A Study On Application Of Cognitive Approach To College English Process Writing Teaching

The cognitive approach with its solid theoretical bases of linguistics, psychology and pedagogy hold that the goal of foreign language teaching is to develop the practical and comprehensive ability of application of foreign language, especially the ability of comprehension and self-study.According to cognitive approach, writing is viewed as a complex process of cognitive psychology, creative thinking, social interaction, and problem solving. What writing teaching focuses on should be a series of steps and process in writing more than only final product. Process writing as a cognitive activity, involves such writing stages as planning, drafting, and revising etc and it has the following basic advantages: first, it is student-centered; thereby student writer's potential can be drawn out completely. Secondly, teacher's role has been shifted. Teacher becomes an organizer, facilitator, and informant rather than an authority or knowledge transmitter in the traditional product writing. Thirdly, the planning and feedback are effectively enhanced in process writing.The study shows that process writing makes students'writing richer in content, fewer in mistakes in language form; therefore students'writing competence could be improved effectively. We should apply process writing in college English writing teaching.