| This paper reports a study on the effect of the Length Approach, a method that encourages students to write as long as possible and on the effect of Strategies Based Instruction on language learning. The effects on the students can be categorized into two parts, the affective effects, and the cognitive effects.There were altogether 80 students who participate in the experiment. They belonged to two intact classes of similar English proficiency. One class was chosen as the control group which was trained in the traditional way. The other class as the experimental group received a writing training with Length Approach based on SBI. The experiment lasted for four months, during which both groups were asked to write 10 compositions of the same topics but with different length requirements. Before and after the experiment, all the students were asked to finish two similar questionnaires. At the end of the experiment, two groups which used to be at the same English proficiency level took a language proficiency test and a writing test. To obtain further understanding 9 students were interviewed afterwards. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data generated the following major findings:1) Compared with the control group, the experimental group made greater improvement in their whole writing ability. The members of EG write more fluently and accurately than those of CG do. Actually we find that some average students and inefficient students' writing ability improves more quickly, and they even write longer then top students as we noticed in their compositions.2) The overall English proficiency of the experimental has been promoted faster than that of the control group. Correspondingly, those average students and inefficient students have made more significant progress with their English proficiency as well.3) In the experimental group, most of the students' attitudes toward the Length Approach are affirmative. Firstly most students state that they become...
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