Reflections On English Writing Teaching In Middle Schools

English writing teaching is an indispensable part of English language teaching. However, there is limited research about the quality of English composition programs in senior high schools. This study intends to examine what senior high school English teachers in Fuzhou think about English writing teaching and what they think of the further education and development of teachers themselves. On the one hand, their opinions on teaching EFL writing are presented so that in-service teachers can share and college scholars may better understand what high school English teachers are thinking and doing. On the other hand, the difficulties troubling them are displayed and their suggestions for teacher education or teacher development are discussed, which might shed light on the reform of teacher education in college.In order to collect the data for these questions, a case study was conducted. A survey was conducted in four senior high schools and four interviews were done after the questionnaire. After data collection, the teachers' answers and self-reports were categorized into several patterns and discussed further.Being familiar with pedagogy was the main reason for the teachers to feel confident in teaching writing, while being uncertain of their own English proficiency played an important role in the teachers' lack of confidence. The situations of the students, the teacher and the specific teaching context mingled into a complicated changing task for the teachers of this study. There are several factors that teachers had to take into consideration while arranging classroompractice: students' limited vocabulary and ideas, how to make comments, whether it is useful to correct grammatical errors, a busy schedule to match, time shortage and a big class size, and the expectation from administrators and parents.English teachers can help their students by providing models and encouraging them to venture their own ideas. They can group students so that students can learn from one another and teachers can lighten the burden on the endless composition correction. Besides, teachers can highlight the common mistakes committed by the students, explain the rules, and give them chances to practise. Comments from the teachers can be used to build rapport between the teacher and the students by opening up the dialogues between these two sides.In addition, the results of my case study also shed light on the importance of in-service training programs. Through observation and reflection, teachers are learning not only by themselves, but also from other teachers, seminar speakers and participants, and even their students so that they can further improve their English proficiency and teaching skills...