Acase Study On Constructivism-based And Bbs-assisted Efl Writing Instruction

Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism are the three main categories of philosophical frameworks under which learning theories fall. Constructivism is a theory of knowledge with roots in philosophy, psychology, and cybernetics. It is improved from Cognitivism and opposite to Behaviorism, it is basically a theory about how people learn. Among the contributors to Constructivism, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two greatest ones.Constructivism is learner-centered, and the focus of it is on knowledge construction, not knowledge reproduction. It assumes that knowledge is an objective interpretation of ideas and that such interpretations are best developed through the learner discovering and struggling with ideas. According to Constructivism, people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. Constructivist learning has emerged as a prominent approach to teaching during the past decade (George, M. 1994). Based on the nature and constructivist learning principles, the proposed teaching designs are: establishing learner-centered instruction, creating authentic learning environment, emphasizing cooperative learning and changing the roles of teacher.Writing is a process of"exploring one's thoughts and learning from the act of writing itself what thoughts are". (Zamel, 1982) Writing is a productive skill of the language, which usually comes at the end of the four language skills—reading, listening, speaking, and writing (Brookes and Grundy, 1998). In the process of EFL writing, writers need to utilize both implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge. English writing is a complex process and a difficult skill for Chinese students to master. Traditionally, Product Approach was adopted by the college teachers to instruct EFL writing almost throughout the Chinese colleges. Nowadays, a big concern of English teachers and experts is the low efficiency of traditional instruction method in improving English writing proficiency of Chinese college students, which has been highlighted through various surveys and researches.With the rapid development of computer technologies, the possibilities for the use of computers in education have multiplied. CALL has been widely applied in language teaching and learning. Nowadays, with the Web's development, CALL has developed into WELL, which offers learners real communication environment and social interaction opportunity. BBS-assisted EFL writing instruction originated from the WELL concept and it embodies the integration of Constructivism with WELL concept in EFL writing instruction. College English Curriculum Requirements (Ministry of Education, 2004), which emphasizes the utilization of the Web technology in college English education, provides the macro-context for making a tentative BBS-assisted college EFL writing instruction experiment.In this context, a Constructivism-based learner-centered CNJACK BBS-assisted EFL writing instruction study was conducted by the author, hoping to combine the benefits of traditional and WELL instruction, maximize the instructive effect of college EFL writing education, and provide both English instructors and learners with a new perspective in English writing teaching and learning. The goal of the study is to research and explore the availability and effectiveness of the new WELL model of EFL writing instruction.According to the previous study, rich input and copious output are equally important for L2 learning and mastering L2 writing. Besides, learning to write in English also involves mastering the write of various genres. In this consideration, EFL Writing Module, EFL Writing Instruction Module and EFL Reading Instruction Module were set up on CNJACK BBS. It is hoped to thoroughly cultivate and develop students'EFL writing ability and EFL comprehensive application capability.The participants of the experiment were 75 students from two parallel classes of Shandong Jiaotong University, who were divided into two groups—the experimental group (class 061 with 36 students) and the controlled group (class 062 with 39 students) at random. According to the Process Approach of EFL writing instruction, CNJACK BBS writing procedures were divided into several recursive processes: prewriting, multidraft writing, revision, edition etc. As to the data collection of the research, qualitative data were collected through the post-test of participants, the post-course questionnaires, the post-course interviews and the online observations. Qualitative assessment was adopted to assess the experimental effectiveness: first, SPSS V13.0 comparison of the post-test results from the experimental group and the controlled group; second, the post-course questionnaires analysis with the aim of identifying the effectiveness of the new WELL model; third, the summary, analysis and induction of the record in the post-course interviews with the participants; fourth, the record analysis of the instructor's online observation.After the 12 weeks'tentative experimental instruction, data analysis of the experiment shows that the Constructivism-based and BBS-assisted instruction with adequate input, output and multi-interaction is a very effective approach to EFL writing instruction. It is significantly effective not only in improving students'writing competence but also in developing learners'comprehensive capabilities and advancing their collaborative learning.The benefits of BBS-assisted EFL writing instruction are fully discussed through different perspectives in the thesis: academic superiority, teaching approach, changed roles of instructor, peer participation, psychological benefits and technological functions etc. Though the superiority of BBS-assisted EFL writing instruction is obvious, there are also some limitations of the current research. Besides, the challenges faced by the teachers and the students in the new WELL instruction model are also proposed and discussed as a problem in the thesis.In the final chapter of the thesis, implications of BBS-assisted EFL writing instruction model for EFL instruction, reflection of the present study and the recommendations for instructors, learners and further researches are carefully drawn, analyzed and proposed. Hopefully, the teaching practice will demonstrate a specific example of how the BBS technology can be employed to conduct EFL writing instruction and the findings of the research will be enlightening to the further research of more educational practitioners.