A Study On The Application Of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) To English Writing Teaching Of Senior High School

The idea of Problem-Based Learning(PBL) was put forward in 1960 s. It flourished in medical field and soon was popular with other disciplines. Different from traditional method, PBL emphasizes bringing students’ initiative and enthusiasm into full play. Students acquire knowledge and develop abilities through group work which aims at solving problems.As one of the four basic skills of English learning, writing is an embodiment of comprehensive language competence. Therefore, it takes an important role in English learning. However, students get unsatisfying performance in writing, which is mainly caused by the current English writing teaching method: teacher gives a topic — students write according to the given topic — teacher corrects students’ writing — teacher comments on students’ writing. This teaching method has many drawbacks: students are usually lack of confidence and learning motivation. They tend to suffer from anxiety as well.Based on the above analysis, this study combines PBL with English writing teaching and builds a new high school English writing teaching model: problem initiation — materials collection — group discussion and composition writing — group mutual evaluation — modification. This model was student-centered with teachers playing the role of guider or facilitator.The author puts forward the following two research questions with reference to previous researches:First, is there any positive effect on students’ affective attitudes toward writing after applying PBL?Second, can students improve their writing scores after applying PBL?In order to study the feasibility and effectiveness of PBL, the author carried out a 16 weeks’ teaching experiment, taking two parallel classes in grade three from Dadi Senior High School as the research objects. The PBL was used in the experimental class while traditional writing teaching method was used in the control class. The experiment included writing tests, questionnaire survey and an interview. Finally, through analyzing the data collected, conclusions were drawn as follows:First, applying PBL to English writing teaching has a positive effect on students’ affective attitudes toward writing. It can be seen from the questionnaires that after the experiment, students in the experimental class are more interested in English Writing, more confident and less anxious towards English writing.Second, writing teaching based on PBL can effectively improve students’ writing performance. The results of the writing tests show that after the experiment, students’ scores in the experimental class are significantly improved while scores in the control class have no obvious changes.The experimental results can demonstrate that PBL is feasible as well as effective in writing teaching for senior high school. This method has its practical significance.