Cause Analysis of English Writing Apprehension of Secondary Vocational Students

【Abstract】English writing apprehension is an inevitable problem in secondary vocational schools.In the paper，the author analyzes causes in terms of second language proficiency，self-efficacy，first language writing competence and other factors，ultimately，gives teachers some practical proposals.

【Key words】English Writing Apprehension； Secondary Vocational Students

Writing apprehension，a construct created by Daly and Miller has been conceived of as“a situation and subject-specific individual difference that is concerned with a persons general tendency to approach or avoid writing accompanied by some amount of evaluation.”It has been studied by many linguistics and proved to be negatived correlated with writing proficiency.For most secondary vocational students，the phenomenon is more obvious，what are the causes ？

1.Second language proficiency

According to Chomskys theory language proficiency includes competence and performance.Competence is ones underlying knowledge of a system，event，or fact.It is the nonobservable ability to do something，to perform something.Performance is the overtly observable and concrete manifestation or realization of competence.It is the actual doing of something：walking，singing，dancing，speaking.Besides，there is another dichotomy which means comprehension and production.Production is more directly observable，but comprehension is as much performance - a“willful act，”to use Saussures term-as production is.Therefor，we define“second language proficiency” as competence，performance，comprehension and production.

A significant number of vocational students are weak in English.They do not know the phonetics，cant read words or understand the sentence，not to mention speak or write fluently.Insufficient knowledge leads to poor ability to listen，to speak，to read，and especially to write.In terms of discourse，there is often one section； from the level of sentence，most are incomplete，or there is no subject or predicate，or neither.Some students mix up S+V with the S+V+P，the majority of students avoid compound and complex sentences.From the word level，limited vocabulary hinder idea conveyance.These result in some abandon writing tasks，some copy part of the reading comprehension，or some write many words in Chinese or blank instead，only the minority can complete in accordance with the writing requirement.

2.Second language writing self-efficacy

Writing self-efficacy is the extent or strength of one's belief in one's own ability to complete writing tasks.It is the judgment of self ability.Generally speaking，the successful experience will enhance self-efficacy，repeated failure will lower it.In learners memory，teachers red corrections are much more than praises，and the low score on writing papers remind their poor ability.Though they know they will make mistakes in writing，they dont know how to avoid the same errors due to their lack of knowledge.Little success and repeated failure result in low second language writing self-efficacy.

3.First language writing competence

Being less advanced，they have learning difficulties on first language writing.Many Chinese teachers point out the following problems which must negatively influence English writing：First，they make the topic as title or their topics are irrelevant or there is no title at all.Second，the content is too shallow or impoverished.Third，the structure is unclear.Fourth，they often write in a mess mind with radical views.

4.Other factors

Firstly，with little attention to English writing，there is always no writing class or writing guidance in secondary vocational schools.Secondly，outmoded writing training makes students less interested.Thirdly，the score the evaluation，that reduce students confidence.

In our future English writing teaching，with more attention，teachers should：help students reinforce elementary knowledge； extend the text and guide students ponder on the topic； give model essays to follow； encourage students to communicate with each other before writing； and the teacher should give immediate evaluation with appreciation.

References：

[1]Brown，H.D.Principles of Language Learning and Teaching[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2002.

[2]Daly，J.A & Miller，M.D （1975） The development of a measure of writing apprehension.Research in the teaching of English，9，242-249.

[3]王文宇，王立非.二語寫作研究：十年回顧與展望[J].外語界， 2004，（3）：51-58.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：劉芩利（1986），女，漢族，四川南充人，在職英語教師，研究生在讀，研究方向：課程與教學(xué)論。