An Empirical Research On The Application Of The Process Writing Approach In Writing Teaching Of College Non-english Major

As an indispensable part of English teaching, English writing is a practice of Englishintegrated ability, it is not only good for the improvement of students’ language knowledgeand language skills, but also a main means of communication. Therefore, more attention isgiven to English writing teaching. However, there are still many problems in the currentteaching of college English writing. It’s a challenging task to fundamentally overcome andsolve the problems that emerge in the teaching. So it’s necessary for college teachers to trynew teaching approaches in the teaching of English writing.The thesis suggests that the process writing approach should be applied to theteaching of writing as a substitute for the traditional writing approach. The process writingapproach derives from1960s and it is based on cognitive theory and humanism theory; itshifts its emphasis from the accuracy of a product to the whole writing process. A series ofactivities in the process writing approach are implemented to non-English major students,which includes brainstorming, outlining, discussing, peer review and teacher feedback, soas to change their attitudes and belief, stimulate their interest, enhance their confidence inEnglish writing, and then improve their English writing ability.This research attempts to solve the following three questions:The first question: Can the subjects’ attitude and interest towards English writingchange with the guidance of the process writing approach?The second question: What are the differences between the process writing approachand the traditional writing approach in the teaching effect?The third question: In which aspects does the process writing approach help thesubjects improve their confidence and writing ability?This research adopts the method which combines the quantitative and qualitativeanalysis to verify whether the process writing approach has both a positive and effectiveeffect on changing students’ attitudes to English writing, enhancing their writingconfidence and improving their writing ability. This research is conducted amongsophomores from non-English department in Arts and Science College of Bohai University,and it lasts for approximately four months. There are132subjects in this research, and67students are in experimental class, and other65students are in control class. The methodwhich is applied to the experimental class is the process writing approach, while themethod in control class is the traditional writing approach. The results of this experiment show that the process writing approach has someeffects on the writing teaching of the non-English major. It can not only activate classroomatmosphere but also can arouse the enthusiasm of the students, which changes the students’attitude and interest towards English writing and enriches their writing contents. Moreover,their writing errors have been reduced. What’s more, the students’ confidence and writingability have been improved. It can be concluded that the process writing approach isfeasible for writing teaching in college non-English major.