Developing and Improving： A Study of the Middle School Students’Writing Ability in the Second Language Education

Business English Department， Foreign Languages School of Henan University of Science and Technology/Bing WANG

【Abstract】With the development and advancement of social and cultural communication between China and other countries in the world， the second language education is very popular with Chinese people. And usually， it will take the young for nearly 16 years to learn a second language， especially English. Most of them learn English from primary school until university. Besides having routine English classes at school， they also pay extra time and money to learn English in their spare time in many training companies. And now， English education has already become an industry in China and some training companies such as New Oriental English， are familiar to common people. And a crucial problem is that， after so many years of hard work， most of them are even having basic writing difficulties. The systemic and effective teaching method of writing in a second language education in China is being researched. This thesis attempts to cultivate the students subjective initiative in second language education activities， raise the students learning consciousness， and enhance their lasting interests in learning so as to reach the goal to improve the students writing ability in second language education.

【Key words】the second language education； English education； the Constructive Theory； Cognition

1. Introduction

In the present days， an increasing number of students in China are receiving a second language education. Meanwhile， with the development and advancement of social and cultural communication between China and other countries， the second language education is becoming increasingly more popular with Chinese people. And usually， it will take the young for nearly 6 years to learn a second language， especially English. Most of them learn English from primary school until university. Besides having routine English classes at school， they also pay extra time and money to learn English in their spare time in many training companies. Most of the students make great effort to learn， however， take college English learners for example； many of them in China could hardly reach an intermediate level. And now， English education has already become an industry in China and some training companies such as New Oriental English， are familiar to common people. And a crucial problem is that， after so many years of hard work， most of them are even having basic writing difficulties. The systemic and effective teaching method of writing in a second language education in China is being researched.

In this thesis， first， closed and open questionnaire items are applied. Second， observations and interviews with a selected group of learners are narrated. Next， the Constructive Theory （Thomas， 1992） and other theories are used to analyze the second language teaching process. Finally， the conclusion is drawn to find possible solutions to improve the students writing ability in second language education.

2. Research Programme

This essay used closed and open questionnaire items， backed up by class observations and interviews with a selected group of learners to do our research. All of the above aims to seek the specific learning feathers of middle school English learners； therefore it presents different kinds of learners to make comparisons.

2.1 Two Experiments

100 questionnaires were selected， as is shown in diagram 1. We separated them into two groups. Each group had 50 people. All the students were taught English words by female teachers in the same classroom.

In Group A， the students were taught by a teacher with old-fashioned clothes， and the teacher used traditional method which in class； In Group B， a younger teacher， with fashionable clothes， used more vivid method such as taking e-learning， performing drama， listening to music， telling English jokes and group discussion in class to help students melt into the English environment and communicate with each other in English.

Then， the two groups were tested every week. In the first week， students in group A achieved higher scores than that of group B. In the next two weeks， the two groups remained almost the same English proficiency. After 5 weeks， students in group B achieved much higher scores than that of Group B.

100 testers to investigate their learning strategies， emotional attitudes and motivations for learning. After analyzing their answers， three findings were found：

2.2 An Analysis of the Research

Cognition is a natural process and a continuous mental construction. （Johnson， 2001） Some information is recognized and restructured which cannot be taught but unique to every individual. In other words， students will learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own with the teacher as a guide to help them along the way. （Li， 2009）

Moreover， cooperation with other learners is much beneficial for second language education. Because the significance in of cooperative learning aims to develop a learning spirit of cooperation and competition awareness， active the learning atmosphere， increase the learning efficiency and develop the students thinking ability.

Lastly， as mentioned above， the traditional teaching approach is centered on teachers， not on students. In order to care most average students in class and control the time in class， the teacher always plays the important role in the course. In most traditional teaching situations， the students have to learn lists of new vocabulary with their Chinese translation before the lesson. The traditional teaching method makes the students get used to waiting passively rather than actively acquiring knowledge， in other words， learner autonomy is an important factor in second language education.

2.3 Questionnaire Data

The investigation then followed a questionnaire survey of almost all （219） middle school students （aged 11–12）. These individual learners were observed at least twice during English classes， and the eight English teachers who worked at the school were also interviewed.

The questionnaire can be further divided into two questionnaire eliciting background information about the students. The remainder of items sought to uncover students attitudes and motivation to learn English， and their level and types of independent English learning activity.

2.3.1 The Constructive Theory and Cognition

The Constructive Theory is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences. The constructive Theory is not a specific pedagogy， although it is often confused with constructionism， an educational theory developed by Seymour Papert， inspired by constructivist and experiential learning ideas of Jean Piaget. Piaget's theory of constructivist learning has had wide ranging impact on learning theories and teaching methods in education and is an underlying theme of many education reform movements. Research support for constructivist teaching techniques has been mixed， with some research supporting these techniques and other research contradicting those results. Social constructivism has been criticized for being a kind of behaviorism， which reduces the individual to his or her social environment.

Social constructivism encourages the learner to arrive at his or her version of the truth， influenced by his or her background， culture or embedded worldview. Historical developments and symbol systems， such as language， logic， and mathematical systems， are inherited by the learner as a member of a particular culture and these are learned throughout the learner's life. This also stresses the importance of the nature of the learner's social interaction with knowledgeable members of the society. Without the social interaction with other more knowledgeable people， it is impossible to acquire social meaning of important symbol systems and learn how to utilize them.

The term cognition refers to a faculty for the processing of information， applying knowledge， and changing preferences. Cognition， or cognitive processes， can be natural or artificial， conscious or unconscious. These processes are analyzed from different perspectives within different contexts， notably in the fields of linguistics， anesthesia， neurology， psychology， philosophy， anthropology， systemics and computer science.

Empirical research into cognition is usually scientific and quantitative， or involves creating models to describe or explain certain behaviors.While few people would deny that cognitive processes are a function of the brain， a cognitive theory will not necessarily make reference to the brain or other biological process （compare neurocognitive）. It may purely describe behavior in terms of information flow or function. Relatively recent fields of study such as cognitive science and neuropsychology aim to bridge this gap， using cognitive paradigms to understand how the brain implements these information-processing functions （see also cognitive neuroscience）， or how pure information-processing systems （e.g.， computers） can simulate cognition （see also artificial intelligence）.

In education， for instance， which has the explicit task in society of developing child cognition， choices are made regarding the environment and permitted action that lead to a formed experience. In social cognition， face perception in human babies emerges by the age of two months. This is in turn affected by the risk or cost of providing these， for instance， those associated with a playground or swimming pool or field trip. On the other hand， the macro-choices made by the teachers are extremely influential on the micro-choices made by children.

In a large systemic perspective， cognition is considered closely related to the social and human organization functioning and constrains. Managerial decision making processes can be erroneous in politics， economy and industry for the reason of different reciprocally dependent socio-cognitive factors. This domain became the field of interest of emergent socio-cognitive engineering.

2.3.2 Experience of Learning English

An unexpected finding was that all but one of the 219 respondents had studied English at primary school， though this was often as little as one lesson a week for one year. English is not yet part of the official primary school curriculum， but schools are often pressured into introducing it by parents anxious to give their children a head-start in the language. What is more， just over half （51%） had already taken a private course in English， and all had now been learning English in their junior high school， for two 90-min lessons per week， for just over a month. In addition to the formal morning classes， the school also offered afternoon ‘extra coaching in English on two afternoons a week， and over 80% of the learners were now attending these one hour sessions too.

The children were also asked whether they ever use or learn English at home. Only two respondents claimed never to have any contact with English （except for school assigned homework， which all have to do）， and Table 1 below gives the childrens own estimates for how frequently they engaged in various activities.

Even allowing for some exaggeration in responses， to impress the native-speaker researcher， the overall impression gained is that English is already very much a part of the lives of children in China in 2002. Their proficiency may still be very low， but the language is all around them， most notably in the music they like to listen to on cassette （western boy bands are especially popular in this age group） and in Hollywood movies and other programmes （e.g. English soccer matches） shown on TV. Listening to English radio programmes and reading English-language magazines or books are less popular， though they can be found by dedicated learners； perhaps there is little that is accessible to very elementary level learners. It is notable that only a small minority do deliberately study the language at home on their own initiative （discounting homework assigned by their teacher） on a regular basis. （See Table 1）

2.3.3 The Importance of English

In view of the prevalence of English in their lives， it is not surprising that the great majority of children regard English as either important （35%） or very important （64%）. Only two respondents said it was not important. They were then asked to evaluate five possible reasons for its importance， selected because they reflected findings in the research literature on school level motivation. The five statements were intended to measure strength of learners integrative orientation （meeting foreigners and finding out about English-speaking countries）， instrumental orientation （career）， intrinsic motivation （pleasure in the process of learning）， the motive of satisfying parents， and finally of doing well at school. The results are presented in Table 2.

This result would initially appear to support the view that in many Asian settings， instrumental motives for learning English are predominant （e.g. Lai， 1999， Warden and Lin， 2000）. It should be pointed out， however， that all five reasons seem to be considered important. The respect for parental views has also been found to be a common feature of Asian students attitudes （e.g. Eaton and Dembo， 1997）， while the learners general desire to succeed academically in their new school is confirmed by the fact that only 24% believe that English is more important than other subjects.

3. Conclusion

People from China might not consider the acquisition of English is as important as it is for people from the United States and Canada. This is because of the fact that the Chinese culture， to a large extent， is comparatively more independent from the traditional English world. Thus， the integrative motivation for Chinese to learn English is less strong than that of the American people or Canadian people.

To be sure， the attitude for people to learn a second language is much influenced by the purpose. （Penny， 2000：281） By and large， there are mainly three main orientations for people to learn a second language. The first is integrative orientation. It is the motivation for people to be integrated into the English culture which is embraced by the native speakers of the language. The second orientation is instrumental， i.e.， people learn a second language to utilize it. This might be the case for people to learn English for commercial use. Thirdly， there are still some people who consider learning English from the intrinsic motivation. That is to say， they learn English to seek fun. For instance， the purpose for some people to learn English is to enjoy English songs or to read English literature. This orientation is purely a personal interest.

Based on the analysis above， some possible solutions should be recommended to develop students writing abilities in the second language education.

First， teachers should be trained and qualified. They should have a wide range of skills—the language skills （a control of target languages in both dialects； second language teaching skills （an ability to control languages in each literacy）； reading developing technique （an ability to develop reading skills in native language as well as in second language） （Wang， 2005）. Second， Arousing students continuous interests in the second language education. More specified， teachers should have open ended cues for students. A cue that invites a number of possible responses is usually much more stimulating than one with only one right answer. That means educators should give students opportunities to make mistakes and create the bilingual environment. Third， try to use raw data and primary sources， in addition to manipulative， interactive， and physical materials. Next， Teacher had better encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful， open-ended questions， and encourage them to ask questions to each other. Then， provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new. Finally， the government should set specific regulations to launch programs to investigate the relationship between the Cognition and the Constructive Theory.

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