On Application Of Constructivism In The English Writing Teaching At Junior High Schools

Writing is one of the important language skills in foreign language learning. Writing abilityis a direct reflection of the students’language proficiency. The improvement of writing canalso raise the level of listening, speaking and reading. With the trend of globalization, theteachers in Jinan Foreign Language School are under a great pressure for the supply of moreoutstanding talents who grasp English well for the society. Teachers have realized that writingplays an important role in improving the integrated use of language. But in the practicalwriting teaching, the method used by the teachers makes the students lose interest in writinggradually. Especially the large-scale use of the textbook Interchange makes the teachers feeleven more difficult in writing teaching. Taking the above issues into consideration, the authorwants to find an effective way to raise the level of writing instruction with the guidance of thenew curriculum standards so as to inspire students’writing interest and improve their writingability.The concept of constructivism can be specifically summarized as follows: knowledge isconstructed actively by the subject rather than passive absorption from the outside world. Thatis to say knowledge is subjective; in the process of cognition, the subjects are not to find anoutside knowledge world which is independent from their minds, but to build a new cognitivestructure through the integration of the existing personal experience. In short, knowledge isconstructive. The constructivist theory can help students to improve their English writingability, but from the literature review we can see there are only a few studies on theapplication of the constructivism in English writing. And these studies mainly focus on theclasses in senior high schools and universities. The thesis summarizes the main theories ofconstructivism such as knowledge theory, learning theory and teaching theory. It also findsthe correlation of constructivism and English writing teaching. Based on this, the authorpoints out constructivist writing teaching should pay attention to the following six aspects:“existing knowledge”is the foundation to construct new knowledge;“students-centered”stressed on the subject participation in the construction;“situational teaching”providescultivating soil to meaning construction;“collaborative learning”forms a shared learning environment; it promotes and perfects the knowledge construction by“the use of varietyresources”; it is conducive to improve students’writing ability through the way of“evaluationto the process of knowledge construction”. It was experienced on the students in experimentalclass in Jinan Foreign Language School. It lasted for one semester and had a noticeableimpact. Through the analysis of the questionnaires and writing tests before and after theexperiment the author found: the teacher helped students to construct their writing skillsthrough the integration and transformation of existing knowledge; student-centered teachingmobilized students’autonomy and made them active in writing; scene setting improved thestudents’capacity to complete the task and improved their ability to use language;collaborative learning with the purpose of meaning construction improved students’participation in class activities, so that students could learn a lot in sharing with others; theuse of a variety of resources expanded students’knowledge and made writing practical;process evaluation changed students’attitude towards writing and enabled students to havemore reflection on their writing behavior.On the basis of the analysis and discussion, there are some implications for teachers:teachers should have a clear goal; teachers should change their roles; teachers should focus onthe situational awareness training; teachers should guide the students to take full advantage ofa variety of resources to improve their writing skills; teachers should focus on theeffectiveness of group activities to facilitate students’collaborative learning; teachers shouldmake good use of materials to construct students’writing knowledge and writing ability;teachers should emphasis on process evaluation. In order to make teaching better, students arerequired to have a positive attitude towards learning, learn to cooperate with others and askthe teachers for help if they are in trouble.In the end, the whole study is summaried. Then the author points out the limitations of thestudy and puts forward suggestions for further research.