An Action Research Of Process Writing Approach Based On Thematic Context In English Writing Teaching Of Senior Grade In A Primary School

“Curriculum Standards for English at Compulsory Educational Stage” specifies the requirement for students' writing ability,that is,students after graduating from primary school should be capable of writing simple sentences according to pictures or example sentences.This shows the importance of English writing teaching for primary school students.Nevertheless,primary school teachers usually attach more importance to students' development of English listening,speaking and reading skills,and pay less attention to students' writing ability development.This is a major cause of students' difficulty in writing.Traditionally,primary school English writing teaching is generally result-oriented.To put it specifically,teachers will give students a topic for students to write about on their own,and the teacher will then mark students' writing.Affected by the teaching model,students tend to flinch away from the writing tasks for they find that they have little to write about.Additionally,students' English knowledge is not effectively activated to serve English writing,and their writing test scores are not satisfactory.As a circulating creation process,the process writing approach focuses on students' writing process rather than students' writing outcome.It intervenes in the writing process from collection of writing materials to writing assessment and writing improvement.Such a teaching model is more suitable for students in primary schools whose basic English knowledge and cognition are limited.Therefore,in order to address students' writing difficulties,and seek an efficient English writing teaching approach which is more suitable for primary school students,the author combines the concept of “topical context” and “process writing approach” to study the senior grade students of Kunming C Primary School where the author teaches.This research lasts for one semester,and the main purpose of this research is to explore whether the writing process approach can improve students' writing test scores,enrich students' wording in writing,positively influence students' interest in writing and attitude towards writing.In the research process,two research methods,namely quantitative research and qualitative research,are adopted,and the questionnaire and interviews ofstudents are combined to collect required research data.The data thus acquired are further examined and analyzed.Experimental results indicate that the process writing approach based on the topical context plays a positive role in the English writing teaching process of senior grade students in the primary school.After the experiment,students' English test scores are significantly improved,compared with their previous test scores.Specifically,the total number of words and the number of word types used in students' writings are significantly increased,and students' vocabulary richness is obviously enriched.The questionnaire results and interview results with students suggest a pronounced strengthening of students' interest in learning and attitude towards learning.Therefore,the process writing approach based on thematic context studied in this paper is applicable to the English writing classroom teaching for senior grade students in primary schools.