An Exploration Into Discourse Teaching Method And Its Application In College Non-english Major English Writing

College English teaching nowadays, especially in non-English major, teachers and students mainly follow the traditional procedure, namely preparation before class--- taking notes in class---consolidation after class. Teachers frequently adopt"Explanation method", that is to analyze grammar points and the sentence structure in static state from a grammatical viewpoint, and the discourse analysis of the passage and understanding of the whole passage are neglected, which directly lead in students'lack of ability in understanding the whole passage, especially in listening, reading comprehension and writing.In order to change the present situation, arouse students'interest in English writing, raise their English writing level, the researcher tries to recommend discourse teaching methods to college non-English major class. Discourse theory claims that language teaching should focus on discourse, enable students to select suitable language potential under a certain social context of situation to obtain a certain communication aim.(Wang Guohua, Qu Yingmei,2007). The application of discourse teaching method in English writing emphasizes that English writing is the procedure of discourse implement under a certain context, not the piles of vocabulary and sentences.From the CET4 and CET6, A conclusion can be made that the emphasis of the reform of college English teaching has been transferred from cultivating students'reading ability to the comprehensive ability. However, how to improve students'writing ability is always a big issue in English teaching. The cause exists not only in lack of vocabulary, imprecise of grammar mastering and the sentence structure, but also exists in the incomplete understanding of the passage structure and the expressive habit. Only if the traditional teaching method must be changed, the situation can be changed. The writer believes that discourse teaching method can help students have a overall understanding of the passage, improve English thinking ability then improve English writing level.Making a general survey of the discourse teaching method phylogeny, the research of discourse teaching method abroad is earlier, and the research covers the whole teaching field. Discourse teaching methods entered into China in the 1970s, and got conspicuous popularization and development. Compared with others, the research on the discourse teaching method's application in college non-English major is rare. This paper aims at exploring the discourse teaching method's influence on college non-English major students'English writing ability and writing level. First, the writer introduced the significance, background and the purpose of discourse teaching method in college non-English major. The research is mainly based on discourse theory, schema theory, construction theory and motivation perspective. The hypothesis was put forwarded based on study on literature review and the college teaching aim, and the writer attempted to testify the hypothesis1) Are students hold positive attitude to discourse teaching method and English writing?2) Is it beneficial for students to use discourse teaching method and apply it to English writing? If so, what are the benefits?3) Is it suitable to adopt discourse teaching method in college non-English major?This research lasted from late August, 2009 to late January, 2010, which just covers one semester. The experiment was carried out in Art L081 and L082 in Polytechnic College of HeBei University of Science and Technology, The former, which was the experimental class, adopted discourse teaching method, and the latter which adopted traditional teaching method was the controlled class. The procedure and the method of the research is as follows:The researcher would get information about the students'present writing situation by means of questionnaire and interview. Before the experiment, there was no obvious difference between the two classes. The researcher taught targeted aiming at the problems existing in English writing when carrying out discourse teaching method. The results of the post-test and the interview implemented at the end of the research indicated that discourse teaching method has a positive influence on students'English writing.At last, according to the research result, the writer makes some relevant suggestions and some improvement strategy on college non-English major English class and English writing.This thesis is based on the researcher's own teaching experience, so it's hard to avoid some shortcomings. However, the researcher will draw on the academic and teaching experience of other scholars and proceed the research to perfect the discourse teaching method and its application into English writing.