An Action Research On The Application Of Reading-to-writing Approach To Enhance High School Students’ English Writing Ability

The English Curriculum Standards(2017)lays great emphasis on expressive skills of high school students,demands the cultivation of micro-skills of listening,speaking,reading and writing and also advocates the integration of four skills in teaching to avoid isolated single skill training.The effects of reading-to-writing have been verified in some research.Since 2016,M high school has implemented reading-to-writing approach(RW)and has made some progress,but there still exist many problems,such as how to choose reading materials and how to find the combination point of reading and writing.Based on the investigation into the existing problems of reading-to-writing teaching from students’ and teachers’ perspectives respectively,this research adopts the model of “reading—discussion—writing skills training—writing” and explores its effects on high school students’ English writing ability through action research.Two research questions are raised in this paper:(1)What are the problems during the previous implementation of reading-to-writing approach in senior high schools from teachers’ and students’ perspectives?(2)How does the modified reading-to-writing approach affect the writing ability of high school students in accuracy,complexity and coherence respectively?The three-round action study is conducted among 102 students from two classes at M high school to improve accuracy,complexity and coherence in students’ writing.Both classes adopt RW,but the difference lies in that the experimental class has a discussion after reading and receives more guidance and training in writing skills before writing while the control class finishes the writing task right after reading.The findings of the research are as follows:For the first question,the problems in students’ writing at M school lie in five aspects: the accuracy in vocabulary and grammar,the complexity of vocabulary and sentence pattern,the coherence of the whole passage,the richness of content and the lack of writing skills.From the teachers’ perspective,the problems are mainly in the three aspects: the monotonous forms of writing tasks,the lack of guidance in English writing and the low effectiveness of feedbacks after writing.For the second question,research shows the modified reading-to-writing approach can improve the accuracy,complexity and coherence of high school students’ English writing more significantly than the previously implemented approach.