An Empirical Study Of The Effect Of Process Writing Approach On College Students’ English Writing Ability

The research explores the application of Process Writing Approach in collegeEnglish writing teaching based on Process Writing Approach put forward by ProfessorWallace Douglas from Northwestern University.First of all, the study reviews researches on L2writing, concludes researches of theProcess Writing Approach in China and abroad, and points out that these achievementsare valuable in improving English learners’ writing ability. But the researches onpractical effect of the Process Writing Approach seem to be rare. In order to test thepractical effect of Process Writing Approach to college English writing teaching, theauthor of the thesis conducts the teaching experiment and it lasts for one term. Thesubjects of the study are two separate classes of112Non-English major freshmen fromYan’an University. The research attempts to find answers to the following two questions:(1) Can the application of Process Writing Approach in college English writingteaching improve students’ writing ability?(2) What effect does Process Writing Approach have on students’ writing attitudeand habit?Then, SPSS is used to analyze differences in students’ writing performance of thetwo classes before and after the experiment by adopting two kinds of different teachingmethods. The process of the experiment consists of three parts: pre-test, mid-test andpost-test. The following two major conclusions are reached through gathering andanalyzing experimental data.(1) The application of Process Writing Approach in college English writing teachingcan improve students’ writing ability. (2) Under the guidance of the Process Writing Approach, the college students havepositively changed their attitudes toward English writing. At the same time, thestudents gradually formed good writing habits.Finally, the author of the thesis discussed the pedagogical implications forclassroom teaching and limitations of the approach. The author of the thesis offered somesuggestions for future research to Process Writing Approach, and hopes to provide someinsights in improving college students’ English writing ability.In addition, this research has certain significance. The results of the research showthat the Process Writing Approach is able to improve the students’ confidence in writingEnglish compositions and enhance the students’ motivation in writing. The content of thestudents’ composition is greatly enriched; there are fewer grammatical mistakes in theircompositions. What’s more, the students’ overall level of their English ability is alsoimproved. Meanwhile, by reflecting on the whole research process, a conclusion can bedrawn that the experimental research is an effective way of promoting professionaldevelopment for English teachers. As long as English teachers are willing to concentrateon their own teaching situation as much as possible, and are eager to spend much moretime and energy exploring in their teaching practice bravely, the most suitable teachingmethod, which is good for the development of the students, is sure to be found.To sum up, this thesis not only analyzes and proves the practical effect of theProcess Writing Approach in college English writing teaching, but also brings someenlightenment for teaching and learning and provides a basis for recognizing the ProcessWriting Approach more accurately.