An Empirical Study On The Reverse Enhancement Effect Of Writing On Speaking

There is a unique English learning environment in China that students spend so much time learning English but there are few opportunities for them to practice their oral English.In a non-target language context where the College Entrance Examination does not examine the oral English proficiency,Chinese EFL learners are more proficient in English writing than speaking.Considering this characteristic in the unique Chinese context,this thesis ventures to shed light on the reverse enhancement effect of writing on speaking and to develop “Improving Speaking by Writing” Approach.In oral English classrooms,students are required to conduct language planning by writing before oral activities,aiming to relieve their oral anxiety and improve their oral performance.This thesis attempts to tackle with the following two research questions:(1)Do students of both classes suffer from oral English classroom anxiety? Could language planning by writing alleviate the anxiety level of students in the experimental class?(2)Could language planning by writing promote the oral English performance of students in the experimental class? If so,which of the three aspects could be promoted—accuracy and range,size and discourse management,or flexibility and appropriacy?Based on the two research questions,this thesis puts forward and elucidates the reverse enhancement effect of writing on speaking,trying to provide a theoretical foundation for “Improving Speaking by Writing” Approach.The thesis also proposes a complete teaching process and specific classroom teaching design of this write-to-speak approach under the inspiration of Production-Oriented Approach.Sixty-one second-year students majoring in business administration from two classes,at Nanyang Institute of Technology,participated in the two-month empirical study.There were thirty of them in the experimental class,receiving “Improving Speaking by Writing” Approach.The other thirty-one students were chosen as the control class,taking traditional oral lessons.Statistic analyses of two oral anxiety questionnaires and two oral tests,together with interviews carried out to five subjects in the experimental class have shown that language planning by writing does have obvious enhancement effect on speaking.This empirical study has reached some valuable findings:(1)second-year non-English majors suffer from higher level of oral English classroom anxiety;after two-month introduction of language planning by writing,their oral English classroom anxiety level has been relieved significantly;(2)language planning by writing could alleviate second-year non-English majors' oral English classroom anxiety and improve their oral proficiency in the aspect of accuracy and range,size and discourse management.Thus,conclusion could be drawn that language planning by writing or “Improving Speaking by Writing” Approach exerts an enhancement effect on reducing non-English majors' oral English classroom anxiety and enhancing their oral English proficiency in accuracy,range,size and discourse management.