The Application Of Bloom Taxonomy In The Teaching Of English Writing In Senior Section

In this era of globalisation, the importance of English language is unquestionable and cannot be ignored. This is due to the fact that English is an international language,it is also the most widely-used language globally. English is an international language;students have to be equipped with very high standard of English proficiency in order to remain competitive in the corporate world in the future.The author has been teaching in Chinese independent school for the last 16 years(teaching students in Junior Section as well as Senior Section). Throughout the author's 16 years of teaching career, the toughest and most challenging task the author has encountered is to ponder and explore the possible ways to help students overcome their obstacles in writing -- to inculcate their interest in writing, to hone their writing skills, to motivate their desire to write and to raise their self-learning ability. When students learn any language, they need to master the four skills in the language, namely writing,reading, listening and speaking. However, in the process of learning English, the biggest problem that the Chinese students encounter is to acquire the command of good writing skills. Writing skills encompass the mastery of the use of vocabulary, grammar,sentence structure and spelling. To the Chinese students who learn English as a second language, it is indeed a challenging task to write interesting, error-free essays in English.Regarding the current teaching methods adopted by English teachers in Yu Yuan secondary school,some teachers use traditional 'spoon-feed' methods to teach English writing; some explore more innovative ways to teach English writing. The result of the author's thorough research and analysis reveals that such teaching methods adopted by English teachers in the school have their pros and cons. Students tend to play a passive role in the learning process. When teachers teach with traditional monotonous teaching methods, they are relatively less willing to learn. As for those classes with teachers adopting more innovative ways of teaching, students are generally more motivated to learn, and they are willing to interact actively during lessons. Despite that, these are still not systematic ways of imparting the relevant knowledge to students.Through the author's thorough comprehension of Bloom taxonomy, paired with the understanding of the problems and obstacles faced by the students during English writing lessons, the author has creatively applied the said taxonomy in English writing lessons in senior section. This taxonomy can arouse students' interest in learning, maximise students' opportunity to participate in class activities, to increase students' practices and hence to reinforce students' memory of the knowledge which has been imparted to them.Lastly, two writing tasks are given to 210 students from 6 classes of Senior Two in Yu Yuan Chinese Independent Secondary School. By using Comparative Approach, the author compares a number of Senior Two students' essays after five months of implementing Bloom Taxonomy in senior two English writing class. The outcome reveals that majority of the students' writing skills have improved. Students' thoughts and expressions, as well as their usage of higher standard vocabulary have become more diversified, more in-depth and more inspirational; there has been more varieties in their sentence structure and their grammar usage have become more accurate. Through the comparison, the author summarises students' opinions, feedback and suggestions towards the application of Bloom Taxonomy in English writing class in senior section, amends accordingly and refines the implementation. Students' opinion, feedback and suggestions have given the author enormous inspiration and confidence.