Action Research On Improving Students’ English Writing Ability And English Writing Self Efficacy By Using "Theme-based" Method For The Revision Of English Writing For High School Entrance Examination

The paper is an action research on the application of "Theme-based Method" for the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination,including the teaching instructions and the impact on students’ English writing ability and English self efficacy.According to the daily teaching and researches,writing is the most difficult in the middle school English exams,and writing reflects the comprehensive linguistic using abilities.Recently,writing teaching is becoming more and more important,and the revision for High School Entrance Examination should aim to improve students’ writing.So the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination is focused in this study.Now traditional “Three-round” review methods is outdated.As the appearance of the “themes” in the Course Standards,in-serve teachers began to conduct “Theme-based Method” for the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination.There have already been previous studies mainly focused on “Theme-based Method” in teaching and it has been proved that the teaching result can be improved through “Theme-based Method”.However,studies on the application of “Theme-based Method” for the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination and its impact on students’ English writing ability and English writing self efficacy are still unclear.Therefore,two research questions are proposed in this study:(1)How do we implement the “Theme-based Method” in the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination?(2)What is the impact of using “Theme-based Method” for the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination on students’ English writing ability and English writing self efficacy? This study selected two classes of third-grade students from No.2 middle school of the Development Zone in Qinhuangdao,Hebei Province as research subjects and conducted two rounds of action researches.Using questionnaires on students’ English writing self efficacy,simulated exams,student interviews as research tools,the study conducted analysis using T-test in SPSS software.According to the research,the success of the revision depends on lesson preparations,which is the most important part.Whether the texts are integrated scientifically or not matters,and as well as the knowledge webs,there should be clear logic.This study summarizes the complete teaching instructions for using“Theme-based Method” for the revision of English writing for High School Entrance Examination:(1)Break down each textbook and integrate them into the same themes;(2)Compile various theme knowledge webs to create theme-based writing tasks;(3)Guide students to develop knowledge webs,apply them in practice,and innovate in migration.The last step include three part: giving tasks about compiling the knowledge webs before classes;Compiling the knowledge webs again with students;Developing the perception and understanding of the language in the knowledge webs,its practice and application and its migration and innovation when writing in themes.At the same time,the results of this study show that using “Theme-based Method” for the revision of English writing for the High School Entrance Examination can improve students’ English writing ability and English writing self efficacy.