Studies On The Application Of WTL In High School

The aim of the thesis is mainly to introduce a new method of teaching English through writing in high school: write-to-learn. The method is originally proposed by Professor Wang Chuming from the Guangdong Foreign Languages & Trade University. Through the practice of WTL, students write long compositions to improve their English; the longer the compositions are the better the outcome will be. When the students write long compositions, they have to use more words and expressions. The method has been carried out in the Guangdong Foreign Languages & Trade University and Wuhan University so far with encouraging success. Professor Li Li, the head of the Foreign Language College, South-Western Normal University, has made some comments on the WTL to the effect that WTL can be used in high schools.In this thesis we discuss the importance of writing and the requirement for the students in high school, analyze the necessity and possibility of application of WTL in high school. Considering some similarities between high school senior III students and fresh men in the university— their age, psychological state, life experiences and English knowledge, for instance—, we employ WTL among the senior III students in Longyan No. 3 High School and carried out the relevant techniques to testify with some rules concerned with WTL for university students adjusted.There are three chapters in the thesis. Chapter Two is about how to apply WTL in high school, and the result of the experiment. This chapter demonstrate the method of WTL has been satisfactorily applied in high school with relevant investigation outcome, which comes from twoexperiments: one before the employment of WTL, the other after that but before students took part in the National Matriculation English Test. We also collected the marks of the writing section to analyze, which throw light on the effects of the method of writing long compositions.Investigations show that most of the students accepted WTL, and their confidence and interest in English have been enhanced. However, there are still some problems remains unsolved now. For example, when should the students begin to practice long compositions? In the experiment we found it was necessary to start the experiment among senior II, for the students in senior III are too busy with the preparation for the Entrance Examination for universities and colleges; consequently, they cannot put all their heart into the experiment, some even just completed writing tasks perfunctorily. Another problem is that how many words are suitable for compositions in high school? It's difficult to set a standard. We also want to find how to help the students to arrange the time for practice writing after class. To an extent, all these problems leave a great space for further exploration.