the researcher on tramanhnguyen1420@gmail.com or the supervisor who provided guidance throughout the completion of this research on lenguyenminhtho@hcmussh.edu.vn Thank you for your kind help 123 ... research aims to provide insights into the teaching of transition signals in IELTS writing task (IWT2) to Vietnamese pre- intermediate EFL learners Carried out as a case study, it investigated... teaching practice of transition signals in IWT2 to pre- intermediate EFL learners at a suburban English language center in Ho Chi Minh City In order to achieve this aim, a case study of the IELTS. .. qualitative and quantitative data as these data sources might demonstrate more comprehensive knowledge of the teaching practice of transition signals in IWT2 to pre- intermediate EFL learners To