scholarly journals PROBLEMS OF COHERENCE IN THE WRITING OF VIETNAMESE EFL STUDENTS AND AN INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dao Pham
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Group Interviews

<p><b>Coherence has been claimed to be one among the difficult aspects of writing to teach and learn . Both teachers and learners find it hard to explain why one piece of writing is incoherent and another is not. There have been a few studies (Gramegna, 2007; Wikborg, 1990) investigating the types of coherence breaks in EFL/ESL writing and a few studies (Johns, 1986; Lee, 2002b) investigating the effects of teaching aspects of coherence on students’ writing performance. However, there have been no studies identifying the coherence problems in students’ writing and then using these to teach students how to avoid these coherence problems. In addition to teaching students to avoid coherence problems, an approach called topical structure analysis (TSA) (Liangprayoon, Chaya, & Thep-ackraphong, 2013; Schneider & Connor, 1990) has been considered as an effective technique to help improve students’ writing coherence. Some studies (Attelisi, 2012; Connor & Farmer, 1990) have examined the effect of teaching TSA in promoting EFL students’ awareness of coherence, but investigating the effect of the combination of teaching coherence problems and TSA on EFL students’ writing performance has not been done in any previous studies. My study fills both of these gaps.</b></p> <p>There are two main phases in my study. In Phase 1, I developed a system of coherence problems based on the analysis of 69 essays written by Vietnamese EFL students. Then, this system of coherence problems was used to identify the types and frequency of coherence problems in the writing of Vietnamese EFL students. In Phase 2, an intervention was conducted in a university in Vietnam. Fifty-eight students participated in the intervention and were divided into a control group and a treatment group. While the combination of teaching the system of coherence problems developed in Phase 1 and teaching TSA was delivered to the treatment group in the intervention, the control group was taught other aspects of writing such as grammar, vocabulary, etc. The aim of Phase 2 of this study was to examine the effect of the intervention on students’ writing performance, especially on coherence and overall writing quality.</p> <p>Data for Phase 1 was 69 essays on a single topic. Using this set of essays, the types of coherence problems and their frequency were identified. Data for Phase 2 included three sets of writing. The first set of writing was 58 essays written by students in both the treatment group and the control group before the intervention was conducted. The second set of writing involved the students revising their first draft right after the intervention finished. The third set of writing was 58 new essays on a different topic from the first and the second sets written by students in the control and treatment groups four weeks after the intervention. These three sets of writing were analysed and rated by the same raters as in Phase 1. In addition, students completed questionnaires and participated in focus group interviews in Phase 2.</p> <p>Findings of Phase 1 show that there were five main types of coherence problems that Vietnamese EFL students had in their writing. These were macrostructure-related problems, topic unity-related problems, paragraph unity-related problems, cohesion-related problems, and metadiscourse-related problems. Of these five main types of coherence problems, paragraph unity-related problems were the most frequent ones, and “no/ little elaboration of the proposition made” was the most frequent subtype of paragraph-unity problems. </p> <p>Findings from Phase 2 show that there was a significant difference in terms of coherence problems, types of topical progression, and writing quality between the two groups after the intervention finished. To be specific, there were significantly fewer instances of coherence problems in the writing of the treatment group than in the writing of the control group, and the scores for coherence and overall quality achieved by the treatment group were significantly higher than those achieved by the control group. Also, the focus group interviews suggest that most students found the intervention helpful in improving their writing performance. This means the combination of teaching coherence problems and TSA to students had a positive impact on students’ writing coherence and writing quality. Based on the findings, some suggestions are made for teaching writing to EFL students in general and for the teaching of coherence in the Vietnamese university context in particular.</p>

scholarly journals PROBLEMS OF COHERENCE IN THE WRITING OF VIETNAMESE EFL STUDENTS AND AN INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dao Pham
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Group Interviews

<p><b>Coherence has been claimed to be one among the difficult aspects of writing to teach and learn . Both teachers and learners find it hard to explain why one piece of writing is incoherent and another is not. There have been a few studies (Gramegna, 2007; Wikborg, 1990) investigating the types of coherence breaks in EFL/ESL writing and a few studies (Johns, 1986; Lee, 2002b) investigating the effects of teaching aspects of coherence on students’ writing performance. However, there have been no studies identifying the coherence problems in students’ writing and then using these to teach students how to avoid these coherence problems. In addition to teaching students to avoid coherence problems, an approach called topical structure analysis (TSA) (Liangprayoon, Chaya, & Thep-ackraphong, 2013; Schneider & Connor, 1990) has been considered as an effective technique to help improve students’ writing coherence. Some studies (Attelisi, 2012; Connor & Farmer, 1990) have examined the effect of teaching TSA in promoting EFL students’ awareness of coherence, but investigating the effect of the combination of teaching coherence problems and TSA on EFL students’ writing performance has not been done in any previous studies. My study fills both of these gaps.</b></p> <p>There are two main phases in my study. In Phase 1, I developed a system of coherence problems based on the analysis of 69 essays written by Vietnamese EFL students. Then, this system of coherence problems was used to identify the types and frequency of coherence problems in the writing of Vietnamese EFL students. In Phase 2, an intervention was conducted in a university in Vietnam. Fifty-eight students participated in the intervention and were divided into a control group and a treatment group. While the combination of teaching the system of coherence problems developed in Phase 1 and teaching TSA was delivered to the treatment group in the intervention, the control group was taught other aspects of writing such as grammar, vocabulary, etc. The aim of Phase 2 of this study was to examine the effect of the intervention on students’ writing performance, especially on coherence and overall writing quality.</p> <p>Data for Phase 1 was 69 essays on a single topic. Using this set of essays, the types of coherence problems and their frequency were identified. Data for Phase 2 included three sets of writing. The first set of writing was 58 essays written by students in both the treatment group and the control group before the intervention was conducted. The second set of writing involved the students revising their first draft right after the intervention finished. The third set of writing was 58 new essays on a different topic from the first and the second sets written by students in the control and treatment groups four weeks after the intervention. These three sets of writing were analysed and rated by the same raters as in Phase 1. In addition, students completed questionnaires and participated in focus group interviews in Phase 2.</p> <p>Findings of Phase 1 show that there were five main types of coherence problems that Vietnamese EFL students had in their writing. These were macrostructure-related problems, topic unity-related problems, paragraph unity-related problems, cohesion-related problems, and metadiscourse-related problems. Of these five main types of coherence problems, paragraph unity-related problems were the most frequent ones, and “no/ little elaboration of the proposition made” was the most frequent subtype of paragraph-unity problems. </p> <p>Findings from Phase 2 show that there was a significant difference in terms of coherence problems, types of topical progression, and writing quality between the two groups after the intervention finished. To be specific, there were significantly fewer instances of coherence problems in the writing of the treatment group than in the writing of the control group, and the scores for coherence and overall quality achieved by the treatment group were significantly higher than those achieved by the control group. Also, the focus group interviews suggest that most students found the intervention helpful in improving their writing performance. This means the combination of teaching coherence problems and TSA to students had a positive impact on students’ writing coherence and writing quality. Based on the findings, some suggestions are made for teaching writing to EFL students in general and for the teaching of coherence in the Vietnamese university context in particular.</p>

scholarly journals Problems Of Coherence In The Writing Of Vietnamese EFL Students And An Intervention To Improve Students’ Writing Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dao Pham
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Group Interviews

<p><b>Coherence has been claimed to be one among the difficult aspects of writing to teach and learn . Both teachers and learners find it hard to explain why one piece of writing is incoherent and another is not. There have been a few studies (Gramegna, 2007; Wikborg, 1990) investigating the types of coherence breaks in EFL/ESL writing and a few studies (Johns, 1986; Lee, 2002b) investigating the effects of teaching aspects of coherence on students’ writing performance. However, there have been no studies identifying the coherence problems in students’ writing and then using these to teach students how to avoid these coherence problems. In addition to teaching students to avoid coherence problems, an approach called topical structure analysis (TSA) (Liangprayoon, Chaya, & Thep-ackraphong, 2013; Schneider & Connor, 1990) has been considered as an effective technique to help improve students’ writing coherence. Some studies (Attelisi, 2012; Connor & Farmer, 1990) have examined the effect of teaching TSA in promoting EFL students’ awareness of coherence, but investigating the effect of the combination of teaching coherence problems and TSA on EFL students’ writing performance has not been done in any previous studies. My study fills both of these gaps.</b></p> <p>There are two main phases in my study. In Phase 1, I developed a system of coherence problems based on the analysis of 69 essays written by Vietnamese EFL students. Then, this system of coherence problems was used to identify the types and frequency of coherence problems in the writing of Vietnamese EFL students. In Phase 2, an intervention was conducted in a university in Vietnam. Fifty-eight students participated in the intervention and were divided into a control group and a treatment group. While the combination of teaching the system of coherence problems developed in Phase 1 and teaching TSA was delivered to the treatment group in the intervention, the control group was taught other aspects of writing such as grammar, vocabulary, etc. The aim of Phase 2 of this study was to examine the effect of the intervention on students’ writing performance, especially on coherence and overall writing quality.</p> <p>Data for Phase 1 was 69 essays on a single topic. Using this set of essays, the types of coherence problems and their frequency were identified. Data for Phase 2 included three sets of writing. The first set of writing was 58 essays written by students in both the treatment group and the control group before the intervention was conducted. The second set of writing involved the students revising their first draft right after the intervention finished. The third set of writing was 58 new essays on a different topic from the first and the second sets written by students in the control and treatment groups four weeks after the intervention. These three sets of writing were analysed and rated by the same raters as in Phase 1. In addition, students completed questionnaires and participated in focus group interviews in Phase 2.</p> <p>Findings of Phase 1 show that there were five main types of coherence problems that Vietnamese EFL students had in their writing. These were macrostructure-related problems, topic unity-related problems, paragraph unity-related problems, cohesion-related problems, and metadiscourse-related problems. Of these five main types of coherence problems, paragraph unity-related problems were the most frequent ones, and “no/ little elaboration of the proposition made” was the most frequent subtype of paragraph-unity problems. </p> <p>Findings from Phase 2 show that there was a significant difference in terms of coherence problems, types of topical progression, and writing quality between the two groups after the intervention finished. To be specific, there were significantly fewer instances of coherence problems in the writing of the treatment group than in the writing of the control group, and the scores for coherence and overall quality achieved by the treatment group were significantly higher than those achieved by the control group. Also, the focus group interviews suggest that most students found the intervention helpful in improving their writing performance. This means the combination of teaching coherence problems and TSA to students had a positive impact on students’ writing coherence and writing quality. Based on the findings, some suggestions are made for teaching writing to EFL students in general and for the teaching of coherence in the Vietnamese university context in particular.</p>

scholarly journals EFFECTS OF AN INTERGENERATIONAL EXERCISE BUDDY PROGRAM ON PARTICIPANTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S871-S872
Author(s):  
Eun hae Kim ◽  
Kyong Hee Chee ◽  
Clay DeStefano ◽  
Anna Broome
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Exercise Classes

Abstract Structured social support may enhance the benefits of an exercise class for participants. This study examined the effects of an intergenerational exercise buddy program on participant well-being. A convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from Central Texas (N = 51): 34 were community-dwelling adults aged 65 and above, and 17 were university students aged 18-25 years. The study used a pretest-posttest, quasi-experimental design and focus group interviews. Randomly selected 18 older-adult participants were paired with young-adult participants as an exercise buddy for each other to attend 8 weekly Tai Chi or Chair Yoga classes at a community center. Meanwhile, 16 older-adult participants formed a control group attending different exercise classes without young-adult buddies. The survey results show that, compared to the control group, the intervention group (n = 35) had significantly greater satisfaction with life (p &lt; .09 ) and a more positive attitude towards aging (p &lt; .01) after attending exercise classes with their buddies. In focus group interviews, the participants most frequently mentioned that commitment to their buddies as a key factor for class attendance. The participants typically perceived that their buddies were pleasant and did not judge or treat them based on their age. They stressed the positive effects of building relationships with all involved in the program, including the exercise instructors. Meanwhile, control-group participants wished that they, too, had buddies. Although the study should be replicated with a larger sample, its findings suggest that an intergenerational exercise program offers added benefits for participants.

scholarly journals EFL Students’ perceptions on Gender Stereotypes through their Narratives

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 141-166
Author(s):  
Jhonatan Vásquez-Guarnizo ◽  
Maribel Chía-Ríos ◽  
Mairon Felipe Tobar-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Public University ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Student's Perceptions

This article reports a case study conducted with twelve students from the Modern/Foreign Languages program at a public university in Colombia. It sought to unveil EFL Student’s perceptions on Gender Stereotypes through three different moments. At first, students expressed their thoughts after being exposed to a film. Then, their point of views were heard through the exposure of some before/now photographs; and lastly, they provided their insights through their own artwork. Data was gathered through focus group interviews, field notes and students’ artifacts. Findings showed that students’ perceptions on gender stereotypes differ from their past generations and the way they see their future have made their minds change over the time.

scholarly journals Health Engagement Living Lab Project: A Pilot Mixed-Methods Study To Advance Self-Care Agency Among Migrant Workers In South Korea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youlim Kim ◽  
Hyeonkyeong Lee ◽  
Sookyung Kim ◽  
Junghee Kim
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Living Lab ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Care Agency

Abstract Background: Migrant workers struggle to access health services and adapt to a new culture. Self-care agency can be important for health self-management. It is necessary to investigate in detail how migrant workers engage in health promotion behaviors. This study examines the effects of a health engagement program to improve self-care agency using a living lab approach among migrant workers living in South Korea. Methods: Participants included 42 migrant workers from 9 countries, recruited via flyers, posters, and internet bulletins posted by a migrant community organization. This pilot study used a mixed-methods design including a nonequivalent pre-post-test control group and three focus group interviews. During the 12-week period, only the intervention group participants received four workshops addressing healthy physical activity, healthy dietary habits, effective cultural adaptation, stress management, and two outdoor cultural activities. They also participated in focus group interviews after the second, third, and fourth group activities and discussed the benefits of health behaviors and specific ways to implement them in real life. The control group received no intervention. Results: After the 12-week intervention period, participants in the intervention group showed an increase in the levels of self-care agency (U = 82.5, p < .001), health literacy (U = 91.5, p < .001), and acculturation (U = 119.0, p = .010) compared to the control group. As results of qualitative content analysis, various themes were derived for three areas: healthy diet, acculturation, and stress management based on lessons learned from living lab activities, barriers to health behavior practices and methods to overcome barriers.Conclusions: This study demonstrated that interventions using a living lab were effective in increasing migrants’ participation in health promotion activities by strengthening their self-care agency. The qualitative approach was useful in obtaining more comprehensive results on strategies aimed at enhancing health behavior engagement.

Promoting Health in Type 2 Diabetes: Nurse-Physician Collaboration in Primary Care

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine I. Taylor ◽  
Kathleen M. Oberle ◽  
Rodney A. Crutcher ◽  
Peter G. Norton
Keyword(s):  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Standard Care ◽  
Bodily Pain ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Global Functioning ◽  
Group Interviews

The purpose of this study is to examine effects of a nurse-physician collaborative approach to care of patients with type 2 diabetes and to determine possible effect sizes for use in computing sample sizes for a larger study. Forty patients from a family practice clinic with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to control or experimental groups. The control group received standard care, whereas the experimental group received standard care plus home visits from a nurse, as well as consultation with an exercise specialist and/or nutritionist. Follow-up continued for 3 months. Clinical end points included standard measures of diabetes activity as well as quality-of-life indicators. Focus group interviews were used to explore patients’ responses to the program. Although findings were not statistically significant, a trend toward small to moderate positive effect sizes was found in glycosylated hemoglobin and blood pressure. Quality oflife measures also showed a trend toward small to moderate, but nonsignificant, improvements in physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality, social and global functioning, energy, impact of diabetes, and health distress. Focus group interviews indicated a very positive response from patients, who expressed feelings of empowerment. In this study, patients treated with nurse-physician collaboration demonstrated small, but nonsignificant, improvements in blood chemistry after only 3 months. Physical and social functioning, energy, and bodily pain also showed a small improvement. Changes in awareness of effects of diabetes on health and an expressed sense of self-efficacy suggest that effects could be sustainable over the longer term.

scholarly journals The Effect of Research Evidence-Based Teaching Practices in Science Classrooms on Student Teachers' Attitudes towards Educational Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 316-326
Author(s):  
Nail Ilhan
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Experimental Group

Research in the field of education plays a pivotal role in developing evidence-based practices in teaching and improving the quality of education. However, research conducted in recent years has highlighted the unwillingness of teachers to benefit from scientific studies. This study set out to assess whether Research Evidence-Based Practices in Science Teaching (EBPST) influences the teaching practices of student teachers and their attitudes towards education research. Mixed methods research design was used in this study. The study was conducted through Quasi-experimental methods and focus group interviews. The data were collected with the "Teachers Attitude Scale towards Educational Research (TASTER)" and focus group interviews. Participants of the study included 106 third-year undergraduate student teachers. The experimental group applied EBPST during their teaching, while the control group applied existing traditional teaching at primary schools. The Quantitative findings showed that student teachers in the experimental group had significantly increased positive attitudes towards educational research when compared with student teachers in the control group. In addition, qualitative findings revealed that several factors negatively and positively influence the understanding and use of educational research for student teachers on the applicability of EBPST. Considering the results of this study, student teachers' EBPST effect on improving their attitudes, understanding, and the use of educational research in teaching.

scholarly journals Relevancy Trumps Format When Teaching Information Literacy

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Giovanna Badia
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Library Instruction ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Experimental Group

A Review of: Tewell, E. C. (2014). Tying television comedies to information literacy: A mixed-methods investigation. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(2), 134-141. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2014.02.004 Abstract Objective – This study assessed the effects of showing television comedy clips to demonstrate information literacy concepts when teaching one-shot instruction sessions. More specifically, it examined whether the students’ retention and understanding increased when television comedy clips were used and whether students preferred instruction that included popular culture examples. Design – A mixed-methods investigation that employed multiple-choice questionnaires and focus group interviews. Setting – A small liberal arts college in the United States of America. Subjects – A total of 211 freshmen students enrolled in a First-Year Studies course. The students were divided into 16 class sections. The author collected a total of 193 valid responses to the pretests and posttests in his study. Methods – Half of the class sections (103 respondents) were taught selected information literacy concepts using television comedy clips and a group discussion led by the instructor. The other half (90 respondents) were taught using only an instructor-led discussion. The classes were randomly selected to belong to the experimental group (with TV comedy clips) or the control group (without TV comedy clips). An online pretest questionnaire, consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions, was administered at the beginning of the 90-minute library instruction session for both groups. An online posttest questionnaire, consisting of the same questions as the pretest but in a randomized order, was completed by the students at the end of the session. About a month later, one-hour focus group interviews were conducted with a small subset of the study’s subjects who volunteered to participate in the focus groups. The experimental focus group consisted of five study participants who had attended a library instruction session that involved showing the television comedy clips and the control focus group consisted of six study participants who had attended a library instruction session that did not include showing the television comedy clips. Main Results – The experimental group scored higher than the control group on the posttest with an average “increase of 1.07 points from pre- to posttest compared to a 0.13 mean increase in the control group” (p. 139), which means that the experimental group answered one more question correctly. Four out of the five participants in the experimental focus group also discussed the television comedy clips even though they were not asked about them. Conversely, when asked about what they enjoyed in the class, the majority of participants from both focus groups discussed the content covered in the session rather than any teaching methods employed. “The quantitative results suggest that student test results either increased, as in the experimental group, or remained relatively level, as in the control group, due to the type of instruction received” (p. 137). Conclusion – The author states that the results from the test questionnaires and answers from focus group sessions indicate that using television comedy clips may be a successful way of improving students’ retention of course content. However, the study’s results could not demonstrate that students liked classes with popular culture examples more than classes without them, since the majority of focus group participants found the course content more interesting than the manner in which the content was taught. The relevancy of the content presented in an information literacy session appears to make more of an impact on the students than the format in which it is presented.

Management Strategy for Distributing Questionnaires and Interview Guidelines in the Research Data Collection Process

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Po. Abas Sunarya ◽  
George Iwan Marantika ◽  
Adam Faturahman
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Management Strategy ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Good Management ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
Group Interviews

Writing can mean lowering or describing graphic symbols that describe a languageunderstood by someone. For a researcher, management of research preparation is a veryimportant step because this step greatly determines the success or failure of all researchactivities. Before a person starts with research activities, he must make a written plan commonlyreferred to as the management of research data collection. In the process of collecting researchdata, of course we can do the management of questionnaires as well as the preparation ofinterview guidelines to disseminate and obtain accurate information. With the arrangement ofplanning and conducting interviews: the ethics of conducting interviews, the advantages anddisadvantages of interviews, the formulation of interview questions, the schedule of interviews,group and focus group interviews, interviews using recording devices, and interview bias.making a questionnaire must be designed with very good management by giving to theinformation needed, in accordance with the problem and all that does not cause problems at thestage of analysis and interpretation.

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