聚焦于形式教學(xué)在高中英語寫作教學(xué)中的應(yīng)用Applying-Focus-on-Form-to-Writing-in-High-School畢業(yè)論文

-PAGE83-ApplyingFocusonFormtoWriting

inHighSchoolByTianMinAThesisSubmittedtoSchoolofForeignLanguagesandLiteraturesInPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsforTheDegreeofMasterofEducationUndertheSupervisionofProfessorLuoShaoqianandAssociateProfessorYuHuiDecember2010

APPLYINGFOCUSONFORMTOWRITINGINHIGHSCHOOLABSTRACTWritingisanessentiallanguageskillforhighschoolstudents,anditishighlightedinhighschoolEnglishCurriculumStandardsandNationalMatriculationEnglishTest.However,manyhighschoolstudentsfeelwritingthemostdifficultinEnglishlanguagelearning.Writingisaheadachetomoststudents,oneofthereasonsbeingthattheyareunabletoapplyvocabularyandgrammarlearnedintheirtextbookstotheirwriting.Focus-on-forminstructionhasbeenafocusinsecondlanguageacquisitionandteachingsincethe1990s.TheauthorofthethesisdesignsanexperimentalstudywhichappliesfocusonformtoEnglishwritingteachinginthehighschool.Thepurposeofthestudyistocheckwhetherstudents’Englishwritingproficiencycanbeimprovedundertheapproachofapplyingfocusonformtowritingandthestudyisintendedtoanswerthefollowingthreequestions:1.Towhatextentdoesfocusonforminstructionpromotelearners’noticingoftargetedforms?2.Towhatextentdoesfocusonforminstructionfacilitatestudentsinacquiringtargetedforms,andthus,improvestudents’overallwritingquality?3.TowhatextentdoesfocusonforminstructionhelpstudentsdeveloppositiveattitudestowardswritinginEnglish?Thestudyemploysaquasi-experimentaldesignwithapretest-posttestmodel,involvinganexperimentalclassandacontrolclass,towhichdifferenttreatmentsweregivenduringtheprocessoftheexperiment.ThedatacollectedareanalyzedwithSPSSPASWStatistics18.0.0,withitsdifferentfunctionsbeingemployed,suchasIndependent-SamplesTTest,Paired-SamplesTTest,andChi-squareandsoon Themajorfindingsofthisstudythroughquantitativeandqualitativeanalysisofdataarereportedasfollows:1.ThepresentstudydoesnotprovideenoughevidencethatapplyingfocusonformtohighschoolEnglishwritingteachingpromoteslearners’noticingoftargetedforms. 2.Applyingfocusonformtowritingpromotesacquisitionoftargetedforms,andeventually,contributestothedevelopmentoflearners’writingcompetence. 3.Applyingfocusonformtoteachinglowershighschoolstudents’anxietytoaccomplishwritingtasksandhelpsformpositiveattitudes. Inthisthesis,pedagogicalimplicationsofthestudyandsomesuggestionsonhowtoapplyfocusonformtoteachingofEnglishwritingaregiven.Influenceofdifferenttaskdemandsonnoticingandacquiringtargetedformsisalsodiscussed.Besides,limitationsofthestudyarepointedoutandsomeoftheremainingissuesrelatedtothestudyaresuggestedforfutureresearch.KEYWORDS:Focusonform;notice;form;topic-relatedvocabulary;grammar;Englishwritinginhighschool

聚焦于形式教學(xué)在高中英語寫作教學(xué)中的應(yīng)用摘要對(duì)于高中學(xué)生來講，寫作是一項(xiàng)重要的語言技能，在高中英語課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和高考中寫作也具有非常重要的地位。然而，許多高中學(xué)生卻覺得英語寫作是英語語言學(xué)習(xí)中最難掌握的。大多數(shù)學(xué)生覺得寫作令人頭痛，其中一個(gè)原因就是他們不能將教材中所學(xué)的詞匯和語法應(yīng)用到寫作中去。20世紀(jì)90年代以來，聚焦于形式教學(xué)已經(jīng)成為第二語言習(xí)得與教學(xué)所關(guān)注的一個(gè)焦點(diǎn)。本文作者設(shè)計(jì)了一個(gè)應(yīng)用聚焦于形式教學(xué)于高中英語寫作教學(xué)的實(shí)驗(yàn)研究。本研究的目的是檢驗(yàn)將聚焦于形式教學(xué)應(yīng)用于寫作教學(xué)能否提高高中學(xué)生的寫作水平，主要回答以下三個(gè)問題：1.聚焦于形式教學(xué)能夠在多大程度上促進(jìn)學(xué)習(xí)者對(duì)目標(biāo)語言形式的注意？2.聚焦于形式教學(xué)能夠在多大程度上促進(jìn)學(xué)習(xí)者對(duì)目標(biāo)語言形式的習(xí)得，并最終促進(jìn)英語寫作水平的提升？3.聚焦于形式教學(xué)能夠在多大程度上有助于學(xué)習(xí)者對(duì)于英語寫作形成積極的態(tài)度？本研究應(yīng)用了一個(gè)帶有前測(cè)和后測(cè)的準(zhǔn)實(shí)驗(yàn)設(shè)計(jì)，其中對(duì)實(shí)驗(yàn)班和控制班運(yùn)用了不同的實(shí)驗(yàn)方法。對(duì)于實(shí)驗(yàn)數(shù)據(jù)使用了社會(huì)科學(xué)統(tǒng)計(jì)程序SPSSPASWStatistics18.0.0進(jìn)行分析，主要應(yīng)用了獨(dú)立樣本T檢驗(yàn)，配對(duì)樣本T檢驗(yàn)，以及方差等。通過對(duì)相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)的定量和定性分析，本研究得出的主要發(fā)現(xiàn)如下：1.本研究沒有得到足夠的證據(jù)表明聚焦于形式教學(xué)應(yīng)用于高中英語寫作教學(xué)有助于學(xué)生對(duì)于目標(biāo)形式的注意。2.聚焦于形式教學(xué)促進(jìn)了高中學(xué)生對(duì)于目標(biāo)語言形式的習(xí)得，進(jìn)而，提高了他們英語寫作的整體水平。3.聚焦于形式教學(xué)有助于高中學(xué)生對(duì)英語寫作形成積極態(tài)度。本文還討論了本研究給語言教學(xué)帶來的啟示及其實(shí)踐價(jià)值，并就如何在高中英語寫作教學(xué)中實(shí)施聚焦于形式教學(xué)提出了一些建議。同時(shí)提出，不同的課堂任務(wù)要求對(duì)目標(biāo)形式的注意和習(xí)得有較大影響。本文還指出了研究中的不足之處，并對(duì)今后這方面的研究提出了建議。關(guān)鍵詞：聚焦于形式教學(xué)；注意；形式；話題相關(guān)詞匯；語法；高中英語寫作

TableofContentsAbstract......IAbstractinChinese.......IIITableofContents. ..IVListofTables....VIIIListofFigures...IXAbbreviations...XChapter1Introduction..11.1BackgroundoftheStudy...11.2RationaleoftheStudy21.3SignificanceoftheStudy21.4OrganizationoftheThesis 3Chapter2LiteratureReview 42.1ImportanceandEssentialComponentsofWriting4 2.1.1ImportanceofWriting 4 2.1.2EssentialComponentsofWriting 2.1.2.1VocabularyinWriting 2.1.2.2GrammarinWriting2.2OutputHypothesis.....8 2.2.1Swain’sOutputHypothesis.... 2.2.2FunctionsofOutputHypothesis....2.3TheReading-to-writeApproach10 2.3.1IntegratingReadingandWriting 2.3.2EmpiricalStudies 2.3.3Summary 2.4Task-basedLanguageTeaching12 2.4.1DefinitionofTasks 2.4.2DifferentTypesofTasks 2.4.3Summary2.5FocusonForm14 2.5.1FocusonFormsandFocusonForm 2.5.1.1FocusonForms 2.5.1.2FocusonForm 2.5.1.3TypesofFocusonForm 2.5.2FocusonFormInstruction 2.5.3Summary2.6TheNoticingHypothesis18 2.6.1Schmidt’sProposals 2.6.2TheItemstoNotice2.7Summary18ChapterThreeResearchMethodology20 3.1ResearchQuestions203.2Participants203.3Instruments..213.4ForminFocus223.5Treatment...233.6Procedure24ChapterFourResultsandDiscussions284.1DataCollectionandAnalysis28 4.1.1NoticingResults 4.1.1.1NoticingResultsintheFirstWritingTask.. 4.1.1.2NoticingResultsintheTenthWritingTask. 4.1.1.3GainofNoticingResultsbetweentheFWritingTask 30 4.1.2AcquisitionofVocabularyandGrammar. 3 4.1.2.1VocabularyandGrammarEmployedintheFirstWritingTask 3 4.1.2.2VocabularyandGrammarEmployedintheTenthWritingTask 3 4.1.2betweentheFirstandTenthWritingTask 33 4.1.3TestResults3 4.1.3.1CorrelationbetweenTotalScoreandScoreofWriting 3 4.1.3.2AnalysisofPretest3 4.1.3.3AnalysisofPosttest3 4.1.3.4AnalysisofGaininMeanScorebetweenPretestandPosttest 34.1.4Questionnaire 38 4.1.4.1AnalysisofPartAoftheQuestionnaire 4.1.4towardsWritingbeforetheExperiment38 4.1.4CCandECtowardsWritingaftertheExperiment 394.1.4.2AnalysisofPartBoftheQuestionnaire 44 4.1.5Interview 44.2Discussions47ChapterFiveImplicationsandSuggestions..515.1SummaryoftheStudy515.2ConclusionsandImplications525.3LimitationsandSuggestionsforFutureResearch54 5.3.1LimitationsoftheStudy 5 5.3.2SuggestionsforFutureResearch 5Bibliography 56Appendices.. 61Appendix1 Pre-test..61Appendix2 Post-test62Appendix3 NoteSheetsforNoticing..63Appendix4 TenWritingTasks.. 64Appendix5 Questionnaire.....67Appendix6Interview...68Appendix7 NoticingResultsintheFirstWritingTask......69Appendix8 NoticingResultsintheTenthWritingTask......71Appendix9 AcquisitionResults(I).........73Appendix10AcquisitionResults(II).........75Appendix11RawScoresofPretest......77Appendix12 RawScoresofPosttest.....80Acknowledgements.....83

ListofTablesTable1DifferentTreatmentsAdministratedtoECandCC………… 24Table2MeanScoreofNoticingResultsintheFirstWritingTask……………… … 28Table3ComparisonofECandCCinNoticingintheFirstWritingTask…………… 29 Table4MeanScoreofNoticingResultsintheTenthWritingTask…..………………29 Table5ComparisonofECandCCinNoticingintheTenthWritingTask………… 30Table6ComparisonofECandCCbetweentheFirstandtheTenthWritingTask… 30 Table7AcquisitionResultsintheFirstWritingTask…..……… 31 Table8ComparisonofECandCCinAcquisitionResultsintheFirstWritingTask…31Table9AcquisitionResultsintheTenthWritingTask….32 Table10ComparisonofECandCCinAcquisitionResultsintheTenthWritingTask……… 32 Table11ComparisonofGainofECandCCbetweentheFirstandTenthWritingTask……… 33Table12CoefficientofCorrelationbetweenTotalScoreandScoreofWritinginPretestandPosttest….….… 34Table13WritingScoresofPretest……… 34Table14ComparisonofECandCCinPretest………….…… 35Table15WritingScoresofPosttest…………….………… 35 Table16ComparisonofECandCCinPosttest……………...…36Table17MeanScoreofCCinPretestandPosttest………...… 36Table18ComparisonofCCbetweenPretestandPosttest...… 37Table19MeanScoreofECinPretestandPosttest.………………. …………37Table20ComparisonofECbetweenPretestandPosttest.…… 38 Table21AttitudesofStudentsinECandCCtowardsWritingbeforethe Experiment.….…………39 Table22ComparisonofCCinChangeofAttitudestowardsWriting.…………40 Table23ComparisonofECinChangeofAttitudestowardsWriting…………41 Table24ComparisonofCCandECinChangeofAttitudesaftertheExperiment…... 43Table25ChangeinStudents’AnswerstoQuestionnaireNo.6………………45 Table26ChangeinStudents’AnswerstoQuestionnaireNo.7………………46

ListofFiguresFigure1LevelsofWritingProposedbyMcDonoughandShaw…6Figure2NoteSheetsforVocabularyandGrammar………………26

Abbreviations CC Controlclass EC Experimentalclass ESL Englishassecondlanguage FonF Focusonform FonFS Focusonforms IE Inputenhancement L2 Thesecondlanguage L1 Thefirstlanguage TL Targetlanguage NMET NationalMatriculationEnglishTest PEP People’sEducationPress SLA SecondLanguageAcquisitionTBLT Task-basedlanguageteachingApplyingFocusonFormtoWritinginHighSchoolChapterOneIntroduction1.1BackgroundoftheStudy AsaresearcherofhighschoolEnglishteachingandlearningworkingforTangshanEducationBureau,theauthorofthethesishasquitealotofopportunitiestoobserveteachers’teachinginlocalschools.ItisfoundthatthoughwritingishighlightedinboththeEnglishCurriculumStandards(2003)andNMET,unfortunately,manyhighschoolstudentsinTangshanfeelwritingisdauntingandtheyarequitereluctanttofulfilltheteachers’writingassignments,letalonetopracticewritingontheirown.Somestudentsviewwritingasanuisanceastheybelievethatlittleprogresscanbemadeeveniftheypracticeonceortwiceaweek,what’smore,itistime-consuming.Fromtheauthor’sclassroomobservation,itisalsofoundthatmanyhighschoolstudentsinTangshanfeelitdifficulttousethewordsandgrammarlearnedintheirtextbookswhenitcomestowriting.ThisisnotuncommoninChina.Gui(2008)conductedasurveyonhighschoolstudents’writingandfoundthethreefollowingmainobstaclesforthem:vocabulary,grammar,schematicstructureandcohesion.Theyclaimthattheydonotpossessenoughvocabularytogettheirideasacross,andfeelitquitechallengingwhenintendingtovarysentencepatterns.Theunderlyingcausesmaybemany,butthefollowingtwoarenottobeignored.Firstly,theteachingofwritingisoftenneglectedinhighschools.AccordingtoWang(2000),manyteacherstendtosimplyputwritingasafter-classassignmentsinsteadofofferinginstructionsonhowtowriteintheclassroomteaching.Theproductofthestudentsiswhattheteachercaresabout,whiletheprocessisvirtuallyignored;thatis,theteacherturnsablindeyetohowtheproductisproducedbystudents.Secondly,thewritingtasksdesignedinthetextbooks(PEP,2006)donotpayenoughattentiontotheapplicationofvocabularyandgrammar.Mostwritingtasksinthetextbookhavenottakentheuseofvocabularyandgrammarintoconsideration,whichpartlyexplainswhystudentsfailtoutilizethewordstheyhavelearnedinthetextbooks.Forexample,thewritingtasksofUnits3&5inBook2B,SeniorEnglishforChina(PEP,2006)areofsuchdesign.Furthermore,thewritingtasksinsomeoftheunitsinthistextbookaresolooselylinkedwiththetopicoftheunitthatpossibilityofexploitingvocabularylearnedintheunitislargelylessened,ifnottotallyexcluded. Fromtheabovediscussion,itisevidentthatstudentsneedinstructionsonhowtoemployvocabularyandgrammarlearnedintheirwriting.Throughanempiricalexperiment,thepresentresearchattemptstogiveevidencethatapplyingfocusonformandnoticinghypothesistowritingfacilitateslearnersintheutilizationsofvocabularyandgrammarintheirwriting,andnurturespositiveattitudestowardswritingaswell.1.2RationaleoftheStudyVigorousdebatehasbeencontinualinrecentdecadesaboutwhetherornotforminstructionshouldbeincorporatedinforeignlanguageteaching,andifso,howitcouldbeintegrated.NowtheconsensusinSLAtheoryisthatsomeattentiontolanguageformisneededtodeveloplearners’languageaccuracy.Long(1991)putsforwardthetheoreticalproposaloffocusonform(FonF)whichhedefinesasatypeofinstructioninwhichthemeaningandcommunicationistheprimaryfocus,learner’sattentionincidentallydrawntoformonlyasproblemscropup.Nowthedefinitionhasbeenexpanded,includingplannedfocusonform,whichmeanstheteachercanpre-determineparticularformstofocuson,basedontheanalysisoflearners’linguisticneeds.Besidesgrammar,theterm“form”isstretchedtocoverphonology,vocabulary,ordiscourse(Ellis,BasturkmenandLoewen,2001). Withthedevelopmentofsociety,theimportantpartthatwritingplayshasbeenacceptedbystudents,teachersandresearchers.Nevertheless,writingstillposesabigproblemtostudentsandteachersinhighschools.Oneofthemaindifficultiesforhighschoolstudentsisthattheyareunabletoapplyvocabularyandgrammartheyhavelearnedtowriting.ThepurposeofthethesisistointroducehowfocusonformcanbeintegratedintotheteachingofEnglishwritinginthehighschoolandtesttowhatextentitiseffectiveinimprovingstudents’writingcompetence,especiallytowhatextentitcanfacilitatelearnersinapplyingvocabularyandgrammarlearnedinthetextbooktotheirwritingcorrectlyandappropriately.Inaddition,thestudyalsohopestofindouttowhatextentfocusonforminstructioncanfacilitatestudentsinformingapositiveattitudetowardswritingthroughtheapplicationoffocusonformtowriting.1.3SignificanceoftheStudy Inrecentyearsresearchershavefoundthatcertainlinguisticformsdonoteventuallydevelopattarget-likelevelswheninstructionismerelymeaning-focused(Doughty&Williams,1998).Findingsofclassroomresearchalsoindicatethatashiftofattentiontolanguageformsembeddedinmeaning-focusedactivitiescanbeeffectiveinpromotingsecondlanguageacquisition(Doughty,1991).Williams(2001)statesthatresult“suggeststhatincorporationofsomedegreeoffocusonformintomeaning-centeredinstructioncanleadtoimprovedperformanceinprocessinginputandincreaseaccuracyinproduction.” ThepresentresearchisintendedtoofferempiricalevidencefortheeffectofFonFinstructionappliedintheareaofwritinginEFLcontextinhighschoolsinChina.ThemodelofapplyingFonFtowritingbuiltbythestudycanprovidepossibilitiesforfurtherresearch.Hopefully,ifthemodelproveseffective,itcanbeintroducedandcarriedoutinmoreschoolsinTangshanCity,whichcan1.4OrganizationoftheThesis Thethesisiscomposedoffivechapters.ChapterOneservesasanintroductiontotheresearch,explainingthebackground,therationale,andthesignificanceofthepresentresearchandthenecessityoffocusonform.Alsothepurposeofthepresentstudyisintroducedinthischapter.Thestructureofthethesisisalsointroducedinthischapter.ChapterTwooffersaliteraturereviewwhichprovidestheoreticalbackgroundforthethesis,includingtheelementsofwriting,theoutputhypothesis,reading-to-writetheories,task-basedlanguageteachingtheories,focusonforminstruction,andthenoticinghypothesis.Somerelatedempiricalstudiesarealsocovered.ChapterThreedescribestheimplementationoftheresearchinTangshanNo.1HighSchool,whichincludesresearchquestions,theparticipants,theresearchdesign,andtheprocedureoftheresearch.ChapterFourpresentsanalysisofdatacollectedthroughoutthestudyandthemajorfindings.Andsomerelatedissuesarealsodiscussedinthischapter.ChapterFivesummarizesthewholethesis.Somepedagogicalimplicationsofthestudy,aswellassomesuggestionsforfuturestudiesareproposedinthischapter.

ChapterTwoLiteratureReview2.1ImportanceandEssentialComponentsofWriting2.1.1ImportanceofWritingWritingisaninevitablepartofEnglishlearning,anditisalsoanimportantbasiclinguisticskillrequiredforhighschoolstudents.Harmer(2000)emphasizedthatstudentsaresupposedtoknowhowtowritelettersandreports,howtorespondtoadvertisementsand“howtowritebyusingelectronicmedia”.Englishwritinghelpsreinforcelanguageformsthathavebeenlearnedandpromotestheintakeoflanguage,foritprovidesopportunitiesforstudentstoemploygrammaraswellasvocabularyinexpressingthemselves.Olshtain(2006)holdsthatwriting“providesthelearnerwiththeopportunitytofocusonbothlinguisticaccuracyandcontentorganization”.Writingisalsoanessentialjobskill.Richards(2002)pointsout“…goodwritingskillsareessentialtoacademicsuccessandarequirementformanyoccupationsandprofessions.”Job-seekersandworkersneedtohavestrongwritingskillstosucceedoncertainjobs.Writingisoftendescribedasathresholdskillforemployeeselectionandpromotion.Employerdemandisgreaterthaneverforgoodwritingskills.Besides,writingisemphasizedinhighschoolEnglishCurriculumStandards(2003)andNationalMatriculationEnglishTest(NMETforshort).Writingskillstoachieveinvariousgradesarefullydescribedindifferentpartslike“DescriptionofGeneralAims”and“LanguageSkills”oftheEnglishCurriculumStandards(2003).Forexample,accordingtothedescriptionofthewritingabilitiesforGradeSeven,whichisthehighschoolgraduationlevel,thestudentsshouldbeableto-provideinformationandgivebriefdescriptions;-producepracticalwritingssuchaslettersandnotices;-describepeopleoreventsandmakesuccinctcommentsonthem;-fillinpersonalforms,forexample,anapplicationform;-adaptatextintoashortplaybyworkinginagroup.TheTestSpecificationsforNMET(2010)statethefollowinginthewritingpart:candidatesshouldbeableto

-usegrammarandvocabularycorrectly;-expressideasclearlyandcohesivelybyusingsentencepatternsandvocabulary.ThecriteriaforevaluationofwritinginNMETarestatedasfollows:-Varietiesofsentencestructuresandvocabularyareemployed;-Mistakesinsentencestructuresorinvocabularyaretoleratediftheyaremadewhenthecandidateisintendedtovarysentencepatternsandenrichchoiceofwords;-Transitionalwordsareusedinproperwaystomakethewholecompositioncoherentandlogic. FromtheaboveitcanbeseenthatbothEnglishCurriculumStandards(2003)andtestingposeagreatchallengeonstudents’writingability,especiallyintheareaofemployingvarietiesofvocabularyandsentencepatterns.2.1.2Comparedwithspokenlanguage,writing,withitsownconventionsandrules,persuasivelyneedstimeandpracticetodevelop.OneofthereasonsproposedbyWilliams(2007)forthisisthatwritinginvolvesfarmorethanjustlinguisticknowledge;italsoentailsgatheringideasandinformation,analyzingandorganizingthisinformation,andpresentingitinawaythateffectivelycommunicatesthoseideastothereader.(p13)Besidesthegeneration,analysisandsynthesisofideas,thewaytogettheseideasacrossisdemanding,asitinvolvesmanipulationofdifferentlinguisticknowledge,frommechanicsandspellingtovocabulary,thecontrolofsentencestructure,cohesion,andstructureofdiscourse.“Writingismuchmoredependentonhoweffectivelyweusethelinguisticresourcesofthelanguage”(Byrne,1988).Raimes(1983)listednineareasoftechniquesforteachingwriting:1)Syntax(sentencestructure) 2)Grammar 3)Mechanics(handwriting,spellingandsoon) 4)Organization(paragraphing,cohesion) 5)Wordchoice 6)Purpose 7)Audience 8)Content 9)Process Hedge(1988)holdsasimilaropinion,referringtotheproductionofapieceofwritingas‘crafting’,aprocessinwhichthewriterassemblespiecesofthetext,anddevelopsideasthroughsente