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The Application of the Process Genre Approach to the College English Writing Teaching

Author: WenZuo
Tutor: WangXiaoJun
School: Ningxia University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: college English writing teaching the application the process genreapproach writing apprehension
CLC: H319.3
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2013
Downloads: 70
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Abstract

College EFL writing has always been regarded as a language teaching and research focus and it plays an important role in promoting the students’comprehensive ability in the application of English language. But the current situation in college EFL writing in China is not satisfactory. Therefore, improving college students’ English writing proficiency and finding an effective teaching approach has become an urgent need for both teachers and students.Badger and White (2000) suggest an integrated approach:the process genre approach, which makes good use of three traditional writing approaches:the product approach, the process approach and the genre approach. There are some studies on the practical effect of the process-genre approach on the students’scores in English writing, but there are few studies concerned with the students’emotion factors which influence their writing especially about whether this approach can change the students’writing attitude such as reducing their writing apprehension. And writing apprehension is the key element that hinders the improvement in students’English writing. The author of this study not only presents the application effect of this approach on the students’scores in English writing through the analysis of the data got from the software SPSS, but also discusses whether this approach can alleviate the students’writing apprehension through the analysis of the result of the questionnaires and the interview. Therefore, this study is innovative.The study aims to search for the answers to the following three questions in order to test the application effect of this approach on Non-English majors in Ningxia University.1. Is process genre approach better than the product approach in developing students’ overall writing abilities?2. In what aspects can the process-genre approach improve the students’ writing proficiency?3. Does process genre approach have significant effect on alleviating students’ writing apprehension?Two separate classes of80non-English major sophomores from two natural classes in the School of Politics and Law in Ningxia University were chosen as subjects in the experiment. Class one(N=40) is assigned to be the experiment class (EC) and class two(N=40) is the controlled class(CC).CC was taught with the Product Approach (most English teachers in Ningxia university apply this approach), while EC was instructed with the Process Genre Approach. It was conducted in the second semester of the academic year2011-2012and lasted a term (16weeks).Software SPSS is then adopted to make the statistic analysis to investigate the differences in students’writing performance between the two groups of students before and after a semester’s treatment by adopting different approaches. The whole experiment is divided into two phases:the pre-test and the post-test. Based on the data collected from SPSS and the analysis of the questionnaire and the interview the following findings were made:1. The process-genre approach is better than product approach in developing students’ overall writing abilities.2. The process-genre approach can improve the students’ writing ability in arranging the structure and choosing the content but it is not so effective as the product approach in improving the students’language proficiency (especially grammar).3. The process-genre approach can alleviate the students’writing apprehension to a certain degree and promote students’writing interests.The process-genre writing teaching approach effectively improves non-English majors’writing ability and does reduce their writing apprehension to some degree. At the same time, the author discusses the pedagogical implications of the approach to writing teaching. Though we have got a satisfied result in the experiment, there are many limitations and deficiencies. The author hopes to provide some insights in this and therefore help non-English majors in Ningxia University improve their English writing proficiency.

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CLC: > Language, writing > FOREIGN > English > Language teaching > Teaching method
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