Action Research On Effects Of Multi-draft Teaching Mode On Senior High School Students' English Writing

The traditional English writing class focuses on the result of writing.Assessing students' writing is a boring and inefficient task.The students feel it difficult to improve their writing and the same errors appear frequently,which leads to their losing interest and confidence in English writing.In order to change the present situation of the traditional English writing,some studies explore the potential of the student-centered,autonomous,cooperative and exploratory learning.From the perspectives of Output Hypothesis,Theory of Zone of Proximal Development and Cooperative Learning theory,this research tries to use the instructional multi-draft teaching mode,through action research,to see whether the approach has any effects on senior high school students' English writing ability,and explore any effective teaching methods in English writing classroom.The research questions are: 1)What are the effects of multi-draft teaching mode on senior high school students' English writing? 2)Are there any effects of multi-draft mode on students' interest in English writing? The research participants are 45 students from a middle school in Guangzhou and the research lasted about 15 weeks.The research instruments include interview,questionnaires(twice),classroom observation and writing tests(three times).The action had two stages.In stage one,students wrote 5 passages in total and self-assessment,peer feedback and teacher feedback were carried out.Participants wrote three drafts of the same writing according to the feedback.Through classroom observation and the second tests,some students were bored with the mode and some students in low proficiency had nothing to do when giving peer feedback.The author had reflections on stage one and adjusted the plan.The groups were adjusted and the peer feedback was added in stage two.Students also wrote 5 passages,each for three times.Through classroom observation,interview,questionnaire and the third test,the author reflected stage two and found that students made progress in English writing,especially the students in average level.Meanwhile,students had more confidence and interest in writing.It's important for teachers to give clear instructions for the students when implementing the multi-draft mode and always encourage them in the process of it.Multi-drafts teaching mode might not be successfully implemented in a short time,so the teachers should stick to it to help students make greater progress in English writing.