An Experimental Research On The Application Of The Key-word Strategy In English Writing Teaching In Senior Middle Schools

The study is based on the theory of information processing and the theory of student-centered learning. According to the theory of information processing, both noticing and self-consciousness are important in language input and language learning (Skehan,1998). As for EFL teaching in middle schools, the training of writing skills has always been one of the main concerns and it has seen dramatic changes over the decades. Numerous successful researches and practice have gradually enriched writing theories and formed a series of effective approaches to the teaching of writing, among which the Process Approach has become prevalent in many foreign countries and proved to be effective in improving EFL students'writing abilities. But in China, especially in senior middle schools, English writing has long been a weak point and far from satisfactory. Many English teachers have not realized the importance of writing teaching and lack the systematic and deep consideration of the strategies and methods of writing teaching as well. Most of the English teachers in senior middle schools still adopt the traditional ways of writing teaching . The methods are dull and beyond the students. Because of the students'low level of proficiency, time constraints and lack of motivation, writing teaching has become a tough job for the teachers and many students are gradually losing interest and confidence in English writing. Some of them deliberately avoid English writing tasks. Some middle school English teachers and researchers have put forward some suggestions to improve students'writing abilities, but there is little research on the process of students'writing -- especially on how to arouse the students'interest in writing by valuing the students'background and special cognitive style. Accordingly, the author thinks that the Key-word Strategy based on the students'needs, textbooks, background knowledge, etc, a kind of new teaching method, can help enhance the students'writing abilities using the notion of Process Approach. The strategy is effective.The Key-word Strategy is the teaching of basic skills of composition involving a cluster of interactions by teacher and students. These include -- warming up, presentation of new item development and peer review. With more and more lively and dynamic flights of modern thinking blending and infusing harmoniously into the teaching fields, most teachers are naturally keen on reasonably human-oriented teaching ideas and keen on carrying the ideas out creatively as well. So teaching strategies supported by innovative ideas can be recognized and accepted by the students more easily, meet the needs of the students to structure and build up their new knowledge and skills more effectively, and help them to develop their ability to study autonomously. The Key-word Strategy for writing teaching in senior high schools is explicitly based on this very point. It becomes in the guiding and directing of fundamental theories of writing teaching . It advocates that teachers fully value the students'background and cognitive style. Firstly, in leading in and analyzing the to-be–written content to the students, teachers are supposed to encourage and help them to extract and purify the"key information"from the materials, find out the motivation for expressing themselves and then arouse their interest and strengthen their confidence to write. Secondly, in instructing the expressing form, namely, the writing skills, teachers are supposed to guide and help them to take good advantages of this main information to express truly and orderly, and above all, to express what's in their mind briefly and thoroughly with the help of key words to achieve the communicating goal for effective writing. So the strategy is a teaching model focusing on cultivating students'creativity and participation, increasing students'writing skills, and reflecting to form the principles of communication and practicality teaching of writing in senior high schools. The study discusses the practice and application of the Key-word Strategy in English writing teaching in SMS-Vs, to help resolve the students'difficulty in writing, to stimulate learners'responsibility and explore their initiative and creativity. It entrusts students with confidence and freedom.The thesis consists of six chapters.In Chapter 1, the introduction, the author talks about the importance of English writing and gives a survey on the writing ability of high school students. The survey shows that most of them still adopt the traditional product-based approach. They focus on the accuracy of the final products of the students and neglect the difficulties appearing in the whole writing process. Teachers cannot fundamentally help students overcome and solve the problem in writing. Thus, basing on the above investigation and students'background, the author brings Key-word Strategy, a new teaching technique, into senior English writing teaching to enhance the students'writing abilities.Chapter 2 gives the theoretical foundation of the Key-word teaching of writing. The students'needs are based on the Theory of Needs by Maslow, the American psychologist, and the Theory of Student-Centered Learning. As to Learner-Centeredness, Throne and Yule(2000) as well as Nunan(2001) suggest identifying the needs of popular L2 learners and then trying to meet those needs. Nunan also advocates that the center of teaching should be learners and the learning process rather than teachers or textbooks. Nunan encourages learners to move towards the fully autonomous end of the pedagogical continuum.In Chapter 3, the author illustrates the implication of Key-word Strategy in English teaching of writing and proposes four aspects in cases to fulfill Key-word Strategy for teaching of writing : a) Setting up situation, b) Guidance , c) Giving support , d) Creating. This writing strategy goes in harmony with the human-oriented theory of education. It develops the students'initiative and imagination to allow them to succeed in writing a good composition.Chapter 4 focuses on the application of Key-word Strategy in English writing teaching, giving the details of various strategies on the process of writing scientifically and systematically.Chapter 5 is the key part of the thesis. This research is an experimental study undertaken in No. 42 Senior Middle School of Nanning City within 18 weeks from February to June, 2005. The participants were the students from the same level in Senior Grade One. One class was chosen randomly to serve as the Experimental Class, and the other was the Control Class. Each of the classes consisted of 57 students. During the period of the research, the students in both classes were required to write a short essay in English. Then the Experimental Class was trained to apply the Key-word Strategy while the Control Class continued to apply the traditional writing method. The students both in the Experimental Class and in the Control Class took two tests (pre-test, post-test) on English writing during the research process and at the end of the experiment all of the subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire on their experience with writing through the Key-word Strategy. The result shows that the Experimental Class students:1) Strengthen their confidence to write and were encouraged to think actively and use colorful language freely.2) Make progress in expressing what is in their minds by using appropriate linking words, phrases and sentences.3) Learn to cooperate, and overcome difficulties and enjoy writing.By contrast, the Control Class students didn't do well comparatively. They stayed in an unimaginative stage.Chapter 6 comes to the conclusion and the implications. Through analyzing the results of the experiment and the two questionnaires, the findings of Key-word Strategy experiment demonstrate that the Key-word Strategy is possible, practical and feasible in a classroom situation. Not only can it reduce students'stress, it can also arouse their interest in writing. Finally, it can elicit students'creativity and achieve the writing goal smoothly and freely.Although the study has shown an insight into the strategy of writing for students in MSM-Vs, it has some limitations because of many factors, such as the lack of the experience of research, the limitation of time and the insufficiency of theoretical knowledge and so on. The subjects participating in the experiment is small to some extent that the results of the study may lack implications for all-scale application.