Writing skills in English (Ms Nguyen)
The English Language occupies a very prominent position in all different fields. It is the main language of communication amongst many diverse nationalities in the country. Therefore, the need for English as a communication tool is very demanding. This realization has been widely reflected in students failing to see the point of studying English as a compulsory course in general education regardless of the EFL teachers’ efforts to explain its significance. In fact, the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Vietnam is exerting all efforts to teach the English language appropriately in all schools, as a result, it always promotes conferences and symposia where teachers of English can develop their teaching professions in all different language skills. The MoE has also drawn specific goals in the teaching of English at universities. Among these, students should be able to write English sentences or essays that are grammatically correct, properly punctuated and effectively organized, and to understand and communicate using a variety of notions and linguistic functions based on everyday situations. Accordingly, all students graduate are expected to develop native-like facility in English which will enable them to communicate spontaneously, effectively and confidently about a broad range of topics. Despite the long years of learning English, most English teachers still complain about their students’ weakness in English writing. In spite of the shift from the grammar-translation teaching methods to the communicative approach in language teaching, most students still continue to memorize the textbook rather than master English for communication. Unfortunately, English is tackled as a school subject that needs to be memorized and tested rather than a tool for communication. There is no doubt that English language has recently become very necessary. So, success in learning English might determine keeping one's own future career and professional status.
It is worth noting that in spite of the great efforts exerted in Duy Tan university to teach English, it is not possible to find a fluent English-speaking student. On the other hand, weakness in writing skill is clearly observed because teachers may not spend more time on teaching this skill due to the time limit of the course they are teaching. They focus on the question items such as extensive vocabulary and grammatical rules to meet the requirements of the formal exams. During my long experience in the teaching of the English language, I found out that most students face difficulty in writing English due to many reasons that will be explored in the following chapter.
Writing in English has been perceived as the most difficult skill among the four skills of English (Hengwichitkul, 2009; Watcharapunyawong & Usaha, 2013; Rattanadilok Na Phuket & Othman, 2015). Even a native speaker fails to write a good piece of writing (Kukurs, 2012). It is, consequently, a very hard task for EFL learners, and it is unavoidable to find errors made by this group of learners since they have a limited chance to write in English. The following sentences written by EFL learners illustrate the difficulties they have encountered.
- She is smiles. - There have many trees on a hill. - Everybody love her. - I see beautiful flowers in garden. - She has happy. - The eggs is cooked.
- Sara is happy. - It a big house.
- I watching a movie. - You stick an F.
- I watch TV 10 o’clock. - Jack is a man diligent.
The above sentences demonstrate a lot of misuses of English grammatical rules which result in grammatically incorrect sentences. Some sentences cannot convey what the writers would like to express. The errors in each sentence reduce the effectiveness of the learners’ written sentences.