An Analysis on the Problems in English Majors’ Writing and Countermeasures.doc

英语专业学生写作中的问题分析及对策an analysis on the problems in english majors writing and countermeasuresabstract: writing is of great importance in our life, especially for the english majors. if the basic requirement of writing is to write with few mistakes in grammar and words, the higher one will be not just to express the main ideas, but to make it vivid, interesting, effective and authentic. variety is essential to good writing, and the variety of expressing mainly refers to the variety of words and sentences, and using the figures of speech. a series of sentences of the same structure and length, beginning with the same noun or pronoun as the subject, would sound monotonous. absolutely, to achieve the variety is an important requirement for a good writing. so, we should pay attention to the variety of vocabulary, sentences and figures of speech. this research paper mainly analyzes english majors existing problems in writing. then the author gives some constructive suggestions based on the language teaching theories of how to improve the writing quality.key words: writing；vocabulary；sentence structure；figures of speech摘要：写作是我们生活当中非常重要的一部分，尤其对于英语专业学生更为重要。如果说写作的初级阶段还只是要求语法结构没有错误，用词基本正确，而写作的更高要求则不只是看你能否表达思想，而是要看你能否表达得更生动、耐读、有效、地道。 多样性对于一篇好的作文非常重要，而多样性的表达主要侧重于词汇的多样性，句子的多样性，以及修辞的多样性。该论文针对石河子大学英语专业学生写作中常见的问题进行分析、研究，在教学理论的指导下，针对英语写作中的问题提出一些建议。 关键词：写作；词汇；句子结构；修辞contentsi. introduction.1 a. reasons for choosing the topic.1b. significance of the research.1ii. literature review.1a. communicative language teaching (clt).1b. task-based language teaching (tblt).2c. categories of the research.2iii. background of the writing.2a. early writing tasks: coping with the mechanics.2b. more advanced writing tasks: developing basic communication tools.3c. the important parts of the english writing.3iv. problems in english majors writing.4 a. using the same and simple words .5 b. using simple and short sentences.5 c. using needless words and few vivid words or sentences.6v. countermeasures to problems6 a. vocabulary6 b. sentence7 c. figures of speech9 vi. conclusion 13works cited. 13i. introductionwe write everyday. we write for various reasons and in different ways. so, writing is of great importance in our life, especially for the english majors. if the basic requirement of writing is to write with few mistakes in grammar and words, the higher one will be not just to express the main ideas, but to make it vivid, interesting, effective and authentic (cai jigang 179).a. reasons for choosing the topicthere are two reasons why i choose this topic. firstly, the writing course has not been paid enough attention to. although the course plays an important role in our daily life and has become a part of our examination, it has been thought little of. secondly, english major students have reached some level on writing, and there are few mistakes in grammar and words in their writings, but their writings lack variety in words, sentences and figures of speech.b. significance of the researchfor the english majors, the english writing is very important, and the english majors should pay more attention to it. so, the reasons for choosing this topic are as follows:firstly, through researching the english majors writings, analyzing the problems, and giving the countermeasures, i hope that students will benefit from this research. secondly, researching this topic will promote my english teaching ability, and it is of great value for my english teaching career. this insight will significantly influence my future language learning and teaching practice.ii. literature reviewa. communicative language teaching (clt)clt requires a higher level of communicative competence on the part of the teacher. it also requires that the teacher develop a wider range of skills beyond the presentation and explanation of grammatical structures (wang qiang 21). the strong version of clt claims that language is acquired through communication. this means that learners discover the structural system in the process of learning how to communicate (wang qiang 20).b. task-based language teaching (tblt)tblt is, in fact, a further development of communicative language teaching. it shares the same beliefs that language should be learned as close as possible to how it is used in real life (wang qiang 26). c. categories of the researchin the language teaching field, research, according to david nunan (1992), is a process of inquiry, which consists of developing questions, problems or hypotheses, collecting relevant data and evidence. research, in tradition, has been put into two categories: quantitative research and qualitative research (wang linhai, dong hongxue 2). however, some researchers have put forward the following research methods:the primary research and the second research, which were provided by brown (1988), are mainly concerned with quantitative research. the primary research collects data from primary sources, such as a group of language learners, while the secondary research gains information chiefly from secondary sources, such as reviewing others findings from books and journals. primary research can be further divided into case studies and statistical studies (wang linhai, dong hongxue 5).chandron (1988) has identified four research traditions: the psychometric tradition, interaction analysis, discourse analysis and ethnography methods (wang linhai, dong hongxue 6).grotjahn (1987) argues that the qualitative-quantitative distinction is too simple and that, in actual research studies, it is necessary to take into consideration the method of data collection (wang linhai, dong hongxue 6).van lier (1988) claims that language research can be analyzed in terms of two parameters: an interventionist parameter and a selectivity parameter (wang linhai, dong hongxue 6).iii. background of the writing a. early writing tasks: coping with the mechanicsthe first steps in teaching reading and writing skills in a foreign or second language classroom center around the mechanics of these two skills. by mechanics we usually refer to letter recognition, letter discrimination, word recognition, and basic rules of spelling, punctuation and capitalization, as well as recognition of whole sentences and paragraphs. these activities are for the most part cognitively undemanding unless the learners happen to come from a first language with a different writing system (marianne celce-mucia 208). b. more advanced writing tasks: developing basic communication toolsmore advanced writing activities which start shifting their goal from the focus on the mechanics of writing to basic process-oriented tasks will need to incorporate some language work at the morphological and discourse level. these activities will enable focus on both accuracy and content of the message (marianne celce-mucia 211).c. the important parts of the english writing1. wordswhen we write on common topics for the general audience, we may achieve accuracy and appropriateness by bearing in mind the following guidelines about the choice of words: a. use common or informal words for general purposes; use formal or nonstandard words only on special occasions or for special purposes; b. use special and concrete words when giving details; use general or abstract words when making summaries; c. use idiomatic expressions and words in acceptable collocations; avoid combinations that are unidiomatic; d. when there are synonyms, choose the word that expresses the meaning most exactly and that suits the content and style (ding wangdao, wu bing 19). 2. sentencesa series of sentences of the same structure and length with the same noun or pronoun as the subjects produce monotony. it is often good to vary sentence structures and mix short and long, simple and compound or complex, loose and periodic sentences, so long as the meaning is properly expressed (ding wangdao, et al. 45).3. correct use of tensessince a predicate verb must be used in a certain tense, we should learn to use the tenses correctly. tenses tell when the action of the verb takes place. whenever we make a sentence, we should ask ourselves when the thing mentioned in the sentence happens, and use the right tense to report it (ding wangdao, wu bing 55).4. proper use of figures of speech words used in their original meanings are used literally, while words used in extended meanings for the purpose of making comparisons or calling up pictures in the readers or listeners mind are used figuratively (ding wangdao, et al. 22). if we say, “the wind is blowing hard through the woods,” we are making literal, plain statements which give mere information about some facts and nothing more. but when we say, “the wind is roaring through the woods,” we are not speaking literally, but figuratively. so we can see that we use literal language to speak directly, while we use figurative language to speak indirectly. so figurative language involves expressed or implied comparisons of some sort. such comparisons are called figures of speech, and the language in which they are expressed is called figurative language. figurative language, when carefully controlled and skillfully employed, can help the writer a lot. a fresh, apt figure of speech applied to the imagination, creates mental pictures and makes the writing vivid, impressive and interesting. a piece of writing which makes extensive use of words in their figurative senses tends to be connotative, suggestive and colorful, thus vivid and effective, so we should strive hard to learn to make use of figures of speech.5. proper use of causative wordsdixon thought “there exists the potential for any verb from run to sit to be used transitively, in a causative sense (wu guoliang 11).” as bolinger, a famous lingustist, said in aspects of language:.some verbs always remain causative feature when they are used for certain meaning, such as to convert, to make, to turn. for some kinds of verbs, this feature is even combined with the influence, and the feature of this sort of verbs is to add suffix “-en” with causative function: to whiten, to lighten, to soften, to madden, to sicken, and to sharpen (wu guoliang 11).anna claims that both constructions are causative, but in the following (1), the time of the causees action (i.e. the time of the washing of the dishes) could have occurred some time after the action of the causer; by contrast, in the following (2), the talking has to start at the time of the causers endeavors. (1) he got her to do the dishes. (2) he got them talking (wu guoliang 16).iv. problems in english majors writinga. using the same and simple words although many students have mastered more than 4000 words after learning english for four years, they can just read and recognize them, but can not use these words fluently for communication. once they meet to express “许多” “大量”, they can just choose “many”, “a lot of” , and when they write “越来越多”, they use “more and more”. for example, more and more people who become richer can buy more and more tv sets (cai jigang 179). we often come across this kind of sentences in students writings. actually, there are many words and phrases, whose meanings are the same with the word “many”, such as “a great deal of, a very large number of”. however, the problem is not that this word is better than that one, but it is about words changing. so, we often see many students just using the same word to express the same meaning.b. using simple and short sentencesthe common phenomenon in english majors writing is that they like using the simple and short sentences. they can put the simple sentences together. although this kind of writing has no grammatical mistakes, it lacks incoherence, and there is no variety in sentences (cai jigang 194). an incoherent sentence is often hard to understand, and may be interpreted in different ways. here is a paragraph written by an english major student:english becomes more important. all of us know the fact. our society is more open to the world. but it is difficult to learn. i have learned english for seven years. but i still can not command it well, because english is different from chinese. and we have not an environment.in the above short paragraph, the author just put many simple and short sentences together. although there are few grammar mistakes, the meanings of these sentences are separated with each other. please look at the revised version:it is well known that english has become increasingly important, especially to a society more open to the outside world. it is difficult, however, to have a better command of italthough i have learned english for 7 yearsbecause of its complete difference from chinese and of the lack of englishspeaking environment.lets compare the two writings. the meaning is the same, but the qualities are different. the second one is better. therefore, putting the simple and short sentences together is a big problem for english majors.c. using needless words and few vivid words or sentencesin students writings, there are often many needless words. it is common in speaking to repeat a word, use words of similar meaning together, and change words we have said and even the structure of a sentence in the middle of it. but we should not do so in writing (ding wangdao, wu bing 65). needless words do not help express ideas; on the contrary, they obscure the meaning and confuse the reader.the sentences in english majors writing are so common and simple, and there are few vivid words or sentences that they can not arouse readers interest in reading. here are two examples:(1) since an interesting and free class has so many advantages, ill have no reason to choose the other way. but everything should have a “scope”, if a class is too free to control, then the teacher and the students all fail. (2) comparatively, we students will prefer the way of entertaining and enjoyable teaching. however, the teachers may consider that such a way will low down the teaching quality and will choose the formal way.v. countermeasures to problemswe can know the ability of listening, speaking, reading and translating from an english majors writing. so, how do we write an interesting, vivid, and effective composition and solve the above problems that we have researched? here are the countermeasures: vocabulary, sentence and figures of speech.a. vocabularyas a matter of fact, the english language has a very large vocabulary: as many as 400,000 words are collected in the oxford english dictionary (ding wangdao, et al. 9). a student learning to write should use different words to express the same meaning in writing. the problem is not that this word is better than that word, but for variety. we can use a lot of words and phrases to express the same meaning. lets look at some examples: when we say “好学生” in english, most students only use “good students”, but there are many other words and phrases, such as “top students, smart students, gifted students, superior students, outstanding students” and so on. moreover, for the meaning of “学生”, we can not only use “students”, but also “school boys and girls or college populations”. “好学校” can also be expressed as “a great high school, a good independent school”, and etc.b. sentencea series of sentences of the same structure and length with the same noun and pronoun as the subjects produces monotony (ding wangdao, wu bing 73). it is often good to vary sentence structures and mix short and long, simple and compound or complex, loose and periodic sentences. so long as the meaning is properly expressed, variety in sentence structures is generally required.lets come to see some researching sentences from english majors writings, and compare these sentences with the better ones. the followings are two examples. we can easily find sentence (2) in each example is better than sentence (1), because it is not only complex, but also vivid and strong.example one: (1) college students now are primarily interested in grades and economic success. they are expected to cheat more frequently. they are unlike those who graduated ten years ago. they are only interested in their own personal future and consider little the problem of society. (2) college students, primarily interested in grades and economic success, are expected to cheat more frequently than those who graduated ten years age and far less concerned with the problem of society than with their own personal future.example two:(1) some people succeed. other people fail. the difference is not the number of opportunities. it is whether they can take advantage of opportunities. opportunities will arise in the course of ones life, though they are rare.(2) one essential difference between those who succeed and those who fail is the extent to which they take advantage of opportunities rather than the number of opportunities, opportunity which will inevitably arise, if rarely, in the course of ones life.therefore, to improve the quality of the writing, we should avoid putting simple sentences together. in other words, we can achieve this goal from two aspects: sentence structure and sentence length.1. sentence structure for writing, we should try our best to make sentence structures various. we can use other sentences other than simple ones, such as compound sentences led by “and, not only.but also”, comple