A Study On Writing Strategies Use Of Non-English Major Students And Its Relationship With Gender And Writing Proficiency

Writing is an important part in college English teaching, which belongs to the range of productive language skill. It reflects learners'overall mastery of a certain language. Writing exercises can reinforce and facilitate learners'English learning and improve their English proficiency as well as their communication ability. However, writing has long been a problem in college English teaching in China. One of the reasons is the drilling of writing is test-oriented. Consequently, the study of writing strategies use could be benefit for teachers to conduct strategies training in writing teaching process. English language learners can also gain a better understanding of the writing strategies they are using and the ones they need to master.In the study, the author makes an empirical study investigating Chinese non-English major students'writing strategies use. Totally the author has employed three instruments to conduct a both quantitative and qualitative study:a questionnaire, an interview and two compositions. Then the author processes and analyzes the data by SPSS 17.0. Three questions will be answered:1) the frequencies of the writing strategies use in Chinese non-English major students; 2) the differences and similarities in the use of writing strategies between male and female student; 3) The correlation between writing strategies use and writing proficiency.The values of the frequency for non-English major students using the four subcategories, namely, pre-drafting strategies, drafting strategies, revising strategies and monitoring strategies, all fall into the medium level. However, the figures of the mean score shows that revising strategies and monitoring strategies are less frequently used when compared with the rest two subcategories of writing strategies. Generally speaking, female students use writing strategies more frequently than male students, but the differences are not significant. As to the four subcategories of writing strategies, they are all positively correlated to writing proficiency. Though only the correlation between the use of revising strategies and writing proficiency is significant, the general statistics show that writing strategies use is significantly positively correlated with writing proficiency. Probably we can conclude that the more writing strategies used, the better students would perform in writing. The interview report reflects what have been analyzed in the questionnaire analysis and discussion part. Their opinions on writing strategies use show the influence of mother tongue, the features of Chinese students'characteristics and teachers'teaching style.In short, the results of the study show that Chinese non-English major students do employ writing strategies in the process of writing and improving writing ability. The use of writing strategies does affected by gender. Additionally, it is correlated to writing proficiency. In conclusion, in order to follow the need of college English education reform, it is necessary for non-English major students and college English teachers to be aware of the importance and the use of writing strategies.