Action Research On The Application Of The Process-Genre Approach In Senior High School English Writing Teaching

The current National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools(2017)puts forward the teaching concept of “Key Competences”,and it is proposed that the content of English curriculum is the basis of developing students’ key competences in subject.It is a future teaching trend to conduct writing teaching guided by “theme meaning” and carry out various writing teaching activities.Under the new situation,senior high school English writing teaching must serve the teaching concept of “Key Competences”,and promote the formation and development of students’ key competences through building a new teaching concept of writing.However,in my practical English teaching,I found that my senior high school students’ English writing is not optimistic: the students show no interest and confidence in English writing,their language input is seriously inadequate,their vocabulary is poor,and their writings are filled with grammatical errors.And importantly,the articles they wrote were filled with vague content,and most students lack genre awareness as well as the ability of flexible transfer and application of knowledge in writing.The main reason was that both teachers and students were eager for the results of examinations while neglecting the cycle of the guidance,monitoring and evaluation in the writing process.Therefore,through an action research,the author decided to adopt the Process-genre Approach proposed by Badger and White(2000)in English writing teaching,aiming to improve their English writing ability through constant analysis of different text types and engaging students in the process of writing.Specifically,three research questions are proposed: 1)Does the Process-genre Approach affect students’ attitude? Would their interest,confidence and anxiety change? 2)Does the Process-genre Approach affect the students’ writing process? 3)Can the Process-genre Approach improve students’ English writing in terms of the content,the language accuracy and handwriting?Forty-seven Senior Three students from Fengshun Middle School participated in an 18-week action research,which was divided into two stages: the first stage was the preparation stage which lasted for four weeks,during which the author made apre-test of the participants’ writing,found out the existing problems and the reasons for the unsatisfactory writing performance through interviews and questionnaire survey and confirmed the research questions.Then the author was determined to adopt the Process-genre Approach into English writing teaching,so the teaching method was introduced to the students in the form of lectures,and finally a specific action plan was formulated.The second stage was the implementation stage,which lasted for 14 weeks.The first seven weeks were the first round of action research.The Process-genre Approach was adopted to the writing teaching.Combining with students’ interviews and the mid-test,the relevant data were collected and analyzed and the first round of training programs was timely reflected.On the basis of revising and perfecting the first round,the second round of writing training was conducted in the next seven weeks,with emphasis on strengthening analysis of model essays and the writing process of the peer-review.Meanwhile,relevant data were collected and analyzed from students’ interviews,the questionnaire survey and the post-test,so as to reflect on the second round of training in time.The findings are as follows:(1)The Process-genre Approach can affect students’ attitude towards English writing,improving their interest and confidence in writing and reducing their writing anxiety.(2)The Process-genre Approach can affect the students’ writing process.Most students benefited from the analysis of the model essays of different genres,so their writing did not deviate from the theme and imitation analysis and writing strengthen the cooperative learning with their peers.(3)Through the Process-genre Approach,students’ writing level has been improved,especially in the content,the language accuracy and handwriting.To conclude,Process-genre Approach is effective in senior high school English writing teaching.