Obstacles And Countermeasures In English Writing Among Senior Students

It is a well-accepted fact that English is widely used in international communication. Listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities are all needed in communication. Writing has been regarded as a main course for middle school students in China, and they are required to take the English test (NMET) in which writing accounts for 35 marks, (including correction of a short passage and a piece of writing of 100-120 words). Luckily, more and more attention has been drawn to English writing. Specific demands for writing are included in the New English Curriculum (2003) and requirements for good writing are also described clearly in five bands in the scoring scale of NMET (2007). However, English writing teaching in China is far from satisfaction. Of all the four skills, writing is the most difficult to develop, esp. for senior high school students. The students regard writing as a headache and make it the last thing to be practiced. In their opinion, they cannot make much progress in writing even if they are asked to write once or twice a week, and writing a composition will cost them too much time. Therefore, in order to eliminate the students'writing difficulties and improve their writing ability, the present researcher designed this teaching experiment based on the previous researches, especially Wang Chuming'Length Approach, which is new in the 21st century and has not been widely used in middle schools yet. The aim of the experiment is to help the students to get rid of the writing obstacles and improve their EFL writing, and at the same time provide some useful advice for English writing teaching.The hypotheses of the research are: 1) We may help students develop positive attitudes towards writing in English by eliminating their writing obstacles using the Length Approach. 2) After the research, the quality of the students'writing will be improved. 3) The students can fulfill the writing task, a 100-120-word composition within 25 minutes after the training and can reach the top band in the scoring scale.In order to find out the effect of the Length Approach in English writing teaching, the researcher carried out the experiment in two classes in Senior One of Yizhou No. 1 Middle School. Two kinds of instruments are used in this research: they are two questionnaires (the second one was used twice) and two tests. The research began in January 2007. It consisted of two stages, the preparation period(January 2007-March 2007)and the implementation period (April 2007-July 2007). During the first period, one questionnaire was delivered to the research subjects mainly to find out what problems the students have and what their attitudes towards writing are. At the beginning of the second period, the students were given a formal English test assigned by the school as the monthly test, and then students'compositions were collected and analyzed. The subjects of the experimental class were given Questionnaire Two which is about the Length Approach. Then the research was carried out according to the schedule. At the end of the second period, the students took part in the exam which was designed by Hechi district as the final exam. Then Questionnaire Two was delivered to the students again.From the analyses of the collected data, the study has obtained the following findings: 1) The Length Approach plays a significant role in students'writing. After the experiment, the majority of students become more active and confident in English writing. 2) Students can write better compositions through the Length Approach, though not all the compositions can reach the top band in the scoring scale. 3) Through the Length Approach students can write better timed compositions. The quality of their writing was improved in the test.Though it has been proved to be successful and useful in the experiment, the Length Approach has its own limitations: 1) Writing long means that the students must obtain adequate language competence, so those at a low proficiency level remain reluctant in the process of writing using the Length Approach. 2) It takes a long time and great efforts to take effect, so the problem with both test arrangement and composition writing often contradicts. 3) It cannot be denied that there are still some difficulties in the use of the Length Approach in middle schools because of the education system in China. Both the teachers and the students may be more willing to accept the product approach which takes less time to take effect.So the implications of this study of English writing teaching in the future are considered: 1) Writing should be combined with reading, and at the same time, reading should be strengthened. 2) Writing practice cannot be left to Senior Three. It should be started at Senior One or Two. 3) The Length Approach requires both the teachers and the students to update their ideas of English Teaching.All in all, the Length Approach to writing is effective to build up the students'confidence and eliminate the students'writing obstacles. It can widen the horizon and improve their writing ability and increase their self-assurance, achievements, feeling and motivation and then activates students formally using the language. Therefore, the Length Approach to writing is not only a method of teaching writing, but also a method of foreign language learning. So it deserves our try and implementation.