Application of “Process Approach” in Middle School English Writing-Teaching

【Abstract】Through the analysis of a middle school English writing class， this paper demonstrates the application of process approach in writing class， and concludes that the effective implementation of process approach can help students find， analyze and solve problems， so that students can understand and reflect on their own writing process and learn to write.

【Key words】process writing; writing teaching; middle school English

【作者簡介】谢于静，浙江师范大学。

1. Introduction 

Process method is the approach which regards writing as a complex， circular psychological cognitive process and regards writing activity as social communication activity.The process approach was proposed by Graves （1978）， who believed that teachers should advocate the whole process of helping students to understand and internalize the writing， including brainstorming， peer-conferencing， peer-editing and other steps.

2. Application of “Process Approach” in Middle School Writing-Teaching

The author will take the English writing teaching class by Zhang Xiannan， a teacher from Tangzhong foreign language school， as an example to illustrate the application of process writing in writing teaching. The author references Murrays theory， and divides the writing process into four stages.

2.1 Prewriting Rehearsing

In this class， the teacher firstly asks one student to read some parents opinions about after-school classes. Students cultivate divergent thinking when answering this question. The use of reading to promote writing is not new， and many celebrities have started out by imitating （文秋芳， 1996）. In this class， before the students begin to discuss， the teacher guides the students that if they want to express the opinions， they should firstly tell their attitude， then the reasons. The students can thus form a schema in the mind to lay a foundation for future writing.

2.2 Drafting Composing

The teacher asks the students to give their own opinions about after-school classes and asks the students to discuss in groups and make a writing outline. Koda（1993） shows that there is a close relationship between the quality of words and written texts. Therefore， in this class， the teacher guides the students to find out the writing format of this letter， and gives some guidance on the conjunctions to help achieve the logic in the writing. At last， the teacher gives students 13 minutes to write a draft.

2.3 Post writing

Then the students are given 3 minutes to check their writing in the aspect of structure， content， grammar and so on. The teacher projects a students composition onto the screen， and evaluates it in front of the class. Students ideas follow the teachers explanation and notes， and the teacher shows the students the standard of modifying and evaluating directly.

2.4 Redrafting and the Teacher Feedback

Teachers evaluation and feedback are essential due to the limitation of students knowledge. For students typical mistakes or wonderful words and phrases in articles， they should be projected to help all students learn. After class， the students are required to rewrite essays.

3. Pedagogical Implications

First， teachers should pay more attention to the information provision previous writing and the extraction of existing knowledge.

Second， the teacher is no longer the judge， but the partner of students， the designer and organizer of all activities.

Last， cooperation plays a vital role in the process of writing. All the group activities reflect the purpose of writing—communication， rather than simple translation.

4. Conclusion

The process approach conforms to the principles of contemporary communicative language teaching theory and the objectives and requirements of English curriculum standards. The author proves the scientific nature and feasibility of the process approach in theory， and brings some pedagogical implications to English writing teaching. In the aspect of process writing based on text teaching， process writing can be applied in class and achieve certain results.

References：

[1]Graves. Balance the Basics： Let them write[M]. Ford Foundation： New York，1978.

[2]Koda， K.. Task-induced variability in foreign language composition： language-specific perspectives[J]. Foreign Language Annals，1993，26（4）：332-346.

[3]Murray.. D. M. A.. Writer Teaches Writing[M]. Boston： Houghton Mifflin，1968，8.