An Investigation Into The Classroom Teaching Of English Writing In Junior Middle Schools

In order to improve the current situation of English teaching in basic education, the Ministry ofEducation revised and renewed the English Curriculum Standards in2011, based on the version of2001.The2011version states that English learning should not only help the learners acquire more languageknowledge as well as better language skills, but it should also widen the learners’ international vision,enrich their life and learning experiences, enhance their ability of cross-cultural communication, andstrengthen their love for the motherland. The2011version still aims to cultivate the learners’ integratedlinguistic competence.Language input (listening and reading) can hardly enhance the learners’ integrated linguisticcompetence, so language output (speaking and writing) is necessary and essential as well (Chen, Wang，Cheng,2002). English Curriculum Standards (2011) clearly states the requirements for the learners’language output, while the requirements for the learners’ writing skills at Level5are as follows: Theyshould be able to collect raw materials according to the writing requirements; They should be able to draftessays and letters by themselves, and also able to revise their writings with the teachers’ help; They shouldbe able to express themselves logically with the help of linking words; They should be able to describepeople and events; They should be able to write passages and instructions with the help of graphs or tables.This study aims to find out the major problems while writing and the main causes for the problems,thus help them enhance their integrated linguistic competence effectively. The teachers and students in thejunior stage of the Affiliated Middle School of Henan Normal University are the subjects of this study.Questionnaires and interviews as well as classroom observations are done throughout this study.Research results show that there is a gap between the teachers’ and students’ real level and the basicrequirements for writing in English Curriculum Standards (2011). The teachers focus on the languagepoints and grammar only while neglecting the training of writing skills. The students have not yet realizedthe essence and significance of writing skills; they are less interested in English writing; they are in need oftraining for writing habits; They are not confident enough, so they are often afraid of writing. Researchresults also show that the main causes for these problems are:(1) The teachers have not yet realized the essence and significance of English writing, which has led to the failure of the writing objectives;(2) Theteachers focus more on the results of writing while neglecting the training of writing skills, so that thestudents write something just for the writing’s sake, but not for the expression of themselves;(3) Theteachers are not serious and strict enough while marking and commenting the students’ writings. Theyfocus too much on the spellings and grammar mistakes, with little attention to language use. Theircomments are often too simple to offer little guidance;(4) The teachers mark almost all the writings, whilethe students themselves and their peers do little to improve their own writings.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter1introduces the research background, researchobjectives and significance of the study and the organization of the thesis as well. Literature review ispresented in Chapter2, which covers the writing requirements of English Curriculum Standards (2011),significance of the teaching of English writing, basic teaching approaches and principles of English writing.Chapter3mainly presents the research design, including research questions, research subjects, researchinstruments, and research procedures. Chapter4presents the research results and discussion of the results.The last chapter concludes the paper with the major findings of the research, and some suggestions areprovided.