Research On Senior English Learner’s Development Of Textual Competence In Writing Based On Activity-based Approach

In basic education in China,the newly-issued Senior Middle School English Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition)(2018)advocates “Activity-based Approach” in English language classroom teaching and learning.In such an approach,meaning negotiation and interaction enjoy the priority,with the teaching goals aiming at supporting the exploration of meaning within a particular thematic context.Regrettably,“Activity-based Approach”,as an innovative teaching concept,has not been fully researched empirically,especially from the perspective of micro-level.Based on such understanding,my research is going to take “Activity-based Approach” as the overarching conceptual framework to conduct an empirical classroom-based research by focusing specifically on developing students’ textual competence in writing at senior high school.In order to document students’ awareness and development of their textual competence in English writing,this research samples 63 students as the research subjects.Data collection will mainly rely on qualitative research methods to explore the following questions: 1)What is the relationship between the Activity-based Approach and the development of senior English learners’ textual competence? 2)How can English classroom teaching design based on the Activity-based Approach promote senior English learners’ textual competence? 3)Which aspects of senior English learners’ textual competence can be effectively improved?By focusing on the analysis of data,the study reveals that during the three stages of perceiving and understanding,applying and practicing and transferring and creating,students’ writing abilities have been improved to some extent after three months’ instructional intervention.Firstly,the linguistic form of vocabulary,phrases and grammar of participants’ compositions have been developed accordingly.There is an obvious advancement on the use of their words,phrases and sentences.Secondly,the contents of their writings or thematic contents have been enriched in shifting from pure declarative knowledge to a higher level of procedural knowledge which consists of personal feelings and anticipations about the topic.Thirdly,in terms of the logical relation,various linking words are used more flexibly in their writings.Finally,this paper argues that: 1)The combination of Activity-based Approach and text analysis in classroom instruction can motivate students’ enthusiasm in English writing and enhance their abilities to write well.2)Teachers should have the abilities in tapping into the complexity of English learners’ textual competence so as to use proper activity strategies to help them improve.And 3)The design of teaching based on Activity-based Approach can greatly increase students’ engagement in classroom learning and the awareness in acquiring their textual competence in writing.