An Empirical Research On Applying PowerPoint Presentation To The Teaching Of College English Writing

In recent years, more and more researchers in China have applied scaffolding instruction to English writing instruction. Among these researchers’ literature, the author finds that, many researchers have adopted the five steps of applying scaffolding instruction that He Kekang proposed, and in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction, most of them use group discussion or cooperative revision in class. However, there are few studies that focus on finding out whether there are other activities that can be used in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction. In this research through a teaching experiment the researcher compares the teaching effects of applying preparing PPT presentation and group discussion respectively to the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction to testify whether student preparing PPT presentation can be applied to the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction.Under the guide of scaffolding instruction theory, the researcher applies the eight basic elements that Hogan and Pressley summarized as the teaching guideline and the five steps of applying scaffolding instruction that He Kekang proposed as the teaching procedure to carry out the teaching experiment. The five steps of applying scaffolding instruction include setting up scaffolding, getting into context, exploring independently, learning cooperatively and carrying out evaluation.The subjects in the teaching experiment are 75 students from Institute of Information Technology of Guilin University of Electronic Technology, including 33 students in the experimental class and 32 students in the control class. Scaffolding instruction is used both in the experimental class and the control class. The only difference is that, in the step of cooperative learning, students of the experimental class take part in preparing PPT presentation and students of the control class take part in group discussion. Therefore, the research questions are:(1) After the experiment, what is the difference in the teaching effect between the two classes in the experiment? (2)What cause the final experiment results?In order to provide a scientific and reliable research result and useful findings, the researcher analyzes the results of tests, of observation and of interview to find what cause the experiment results. The subjects take a pre-test before the experiment and a post-test after the experiment to testify whether there are different teaching effects by using preparing PPT presentations and group discussion in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction to teach non-English major undergraduates writing. Classroom observations are carried out in the two classes during the teaching experiment process and interviews are also conducted after the teaching experiment.According to the research, there are different teaching effects between using preparing PPT presentations and using group discussion in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction to teach non-English major undergraduates writing. Although both activities can help students improve their writing ability, using preparing PPT presentations in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction is more effective on improving students’ English writing ability than using group discussion. Student preparing PPT presentation can be encouraged to apply to the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction. With the analyses of tests, it is also found that using preparing PPT presentations in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction is more helpful to the students with lower language proficiency than to those with higher language proficiency. Besides, using preparing PPT presentations in the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction is more effective on helping students understand the writing topics and express their ideas than on other aspects of writing.As for what cause the final experiment result, the reasons are as follows. To some degree, both group discussion and preparing PPT presentation can enhance students’ interests, willingness and confidence on writing. Yet PPT presentations are a combination of oral language, written language and other non-verbal expressions. PPT presentations can be more attractive and impressive. It is also more convenient for the students to take notes. Students in the experimental class can listen to the speakers and see the written expressions. The students with lower language proficiency see how others understand the writing topics and how others summarize and express their understandings. With time going on, they learn how to understand the writing topics, how to find the key points of their writings and how to summarize and express these key points. As for those with higher language proficiency, they can take notes of some useful vocabularies, ideas or examples to make their writings more comprehensive and better than before.Basing on the above findings, the researcher put forward pedagogical implications on four aspects:applying scaffolding instruction to college English writing, applying group discussion to the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction, applying PPT presentation to the step of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction, and helping students make best use of cooperative learning in scaffolding instruction.