Process Approach To Teaching Writing: An Action Research In EFL Classroom Of Senior High School In China

As one of the four language skills for communication, writing can help students master language effectively.The trend, which is that English writing is paid more attention to, seems to have been reinforced by the new writing objectives in the newly promulgated Senior High School English Curriculum Criterion and new marking criteria of NMET. Since then, more and more teachers have realized the important role of writing in English Language Teaching (ELT). Yet, despite the strenuous efforts made by teachers and students, English writing is still the most challenging and threatening course for most students. In recent 20 years, writing teaching has been a hot topic in the field of ELT in China. After taking an action to find out a proper teaching method for writing in ELT, the author believes that the Process Writing Approach attracts much attention with a great number of papers and discussions at present. However, most researches just focus on the theory and principles, and few people have done much on the teaching practice. The major concern of the present thesis paper is to explore and apply the new Process Writing Approach systematically to teaching writing that may be suitable for senior high school in China and verify its effectiveness and feasibility based on whether it can arouse their interests, improve their writing ability and promote their autonomy in English learning ability or not.Firstly, by data analysis the thesis paper discusses the current situation of English writing and points out the necessity of reforming the traditional writing model.Therefore, the hypothesis that the Process Writing Approach to teaching writing can be applied is presented.Secondly, the thesis paper shows the nature of writing, writing approaches and the Process Writing Approach, including the definition, theoretical foundation, stages and the research state, which provides the evidence of the Process Writing Approach in theory.Thirdly, the thesis paper focuses on a one-semester action research by means of the Process Writing Approach, integrating a variety of other ways. Based on the data analysis, the author concludes that the students come to be interested in English writing and have made progress in their own writing ability; moreover, their English learning autonomy has been reinforced.Finally, the thesis paper reflects the action research, finding the significance of the Process Writing Approach, experience and lessons, establishing the aim of next research. Furthermore, it suggests that the Process Writing Approach should be applied flexibly to create a new suitable model for writing in ELT.It is hoped that this thesis paper will help EFL teachers in China to have a better understanding of the Process Writing Approach. Besides, more and more teachers can make their efforts to apply it to their teaching practice in order to guide our students to reach a high level in English writing.