On the Application of Comprehensive Approaches to ImprovingNon-English Majors’ English Writing Competence

○ Liu Hongwen Zhang Keshi

(1. Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, 014010;2. The Second Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, Baotou, Inner Mongolia, 014030)

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On the Application of Comprehensive Approaches to ImprovingNon-English Majors’ English Writing Competence

○ Liu Hongwen1Zhang Keshi2

(1.InnerMongoliaUniversityofScienceandTechnology,Baotou,InnerMongolia, 014010;2.TheSecondAffiliatedHospitalofBaotouMedicalCollege,Baotou,InnerMongolia, 014030)

This paper introduces how the author comprehensively applies several approaches to enable non-English majors to improve their writing competence remarkably. The students are greatly interested in the approaches and show high enthusiasm in their writing practice. Some of the approaches are beneficial for developing students’ creative thinking. With the author’s application of the approaches and the students’ persistent effort, students’ writing competence has been greatly improved.

zone of proximal development, sentence-making practice, outline-writing practice

I. Introduction

To develop non-English majors’ English writing competence, it is advisable that comprehensive approaches should be applied to teachers’ instruction and students’ practice. According to Vygotsky (1978:86), there is a difference, which is called the “zone of proximal development”, between the learner’s capacity to solve problems on his own, and his capacity to solve them with assistance. Learners’ capacity to solve problems on their own is not the same, nor is their capacity to solve them with assistance. Consequently, there should be different writing requirements for students of different English levels to stimulate students to have active writing practice. 1) For the students whose English level is low on entering the university, basic practice is emphasized first. The teacher’s explanation about English sentence structures is indispensable. Encouragement plays a key role in their progress. 2) For those whose English level is intermediate, proper goals are set to develop their writing competence. 3) For the students whose English level is relatively high, challenging tasks are assigned to inspire their active writing with creative thinking.

Ⅱ. Basic Writing Practice

Sentence-making practice is the elementary basis of writing. Students can be asked to make as many sentences as they can, each including at least two newly-learned words, phrases or expressions (Ying, 2000). They are asked to write freely, keeping an eye on the sentence structures. The students whose English is good are demanded to achieve the goal. Most of them accomplish the task. Gradually, some of them can make sentences including 5 or 6 newly-learned words, phrases or expressions. In addition to practicing writing, it helps the students memorize words, phrases and expressions they have just learned, transforming short-term memory to long-term memory. Sentences including only one new word, phrase, or expression made by some of them can be tolerated. The students whose English level is intermediate are encouraged to rise to the challenge. Some of them can also fulfill the requirement. The students whose English is poor are nevertheless encouraged to make sentences, each including at least one new word, phrase, or expression. They are instructed to pay special attention to the structures of sentences.

If there is enough time, sentence-making competitions among groups can be carried out in class. The one whose members have made the most sentences within the time limit is the winner. The students can be asked to write some of their sentences on the blackboard. They are praised for their improvement. The teacher keeps a record of the students’ grades for sentence making as part of formative evaluation to reward them for their effort.

Ⅲ. Outline-writing Practice, Skills of Paragraph Writing

and Organizations of Whole Compositions

3.1 Outline-writing practice

An outline is necessary for a good composition. Students can first learn how a paragraph is developed and how to write an outline for a paragraph before writing. Then they can learn different organizations of English articles and learn to write outlines for complete compositions. The writing assignment can be composed of two parts: the outline and the composition.

3.2 Skills of paragraph writing

If not instructed, many students don’t know how to develop a paragraph. Under instructions, they practice developing paragraphs and master the following skills of paragraph writing.

1. Writing a topic sentence

2. Taking care of controlling ideas

3. Paragraph unity

4. Paragraph coherence

5. Exemplification

6. Cause and effect

7. Chain structure

8. Time sequence

9. Comparison and contrast

10. Concluding sentences

(Yang, 1999)

3.3 Organization of the whole composition

Before, during, or after some reading passages are learnt in class, different organizations or structures of the passages are analyzed and explained to the students to help them understand the passages better and have ideas about how to write well-organized compositions. They can follow the models to organize their own compositions.

Ⅳ. Enough Input for Writing Practice — Creating

English Reading Environment

According to Krashen (1985:2), the Input Hypothesis claims that humans acquire language in only one way — by understanding messages, or by receiving “comprehensible input”. To be more precise, input is the essential environmental ingredient. Chomsky (1975) suggests that there is similar uniformity in the language faculty, and that the language acquisition device operates in fundamentally the same way in everyone. We may see, according to Krashen (1985:3), individual variation “on the surface” — different sources of comprehensible input, different strategies for obtaining input, different messages, and of course different languages — and this variation may be of practical concern. But deep down, the “mental organ” for language (Chomsky, 1975) produces one basic product, a human language, in one fundamental way.

The Input Hypothesis applies to the acquisition of writing as well as speaking. A number of research studies show a relationship between reading and writing. Good writers, it has been found, have done more reading for their own interest and pleasure than poor writers, and programs that get students hooked on books help develop writing skills. (Krashen, 1985:18-19) Krashen (1985:19) hypothesizes that writing competence comes only from large amounts of self-motivated reading for pleasure and interest. It is reading that gives the writer the feel for the look and quality of good writing.

Reading is the most helpful for the development of writing. Through reading, language learners receive large quantity of various linguistic materials. Through reading, new materials can gradually be absorbed and, at the same time, old materials can be reviewed and strengthened. (Zhu, 1994)

The students are required to read the in-class reading passages aloud again and again before and after class until fluent and encouraged to recite brilliant paragraphs in both the in-class reading passages and after-class reading passages. The after-class reading materials include English newspapers and magazines. In the university library, there are newspapers and magazines for English learning and reading practice. The students are encouraged to read them for their own interest and pleasure. They find, when reading, that they often come across words and phrases they have learned recently in the coursebooks, which helps them memorize those words and phrases. Then, it is easier for the students to use them when writing. Some students like copying in their notebooks what they are in favor of, such as funny stories of people from all walks of life. Some are accustomed to intensively reading the articles they are particularly interested in, making word lists and memorizing new words and phrases that they can use in writing as well. It is also advisable for them to memorize frequently-used proverbs and apply them appropriately to their compositions, which highlight their writing.

Ⅴ. Good Use of Ready Sample Writing in Students’ Book

In coursebooks likeCollegeCoreEnglish(Yang, 1999) andNewHorizonCollegeEnglish(Zheng, 2003), the writing part of a unit in students’ book is composed of the structure analysis of a text or a paragraph taken from the text, the exercises of structure

analysis, sample of structured writing, and structured writing practice.

The teacher makes good use of the sample writing with the ready outlines serving as models in students’ book. The students whose English is not good can be asked to write paragraphs and compositions based on the given outlines with samples after reading them, then compare their own writing with the samples. By doing this, they find it easier to take the next step to deal with the writing assignment. The students whose English level is relatively high can be asked to write the composition according to the outline BEFORE reading the sample. After finishing the composition, they can compare their own writing with the sample and see what their strengths and weaknesses are. After that, they can take the next step to complete the writing assignment.

Ⅵ. Dictation for Sample Writing

Learning the coursebooks in which only process-focused approach is taken for reference, many students don’t have a clear idea about how the paragraphs in a composition can be developed. When the students finish their compositions, the teacher dictates the sample writing to them. The students do not necessarily hand in their dictation. Instead, they keep it as a reward for their work.

When having the dictation, the students listen to the sample for three times and note it down. For the first time, they just listen to the sample, trying to understand most part of it. For the second time, they are required to note down the sample when they listen to it sentence by sentence. For the third time, they complete and check what they have noted down. Before or after the dictation, some words, phrases and expressions are shown and explained so as to let the students be clear about them. Students prefer learning those words, phrases and expressions before or after the dictation rather than during it.

By doing this, the students get writing samples and improve their skill at taking notes at the same time. With the samples, they see clearly how the compositions can be developed. Since some students cannot write down every word they listen to when taking dictation and they want to know exactly what the missing words are, several copies of the sample composition are distributed after the dictation either at the end of a class or during the break. The students check what they have noted down and complete the sample they have got from the dictation. They benefit a lot from such activities.

Ⅶ. Discussions before Writing

Discussions can be organized and carried out before writing. Oral practice can precede writing activities, which is well

arranged and presented inNewCollegeEnglish(Ying, 2000). During the oral practice, students can fully exchange their ideas about the given topic which is closely related to that of the passages in the same unit where the writing task is. During the course of the discussion, students broaden their views on the topic and have new ideas which can be noted down. They exchange their

ideas and, as a result, have more to write. Apparently, many of them write compositions better after discussions.

Ⅷ. Correction and Grading for the Compositions

The teacher instructs the students to form the habit of checking the compositions for at least three times to see if there is something to be improved or corrected before handing them in. They check closely whether there is any paragraph developing, grammatical or spelling mistakes. Some students prefer handing in neat copies of their self-revised compositions. They are required to write “It has been revised” below their writing to inform the teacher that they have done what the teacher asks them to do.

According to Hyland (2005:78), writing is fundamentally learned through practice, rather than taught, and the teacher’s best methods are flexibility and support. At the beginning of non-English majors’ writing practice, the teacher’s main role is to encourage the students to write freely without being afraid of making mistakes. So, minor mistakes should be tolerated when correcting the assignments so that the students are enabled to have a relaxed state of mind when writing. It is effective for keeping the students’ interest in writing, which is very important for the improvement of their writing competence. When grading the compositions, different brief remarks can be used, such as “Right!” “Good!” “Very good!” and “Excellent!” (Wang, 2000) For the need of improvement in a particular aspect, advice can be written beside the brief remarks, such as “Try to improve your handwriting.” “Try not to write dots where full stops are not needed.” “Read as much as you can. When you read, pay special attention to how different ideas are expressed in English.” The teacher records the grades of the students’ writing as part of formative evaluation.

Ⅸ. Comments, Models and Explanations

Of the same necessity are the teacher’s brief comments on the students’ work, presentation of excellent compositions as models, and explanation of the correct or proper ways of expressing some ideas in English. Those can be carried out in class.

The teacher’s comments on the students’ work include the strengths and weaknesses in the students’ compositions, the improvement of their writing, the problems to be paid attention to, and space for improvement. The students who are interested in English writing should be encouraged to write as much as they can (Wang, 2000). Some of them can write three pages or more, showing their bright creative thinking and good command of the target language. However, there must be some time for the students to write at least 120/150 words in their compositions within half an hour without referring to any dictionary, which are the requirements in CET-4 and CET-6. In their practice, the students acquire the ability to express an idea in a different way if they cannot express it directly.

For a small part of students, there is a phenomenon that some of the students whose English level on entering the university is moderate show more creative thinking in their writing but with more mistakes or improperness, while some whose English level is relatively high on entering the university write hollow compositions, although the language itself is good. The teacher reminds the students of that and asks them to pay attention to their weaknesses and overcome them. Meanwhile, in teaching and activities, the teacher stimulates the students’ creativity in writing.

The teacher lets the students know the correct or proper ways to express some ideas that have been expressed in the incorrect or improper ways in their compositions. Common mistakes are mentioned and analyzed with emphasis in class.

The teacher also presents students’ excellent compositions as models by distributing the copies in class or during breaks. The students benefit a lot from such comments, explanations and models. They are greatly inspired by the model compositions written by their fellow students and stimulated into better writing.

Ⅹ. Conclusions

With the comprehensive application of the above-mentioned approaches, the students’ writing competence has been greatly developed and improved. Some of them write so well that their compositions are much better than the sample ones in content and more literarily graceful, despite few grammatical mistakes or vocabulary inappropriateness. Those compositions with the teachers’ correction have been presented in class to serve as models for other students and inspire them to write better.

[1]Chomsky, N. 1975. Reflections on Language[M].New York: Pantheon Books.

[2] Hyland, K. 2005. Teaching and Researching Writing[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[3] Krashen, S.D. 1985. The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications[M].New York: Longman Inc.

[4] Vygotsky, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes[M].Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[5] Wang, Chuming. 2000. Improving English through Writing[J].Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 32/3.

[6] Yang, Huizhong. 1999. College Core English, Third Edition[M].Higher Education Press.

[7] Ying, Huilan. 2000. New College English, First Edition[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[8] Zheng, Shutang. 2003. New Horizon College English[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[9] Zhu, Chun. 1994. Psychology of Foreign Language Teaching[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

劉紅文，女，內(nèi)蒙古科技大學(xué)外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院副教授，研究方向：應(yīng)用語(yǔ)言學(xué)；

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綜合應(yīng)用多種方法提高學(xué)生英語(yǔ)寫作能力

劉紅文1張克實(shí)2

(1.內(nèi)蒙古科技大學(xué) 外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院，內(nèi)蒙古 包頭 014010；2.包頭醫(yī)學(xué)院第二附屬醫(yī)院，內(nèi)蒙古 包頭 014030)

在大學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)中綜合運(yùn)用一些行之有效的方法，對(duì)培養(yǎng)與提高學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)寫作能力大有裨益。對(duì)英語(yǔ)水平不同的學(xué)生，寫作要求應(yīng)該有所區(qū)別，以鼓勵(lì)、激勵(lì)學(xué)生積極地寫作。通過應(yīng)用這些方法和學(xué)生的勤寫多練，學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)寫作能力與水平得到了顯著提高。

最近發(fā)展區(qū)； 造句； 寫提綱； 模范作文傳閱

張克實(shí)，男，包頭醫(yī)學(xué)院第二附屬醫(yī)院主任醫(yī)師，研究方向：腫瘤醫(yī)學(xué)臨床與教育。