An Empirical Research On The Application Of Formative Assessment To English Writing In Junior High School

English writing in junior high school includes not only teaching process,writing process,but also assessment process.Therefore,establishing a scientific and effective assessment mechanism has an important impact on the whole process of English writing learning.However,at this stage,the simplicity of teacher-centered writing assessment methods in junior high schools has become an important cause for limiting the improvement of students' writing ability.Formative assessment(FA)on the other hand,emphasizes diversified assessment content,methods and subjects which has potential to improve students writing performance.This study,with 84 students in a middle school in Hangzhou,conducted a 19-week empirical research.In the process of the study,the students' writing habits were investigated by questionnaire survey.Before,in the middle and after the experiment,the students' English and writing scores were tested,and the scores of content,language,structure and handwriting of the writing were analyzed by SPSS.The influence of Formative Assessment on students' writing at different levels was investigated by interview.The results of FA show that FA can help students improve the overall writing performance.Especially,the content has maximum improvement indicating that students can include all the required points and write creatively.Fewer grammar mistakes are made and slightly complicated grammar structure are used in students' writing.And there is more appropriate usage of linking words to make the structure more compact and students can write neatly and tidily.Besides,FA encourages high achievers to consolidate the knowledge and reflect on their own works,the middle achievers to write more carefully to make fewer mistakes,and low achievers to learn from others' writing.Suggestions are made on writing teaching in middle school which are: to present model composition,to adopt various methods when assessing writing,to cultivate students' awareness of self-assessment and peer-assessment and to encourage students to reread,reflect and revise their own writing,and to adjust the teaching program and teaching plan according to students' performance.