THE PRACTICE OF APPLYING DISCOURSE-BASED ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING WRITING SKILLS TO ENGLISH MAJORS: A CASE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to investigate the practice of applying discourse-based activities in teaching writing skills to English majors at a university in Vietnam. For long, discourse competence has been considered a constituent part of different models of communicative competence and developing learners' knowledge of discourse is crucial in teaching language communicatively. Strong evidence regarding the positive impacts of discourse pedagogy on English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners' overall English proficiency has been accumulated in different contexts worldwide. However, in Vietnam, there is a dearth of studies that explore the integration of discourse knowledge and implementation of discourse-based activities in teaching EFL writing. This paper presents an investigation into teachers’ practice of applying discourse-based activities in teaching writing to English majors at a university in Vietnam. It was conducted following the mixed methods design, with the participation of 30 teachers from four different departments of the university. Data were collected by means of questionnaire, interview, and class observation, and then analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results of the study reveal that the teachers utilized discourse-based activities on a relatively frequent basis, and the purpose of using these activities was mainly to teach the organizational and communicative aspects of writing, which is in line with the previous findings and suggests a firm correlation between teachers’ perceptions and practice. The conclusion and implications drawn from the findings emphasize the role of different agents (teachers, curriculum developers, course book writers, and educational institution) in promoting the integration of discourse-based activities in EFL teaching.