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1、Project Title:A Study on Improving Middle School Students Writing Ability InvestigatorChang AizhenDingxi Branch of Gansu Radio & TV UniversitySubmitted on 4th Aug. 2013In fulfillment of the coursePractical Project DesignAcknowledgementsDuring the months of research which led to this paper, I have re
2、ceived help and guidance from Mrs. Fu. Her great patience and stimulating supervision played a vital part in the completion of this study. I owe to Mrs. Fu for help and advice at the early stage of my research. I am also grateful to my colleagues Wang Shijun, Ma Hongbin, Liu Yanyan, Wang Chong and W
3、ei Yuzhen for their time spent on brainstorming and panel discussions with me. No amount of thanks will be adequate for my students without whose willing participation in the project implementation it would have remained on paper.Last but not the least, big thanks to my husband and my son who has sh
4、ared with me my worries, frustrations, and hopefully my ultimate happiness in eventually finishing this project. I will finish my study soon, so I decided to write my report.AbstractThis paper presents a detailed report of the project implemented to solve the problem that my students are weak in Eng
5、lish writing. It is hypothesized that students writing ability could be improved through three-step teaching design. This hypothesis is verified by a four-week classroom teaching of the newly designed activities. And I find that three-step writing strategy is really a good way to improve the student
6、s writing ability.Key words: writing ability; three-step strategy; teaching designMain Headings of the Project Report1. Introduction2. Project objective3. Project hypothesis4. Problem analysis5. Project rationale 6. Project design7. Project implementation8. Project evaluation9. ConclusionReferencesA
7、ppendixesAppendix A Tape of classroom teaching implementationAppendix B Students handouts1.Introduction My name is Chang Aizhen. I am 27 years old. I was born in Longxi County, Dingxi City of Gansu Province. I graduated from Hebei Vocational College in 2008. My major is Business English. Now, I am t
8、eaching English at Kezhai Middle School. I have a three-year experience of teaching English. This year, I am teaching the students of Grade 7. The problem that I have come across in my teaching is how to improve students writing ability.2. Project Objective The objective of my project is to improve
9、my students writing ability through three-step teaching strategy.3. Project HypothesisIt is hypothesized that learners interest in writing is increased by three-step teaching strategy.4. Problem Analysis4.1 ProblemThe problem I consider is that my most of my students are weak in English writing. 4.2
10、 Problem analysis As one of the four-basical skills of English learning, undoubtedly, writing is very important.However, one of the most obvious phenomenoe is that many junior students fail to write simple sentence to correctly express their ideas, which are able to be understood clearly. Meanwhile,
11、 many students even dont know how to begin with writing and even they can find nothing to write when they are asked to write. They want to work out excellent compositions, but dont know how to work on them. My research indicated that there are two main reasons accounting for the problem. One is that
12、 they are lack of basic language skills and they dont know how to integrate sentence patterns in their compositions. The other reason is that most students can not get use words and structures correctly. And imitating and practising, I think, is critical important to have a good grasp of English wri
13、ting.I have seriously pondered on a number of ways to solve these problems. The top priority is to guide students to develop a good way of writing. In the process of my research, I employ the analytic method, cause analysis and questionnaires correspondingly.4.2.1 Analytic methodThe analytic method
14、means a close examination of the way the problem is stated. It is to explore its consequences and implications. A lot of students have weak English foundation and do not have a good grasp of vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing. Most students just memorize the meaning of each word, but they dont
15、 know how to use it. When they study grammar, they just pick out sentence and let teachers tell them the sentence structure. They study grammar passively and independently. Therefore, when they are asked to write a specified topic, they dont know how to use the words and grammar they have learned to
16、 express the ideas they want to. I am aware of these problems: 1, why some students write excellent compositions, while others do not? 2, Is it the problem of my students or the problem of my teaching plan design? Probably it is the students individual problems; probably my teaching plan was designe
17、d improperly, or maybe my teaching method is wrong.4.2.2 Cause analysisI considered my problem from the teachers side, the students side, and the class size side. I asked myself a series of questions and tried to provide some answers to them. Why did most of my students not do writing practice? In o
18、rder to know more about this issue, I started with a list of factors that my contribute to the causes.The teachers side-that is myself The students writing situation is necessary to be changed, but the situation is right like a disease. It has its deep root. It is heavily influenced by the old teach
19、ing pattern the Grammar Translation Method. The method is like that the grammar of the classical language had to be described and broken down into learnable chucks; Verbs are conjugated, nouns were declined, teases were explained and exemplified. The vocabulary also had to be listed and learned with
20、 a great deal of attention paid to the more philology of the words, how they were made up and combined. The rules of pronunciation were described, they were regular and they had to be learned only so that the texts could be read aloud, and so teachers speak much but students practice little. I think
21、 it is bad for improving the students writing level. At all, how to put the solution of the problem into daily teaching. How to raise the students interest in English writing, how to develop the students rich imagination, it is very important and necessary.The students sideStudents do not know the i
22、mportance of their own practice. Learning a language or skill, the most effective way is to practice it. To us English Learners, if we want to master a language including mastering all its skills, we must think something in it, express some in it. Karl Marx ever said, “when you are learning a foreig
23、n language, you must learn to forget your native language.” That is to say. When we are learning foreign language, we must put ourselves into an atmosphere of foreign language. The class sizeThere are more than 80 students in my two classes It is really difficult to control them in such large classe
24、s. In Class, I have no enough time to provide the students to practice writing. On the other hand there are few opportunities for a face-to-face correcting mistakes between my students and I of all the cause, I believe that the teacher is mainly responsible for the failure. 4.2.3 QuestionnaireI desi
25、gned a questionnaire in order to know more details about English writing from 65 students by the end of April and let students answer them spontaneously in 5 minutes. Questionnaire: Items Agreement Do you like to write in English?39Do you think written English is popular and indispensable in interna
26、tional society?64Are you interested in written class？45Do you want to improve your writing ability?58Based on the findings, I found that 60% of the students dont like to write in English, but almost 98% of them consider that written English is very important and indispensable in international enviro
27、nmental atmosphere. Over 70% of them have little interest in English writing class, they think writing class is very boring. Only 15% of them think English writing is very easy and they are very interested in it, also over 90% of them have a strong desire to improve their writing ability.5. Project
28、rationale5.1 The features of writingSpeaking and listening are natural and as such doing not have to be learned. Most people know how to speak and listen in order to communicate and most individuals can read as well. On the other hand, writing is not natural and it must be learned. Generally, someon
29、e has to teach you how to write. Writing is disliked and avoided because it is frustrating. It is frustrating because it is unnatural. Speaking is natural and not frustrating; when we speak, we open our mouths and words flow out easily. We do not think about the grammatical correctness of the uttera
30、nces, nor do we think about mechanics. We do not repeat utterances over and over again to check for correctness or appropriateness. Speech takes place very quickly; the words are spoken and soon lost forever. Most writing, on the contrary, does not flow out smoothly. We write a few lines, reread the
31、m, scribble out one of the lines and move on. We are constantly checking for correctness.5.2 The role of writing teachingFirst, writing serves as a tool in teaching all language skills. It can be integrated with the teaching of listening comprehension, oral presentation, and reading skills. For exam
32、ple, making noted and writing summaries can be used in teaching listening comprehension, writing outlines and scripts can be used for the preparation of oral presentations, and writing can be integrated with the teaching of reading skills by asking the students to write answers to reading comprehens
33、ion questions.Second, writing may be a goal in itself. Since writing is often required for passing a particular examination, from writing simple answers at an elementary level to composing essays at an advanced level, teaching writing can surely help meet students needs in fulfilling their full cour
34、se of study.Third, writing has its practical value and can be used as stimulus in motivating students to learn the language. For example, students may write notes or letters to communicate with teachers, classmate, and friends. If they have access to Internet, they may be able to communicate with ot
35、hers around the world in English wherever they are. They may find writing useful in applying for further study opportunities as well as in looking for a better job since many jobs require applicants to have good command of written English.6. Project Design Week1 Activity1Write a letter to a pen-palF
36、or use with: learning English student book 1 unit8 My Country and English-speaking countries. Lesson 59 China.Activity onePurpose: to help students collect the information of writing.Introductions: Teacher asks the students to work in small groups and introduce some places of interests in Beijing. T
37、hen discuss the weather in Beijing. They write down the related information on the worksheet.Procedures:Step1: The teacher asks students to read the text and find out some places of interests in Beijing.Step2: The teacher asks a student to write them on the blackboard, such as: Tiananmen Square, the
38、 Palace Museum, the Great WallStep3: The teacher divides all the students into groups and let them talk about the weather in different seasons. Eg: In Spring the weather in Beijing is a little cold. Its a good time to visit the Palace Museum.Step4: The teacher asks some students to stand in front of
39、 the class and do some sentences like that.For the student:You need to brainstorm some places of interests in Beijing and the weather in different four seasons.Activity two For use with: learning English student book 1 unit8 My Country and English-speaking countries. Lesson 59 China.Purpose: to help
40、 students know what should be included in their writing. Instructions: The teacher help students know what should be including in their writing. Eg: the places of interests in Beijing, the weather in different seasons. The teacher helps student organize these information into proper sentences and fi
41、nish their first draft.Procedures:Step1: The teacher divides the whole class into small group to discuss what is the difference between Chinese and English letters.Step 2: The teacher explains the format of English letters.Step 3: The teacher helps students write their article if student need, give
42、them a hand.Step 4: The teacher asks students to arrange their writing.Step 5: The teacher asks students to finish their writing in 20 minutes.For the student: In this period, you should write an article to introduce Beijing. In the article you should write the places of interests of Beijing and wea
43、thers, and you can add everything that is about Beijing. You need to pay attention to use the proper words and sentences.Activity three:For use with: learning English student book1Unit 8 My Country and English-speaking countries. Lesson 59 China.Purpose: To help the students correct their errors in
44、their writing.Introduction: Students do the self-check on their writing according to spelling, tense and punctuation. Then the teacher shows two pieces of papers and students compare them and provide suggestions.Procedures:Step1: The teacher sets 10 minutes to students to correct their writings each
45、 other.Step2: The teacher helps the students correct the errors.Step3: The teacher asks the students rewrite the writing,For the students: When you finish your first writing you should do the self-check carefully. Then you can correct it with your partner. Find out the mistakes. Next time, please pa
46、y more attention.Week1 Activity2Write about your trip to BeijingFor use with: learning English Student Book2 Unit 1 A Trip to Beijing Lesson5 Planning a TripActivity One Purpose: To help students collect the information of writing.Instructions: The teacher divides the whole class into small groups,
47、and helps them know that it is very important to make a plan before doing things. Then they know about Li Mings plans to Beijing and note down the key information.Procedures:Step1: The teacher plays a tape and shows the students Li Mings plan for trip to Beijing. Then she asks them to write down wha
48、t Li Ming will do every day.Step2: Students listen again and try to understand Li Mings plan for their trip, and note down the key information.Step3: According to the text, students talk about their own plans for Beijing trip.Step4: The teacher asks some students to show their plans in front of the class.For the students: Firstly you listen to the tape carefully. When you listen to the tape in the second time, please note down something about Li Mings plan for Beijing trip. At last you can work in small groups and talk about your own plans to Beijing.Activit
