Investigation For English Writing Strategies Of Senior High Schools

In the practice of English teaching, four learning skills, listening,speaking,reading and writing are effectively integrated, among which writing is a relatively high-level exchange of information, requiring students to have a high expression of written language ability. But at present the situation is not optimistic. Students are not able to skillfully use writing strategies to guide their writing. Meanwhile, writing strategies have a strong influence on the writing ability and writing level (Ren Fenglei, 2006), and therefore, research on the writing strategies are beneficial to students'English writing. Then what about the situation of the use of the writing strategies by the students in the senior high schools? And are there any differences? These problems become the focuses of this research.This thesis first gives a definition of writing strategies, sorts out the categories of different writing strategies of the scholars like O'Malley & Chamot and Yang Shuxian at home and aboard,among which this thesis adopts Liu Zhiqun's (2006) classification of English writing strategies. Besides, researches made by scholars at home and aboard are stated here, in which university students are basically involved in, but high school students have seldom been dealt with, especially in quantitative researches. However, the research focus on the students in the senior high schools in Yueqing, Zhejiang.The English writing strategies scale of Yueqing, Zhejiang was made, referring to the English writing situation Questionnaires by Can Huiping, Fang Yan (2006), Wu Hongyun, Liu Runqing (2004) and Dai Junrong (2007). 550 questionnaires were collected after the survey of six major high schools in Yueqing, Zhejiang. By using the software of SPSS11.5 and Excel, the data were analyzed from four points of view: first, the present situation of writing strategies used by senior high school students in Yueqing; second, the differences in writing strategies use between Senior 1 and Senior 2 students; third, the differences between male and female students; fourth, the differences between higher scorers and lower scorers.After comparison and analysis, four conclusions have been arrived at. Firstly, English language writing strategies are most frequently used by the high school students and Socio-emotional strategies need to be nurtured and strengthened. Secondly, a downward trend of writing strategy use has been seen by Senior 2 students than that by Senior 1 students, especially in the use of meta-cognitive strategies and organizational strategies. Thirdly, the frequency of the use of writing strategies by female students is higher than that by male students in Yueqing high schools, in particular, the use of meta-cognitive strategies and cognitive strategies. Fourthly, the higher scorers in the English writing tests use writing strategies more frequently than the lower scorers in did, which shows an obvious difference in the use of meta-cognitive strategies and cognitive strategies. Reviewing the four conclusions, it has been found that high school students in Yueqing are better in use of English language writing strategies, and in great need of the cultivation in the use of meta-cognitive strategies, organizational strategies and socio- emotional strategies. Thus, the emphasis on the countermeasures is to train the use of three strategies, hoping that the countermeasures may improve the writing level of the students in Yueqing senior high schools.