II – Writing challenges

TABLE: Motivation
Variables Frequencies Percentage %
1. Writing is -Totally agree. 5 3.8
your favorite -Agree. 7 5.3
subject. -Neutral. 69 51.9
-Disagree 41 30.8
-Totally 11 8.3
disagree - Motivaion:
2. Not being -Totally agree. 19 14.3
able to -Agree. 65 48.9 • In item number one,
choose your -Neutral. 44 33.1 most participants
favorite -Disagree 4 3 answered “neutral” to
writing topic -Totally 1 0.8 the assumption that
makes it disagree writing was their
difficult for favourite subject.
you to write. Nevertheless, the
3. You often set -Totally agree. 12 9 number of “disagree”
goals on -Agree. 51 38.3 respondents was
points for -Neutral. 56 42.1 higher (30.8%) with 41
your writing -Disagree 13 9.8
respondents,
-Totally 1 0.8
compared to the
disagree
number that agreed
4. You are not -Totally agree. 6 4.5
interested in -Agree. 10 7.5 with 5 (3.8%). This
the subject -Neutral. 31 23.3 shows that writing is
matter; you -Disagree 73 54.9 not the favourite
are only -Totally 13 9.8 subject for English
interested in disagree language students at
enough ThuyLoi University
points to pass
the exam. • Item number two is
a situation about the
5. You have -Totally agree. 17 12.8 article. Most
always -Agree. 40 30.1 respondents had a
considered -Neutral. 48 36.1 rating ranging from
writing skills -Disagree 26 19.5 “neutral” to “totally
to be a -Totally 2 1.5 agree” when they
difficult skill disagree were not allowed to
that should choose their favourite
lead to topic, especially
avoidance,
among those 65
depression
(48.9%) who agreed –
while writing.
that is, half of the
6. You have not -Totally agree. 26 19.5
improved -Agree. 79 59.4 survey participants
your writing -Neutral. 27 20.3 agreed with the
skills because -Disagree 0 0
you haven’t -Totally 1 0.8
spent enough disagree
time
practicing
these skills
opinion given. Very few responded with “disagree” (4 people – 3%) and “totally disagree” (1 person –
0.8%). Therefore, it can be said that the subject of the article is a great factor affecting the quality of
their articles. If your favourite topic is not selected, students will always have trouble writing.

• We can see most respondents in item number 3 select answers from “neutral” to “Totally agree” for
comments about setting a score target for the post. The remaining 14 people, 13 of whom (9.8%) voted
“disagree” and one (0.8%) chose "totally disagree”. That proves that almost all students see high scores
as a goal that they themselves need to in the article.

• With item number 4, the answers are the opposite of question 3, when the results show that most
participants disagree with considering only scores as more important than getting a good post to
improve skills. With more than 60%, namely 54.9% of those who chose “Disagree” (73) and 9.8% of
those choosing “Totally disagree” (13) were the most correct proof of that. Most people still realize that
improving the errors in the article to get the best quality is more important than raising the score to pass
the test.

• Item number 5 showed a general outcome where 48 people chose “neutral” as the most (36.1%).
Although there was also a group of respondents who responded from a higher level of “agree” or “totally
disagree” than there were respondents from a lower level, the results here ultimately showed that
people stood completely between “yes” and “no” fear of writing.

• Finally, for question 6, the results correctly expressed the view of respondents that they did not have
enough time to practice their skills. That is expressed in the fact that most people chose “agree” (59.4%)
and “totally agree” (19.5%). So, this statement correctly shows the fact that students’ writing skills are
not improved largely due to lack of practice time.

In conclusion, for students in English language, writing is not a subject that really interests everyone, and
there are different psychological or motivational problems that occur during the training and
improvement of skills (points, subject matter, time, emotions). Those factors are really obstacles to
learners and are challenging for improving their writing skills and quality.

TABLE: Lack of ideas

Variables Frequencies Percentage %

1. You spend too -Totally agree. 18 13.5
much time -Agree. 69 51.9
thinking about -Neutral. 35 26.3
ideas for -Disagree 11 8.3
 articles -Totally disagree 18 13.5
resulting in not
getting the
time to write
2. You feel too -Totally agree. 17 12.8
pressured -Agree. 64 48.1
about the -Neutral. 37 27.8
perfection of -Disagree 14 10.5
an article that -Totally disagree 1 0.8
leads to not
coming up with
the idea to
write
3. You are not -Totally agree. 22 16.5
exposed to -Agree. 73 54.9
new sources of -Neutral. 31 23.3
ideas, new -Disagree 4 3
inspirations -Totally disagree 3 2.3
from outside
(Life, School,
Travel...) makes
your article
unattractive,
poor in ideas.

- Lack of ideas:

• The answers in the item number one showed that 51,9% (69) of participants answered “agree” and
13,5% (18) chose “totally agree”. As such, the level of consent of the participants here agrees with the
view that the amount of time for the article is not enough because it has taken too much time for
thinking about the idea to write. Also, 26.3% of people (35) thought that not repayment was right or
completely wrong for them. Maybe they rarely encounter this, or they can balance their time thinking
ideas and writing.

The point of view of the pressure on perfection in the article is clearly expressed in the item number two
when most participants answered at a level of “agree” or higher, especially 48.1% of those who chose
“agree”. (64). That suggests that the perfection of the article is the goal that every student is aiming for,
but that is also the factor causing the pressure that makes you lack ideas when writing.

Most respondents chose from the “agree” level or above, with more than half (54.9%) of the
respondents choosing “agree” with the point of view of the item number three. There’s also a “neutral”
selection (23.3%) but not too much. Therefore, when students are not exposed to or explore sources of
knowledge from outside their surroundings (Life, School, Travel...) is the reason why their articles lack
creativity, are less attractive and show lack of ideas.

In summary, in this statistical table, we can judge that the lack of ideas is a major challenge to students’
writing skills. The lack of ideas for them comes from several reasons, such as the inability to allocate time
for thinking ideas, pressure for perfection, or the lack of knowledge from outside. Most of the answers
agree with the difficulties outlined in each of the points of view presented in the survey.

TABLE: Teachers’ feedbacks

Variables Frequencies Percentage %

1. Teachers’ -Totally agree. 25 18.8
feedbacks -Agree. 73 54.9
motivate and -Neutral. 32 24.1
inspire writing -Disagree 2 1.5
for you -Totally disagree 1 0.8
2. Teachers’ -Totally agree. 38 28.6
feedbacks are -Agree. 71 53.4
detailed and -Neutral. 22 16.5
useful with -Disagree 1 0.8
your writing -Totally disagree 1 0.8
skills
3. You really care -Totally agree. 26 26.5
and apply the -Agree. 73 54.9
teacher’s -Neutral. 31 23.3
comments to -Disagree 1 0.8
your article -Totally disagree 2 1.5

- Teachers’ feedbacks:
- • The item number one talks about the improvement in the quality of the article when the
student is commented on by the editor. Most respondents selected from the “agree” level or
above, with 73 (54.9%) choosing “agree” and 25 (18.8%) choosing "totally agree". So finally, it
can be said that the teacher’s comments are a good motivator for students to write better.
- • The result in item two has the same evolution as item one. There were 53.4% (71) who agreed
and 28.6% (38) who completed the survey, accounting for most of the total number of
respondents. Those numbers suggest that the teacher’s advice and comments to students’
articles are detailed and useful to them.
- Not only that, the answers in the third item are upward-dimensional like the two above. Most
participants chose between “agree” or higher (54.9% agreed and 26.5% totally agreed). Really
for students, the comments and instructions of teachers are very useful and necessary to
themselves, and they have really cared about and applied those things to their articles.
- Thus, the comments, reviews, advice of teachers are very necessary and useful tools for English
language students. Their reviews, comments, instructions have and are having a great impact on
the quality of the students’ articles and writing skills, and they themselves are well aware and
apply that tool to their products.

TABLE: Writing Facilities

Variables Frequencies Percentage %
1. Do you often use -Always 33 24.8
dictionaries when -Usually 62 46.6
writing? -Often 34 25.6
-Sometimes 3 2.3
-Never 1 0.8
2. The abuse of -Totally agree. 27 20.3
dictionaries to find -Agree. 72 54.1
too many words -Neutral. 29 21.8
while writing is the -Disagree 3 2.3
reason why your -Totally disagree 2 1.5
article is influenced
by the Vietnamese
language.
3. Factors of -Totally agree. 26 19.5
surrounding space -Agree. 43 32.3
(space not quite -Neutral. 52 39.1
enough / not -Disagree 12 9
exciting enough / -Totally disagree 0 0
easily distracting)
are the reasons why
your article is not
good
4. The time factor (the -Totally agree. 26 19.5
amount of time -Agree. 65 48.9
specified in the -Neutral. 35 26.3
article/ paragraphs) -Disagree 5 3.8
affects the quality of -Totally disagree 2 1.5
your article
5. Objective impacts -Totally agree. 11 8.3
(school -Agree. 52 39.1
environment, -Neutral. 57 42.9
friends, learning -Disagree 11 8.3
equipment, -Totally disagree 2 1.5
program/curriculum
, etc.) are factors
that affect the
quality of your
articles.

- Writing facilities:
• Item number one is based on the topic of this section, which is “Do you use a dictionary while
writing?” There are five levels of expression of their frequency in this, and the results above
showed that about 70% of the total participants, namely 62 people (46.6%) chose “usually” and
33 people (24.8%) chose “always”, had levels of vocabulary use from “usually” to higher. The
 rest, about 30% of the total, use fewer dictionaries. As such, we can see that dictionaries are still
a tool that is used a lot in student articles.
•A problem discussed in the item number two is that the abuse of dictionaries affects the
student’s writing. Most respondents agreed with this view, with 54.1% choosing “agree” (72) and
20.3% chooses “totally agree”. (27). This has shown that too much vocabulary research tends to
leave us indifferent and pay attention to the context and semantics of the articles and is
influenced by the Vietnamese language, so their articles have poor expression.
• The third item talks about how spatial factors affect the student’s writing sphere. With
insufficient space quality making their posts bad, there were 39.1% (52) of people with neutral
opinions. The number of people who chose “agree” or more accounted for more than 50%
(32.3% agree and 19.5% totally agree). Only 9% chose to disagree. So it can be said that the
space is not exciting / not quite enough / easy to distract is the control factor of their articles is
not high quality.
• The time factor is the problem described in the item number four. The figures show that more
than 60% of the total survey participants agree with the above view. Specifically, 65 people
(48.9%) chose “agree” and 26 chose “totally agree” (19.5%). The rest are smaller when only
about 30% of people choose from the “neutral” level or below. It is possible to see the time
factors specified in articles directly affect the quality of those articles.
• In the item number five, the objective elements (school, friends, teachers, learning
equipment...) are those stated above. 39.1% of all respondents chose “agree” (52), but slightly
greater when 42.9% chose “neutral.” (57). In particular, the number of “completely agree” and
“no agree” answers were the same (8.3%) with 11 respondents. It seems that in this view, each
person has his or her own view of the above factors, however, the number of people who divide
between “agree” and “disagree” is even greater, which suggests that depending on the
circumstances of each person they give different views on their impact.
Overall, through the five items above, we can evaluate most factors such as space, time, or
dictionary routine that still have a clear impact on the quality of students' articles. Although only
objective factors are controversial, for students, these factors have little effect on their writing
and writing skills.

III – Recommendation

Variables Frequencies Percentage %

1. You should find -Totally agree. 51 38.3
your own way to -Agree. 76 57.1
learn vocabulary -Neutral. 6 4.5
and grammar to -Disagree 0 0
remember longer -Totally disagree 0 0
and apply in
writing more
fluently

2. You should not -Totally agree. 51 38.3

be afraid of -Agree. 73 54.9
 difficulties when -Neutral. 9 6.8
encountering a -Disagree 0 0
writing topic you -Totally disagree 0 0
are not familiar
with, but actively
seek help from
reputable online
documents from
teachers.
3. You should really -Totally agree. 51 38.3
work hard when -Agree. 72 54.1
writing for good -Neutral. 8 6
quality instead of -Disagree 2 1.5
just passing the -Totally disagree 0 0
test.

4. You should -Totally agree. 49 36.8

brainstorm and -Agree. 71 53.4
organize your -Neutral. 12 9
ideas before -Disagree 1 0.8
writing. -Totally disagree 0 0

5. You should -Totally agree. 54 40.6

encourage -Agree. 72 54.1
yourself to think -Neutral. 6 4.5
more in English -Disagree 1 0.8
than in -Totally disagree 0 0
Vietnamese
while writing.

6. You should apply -Totally agree. 49 36.8

the teacher's -Agree. 73 54.9
advice to each -Neutral. 11 8.3
specific case -Disagree 0 0
when writing and -Totally disagree 0 0
actively discuss
with them to
have a better
writing method.
7. You should -Totally agree. 47 35.3
practice the use -Agree. 79 59.4
and control of -Neutral. 7 5.3
time while -Disagree 0 0
writing English -Totally disagree 0 0

8. You should -Totally agree. 36 27.1

practice writing -Agree. 77 57.9
more at home, -Neutral. 18 13.5
on blogs, in your -Disagree 2 1.5
diary, on social -Totally disagree 0 0
media to
improve your
writing skills
9. You should set up -Totally agree. 46 34.6
a study schedule -Agree. 78 58.6
to regularly -Neutral. 8 6
review to avoid -Disagree 1 0.8
forgetting as well -Totally disagree 0 0
as improve your
knowledge and
writing skills
10. You should learn -Totally agree. 43 32.3
and practice -Agree. 77 57.9
writing English in -Neutral. 11 8.3
appropriate, -Disagree 2 1.5
well-ventilated -Totally disagree 0 0
spaces to inspire
yourself to
improve the
effectiveness of
your writing.
11. You should learn -Totally agree. 49 36.8
more reputable -Agree. 75 56.4
sources for -Neutral. 8 6
English writing -Disagree 1 0.8
practice -Totally disagree 0 0
(Documents on
the internet /
Foreign books /
from social
media...)
1. In sentence number 1, the majority of respondents said that they should find their own way to
learn vocabulary and grammar to remember longer and apply in writing more fluently, with 76
( 57.1% ) choose “agree” and 51 (38.3%) choose “totally agree”.

2. The second sentence gives 73 (54.9%) results "agree" and 51 (38.3%) "strongly agree" that You
should not be afraid to face difficulties when encountering a topic you are not familiar with.
understand, but actively seek help from reputable online documents from teachers. These numbers
show that the help of teachers is essential.

3. The results in the third sentence have a correlation with sentence 2 that you should really try
when writing to have good quality instead of just enough to pass the test with 72 ( 54.1% ) people
select “agree : and 51 ( 38.3% ) choose “totally agree”. The data shows that the score is really not as
important as the content of the article.

4. In 4th sentence , there are 71 ( 53.4% ) choose "agree" and 49 ( 36.8% ) choose "totally agree"
that You should brainstorm and organize your ideas before writing. And through that we see that
brainstorming is essential before writing the article

5. As can be seen in 5th sentence , the majority agree that You should encourage yourself to think
more in English than in Vietnamese while writing with 72 ( 54.1% ) "yes" and 54 options. ( 40.6% )
choose “totally agree”.

6. We can see in 6th sentence , most people also agree that You should apply the advice of teachers
to each specific case when writing and actively discuss with them to get more methods. write better,
with 73 ( 54.9% ) “Agree” and 49 (36.8%) “totally agree”. It proves that the teacher's advice is very
important in writing and most people will need to turn to the teacher's help when they have
problems with their writing.

7. The results in 7th sentence show that most people agree that you should practice the use and
control of your time while writing English with 79 (59.4%) choosing "yes" and 47 ( 35.3% ) choose
“totally agree” only 7 (5.3%) choose “neutral”. It shows that good time control can help you further
improve your English learning and writing.

8. 8th sentence gives more "neutral" answers with 18 ( 13.5% ) choices, but most people think that
you should practice writing more at home, on blogs, in diaries, on the internet. social networks to
improve writing skills with 77 (57.9%) choosing “agree” and 36 (27.1%) choosing “totally agree”. The
above data proves that social networks act as a tool through which we can practice and learn more
writing skills.

9. At 9th sentence , there are many opinions that you should set up a study schedule to regularly
review to avoid forgetting as well as improve your knowledge and writing skills with 78 ( 58.6% )
choosing "agree" is the most followed and “totally agree” with 46 ( 34.6% ) choices. We can see that
making a schedule is essential that can help you manage your study time well

10. In 10th sentence , the result is similar to that of sentence 9, everyone thinks that you should
learn and practice writing English in appropriate, airy, inspiring spaces to improve yourself. the
effectiveness of the article with 77 ( 57.9% ) choices, accounting for the majority of choices.
11. Finally, in 11th sentence people also think that you should learn more reputable sources for
English writing practice (Documents on the internet / Foreign books / from social media. ..) with 75
(56.4%) choosing “agree” and 49 (36.8%) choosing “totally agree”

- In summary, in this statistics table, most of the recommendations are "agree" as well as "totally
agree". Students can completely follow and apply most of the above advice.