A Study On The Application Of Anchored Instruction Model To English Writing Teaching In Senior High Schools

English writing,as a kind of communicative skill,plays a significant role in English teaching.In reality,many front-line English teachers emphasize the teaching of grammar but neglect English writing teaching.Besides,they are accustomed to grading students' writing products without offering advice for their further improvement.From the aspect of the students,some students lack the driving force to learn how to write in English.Besides,the problems of their compositions are serious,such as the disorganized information,vacuous content and improper expressions.As a result,their scores of English writing are in a low level.In order to solve these problems effectively and optimize the English writing teaching effect in senior high schools,the author aims to conduct a study on applying the Anchored Instruction Model to senior high school English writing teaching.The Anchored Instruction Model was put forward by John Bransford and the Cognition & Technology Group led by him in 1989.Based on the Constructivism,the model respects the central positions of students in the teaching process.Besides,guided by the theory of Situated Cognition,the Anchored Instruction Model advocates the interaction between learners and teaching situation is necessary.In addition,influenced by the theory of Zone of Proximal Development,the model suggests the teachers instruct the students and evaluate them in a developmental perspective.The Anchored Instruction Model emphasizes the teaching should be based on an infectious event or problem for activating students' background knowledge and arousing their learning interests.Therefore,the students can improve the ability of application and critical thinking in the authentic teaching situation.In order to check the effects of the Anchored Instruction Model on English writing teaching in senior high schools,the author conducted the study on the basis of the following two questions:1.What is the impact of the Anchored Instruction Model on senior high school students' attitude to English writing?2.What is the effect of the Anchored Instruction Model on senior high school students' scores of English writing?Based on the two questions,the author selected two classes of Grade One in the First Senior High School of Shang Cai County,Zhu Madian City as the subjects for the experiment,and the Class 7(68 students)was regarded as the Experimental Class(EC)while the Class 8(65 students)was termed as the Control Class(CC).Among them,the EC used the Anchored Instruction Model while the CC applied the traditional teaching model in the English writing classes.In addition,the author carried out the research with the application of the questionnaires,tests and an interview.Through around three-month teaching,the major findings are as follows.1.The Anchored Instruction Model can change students' negative attitude to English writing and stimulate their interests in English writing.2.The Anchored Instruction Model can improve senior high school students' English writing scores.In conclusion,the study finds that the Anchored Instruction Model is of great help to senior high school students' English writing.In the future teaching practice,the author will further explore the effective means of applying the model,so that the Anchored Instruction Model can play a greater role in senior high school English writing teaching.