A Contrastive Research On The Effects That The Teaching Methods Of Strong Form And Weak Form Have On English Writing By Senior Middle School Students

Writing is an important part of language skills.And the research of writing becomes increasingly developed.Task-based language teaching is often applied to the teaching of English writing.There are always two different propositions that called “strong form” and“weak form” in task-based language teaching.The different views have different methods in teaching.Long,Ellis and Willis who are the representatives of “strong form” insist that the teacher shouldn't specify the language form before a task and the learners should study the English language in the process of fulfilling a task.However,Swan and Littlewood who hold the views of “weak form” insist that the teacher should present language points before a task,which ensure that the students finish the task with mature language proficiency.So the main difference between “strong form” and “weak form” is whether the teacher should offer the students language knowledge before a task.Based on the practice of English writing teaching in high school,I attempt to explore whether the teaching method of “weak form” can be more effective than that of “strong form”on the accuracy,fluency and complexity of writing.The experiment was conducted in two parallel classes at the NO.1 high school in Hanchuan city,Hubei province where I had teaching practice.Before the study,40 compositions were collected from the final examination last semester in each class and the data were analyzed about the accuracy,fluency and complexity of these compositions by SPSS19.0.It was proved that there were no significant differences in these three aspects between the two classes.And then the two different teaching methods were implemented into the two classes separately.After four months,the data were analyzed about the accuracy,fluency and complexity of compositions that were written in the last class in the same way.It was proved:(1)the teaching method of“weak form” can be more effective than that of “strong form” on the accuracy of writing,but there were no significant differences about fluency and complexity of writing;(2)though there were no significant differences about fluency and complexity of writing,according to the average value of the post-test,the compositions of the students who were taught by theteaching method of “strong form” are more fluent and the compositions of the students who were taught by the teaching method of “weak form” are more complicated.The results prove that the two teaching methods have their own advantages.At present,the students in high school are in the stage of accumulating the basic language knowledge such as vocabulary and grammar,and they need massive correct language inputs.Besides,“appropriateness” and“accuracy” are required for the writing of the students in high school by the New Course Syllable for English.So combined with the results of the research,I think the teaching method of “weak form” in the English writing teaching may be a better choice.This thesis aims to help the teachers find the English writing teaching method which is more appropriate for the students in high school and then improve the accuracy,fluency and complexity of the writing of students.