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【Abstract】The Guiding principle for junior English teaching points out: “The aim of junior English teaching is to give the students basic training on how to listen， speak， read and write， to cultivate the students’ primary ability of using English.”［1］Therefore， writing in English is one of the most important contents and requirements of junior English teaching. Since 1998， the junior students have been required to demonstrate their writing ability by writing an 80-word passage， which should be very accurate， coherent， and fluent.

So “the middle school teachers must encourage the students to learn to make simple sentences with the vocabulary， grammar， sentence patterns and to write simple passages， letters， e-mails， notes， notices after the styles and models which have been learned.”［2］English， as a most useful language and a most widely used communication means， is very important. The students must acquire the ability of speaking and writing and their all-round ability should be developed.

So I write this thesis to discuss and make a research on how to develop and improve the junior students’ writing ability in English.

【Key words】Writing ability in English Practice Teaching methods

【中圖分類號】H315【文獻標識碼】A【文章編號】1006－9682（2009）05－0057－02

Ⅰ、The traditional methods

The traditional teaching methods are only to tell the students what principles and rules they should follow， to introduce and explain the usages of words and sentences， the usages of tenses， voices and the rhetoric skills， etc. It’s only prescriptive and the students still wonder how to use English tenses， voices and the rhetoric skills， etc. It’s far from enough to meet the requirements of the aim of improving the students’ writing ability stipulated in the Guiding Principle.

“Though the traditional methods enable the students to realize what unity and coherence is and they are even able to distinguish whether the paragraphs are of good or bad unity and coherence， that’s only a superficial knowledge and understanding.”［3］When they’re told to write in English， they will have no idea of what to do or what to write about. To learn language is to understand rules and utilize rules（Chomsky， the famous American Linguist）. However， writing is a creative skill. If English writing is purely for the sake of writing， the students will only remember rules， principles and grammar.

Ⅱ、The efficient methods of practicing English writing

1．Making plentiful preparations for English writing

We should adopt all ways to train the students’ writing ability in English， including listening， speaking and reading， etc. According to Dubin and Olsshtain， activities that integrate all language skills can enhance the students’ acquisition of skills.［4］If we want to develop the students’ writing ability， we must make efforts to train the students’ listening， speaking and reading， etc. However， the above abilities must be developed from the basis， from the simple words， sentences， dialogues and passages etc. We must use all ways and senses to accumulate knowledge to get ready for English writing. Johann Amos Comenius insists that all the knowledge is achieved through the senses.［5］The things we get by this way are very visible and full of interest. The students will be strongly impressed. They’re willing to learn， interested to learn and eager to learn. The teachers must give them proper instructions carefully and patiently， which will greatly stimulate and improve the students’ interest of writing. The students’ principal role and the teachers’ dominant role will be closely combined with each other.

2．The use of visual pictures

Visual pictures are very vivid， lively and exciting. They’re fit for the students of this age. They can arouse the students’ interest of writing in English. Both the hanging pictures and stick figures are helpful and effective to develop and improve the students’ writing ability. Psychologists tell us that young children can’t concentrate attention on a certain task for a long time， so applying visual pictures， by means of the teachers’ facial expressions and gestures， can strengthen the students’ learning of English knowledge. They will have great interest in the topic and meanwhile have inspirations to write whatever they can imagine. They’re always in high spirits. Their ability of thinking and describing is greatly developed and improved as well.

The teachers should encourage the students to write as much as possible， tell them to speak English at the initial stage， first speak then write. Let them write something after having a good look at a single picture， then a series of pictures. The current series of English teaching materials contains many useful and interesting pictures. They originate from real life or about real life and are helpful for practicing English writing.

The above teaching methods can make the teaching of writing vivid， lively and interesting. They can also develop the students’ intelligence potential， enliven their imagination and stimulate the students’ interest of writing.

3．Imitating the model passages

Besides the above methods， to write a good English passage， the students need to imitate the model passages a lot. The teachers should require the students to read and write more. Imitating is not the ultimate objective， but a means of practice. The aim of imitating is to create much better. We know that human beings learn to speak or walk， etc， all by imitating. In the English books， there’re some model diaries， letters， cards， interviews， telephone conversations， and so on， which are very excellent models for practicing English writing.

To imitate doesn’t mean to copy blindly. The learners are just like a sheet of blank paper. They don’t know how to write in English， so it’s very important for the teachers to give them patient and careful instructions. Afford them with the writing models， show them scientific methods， ask them to imitate creatively， make unremitting efforts and in the end they will make rapid progress in writing.

4．Abbreviating the passages

The theory of language learning tells us that the learners are able to absorb knowledge by listening and reading. They get outside information and then express their ideas by speaking and writing （i.e， input is before output）. Abbreviation is a way of output， which is to make full use of what has been learned. The teachers should tell the students to catch the main idea of the passage， find out the style of the passage， and understand the knowledge of language structures. According to the key words of the passage， use correct language knowledge to illustrate the core content and then form a new paragraph. Retelling the passage， linking the answers of the questions to form a passage or doing abbreviating gap-filling exercises are the main methods of practicing abbreviating.

I often tell the students English stories or read interesting English articles to them and require them to take notes and try to write the precis according to what they’ve heard. The students’ ability of thinking and practicing is developed. What’s more， let the students retell the text and then write down the content of retelling or do simple exercises like this. The students no longer feel afraid of writing but feel very interested and relaxed when writing in English.

At times， the students are given a longer article to read within about 30 minutes， together with a few questions and tell them to try to answer after reading. Then tell them to join these answers together to become a new short paragraph. The answers reflect the main idea of the article， so the new short paragraph is an abbreviation of the original.

It’s proved abbreviating is a very efficient and effective way of developing and improving the student’s writing ability in English. The students will develop a habit of thinking directly in English， which is very helpful to their English writing.

5．Topic-given compositions and free-style writing

Professor Lu Yingchun points out， “As a teacher， to say more by yourself is not to be better. You should encourage the students to have more exercises and activities … what they speak out and write out by themselves is really of their own.”

Some subjects are concerned with the students’ everyday lives. Such as My Family， My Home Town， My Parents， My Good Friend， My English Teacher and so on. To the students these subjects are very familiar， very interesting， so they have plenty of things to write about. They feel confident and no longer afraid of writing in English.

The students can write freely about what they have seen， heard， or imagined. They can write diaries， weeklies or letters and something like. Teachers should often examine their writing exercises， give them good advice， and correct the errors in their compositions. As time passes， the students will fall into a good habit and they’re sure to make great progress in their writing in English.

6．To correct the students’ compositions

There’re so many compositions for the teachers to check that they don’t have enough time or energy to deal with this problem. So there’re quite a large number of teachers who will give the students only a few or even no writing exercises to do. They are tired of checking the students’ compositions. Even worse， many teachers only write “good” “very good” as remarks. If the problem of checking compositions is not solved， it may be of nonsense to talk about the teaching of writing in English. Prof. Lü Yingchun introduces two simple methods to us. One is “to choose to correct”. It means the teachers only need to correct a small part of the students’ compositions every time. Though only a small part of the compositions are corrected， all the students have a chance of practsing writing. Those students whose compositions are not corrected can also make great progress in the course of writing. The other method is “group correcting”.［7］Put the class into several groups and ask them to check each other’s compositions. In this way， the students can learn from one another and the teachers needn’t spend too much time or energy on the students’ writing exercises. Teachers must use all they can to arouse the students’ interest of writing in English and encourage them to learn to correct their own compositions. Thus their writing ability will be improved.

Ⅲ、Conclusion

The students must be stimulated to keep their eyes open to everything around. They should listen， read， speak and write as much as possible and take notes to accumulate materials for writing. First input then output. By doing so， the students will feel it easier to cope with writing in English and feel fond of learning English. I find all the above methods and writing activities supportive for the aim of motivating the students’ writing and further English learning. The teachers should try their best to arouse the students’ interest of writing in English and learning English by whatever means. Encourage them to write as much as possible because practice makes perfect.

Notes

1 Zhou Hong， “The Development of the Students’ English Writing” Research of the F.L. Studying and Teaching Methods， April， 2001， P.79

2 Yin Weimin and others， The Modern Methods of English Teaching （Hefei: Anhui Education Press， 2000）P.167

3 Feng kecheng and others， The Manual of Teaching Reformation （Beijing: the Central Composing and Translation Press）P.585

4 Sun Yafan，“Approaching Effective Writing in Chinese Middle schools” Research of the F.L.Studying and Teaching Methods April， 2001.P.25

5 Editorial Board of the People’s Education Press. Waiguo Jiaoyu Shuhua（Historical Data of the Foreign Education）（Beijing: The People’s Education Press， 1995）P.65

6 Huang Jianhua，“One Subject Which Can’t Be Neglected in English Teaching——Writing”English Weekly 17 Jan， 2001. P.2

7 Ibid P.2

Bibliography

1 English Weekly， 17 Jan. 2001

2 Feng， Kecheng and other authors， the Manual of Teaching Reformation， Beijing: the Central Composing and Translation Press

3 Research of the F.L.Studying and Teaching Methods， April， 2001

4 The Knowledge of English， Dalian: Dalian Daily Press， Oct， 1997

5 Yin， Weimin， the Modern Methods of English Teaching， Hefei: Anhui Education Press， 2000