The Application Of The Pedagogy Of Multiliteracies To English Writing Teaching In Senior High School

Writing teaching is an important part of English teaching in senior high school.For one thing,writing is regarded as the comprehensive application of a language and one of the four basic skills(including listening,speaking,reading and writing)in English learning.For another,writing holds a large proportion in English examination.Therefore,it is significant for students to have a good command of English writing.However,writing teaching is usually the weak link in English teaching in senior high school.Traditional English writing teaching pays more attention to the product of writing,emphasizing the correct use of words and grammar,which leads to the neglect of communicative function and idea expressing in writing.And traditional English writing classes are monotonous in teaching ways,making students lose their interest.The lack of interest leads to the low learning efficiency which may further aggravate students’ boredom of English writing learning and hit students’ confidence.So it is necessary to explore new approaches to English writing teaching.In 1996,the New London Group put forward the pedagogy of multiliteracies.They argued that the rapid development of technology and society brought the diversity of communications channels and increasingly diversified cultures and languages.As a result,the new social environment called for a broader view of literacy than the traditional language-based literacy.The pedagogy of multiliteracies they put forward,by developing students’ ability to understand and present multiple modes of meaning,could help school education better fulfill its purpose to equip students for society.Nowadays,the reform of college entrance examination is going on at home,and the biggest change in the National Matriculation English Test takes place in the writing section.Besides the existing practical writing,students are also required to write a summary or continuation of a given passage,which means that English writing is more than memorizing the template,and students are supposed to be equipped with more flexible thinking.Therefore,this thesis tries to solve the current problems in English writing teaching in senior high school through the application of the pedagogy of multiliteracies.This thesis explores the following two questions:(1)Is the pedagogy of multiliteracies effective in improving senior high school students’ English writing ability?(2)What effects does the pedagogy of multiliteracies have on students’ attitude to English writing?To answer the two questions,the researcher chooses 123 students from Yuanyang No.1 Senior High School as research subjects to do a control experiment.During the 4-month experiment,the pedagogy of multiliteracies is applied to the writing classes in the EC and the CC is still taught with the traditional teaching method.Relevant data in the experiment are collected by tests,questionnaires and interview,and then analyzed by SPSS23.0.Data of the pre-test show that students of the two classes are at the same level in terms of writing ability,while the post-test shows more obvious improvement of students’ writing scores in the EC.So it can be concluded that the pedagogy of multiliteracies is significantly effective in improving students’ writing ability.Besides,the data of the questionnaires and interview in the EC show that after the application of the pedagogy of multiliteracies,students’ interest in English writing gets increased and they are more confident in improving their writing ability.What’s more,they will consciously combine English expression with daily situation,which suggests that the role of English writing in communication gets realized to some extent.This thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One makes a brief introduction to the whole thesis,inclusive of the research background,research significance,research questions and methods and the structure of the thesis.The second and third chapters present the literature review and theoretical framework respectively.Chapter Four gives detailed information about the research design and Chapter Five makes data analysis and discussion.In the last chapter,the researcher draws the conclusions and points out its pedagogical implications,as well as the limitations in the research.Based on the research,the researcher finds that the pedagogy of multiliteracies can effectively improve students’ writing ability,and at the same time,it can positively change students’ attitude to English writing.But due to the constraints of experimental conditions,the research is not perfect.Better-designed studies entailing larger number of research subjects and longer experimental period need to be further conducted.