The Situations and Solutions of English Writing of Senior High School

劉嚴木

【Abstract】Writing plays a vital role in NMET， considered as an important way to test students ability to write in English. Therefore， it has gained great importance in senior high school English teaching. At present， with the implementation and acceleration of the new curriculum reform， the traditional mode of English writing teaching in senior high school brings about some problems， which has a bad impact on the increase of high school students English writing ability and scores. This thesis focuses on seeking for the current situations of English writing of senior high school students and exploring a great number of worthwhile strategies to enhance their English writing ability and proficiency.

【Key words】English writing； situation； solution； proficiency

I. Introduction

Writing is regarded as the emphasis of learning， aiming to examine the capacity of using the language knowledge （Yu， 2012）. At the same time， it puts forward great demands on the students writing skills：students can use English to exchange information， state the facts， opinions， emotions， and feelings， exert imagination， and develop the standardized writing habits （Yuan， 2012）. However， the English writing teaching has still been in the weak link and has many problems， such as， too few words， monotonous vocabulary， grammatical errors and other phenomena. The paper mainly is to explore the situations and problems of English writing of high school students， analyze its primary causes and come up with some solutions to improve students English writing proficiency and scores.

II. The situations of English writing of high school

1. The shortage of English writing materials

At present， there are not English writing materials that are uniform， referable， and integrated in the senior high school. There is undoubted that different high schools use the multiple versions of English textbooks throughout the country. Although some versions of the textbooks cover writing， most of them are based on unit formulation， regarded as a subsidiary part of the reading materials. In addition， writing is usually done as homework by students after school， few students can really finish writing requirements according to English writing assignments in the textbook. And then most of the students mistakes are mentioned instead of demonstrating a typical error or a good example of a student， which fail to let the students know the reason why the composition scores are low， what a good composition is and how it should be improved. In spite of the fact that a few schools buy some independent English writing textbooks， it is difficult to understand precisely the knowledge points， control the importance and difficulty， grasp the extent of the test and improve students ability to write in English because these books are not the textbooks provided by “English curriculum standards” （Chen， 2016）.endprint

2. The low interest and frequency of English writing

Interest plays a vital part in learning achievement. However， plenty of students have no interest in English writing at present because English writing teaching aims at improving the students ability of taking the college entrance examination， and the teaching methods are relatively simple and rigid in the class， which give rise to the low English writing level （Liao， 2011）.

Whats more， the amount and frequency of writing training still need to be further increased. Despite the fact that teachers attach great importance to the English writing training of various themes and genres， and teachers arrange basically a writing task after the completion of the text， it requires to be strengthened to make students develop the habits of writing. Meanwhile， although the teachers want to spend a lot of time in making the students practice English writing in the class， and sometimes even writing training， the task of high school lessons is so heavy that writing training only takes the mechanical repetition training methods. Besides， because of the limited time， it lacks of well-preparation， such as， information collection， processing and expression of relevant writing topic， which is not able to bring into the effectiveness and validity of English writing.

3. The weakness of English comprehensive application ability

Generally speaking， when high school students learn English， they pay more attention to the accumulation of language points but neglect the application of language information. They usually know the meaning of many words but not apply the proper use of these words to English writing， for example， prepositions collocation and sentence construction （Gao & Pei， 2014）. An increasing number of students only use a verb but omit prepositions or sometimes adopt wrong prepositions， at the same time， the teachers do not know what the students want to express in the whole sentence. Although a large number of words and phrases are stored in their mind， the students do not know how they are used appropriately in a sentence.

III. The solutions of English writing of high school

1. Increasing the training and frequency of English writing

The sentence is very important for us to improve English writing proficiency， and the comprehensive use of sentence patterns and grammar is key points. The Chinese students have difficulty in studying the tense and voice， therefore， we should pay special attention to them. English belongs to the structural language， and has its own basic sentence patterns， fixed collocation and so on. In order to breakthrough the importance and difficulty， the teachers should give more emphasis on the training of the five basic sentence patterns， which lays a solid foundation on writing. In addition， with the improvement of students English proficiency， more complicated sentence structures， such as non-finite verbs and compound sentences， should be gradually instructed and adopted.endprint

In addition， extracurricular writing instruction should be strengthened. English classes at senior high school are limited， and teachers could not arrange a lot of time for writing teaching and practice， therefore， it can not completely rely on the classroom teaching to improve students writing ability. It is very necessary to strengthen students English extracurricular writing instruction and improve their autonomous learning ability. Specifically， you can ask students to write an English diary every day and the length of the diary is basically consistent with the number of words required in the college entrance examination. The topic and content are written on their own， but require students to blend some important vocabulary， simple sentences， complex sentences， and several tenses in the diary to raise the writing capacity of high school students.

2. Drawing up specialized English writing teaching materials and textbooks

According to the current situation that high school lacks of specialized English writing teaching textbook， the school can adapt and draw up specialized and appropriate writing materials and textbook for high school students to use in the light of their own actual situation and requirements of “English curriculum standards” （Chen， 2016）. In the process of drawing up writing materials and textbooks， we should adhere to certain standards. First， the preparation of writing materials should conform “English curriculum standard” and the college entrance examination with the purpose of improving students English writing comprehensive ability and proficiency. Second， some conditional schools should try to organize teaching and research staff for the preparation of writing materials. Because the foundation and progress of learning English for different school students are different， some schools which are located in urban areas and possess spectacular teaching resource are able to take advantage of excellent teaching conditions to exploit the writing materials and textbooks and promote the students writing comprehensive ability. Finally， the teachers should make the most use of appropriate writing materials and textbook to raise the students interest in English writing and make them get ready to write.

3. Changing the ways of evaluating English writing

In traditional English teaching， the teachers should take students writing reading tasks， that is to say， each error in writings is marked out and corrected one by one and finally the teachers give comments and scores. Students often only focus on the teachers comments and scores and they will make the same mistakes next time， and teachers are not only time-consuming and laborious， but also hinder the development of students creative thoughts and writing ability （Zhu， 2016）. In view of the situation， it is indispensable for teachers to change the way of evaluation.endprint

The teachers should activate the enthusiasm of the students， guide them to appreciate their partners writing， let them understand the advantages and disadvantages of peer composition and put forward some reasonable suggestions to refine the composition. It can help students establish excellent learning attitude， and cultivate good qualities of cooperation and exploration so as to promote the students writing proficiency and level.

IV. Conclusion

The English writing teaching in senior high school still exists a lot of problems and they are difficult to solve. Under the guidance of new curriculum standard， the teachers and relevant educated organizations should deeply comprehend the specific requirements of curriculum goals， continue to explore effective teaching methods in the teaching practice， strive to improve their teaching and management level， adhere to let the students listen， read， recite， write， modify， supervise and evaluate the writing， and provide effective guidance and training in order to help high school students improve English writing level and scores.

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