An Empirical Study Of English Practical Writing Teaching In Senior Middle School Based On Scaffolding Theory

National English Curriculum Standards for senior middle School stresses that students in middle school are supposed to have a good command of English practical writing skill.However the teaching of English practical writing in senior high school is a weak link in English teaching at present.How to cultivate senior high school students' English practical writing ability has become a significant research topic for senior middle school English teachers.Practical writing,especially letters including e-mails,has played a dominant place and it has been adopted in the national college entrance examination over the past decade.Therefore,among various types of practical writing,this thesis mainly focuses on letters.Traditional writing teaching method often overlooks students' writing interest and restrains their writing potentials.Based on the scaffolding theory,some experts and scholars have carried out research on senior high school English writing teaching.Scaffolding instruction attaches importance to the progress of learning,student-centered teaching and cultivation of students' writing habits as well as reflection.Scaffolding instruction,as an effective English teaching method,can help learners construct deeper understanding towards learning tasks through various kinds of activities.The author conducts an empirical study of English practical writing teaching in senior middle school based on scaffolding theory to check if it has any effect on the improvement of students' English writing ability.The research aims at answering two questions:(1)What impact does the scaffolding instruction have on students' practical writing grades?(2)What are the effects of the scaffolding instruction on students' attitudes towards English practical writing?This empirical study takes two parallel classes as the experimental class and control class respectively.The experimental class includes 55 students in which scaffolding theory is applied while the control class has 55 students in which the traditional teaching method is used during the experiment.Questionnaires,open-ended interview and tests are also used to verify the influence of the scaffolding instruction on English writing teaching.All data are analyzed by SPSS17.0.Through the comparisons and analysis of questionnaires and tests data before and after the experiment,it is verified that the scaffolding instruction can improve students' grades of practical writing and it has a positive impact on students' attitudes towards English practical writing.The scaffolding theory can make full use of the construction and extraction of scaffolding,so that students can truly experience the process of English writing and develop good writing habits.This study demonstrates the effectiveness and applicability of scaffolding instruction for English practical teaching.Most students' writing abilities in experimental class get promoted after adopting the scaffolding instruction,which can not only increase the students' English writing learning interest,but stimulate their subjective initiative in writing.Some useful references for future researchers are provided in the teaching of English practical writing in senior middle school in the thesis too.But further research is still needed to maximize the effectiveness of scaffolding theory in senior middle school.