An Experiment Study On Applying The Length Approach To English Writing Teaching In Senior High School

The Length Approach is initiated by Professor Wang Chuming, an expert of SLA from Guangdong University of Foreign Languages Studies, who innovates the idea of foreign language teaching. The Length Approach is a method of Write-to-Learn, and is also a brand-new approach of foreign language writing teaching. It requires the students to write long compositions to improve their English, the longer the better. It is assumed that the approach can help improve the students'affection, widen their thoughts and bring their potentials into expression in practice so that it can enhance their confidence and urge them to learn English. The approach has been under experiments in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and some other universities in China since March in 1999. Its validity has been fully confirmed by many famous experts and learners in English teaching field. Professor Li Li, who is from South-Western University, confirmed that Length Approach can be used in the middle schools, at least senior high schools. The thesis aims at applying the Length Approach to English writing teaching in senior high school in order to find out whether the approach can improve the senior high students'writing ability, or enhance the self-confidence of senior high students'writing.This thesis is made up of six chapters. Chapter 0ne is an introduction, which introduces the study background, the aims and significance of the study, and the structure of the study. Chapter Two is literature review and theoretical foundation, which introduces the Length Approach including its historical background, the theoretical foundation, the main features and the current situation of Length Approach research at home and abroad at present. In Chapter Three, the thesis analyzes the current situation of English writing teaching in senior high school of our country, and discusses the feasibility of applying Length Approach to English writing teaching in senior high school. Chapter Four introduces the Length Approach experiment in a senior high school. The subjects are two classes in the senior1, Xinjiang No.2 middle school, Shanxi Province. And it is a presentation of the research method and procedures of the experiment carried out in this study. The fifth chapter analyses the data and discusses the result. The analysis of the relevant data from the experiment shows that the length approach can improve the senior high students'integrated writing ability, and enhance the self-confidence of senior high students'writing. The last chapter summarizes the whole thesis and gives implications for Length Approach English writing teaching in senior high school in China. It also discusses the limitations of the research.Besides, the author proposes some problems which remain to be solved in the future experiment on the Length Approach English writing teaching in senior high school, such as how to design better writing tasks, how to facilitate students'writing by listening, speaking or reading, how many words the senior1 students should at least write in the composition, etc.