An Action Research On The Application Of Formative Assessment To English Writing In A Junior High School

Writing ability is one of the main aspects of language learning in junior middle school.English writing has always been a hard nut to crack for the teachers.The Compulsory Education English Curriculum Standard(2022)puts forward the teaching concepts of promoting learning by evaluation and promoting teaching by evaluation,emphasizing that evaluation should run through the whole process of English curriculum teaching and learning.Teaching evaluation is regarded as a breakthrough to improve writing instruction.The single evaluation method under the teaching concept of exam-oriented education and point-only theory is the main problem in teaching evaluation.The process of teaching and learning is the key to improve students’ writing ability.The application of formative assessment in English writing teaching solves the fundamental problem that teachers and students only pay attention to grades and ignore students’ learning process,which is more conducive to the cultivation of students’ core competencies and independent learning ability.In comparison with traditional evaluation methods,formative evaluation emphasizes the evaluation of learning process.For students,they can generate new knowledge through teacher interaction,peer interaction,text interaction and self-interaction.Formative evaluation can not only evaluate students’ learning effect,but also test teachers’ teaching effect.Information provided through feedback helps students’ learn effectively,and it also provides a basis for teachers to improve teaching.This research applies formative assessment to English writing teaching in junior high school and is designed to solve the following two questions through the action research: 1.what is the effect of students’ attitude,based on applying formative assessment to junior high school students’ English writing teaching? 2.What is the effect of students’ writing ability,based on applying formative assessment to junior high school students’ English writing teaching? The author took 77 students in the third grade of a middle school as the research subject and conducted a three-month action research.Based on the analysis of data from questionnaires,interviews and pre-test and post-test,the author concludes that compared with traditional evaluation methods,students’ attitude in writing has been changed,as students’ writing confidence grows and facilitates the improvement of students’ writing ability and independent learning ability.Finally,the author summarizes the shortcomings of the research and puts forward some suggestions for future research.