Applying Process Genre Approach To Intervening In English Writing Class Of High Schools

Learning writing is not only the demand of communication but also the demand of reinforcing basic knowledge.Since writing was firstly included in the MET in 1989,it has been playing a more and more important part.Now,Chinese University Entrance Examination is a main approach for the talent scout in China.Therefore,writing is a great concern for senior middle school students.Nevertheless,the history of foreign language teaching indicates that for many years the teaching of writing was neglected as a result of the concentration on the aural/oral approach.In 2005,the author participated in grading compositions of NMET in Hebei Province.The author was shocked at two phenomena:the grading criteria of different participants were inconsistent;students' essays were not written in a methodical way.Thus it's urgent for the author to find an effective way to help students learn English writing.Any teaching method has its own merits and demerits.Based on a large literature review, the purpose of this research is to authenticate a complex writing teaching approach through specific experiments—under the guidance of the "Standard for the evaluation of the writing in NMET" and "English curriculum standards",the teacher makes sure of the teaching contents, using process genre approach,an integrated teaching method,intervening in writing class combined with Recitation Input Theory and Copy/Write.Process genre approach concentrates on the merits of the three main writing teaching approaches—product approach,process approach and genre approach:product approach is good for imparting language knowledge;process approach is beneficial to cultivating good writing skills;and genre approach acts mainly for the purpose of fostering communication.The period of the research is about five months.The subjects are from two natural classes of Senior Three in a key school of Hebei province.Both are experimental classes.On one hand,the theory has been proved effective by many teachers or experts at home and abroad;on the other hand,the author's more than ten years' teaching experience helps her predict that this approach can work.Therefore,there is no control class,or it would be unfair for the students.To make up the insufficiency of no control class,there are pre and post questionnaires,writing tests and grammar tests.The reason why pre and post grammar tests are performed is that writing is not easy to evaluate.Grammar tests will be good helpers for the writing tests.The findings are as follows:1.With the application of process genre approach to the writing class,the overall writing performance has been significantly enhanced including improvement in basic knowledge, writing skills and knowledge of different genres.2.Students' attitudes toward English writing,views of their writing competence and confidence about writing have marked improvement;students accept teacher's timely intervention in the classroom,admit that Recitation Input Theory and Copy/Write can improve writing and accept the English writing teaching mode the teacher used in the research.