A Study On The Effect Of Project-based Learning On Art Major Students’ English Writing

Under the background of New Era,the English writing ability of college students needs to be further improved.The traditional teaching method only focuses on the result of writing and ignores the process of writing,thus resulting in the separation of learning and practice,college students,especially Art Major students have lost confidence and interest in English writing.Therefore,it is necessary to explore a teaching method that can teach students how to write,awaken their interest and motivation in writing.This study investigates whether Project-based Learning can improve the English writing ability,writing attitude and cooperative learning ability in English writing of Art Major students,which will bring practical significance for English teaching of Art Major students.This study is conducted on the basis of Constructivism,Pragmatism Educational Theory and Cooperative Learning Theory.37 freshmen of Fine Arts major from a university in Guang Xi were studied by means of tests,interviews and questionnaire.The research questions are:（1）What effects will PBL have on Art Major students’ English writing performance?（2）What effects will PBL have on Art Major students’ English writing attitude?（3）What effects will PBL have on Art Major students’ cooperative learning ability in the process of English Writing? This teaching experiment lasted one semester,students worked in groups to complete the project in five weeks.They have conducted four times of writing training.The research results suggest:（1）PBL has significantly improved Art Major students’ English writing performance.It possesses the effectiveness and feasibility on the Art Major students’ English writing teaching and learning.（2）According to the results of interviews,students have changed attitudes toward English writing,from anxiety,fear and rejection of English writing before the experiment to confidence and interest in English writing after the experiment.The motivation for English writing has been boosted too.（3）According to the results of questionnaires,PBL has boosted students’ cooperative learning ability in process of writing.At last,the author puts forward some suggestions for the application of PBL in college English writing teaching.There are certain limitations in this study,such as the limited experiment time and insufficient research subjects etc.Researchers in the future can lengthen the experiment duration and increase research subjects,and integrate research design with factors such as learners’ majors.