Effects Of The Lexical Approach On English Writing Of Senior-High School Students

This study,based on Lewis' lexical approach and related research results,attempted to explore the effects of the lexical approach in English writing instruction in a senior-high school,especially the changes of a group of senior-high school students in their writing motivation,writing strategies,writing products,as well as other influencing factors.The data were mainly collected from classroom observations,a questionnaire,interviews and student text analyses before and after the new practice.Based on the data analysis,the major findings of the study were drawn as follows:First of all,the overall data analyses showed that after one semester's participation in the lexical approach in English writing instruction,the students had some positive changes in writing motivation,writing strategies and writing products.Questionnaire results showed that for most students(79%)in this class,their intrinsic motivation was significantly strengthened,especially the interest motive(Mean increase =1.4).In terms of writing strategy,61% of the students consciously used metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and social affective strategies to solve the problems in their writing.Further analysis indicated that the lexical approach had the greatest impact on students' cognitive strategy use(Mean increase =1.35),followed by social affective strategy use(Mean increase =1.32),with minimal impact on metacognitive strategy use(Mean increase =1.24).In terms of writing products,the mastery and application of linking words witnessed the most obvious progress.By the end of the semester,most students(86%)reported using linking words to show the natural coherence,80% of the students learnt to use the complex sentence structure,and 64% were able to use the advanced vocabulary.These questionnaire results were largely supported by the data from observations,interviews and student writing products' analysis.Classroom observation data showed that the lexical approach significantly aroused the students' interest and promoted their active participation.In addition,interview data suggested that all six students in three groups witnessed great progress in their writing strategy,particularly in the use of cognitive strategy use.What'smore,student text analyses indicated that more than half of the students used the linking words appropriately in their writing,from 3 at the beginning of the semester to 13 by the end of the semester.Secondly,interviews and classroom observation showed other factors that affected effects of the lexical approach on English writing include students' English reading quantity,the English writing task as well as the environment of English writing.The results showed that the reading quantity of the students mattered most.Those with a large quantity of reading reaped a large amount of input,which obviously improved their writing.In addition,the students' familiarity with the writing task also affected the effectiveness of the lexical approach on the students' English writing.English writing environment,in particular,good teacher-student relationship and student-student relationship had a positive impact on the students' writing performance.Based on the above findings,some tentative suggestions were put forward on the application of the lexical approach in English writing instruction in senior-high schools,with the hope to provide some useful implications.