A Study of Essay Writing Abilities in English to Answer an Essay Question of the

Fourth Year Undergraduate of English Major Students in Private Tertiary

Education Institutions, Thailand

Thesis Abstract by Thavorn Thitthongkam from

Date Submitted: Sep 23, 2008, 07:08

English, Sripatum University, 2008

Disseration Keywords: writing, essay writing, English essay writing, writing abilities, answering
an essay question

Thesis Abstract or Dissertation Abstract (Summary):

The objectives of this research were to study the abilities and the problems of essay writing in English to
answer an essay question of the fourth year undergraduate of English major students in private tertiary
education institutions. The research focused on content presentation, language use, essay writing format,
and writing components.

The sample for this research consisted of 226 students, as above. They came from a stratified random
sampling of 544 students. The instruments used were 1) a content-validity form for selecting an essay
question, 2) an essay question for testing each student’s ability to write essays in English to answer an
essay question, and 3) a standardized marking criteria handbook of essay writing abilities in English to
answer an essay question. The statistics used to analyze the data were 1) average values, and 2 standard
deviation.

The research results indicated that students in the sample were able to write good essays in English to
answer an essay question in accordance with the content presentation, the language use, the essay writing
format, and the writing components.

Moreover, those students had the problems of essay writing in English to answer an essay question at the
low level. However, the research results show that some students had problems in writing essays in English.
The problems concerned writing format, content presentation, writing components, and language use
respectively.

The problems of the essay writing format were the lack of paragraphing, the introduction, the body and
conclusion, and drawing contrast between paragraphs.

The problems of the content presentation were the lack of creative idea, surprised ideas, giving clear
examples to support the main idea, formulation of the main idea itself, unity of the contents, organization,
and relevance to the essay question.

The problems of writing components were the lack of effectiveness, the presence of positiveness,
conciseness, completeness, and standard punctuation and capitalization respectively.

The problems of language use were the lack of formality, the presence of appropriate words, sentence
structures, spelling, and word order.
 ABSTRACT

The main objective of the study was to develop and evaluate a module in reading for first year
students to upgrade their level of reading comprehension skills. Specifically, the study hoped to develop a
module in Reading and to evaluate its effectiveness.

The study tested the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the result of the pre-
test and post-test of the students.

The study utilized a pre-test-post-test experimental design to attain the objectives indicated. Data
were gathered from two groups of respondents: three English specialists for the validation of the module
using a Likert-type rating scale and 226 first year students enrolled at San Guillermo National High School
using an adapted Achievement Test.

The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like frequency distribution, percentage, mean
and analysis of variance to test the hypotheses.

Summary of Findings

1. As rated by the three experts, the module obtained an overall rating of 4.43 described as very
satisfactory.

2. The results of the pre-test and post-test are as follows:

In the pre-test, the students obtained the highest rating of 14.88 in making inferences and
obtained the lowest rating of 2.36 in identifying word meaning. The students overall rating
is 32.55 indicating a satisfactory performance.

In the post-test, the students obtained the highest rating of 16.89 in making inferences and
obtained the lowest rating of 2.72 in identifying word meaning. The students also obtained
a very satisfactory rating in distinguishing facts from opinion.

The overall rating in the post-test is 35.76 indicating a satisfactory performance.

3. The obtained –value of the scores of the students in the pre-test and post-test in all the areas of the
reading skills are significant at .05 level of significance.

Conclusions

From the findings identified, the following conclusions are formulated:

1. The module in reading was found appropriate for first year students, well constructed and
acceptable.

2. Since the p-value of the scores were all found significant at .05 level of significance, the
hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the result of the pre-test and post-test is
rejected.
Recommendations

From the findings identified and the conclusions formulated, the following recommendations are
given:

1. Since the module was found effective in upgrading the reading comprehension skills of the
students, it is recommended that all English teachers of San Guillermo High School who are
teaching in First Year must utilize the module as an additional instructional tool in reading.

2. The school principal of San Guillermo High School must see to it that the reproduction of the
module be given financial assistance and that the use of the module be given time allotment in
the school program.

3. For further research, it is recommended that the same study will be conducted to all first year
students in the Division of Zambales to find out the effectiveness of the module to other first
year students.
 ABSTRACT

This study aimed to assess the reading skills of the freshmen in secondary schools in Pililla, Rizal.
It was conducted at the three secondary schools in Pililla namely: Pililla National High School, Malaya
National High School and Quisao National High School.

The study utilized the descriptive method of research to arrive at the desired data. The instrument
used was the 45 item teacher made test in reading composed of two parts Part I, the profile of the
respondents and Part II with the reading skills test. The basis of which is the informal reading inventory
guide for the making of a reading comprehension questionnaire.

To analyze the data gathered, the statistical tools used were mean, standard deviation and two-way
analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The findings of the study were the following: The respondents in terms of sex all are equally
distributed, respondents came from Malaya National High School and the least number is from Pililla
National High School.

In terms of mean performance in reading skills, female students obtained the highest mean value
than male students while in terms of the reading performance according to school the students from the
three schools performed differently as revealed by the mean rating.

The null hypothesis stated that there is no significant difference on the reading skills performance
of the respondents is rejected at .05 levels.

It is recommended that male students from different school be encouraged to exert more effort in
enhancing their reading abilities as such, they should be given emphasis by the teachers of English,
enrichment activities focused more on drawing conclusions, vocabulary development, organization of ideas
and cause and effect relationship should be the concern of the teachers of English. In addition they should
devise ways and means to adapt their teaching strategies in reading according to the needed students
reading skills. It is likewise recommended intensively and with that the authorities should monitor the reading
program the school is implementing and the researcher should be permitted to disseminate the results of the
study to the subject schools.
ABSTRACT

This study described the correlates of English academic performance of first year high school
students in both small and large classes in public secondary schools. It also sought to find out the problems
encountered in English classes and the relationship of variables to English academic performance of
students.

This study used the principles of the survey method and the correlation research. Participants were
46 secondary school English teachers and 400 first year high school students who came from the Schools
Division of Aurora.

The researcher developed a questionnaire using five-point scales from strongly agree to strongly
disagree. This was content-validated by experts and pilot-tested prior to its administration. Participants were
asked to rate their level of agreement on the items. A mean score was computed for each of the variables
and Pearson Correlation Coefficient was utilized to determine the correlates of student English academic
performance.

Findings revealed that students had good English ability in learning English; however they had
aneutral attitude towards learning it. This was also reflected on their behavior towards classroom interaction.
Classroom management was good, and physical environment satisfied the teachers and students in small
and large classes. Teachers from large classes were quite neutral to their perception. Evaluation of learning
outcomes were adequate and teachers, utilizing various strategigies and practices were competent in
English.

Both the teachers and the students from large classes identified a greater number of problematic
areas in English teaching and learning than the teachers and students from small classes.

Finding revealed that there