Action Research On Improving Senior High School Students' English Writing Competence Through Graded Readers

In recent years,under the background of the development of English core competence and the reform of English in college entrance examination,the score of English writing has gradually increased,and the new question type of "continuation" has emerged,which has brought new challenges to teachers and students.In this research,the English writing competence refers to the students' writing competence of the "continuation".As abbreviated English masterpieces,graded readers not only retain the ideological connotation and style of the original works,but also the simplified language is more eligible for the English learning needs of high school students.However,there is a lack of research to combine graded readers with English writing teaching.Therefore,based on the Input Hypothesis,the Output Hypothesis,and the Interactive Alignment,this thesis aims to explore the effects of using graded readers in English writing teaching through action research,and specific questions are as follows:(1)Is the application of graded readers effective in improving senior high school students' English writing competence?(2)What are the effects of using graded readers to improve senior high school students' English writing competence?The author conducted a 12-week action research of 32 students in Grade One(12)of Jinan University City Experimental High School.First of all,in order to explore the students' English writing level and existing problems,the author adopted the method of interview,questionnaire and writing pre-test.Based on the existing problems,the author carried out the first-round action.By comparing the students' writing test scores with the pre-test,the author found that the students' English writing have improved in language diversity and accuracy,but not in other aspects.In view of the problems in the first-round action,the author adjusted the plan and implemented the second-round action.By analyzing the students' writing test results,it is found that the students' English writing performance had been significantly improved,and the content and structure of the writing have also been improved.Finally,the author interviewed six students to further understand the results of the research.This research draws the following conclusions:(1)The application of graded readers can improve senior high school students' English writing competence;(2)The application of graded readers has a positive effect on senior high school students' English writing competence in content,structure,language diversity and language accuracy.However,this research still has limitations such as short duration and few student samples.