An Empirical Study Of Hierarchical Instruction In English Writing Teaching In Senior High School

English writing,as a vital mode of language output,is an important indicator of students’ comprehensive language ability.However,English writing teaching has always been a knotty problem,since students’ writing performance is not satisfactory,their writing interest is low and they haven’t grasped efficient writing strategies.In order to improve the present situation,the hierarchical writing teaching model was applied to enhance students’ writing ability in a senior high school.This model,based on the theory of the zone of proximal development and other relevant theories,focuses on students’ individual learning needs to inspire their learning potentials.It is expected that students at different levels can gain correspondingly in class and a harmonious development of classroom learning can be fulfilled.The study aims at addressing the following issues:(1)What effect does the hierarchical instruction have on students’ interest in English writing?(2)Does the hierarchical instruction have impact upon the writing performance of students with different language levels? If so,at which level do the students make most progress?(3)What are the problems and relevant strategies in the implementation of the hierarchical writing instruction?This study carried on a four-month teaching experiment.A total of 100 students from two parallel classes in Grade Two of a senior high school in Gansu province participated in this study,which were respectively assigned as the experimental class and the controlled class.The experimental class was instructed with the hierarchical writing teaching mode,while the teaching approach without stratification was used in the controlled class.Data were obtained from questionnaires,writing tests,an interview and classroom observations.Data analysis reveals the following results: 1.Students’ interest in English writing was raised remarkably through the hierarchical instruction;2.Under the hierarchical instruction,the English writing performances of students at all levels advanced,with the greatest progress being in C-Level students,followed by those at Level B,and the A-level students made the least advance.3.Remarkably,two problems occurred during the implementation of the hierarchical writing teaching:(1)the effect of cooperative learning was not particularly significant at the final phase of the study;(2)the learning enthusiasm of the students was impaired at the late stage of the study.The study comes to the conclusion that the hierarchical writing teaching,however imperfect,encourages flexible,interactive learning in the classroom,and it has a positive effect on students’ writing achievements.