A Study Of The Application Of The Process-focused Approach To English Writing Teaching In Middle School

With the fast development of the global economy,the world is becoming smaller and smaller,and the relations among different countries are becoming closer and closer.English,as a global language,will be more and more important in global affairs.The tide of learning English in China will boom continuously.However,the performance on English writing of middle school students is not satisfactory enough.Most students can not write a perfect composition.Listening,speaking,reading and writing are the four basic skills of English learning.As a skill of language output,writing can reflect the English ability of students to some extent.Therefore,it is necessary for English teachers to pay attention to the improvement of English writing ability of Chinese students.There are some obvious problems existing in the middle school English writing class in China.Firstly,most of the students hate to write English essays.They are confused when they are required to write an essay.Secondly,there are many mistakes in students’ compositions.These compositions are full of Chinglish.Lastly,most compositions have a disordered logic.And the compositions are not coherent enough.To sum up,the main problems in the English writing of Chinese middle students include: logical disorder,a large amount of grammar mistakes,and language fragments.The present situation of English writing teaching in middle school is that most English teachers pay more attention to vocabulary and grammar while the teaching of English writing is not systematic and effective.For a long time,English teachers use the Product-focused Approach to teach writing.In the late 1970 s,western linguists advocated Process-focused Approach.Its theoretical foundation is the Interaction Theory.They took writing as a psychological cognitive process and linguistic communicative process.After a period of training through Process-focused approach,students can learn to write an essay through the processes of pre-writing,drafting,revising,and editing.During the whole process of writing,teachers give students enough time and chances to discuss and polish.Teachers use the feedback of peers to make the students be the subject of the class under a relaxing atmosphere.This thesis aims to explore the theoretical significance and practical value of Processfocused Approach applied to English writing teaching in middle school through an empirical research.There are two research questions.The first one is that the Process-focused Approach can make effect on what aspects.And the second one is that the teachers should pay attention to what when they use this approach.The author combined qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis.Through the 16-week experiment in two classes of Grade Eight students,the author did questionnaires and tests.And the author recorded and analyzed the related data during the experiment.Then,the author drew a conclusion at last: the Process-focused Approach has obvious effects on the improvement of students’ English writing ability on the aspects of words using and coherence of the composition.The result of this research will be a theoretical supplement to the Process-focused Approach and it will offer some practical proposals to English writing teaching in middle school.This thesis consists of six chapters.The first chapter is introduction.It includes research background,research significance,research questions and research methods.The second chapter is literature review.The author has a review towards the latest studies on the Processfocused Approach and its application to English writing teaching abroad and at home.The third chapter is theoretical framework.The author explains the Interaction Theory,which is the theoretical foundation of the Process-focused Approach.The fourth chapter is research design.It includes research hypothesis,research subjects,research instruments and research procedures.The author also attached a sample teaching plan of the Process-focused Approach at the end of this chapter.The fifth chapter is data analysis.It includes the analysis of two tests,two questionnaires and so on.The sixth chapter is conclusion.The author points out the major findings,limitations of the research and suggestions for future researches.