Rethinking the Teaching of English Writing in the Classroom.docVIP

Rethinking the Teaching of English Writing in the Classroom Zhiyong Deng 1 Yang Tao2 University of Shanghai for Science and Technology Abstract: The results of two surveys on Chinese college students of English prompt the authors of this paper to explore factors that result in the inefficiency of the teaching of English writing in the Chinese classroom. The factors include: misunderstanding of the nature of writing, and of the teacher’s role; problem with writing textbooks; insufficient English writing research. Key words: rethinking teaching of English writing problems 1. Introduction Teaching English writing to Chinese students has long been recognized as one of the most daunting tasks of college education in our country. So often do we hear writing teachers’ uneasy remarks about the poor quality of student writings, which mainly manifests itself in lack of substance, improper way of textual development and poor grammar. And so often do we hear students’ grumbling complaints about having nothing to say and not knowing how to say properly. “I have little to say about it,” says one student. “Writing is nastily boring, because I really don’t know how to write,” grumbles another. Such is a troubling scenario prevalent in our country, as is testified by one textbook I chanced upon one day when I was browsing a bookshelf in the largest book mall in Shanghai. The book presents a sharp observation of an alarming phenomenon: 对中国学生的作文调查, 有50%作文缺乏细节，中国学生英语写作中最突出的问题是写作内容的贫乏。他们对主要思想和细节的发现和挖掘远远不够。(Zhang Zaixin, 1995: 43) (Translation: A survey on Chinese students’ compositions shows that fifty percent of them lack details and that the most salient problem with them is that they lack substance because the students don’t go far enough to elaborate the central idea and the minor points.) Hopefully we expect the situation to have changed for the better in the period of several years that followed. Unfortunately, however, our hope is dashed by another book I chanced upon