An Experimental Research On The Application Of Reading-to-Writing Approach To English Writing Teaching In Junior High Schools

English reading and writing abilities of junior high school students are interdependent and complementary.But reading and writing teaching are often separated in English teaching of junior high schools nowadays.In daily English teaching in junior high schools,it is a common phenomenon to emphasize reading over writing.In recent years,many experts,scholars and teachers have carried out exploration and research on the reading-to-writing approach.However,the empirical research on its effect in promoting writing learning is still insufficient and there is less research on its effect on writing content,complexity and coherence than on its effect on language accuracy.There is a shortage of the application research on the reading-to-writing approach to English writing teaching in junior high schools,such as how to choose reading materials,how to determine the integration points of reading and writing and how to promote writing by reading.This research aims to explore the effects of the reading-to-writing approach on junior high school students’ English writing ability and to provide a reference for junior high school English writing teaching practice.In response to the problems of English writing teaching in junior high schools,a12-week reading-to-writing teaching experiment is conducted on the English writing teaching practice in junior high schools which is based on Input Hypothesis,Output Hypothesis,the Schema Theory,and the Xu-argument.The research is designed to test the following four questions:Question 1: What effects does the reading-to-writing approach have on the content of English writing in junior high schools?Question 2: What effects does the reading-to-writing approach have on the accuracy of English writing in junior high schools?Question 3: What effects does the reading-to-writing approach have on the complexity of English writing in junior high schools?Question 4: What effects does the reading-to-writing approach have on the contextual coherence of English writing in junior high schools?The participants of this research are two teachers and eighty students in X Junior High School in Rizhao.One class is the experimental class and the other class is the control class.The students in the control class are instructed with the traditional writing teaching method which separates reading from writing,ignoring the organic combination of reading and writing.While in the experimental class,the teacher designs and implements a teaching model of the reading-to-writing approach consisting of the following six steps: overall perception of texts,text analysis,brainstorming,writing practice,post-writing evaluation and writing consolidation for the students in the experimental class.With the assistance of questionnaires,interviews and writing tests,the experimental data are analyzed by the statistical software SPSS.Before the experiment,the author uses a pre-questionnaire,a pre-interview and a pre-writing test to understand the current situation of junior high school students’ English writing and attitudes towards writing.After the experiment,the author adopts a post-questionnaire,a post-interview and a post-writing test to understand the effects of the reading-to-writing approach on junior high school students’ English writing and students’ attitudes towards the reading-to-writing approach.Based on the results of questionnaires,tests and interviews,the author draws the following conclusions.1)The reading-to-writing approach can improve English writing scores as well as the English writing ability of junior high school students.The writing abilities of the students in the two classes have improved in the post-test,but the improvement of the writing ability of the students in the experimental class is more obvious.2)The reading-to-writing approach has positive effects on content of English writing,language accuracy,complexity and contextual coherence of junior high school students’ English writing.And the students in EC make more significant progress in these four aspects of English writing.In addition,their writing interest,self-confidence and sense of achievement have also significantly improved.The teachers and students also recognize and accept the reading-to-writing approach highly.