An Investigation Of English Writing Strategies Employed By Senior High School Students In Qiannan

English writing strategy refers to the behaviors and methods that learners consciously adopt to make writing more effective.It is based on learning strategy.Studies have shown that learners who know writing strategies and can use them appropriately are better at writing than those who know nothing about writing strategies.Although people have realized that writing strategy plays a very important role in improving English writing skills and promoting English learning,there is a shortage of research on writing strategy in China.Especially for senior high school students in ethnic areas,English writing strategy research is rare and most of the existing studies are theoretical researches.Therefore,it is necessary to carry out an investigation of English writing strategies employed by senior high school students in ethnic minority areas.The present study aims to answer the following questions:1.What is the overall level of EWSU of senior high school students in Qiannan ethnic area?2.Are there any significant differences between ethnic minority students and non-minority students in EWSU? If so,what are the differences?3.Are there any significant differences between science-oriented and art-oriented students in EWSU? If so,what are the differences?4.Are there any correlations between students’ EWSU and their self-efficacy? If so,to what extent can students’ self-efficacy influence their strategy use?In this study,the participants were 644 senior high school students from four senior high schools in Qiannan area,among whom 20 students were interviewed.This study combines quantitative research with qualitative research.The author uses senior high school students’ English Writing Strategy Questionnaire(EWSQ)and General Self-Efficacy Scale(GSES)to collect quantitative data,and uses a semi-structured interview outline to collect qualitative data.The results were listed as follows:1.Students’ overall EWSU were at a medium level.The writing strategy most frequently used by students in the three processes was when writing process,and the most frequently used writing strategy used by students in the three kinds of strategies was social/affective strategy,followed by meta-cognitive strategy and cognitive strategy.2.There were significant differences between minority students and non-minority students in the overall level of writing strategies.The specific differences lay in the cognitive strategy and before writing and when revising.The level of strategy application of minority students was higher than that of non-minority students.3.There was no significant difference between art-oriented students and science-oriented students in the overall level of English writing strategies and three kinds of writing strategies.4.There was a positive correlation between students’ self-efficacy and their English writing strategies use.The higher the students’ self-efficacy was,the more frequently they used English writing strategies.Finally,this study found out that in English learning,many students’ low scores in English composition were caused by the lack of writing strategies and their inability to use them.The author put forward some suggestions for English teachers’ writing teaching.On one hand,teachers should help students to overcome the difficulties in English writing on the premise of fully understand students’ English level and individual difference.On the other hand,teachers should help and guide students to cultivate writing self-confidence and appropriately design teaching activities to improve students’ awareness of using writing strategies.It is hoped to have provided some useful information for the writing teaching of senior high school English teachers and the improvement of senior high school students’ English writing level.