A Study On The Teaching Effects Of English Continuation Task Based On The Production-oriented Approach In Senior High School

The continuation task is a new proposition and examination method that requires learners to continue writing the article according to the development of the story plot based on reading the specified discourse,which is highly innovative.With the continuation task into the National Matriculation Entrance Test(NMET)in recent years,it has brought great challenges to front-line teachers.At present,the disconnection between input and output exists in the teaching mode of the continuation task,namely input-output separation,is still very prominent.The primary purpose of the ProductionOriented Approach(POA)teaching theory is to solve the phenomenon that learners can learn foreign languages without using them.Under the guidance of output as the premise,through the practical design of each link,a new teaching model of motivatingenabling-assessing is formed to encourage learners to learn and cultivate their comprehensive language application ability.Based on the POA,this study takes two parallel classes of senior two of Fuyang XX Middle School as the subjects.It uses the research tools of questionnaires,tests,and interviews.The statistical software SPSS 20.0 and the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA)analyze the results.It aims to answer the following questions:(1)How does the POA affect high school student’s performance on the continuation tasks?(2)How does the POA affect the syntactic complexity of the continuation tasks?(3)How does the POA affect high school student’s attitudes toward the continuation tasks?The following findings are obtained through the analysis of the experimental data of the 20-week teaching experiment:(1)The independent sample T-test results of the experimental and control classes in the post-test show significant differences in the scores of the two classes.The results of paired sample T-test show that the experimental class has a noticeable improvement in the continuation task scores,and the number of students in high grades has increased.At the same time,the control class also has progressed in the continuation task scores,but the number of students in high grades has mostly stayed the same.(2)The syntactic complexity of the continuation task in the experimental class continuously develops in the following three indexes: Mean Length of Sentence(MLS),Mean Length of T-unit(MLT),and Complex Nominals per Tunit(CN/T).However,the above three indexes of syntactic complexity of the continuation task in the control class are not prominent.(3)The POA positively affects high school student’s attitudes toward the continuation task.It influences learning interest and motivation,behavioral tendency,awareness of collaboration,and other aspects.The POA can improve student’s confidence and pride in learning and change their anxiety about the continuation task.Based on the research findings,the following suggestions are put forward for teaching the continuation task in senior middle schools:(1)Teachers should design three teaching procedures in detail to improve the quality and efficiency of the continuation task teaching.In the motivating phase,teachers should create a communicative scenario to stimulate students’ imagination and learning desire;in the enabling phase,teachers help students step by step,and gradually achieve the output goals;in the assessing phase,teachers measure students’ output performance with output goals and carry out remedial teaching on typical problems.(2)Teachers should strengthen the teaching of the syntactic complexity of written English texts,improve the quality of the continuation task,and enhance the ability of written English expressions.(3)Teachers should pay more attention to the changes in students’ attitudes and emotions,set tasks from easy to difficult,help students overcome their fear of difficulties,gradually boost their confidence and interest in writing the continuation task,and realize the promoting learning by writing.The study still has some aspects that could be improved,such as the small sample size and short experimental period,which need to be further perfected.