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【Abstract】Listening, speaking,reading and writing are four basic skills that an English learner should have a good command of.Writing is usually used to solidify grammar structure and speech patterns in English study.As international exchange expanses,there are more people who need English writing in their work or study.English writing has indeed attracted much attention,but it is still a great obstacle for many people.English learners often don’t know how to write or what to write.This thesis first analyses the nature of writing,which is a process of creating and discovering.Write is difficult for both learners of the native and second language.On the above basis,the thesis explores the factors that influence English learners’ process of writing.Through such analysis,the thesis discusses some writing techniques and proposes some writing skills.It focuses on researching Process-writing approach and analyses its effectiveness to promote students’ ability of writing.Process-writing approach reflects fully the process of writing,which has students play a center role,thus adopt students as writing’s dominant factor to upgrade ability of writing.
【Key words】English writing(L2 writing);Ｐrocess-writing approach;Ｗriting technique
０．Introduction
As far as English writing is concerned,people have increasingly realized the importance of writing ability in English.Students intending to study in an English-speaking country have to take an English proficiency test that includes writing component.Scientists publishing a paper in an international journal have to prepare an English manuscript.English majors now find opportunities to become journalists who have to write in English for newspapers,magazines;they may also work in joint ventures who have to conduct business in English,both spoken and written. What’s more,an ability to communicate in written English is a great aid for cyber people to cling on the information space ninety-eight percent of which is dominated by English language
1.Sources of L2 writing failure
1.1 L1 interference
When learning a foreign language,an individual already knows his mother tongue,so the knowledge of pronunciation,vocabulary and grammar in Chinese might have negative influence on English learning.
Evidences showing interference of the mother tongue may be found easily,especially in sentence structure and vocabulary according to our statistic figure.For example:
(1)Some people think it necessary,but some other people think no. (2)In China,a people can read and write English is enough now.
(3)Only writing can’t say how a student knows English.
(4)They don’t interested in speaking English.
(5)The importance of English is big.
(6)I prepared to spend most of my time in practicing spoken English.
(7)Get good scores.
(8)Second, the duty of the education of college English isn’t only high score.
Obviously,errors resulted from the Chinese expression habits;either in syntax or vocabulary tends to recur in the language of difficult individuals.There is little reason to doubt that we will find many mistakes,which can be traced back to the mother tongue.
1.2 Overgeneralization
Next overgeneralization and oversimplification will be discussed that can be found within the structure of English itself.
Learners often create some deviant structure on the basis of other structures in the target language, and they often generalize the rules, fail to take exceptions and restrictions into consideration because of his limit exposure to the language and his insufficient data from which he can derive more complex rules.Generalization usually involves the creation of one deviant structure in palace of the target language structures.For example:
If they meet with a foreigner, they would not be able to cope with.
By using ‘meet with’,the learner is generalizing the rule that ‘meet’ must be followed by preposition‘with’ when is object is difficulties, barriers,etc.But when its object is a person, no preposition is needed.
1.3 Lack of practice
Writing is important among the basic language skills.Writing, as well as speaking, is normally considered as a productive and creative skill. Therefore,the acquisition of this skill seems to be more laborious and demanding for the EFL learners.The most important reasons may be:
(1)Time limit:Presently,English is a required course of all college students.And the course time varies from 4 to 6 hours,students need to do intensive reading,extensive reading,listening and writing.Because of the time limit,the teaching activity is restricted to the practice of other skills rather than writing that is performed in a perfunctory manner with one or two compositions each term.
(2)Test-centered learning:Motivation is essential for all sorts of learning.Most college students who study English have a practical purpose:to fulfill the course requirement, pass the Band Four or Six to gain a certificate,which is perhaps necessary for a decent job after graduation.At present,CET-4,6 are proficiency test based on the national teaching syllabus,which lays much emphasis on the importance of reading.As a result,they spend most of their time practicing reading. (3)Misunderstanding about writing:Writing is a continuing process of discovering how to find the most effective language for communicating one’s thoughts and feelings.It is challenging whether writing in one’s native language or in a second language.Writing is tedious and painstaking work.Some learners may think that writing is the writers business,which has nothing to do with them.
2.Resolutions to factors influencing L2 writing
2.1 Learning the TL thought-pattern
Though differences exist between Chinese and English thought pattern,it does not mean that one is superior to the other.The important matter for the students to bear in mind is that when studying a certain language,it is better to express oneself in the target language thought-pattern. Otherwise,the composition may seem not to revolve around the theme according to the target language criteria.
When required to write a composition,some students do not think directly in English,but in Chinese.The English composition is but a translation version from Chinese.So,to form or to learn English thought-pattern,the most important thing is to think in English.The proposed ways to learn English way of thought-pattern is first to think in English instead of Chinese.The second is to summarize the reading material, which is written by English speaking people.The third is to outline the texts.The learners can take some other ways that are suitable to them.
2.2 Applying Appropriate Writing Approach
The traditional and still prevailing approach to English writing in China is generally product-based.Such an approach focuses on producing different kinds of writing products and emphasizes imitation of different kinds of model paragraphs instead of the writing process.Students are chiefly engaged in display writing rather than real writing (Brown,1994).
In recent years, numerous writing researchers (張在新 1995；杨晋毅1998；滕春红1993 etc)have pointed out the limitation of product approach to the teaching of writing. A product approach concentrates on ends rather than mean. By focusing on the form and structure, the composing processes are ignored.But process cannot be inferred from and product.So,researchers and teachers are doing effort to explore effective ways that can improve students’ writing skills.As a result,the relatively new approach—process-writing approach is now beginning to be introduced into Chinese writing classroom.
2.3 Process-writing approach
Murray(1980) distinguishes three stages in process writing: rehearsing or prewriting, drafting, and revising. Rehearsing, or prewriting is the beginning of process writing which involves learners working together in groups to generate ideas about a particular topic; thinking about the topic; letting ideas interact, develop, and organize themselves; and thinking about the audience and the purpose of the writing task. At this stage the student may not know how many of the ideas onto paper in rough form. The student sketches out an idea, examines it, and follows it through for a while—perhaps letting it follows its own course. What has been written serves to generate further ideas, plans and goals. Thus the process of writing creates its own meaning. The student may also go back to the rehearsing phase, and alternate between the rehearsing and drafting phases. Revising involves evaluating what has been written and making deletions or additions as necessary, “to help the writing say what it intends to say”(Murray 1980). At this stage, the main concern is clarity as the student looks at organization and sequencing of ideas, the need for additional information or examples,areas of confusion, and words or phrases that could make the writing clearer(Cheatham, 1994).What we should be aware is that the three stages don’t develop linearly, but circulatory. Researches show that successful learners appear to produce better-quality writing because they use more appropriate writing processes. Their successful use of rehearsing,drafting,and revising behaviors ultimately gives them better control of the content and form of what they write. A number of fundamental changes toward the teaching of writing are hence emerging from attempts to incorporate a process perspective into second language writing programs. These changes affect the roles of learners, the roles of teachers, and the kinds of instructional that are employed in the writing classroom. Case studies of successful second and foreign language writing programs (Zamel, 1987) reveal that in process-focused classrooms there is a shift from language-focused activities to learner-centered tasks in which students assume greater control over what they write, how they write it, and the evaluation of their own writing.
3.Conclusion
For a long time, the teaching of second language writing has often been synonymous with the teaching of grammar and sentence structure. This view of writing is reflected in how the teachers correct the students’ composition. It is very common that teachers mostly focus their emphasis on sentence structure, grammatical skills, diction, spelling, punctuation and other superficial or overt problems when reading the students’ writing work. Students are always at loss what to write. In this paper, processing writing approach was proposed to solve this problem. In process approach, the teacher primarily facilitates the learner’s writing, and providing input or stimulus is considered to be less important, like babies and children who develop, rather than learn, their mother tongue, second language learners develop, rather than consciously learn, writing skills. What the teacher can do is to draw out the learner’s potentials. It is unavoidable that some of the discussion or analysis will fall into subjectivity. However, realizing the complexity of the factors influencing L2 writing and the countermeasures against these factors will lead at least to a greater understanding of the difficulties that learner face.
【Key words】English writing(L2 writing);Ｐrocess-writing approach;Ｗriting technique
０．Introduction
As far as English writing is concerned,people have increasingly realized the importance of writing ability in English.Students intending to study in an English-speaking country have to take an English proficiency test that includes writing component.Scientists publishing a paper in an international journal have to prepare an English manuscript.English majors now find opportunities to become journalists who have to write in English for newspapers,magazines;they may also work in joint ventures who have to conduct business in English,both spoken and written. What’s more,an ability to communicate in written English is a great aid for cyber people to cling on the information space ninety-eight percent of which is dominated by English language
1.Sources of L2 writing failure
1.1 L1 interference
When learning a foreign language,an individual already knows his mother tongue,so the knowledge of pronunciation,vocabulary and grammar in Chinese might have negative influence on English learning.
Evidences showing interference of the mother tongue may be found easily,especially in sentence structure and vocabulary according to our statistic figure.For example:
(1)Some people think it necessary,but some other people think no. (2)In China,a people can read and write English is enough now.
(3)Only writing can’t say how a student knows English.
(4)They don’t interested in speaking English.
(5)The importance of English is big.
(6)I prepared to spend most of my time in practicing spoken English.
(7)Get good scores.
(8)Second, the duty of the education of college English isn’t only high score.
Obviously,errors resulted from the Chinese expression habits;either in syntax or vocabulary tends to recur in the language of difficult individuals.There is little reason to doubt that we will find many mistakes,which can be traced back to the mother tongue.
1.2 Overgeneralization
Next overgeneralization and oversimplification will be discussed that can be found within the structure of English itself.
Learners often create some deviant structure on the basis of other structures in the target language, and they often generalize the rules, fail to take exceptions and restrictions into consideration because of his limit exposure to the language and his insufficient data from which he can derive more complex rules.Generalization usually involves the creation of one deviant structure in palace of the target language structures.For example:
If they meet with a foreigner, they would not be able to cope with.
By using ‘meet with’,the learner is generalizing the rule that ‘meet’ must be followed by preposition‘with’ when is object is difficulties, barriers,etc.But when its object is a person, no preposition is needed.
1.3 Lack of practice
Writing is important among the basic language skills.Writing, as well as speaking, is normally considered as a productive and creative skill. Therefore,the acquisition of this skill seems to be more laborious and demanding for the EFL learners.The most important reasons may be:
(1)Time limit:Presently,English is a required course of all college students.And the course time varies from 4 to 6 hours,students need to do intensive reading,extensive reading,listening and writing.Because of the time limit,the teaching activity is restricted to the practice of other skills rather than writing that is performed in a perfunctory manner with one or two compositions each term.
(2)Test-centered learning:Motivation is essential for all sorts of learning.Most college students who study English have a practical purpose:to fulfill the course requirement, pass the Band Four or Six to gain a certificate,which is perhaps necessary for a decent job after graduation.At present,CET-4,6 are proficiency test based on the national teaching syllabus,which lays much emphasis on the importance of reading.As a result,they spend most of their time practicing reading. (3)Misunderstanding about writing:Writing is a continuing process of discovering how to find the most effective language for communicating one’s thoughts and feelings.It is challenging whether writing in one’s native language or in a second language.Writing is tedious and painstaking work.Some learners may think that writing is the writers business,which has nothing to do with them.
2.Resolutions to factors influencing L2 writing
2.1 Learning the TL thought-pattern
Though differences exist between Chinese and English thought pattern,it does not mean that one is superior to the other.The important matter for the students to bear in mind is that when studying a certain language,it is better to express oneself in the target language thought-pattern. Otherwise,the composition may seem not to revolve around the theme according to the target language criteria.
When required to write a composition,some students do not think directly in English,but in Chinese.The English composition is but a translation version from Chinese.So,to form or to learn English thought-pattern,the most important thing is to think in English.The proposed ways to learn English way of thought-pattern is first to think in English instead of Chinese.The second is to summarize the reading material, which is written by English speaking people.The third is to outline the texts.The learners can take some other ways that are suitable to them.
2.2 Applying Appropriate Writing Approach
The traditional and still prevailing approach to English writing in China is generally product-based.Such an approach focuses on producing different kinds of writing products and emphasizes imitation of different kinds of model paragraphs instead of the writing process.Students are chiefly engaged in display writing rather than real writing (Brown,1994).
In recent years, numerous writing researchers (張在新 1995；杨晋毅1998；滕春红1993 etc)have pointed out the limitation of product approach to the teaching of writing. A product approach concentrates on ends rather than mean. By focusing on the form and structure, the composing processes are ignored.But process cannot be inferred from and product.So,researchers and teachers are doing effort to explore effective ways that can improve students’ writing skills.As a result,the relatively new approach—process-writing approach is now beginning to be introduced into Chinese writing classroom.
2.3 Process-writing approach
Murray(1980) distinguishes three stages in process writing: rehearsing or prewriting, drafting, and revising. Rehearsing, or prewriting is the beginning of process writing which involves learners working together in groups to generate ideas about a particular topic; thinking about the topic; letting ideas interact, develop, and organize themselves; and thinking about the audience and the purpose of the writing task. At this stage the student may not know how many of the ideas onto paper in rough form. The student sketches out an idea, examines it, and follows it through for a while—perhaps letting it follows its own course. What has been written serves to generate further ideas, plans and goals. Thus the process of writing creates its own meaning. The student may also go back to the rehearsing phase, and alternate between the rehearsing and drafting phases. Revising involves evaluating what has been written and making deletions or additions as necessary, “to help the writing say what it intends to say”(Murray 1980). At this stage, the main concern is clarity as the student looks at organization and sequencing of ideas, the need for additional information or examples,areas of confusion, and words or phrases that could make the writing clearer(Cheatham, 1994).What we should be aware is that the three stages don’t develop linearly, but circulatory. Researches show that successful learners appear to produce better-quality writing because they use more appropriate writing processes. Their successful use of rehearsing,drafting,and revising behaviors ultimately gives them better control of the content and form of what they write. A number of fundamental changes toward the teaching of writing are hence emerging from attempts to incorporate a process perspective into second language writing programs. These changes affect the roles of learners, the roles of teachers, and the kinds of instructional that are employed in the writing classroom. Case studies of successful second and foreign language writing programs (Zamel, 1987) reveal that in process-focused classrooms there is a shift from language-focused activities to learner-centered tasks in which students assume greater control over what they write, how they write it, and the evaluation of their own writing.
3.Conclusion
For a long time, the teaching of second language writing has often been synonymous with the teaching of grammar and sentence structure. This view of writing is reflected in how the teachers correct the students’ composition. It is very common that teachers mostly focus their emphasis on sentence structure, grammatical skills, diction, spelling, punctuation and other superficial or overt problems when reading the students’ writing work. Students are always at loss what to write. In this paper, processing writing approach was proposed to solve this problem. In process approach, the teacher primarily facilitates the learner’s writing, and providing input or stimulus is considered to be less important, like babies and children who develop, rather than learn, their mother tongue, second language learners develop, rather than consciously learn, writing skills. What the teacher can do is to draw out the learner’s potentials. It is unavoidable that some of the discussion or analysis will fall into subjectivity. However, realizing the complexity of the factors influencing L2 writing and the countermeasures against these factors will lead at least to a greater understanding of the difficulties that learner face.