A discussion on Cultivating the ThinkingQuality in Writing

Tang Xiao

1 Background

Hedge addresses writing as “a complexprocess which is neither easy nor spontaneous”（Hedge，2000：302）.Herpointofviewissupportedby White and Arndt， who described writing as “ notoriously difficult” （White & Arndt，1991：3）.However，writingseemstobe“neglected”（White& Arndt， 1991：3），which is true for the ChineseEnglish Classroom，wherewritingisa skillthatthe teachers may not pay sufficient attention to.The core accomplishment of English is summed up into four dimensions of language ability， learning ability， thinking quality and cultural character.Thinking quality is one of the basic abilities that students should possess， which is the key factor in the cultivation of English comprehensive ability.

In the past， we often focus on language knowledge structure， and take examination-oriented education as the goal.

As an English teacher， we should change our concept. It is important to know the role that English subject should play in the cultivation of students’ overall humanistic accomplishment， and know the relationship between the thinking quality of English subject and the teaching process. We also should realize that the task in teaching is not only the transfer of language knowledge， but also the cultivation of students ' various thinking ability in English teaching. The teaching process of English writing can continuously cultivate and deepen four aspects of core accomplishment. In order to measure and motivate students to change their thinking quality in English writing， I use a variety of evaluation forms， such as writing scaleto record the situation of students ' writing.

2 Writing mode based on the cultivation of thinking quality

The cultivation of thinking quality mainly includes observation and comparison， analysis and inference， induction and construction， criticism and innovation.

Through the observation of the actual teaching of English writing， I find that there are three kinds of writing teaching modes. They based on the unit topic of teaching materials， which are designed according to the problems existing in English.They can also provide ideal opportunities for students’ language output.

2.1 Writing around topics in class

Each module of the English teaching materials in our teaching material is made up of Welcome to the unit， Reading， Word Power， Grammar， Task， Project， Self-assessment， etc. They are designed to make students practice listening， reading， speaking， writing. They focus on three-dimensional goals--knowledge and ability， processes and methods， emotional attitudes and the cultivation of values.

Such a variety of tasks of the topic module， teachers should prepare the teaching objectives of this module from the overall macroscopic， then determine the writing tasks which are suitable for the topic of this module， and how much guidance and preparation for students before writing.While teaching process， we should give students enough writing materials to accumulate. The purpose is to accumulate rich information while training listening， speaking， reading and other comprehensive ability at the same time .

Summed up seven principles of task-based language teaching activities， one of which is the "task dependency principle"， that is， the learning task must be from easy to difficult. They can form a "task chain".Theprevious task is the premise of the completion of the latter task. According to this theory， the task design of module teaching should consider the continuity and relevance before and after， especially the writing task should be put in the end， n order to let the completion of other tasks for the subsequent writing to lay a solid foundation.we should give students enough language input as the premise of language output， and leave ample space for students to write.

2.2 Writing around collaborative interaction

English teaching methods should follow the principle of diversity， so as to maintain the enthusiasm of English learners， but also an important way to cultivate the quality of thinking. The participation of different types of activities will open up the students ' vision and make it easier for students to develop their own thinking quality and cultural character. The same is true of English writing.

In addition to the diversity of topics， the form of writing can also be diversified. For example， the second module of the reading topic： Home Alone. Because of the textbook on the worry of growing up，we hold an performance. Students perform a debate caused byfamily generation gap . Each group prepares its own script and arranges the stage play. Before the script is written， we review the elements of script writing in the textbook， and learn Shakespeare's classic stage play and American TV performance clipsGrowing Pains ， and then carry out the task of choreography and layout. Such writing is mainly discussed by the group to write together， is conducive to mutual exchange and learn from each other.

2.3 Writing around style

When teaching in a new lesson， teachers try to let students imitate and experience the foreign culture. In poetry teaching， for example， the basic steps include poetry introduction， guided appreciation， meditation thinking， student creation， class presentation， after-school reflection， and so on.

Teachers create learning scenarios. First we can play the background music， read the poem aloud， and then lead the students to appreciate and analyze the poem.The students gradually deepen the understanding of poetry and poets ' background and experience the beauty of poetryso as to understand the individual's thoughts to give the poem a deeper meaning and stronger vitality.

Through imitation， meditation， conception and creation， students expand the depth and breadth of expressing emotional poetry， promote full  cooperation between teachers and students， and enable students to learn actively， explore and construct knowledge， and further deepen the construction of the meaning of the theme.

3 Thoughts on the design of writing based on thinking quality

Teachers should think the design of classroom writing and design a teaching mode that conforms to the development of students’ thinking ability.

（a） Use the text learning writing： retell the text： in-depth understanding of the text， based on the interpretation of articles which can encourage students to use their own language and diversified forms of expression to retell the text.

（b） Rewrite and imitation： let the students recreate according to the requirements of the text from different angles， different persons， different forms of activities ， which is an effective way to cultivate students' writing ability.

（c） The language input.Writing is a process of selection， the output of the accumulation of language material. The ability of language output needs a long period of training， so the teacher should pay attention to the cultivation of the ability of students. while having the enoughlanguage input.I think， the effective language output is a way to test language learning.

（d） Students should observe things around them and accumulate life experience， which will be very good writing inspiration and subject matter.

（e） Building the writing habit andcollaborativewriting intheclassroom can beadaptedand used in Chinese classroom.No matter whatactivitiesare employed，theyallneed perseveranceand allaim to makewriting aroutine in English classes. The greatest benefitcomingfrom activitiesofthiskind mightbethattheyhelp tobuildthestudents’confidenceaboutwritingand sometimes promote students’ creativity.

Moisturizing life is the education of this. Our English teachers should effectively establish the concept of focusing on the cultivation of the thinking quality of English subjects.The teaching of English writing has become a cultural journey leading students to cultural contact， cultural experience， cultural understanding， cultural identity and cultural criticism， so that students enrich their lives in the nourishment of many culture.

References：

[1]Hanner， J. How to Teach Writing. Harlow： Pearson Education Limited， 2004.

[2]Hedge， T. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford： Oxford University Press， 2000.

[3]Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg. Teaching English to Children. Longman： Longman Education Texts， 1990.