A Study Of English Practical Writing Instruction Based On Genre In Senior High School

As one of the important skills of English learning,writing plays a vital role in both daily life and examinations.New English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School,which was published in 2003,has attached great importance on practical writing and raised specific and concrete requirements on it.On the other hand,English practical writing has been examined frequently in the National College Entrance Examination in the past five years,which indicates that it deserves attention in senior high school teaching undoubtedly.Every genre has its own Generic Structure Potential,containing obligatory elements,optional elements and their sequences.Genre is determined by obligatory elements and optional elements offer wider diversity.Based on this theory,Genre-Based Approach came into being.With the help of genre analysis,students are able to master Generic Structure Potential,which enables them to understand social purposes and text structures of different genres.This pedagogy has received promising teaching outcomes in the field of ESP and EAP.However,little research on its applications to senior high school writing instruction is conducted.Accordingly,this research consists of both qualitative and quantitative analysis,aiming to investigate three research questions: 1)How is Genre-Based Approach applied in English practical writing instruction in senior high school? 2)How does Genre-Based Approach based on Generic Structural Potential influence senior high school students' perceptions and attitudes towards English practical writing? 3)What effects does Genre-Based Approach have on senior high school students' writing performance? If it brings positive effects,will there be any difference to different level students? A cohort of 104 students from Senior Grade Two of a high school in Jiangmen,Guangdong Province participated in this 14-week research.They were from two parallel classes respectively and their English practical writing levels were almost the same.52 students from Experimental Class were instructed by Genre-Based Approach while the rest of research subjects were taught by traditional teaching method.The results were collected with the help of three instruments: tests,questionnaires and interviews after the experiment.Then they were analyzed by the statistical software SPPS 22.0.Based on the results of the experiment,the research drew three conclusions as follows: 1)Genre-Based Approach is applied by combining Generic Structure Potential to help with English practical writing instruction in senior high school.The research successfully received a satisfactory performance.2)Genre-Based Approach based on Generic Structural Potential positively influences senior high school students' perceptions and attitudes towards English practical writing.The influences generally reflect on building students' confidence of writing,raising their greater interest on writing,cultivating their better habit of writing and improving their ability of writing.3)Genre-Based Approach receives more positive outcomes on improving senior high school students' writing performance compared with traditional teaching method.And it is particularly suitable for students who are at entry or intermediate level in English learning rather than those at advanced level.