How to Improve College English Writing

【Abstract】Teachers main task in teaching writing is concerned with the evaluation of compositions， the variety of teaching writing， the students interests in writing etc. The article provides information of doing them better.

【Key words】Evaluation； Writing； Improvement

【中圖分类号】G64 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2014）09-0133-01

English writing， one of the four skills in language learning， is undoubtedly as important as the other three. Only with the proficiency of English writing， as well as reading， speaking and listening can one learn English well. Thus college English teachers must put more emphasis on writing if they intend to raise their students English performance. They should reinforce writing to make college students think in English as well. Through efforts of a long period of time， students improvement can be seen step by step.

In teaching college English writing， the utmost thing the teacher should take the responsibility for is the evaluation of students compositions. Usually， most teachers dont read their students composition attentively and give them some authentic advice or opinions， but only scratch a rough assessment on the basis of their subjective impression， as a result with little success of substantial elevation in students writing. Those who always get positive remarks will lie on “their achievements” and complacently think they are perfect and neednt much efforts later. On the contrary， others will be discouraged and disappointed； some even lose their interest in writing. There are some teachers who read their students compositions carefully and patiently. They correct every error and at the end of their students compositions， they give comments in detail， “even adding asterisks and information.”（Holden， 1983， P.56）. Their assessment is so minute that the students have no tolerance of reading 10% of them. Their strenuous and labored work is almost in vain.

How to evaluate students compositions？ What is the most effective way to evaluate students compositions？ Different people have different answers. If teachers use suitable measures to assess their students pieces， their evaluation surely can bear fruits. Here， I should say I appreciate an American teacher， Janas evaluation and her way of assessment is the best I have ever known. When she evaluates her students compositions， she gives some signs—whose symbolization is told beforehand—in those works instead of inserting many words. Therefore， before her students read her corrections， they already know what shortcomings their papers have. Whats more， the comments she gives are cheerful and hopeful， even the warning or criticism is acceptable. So after reading her assessment， the students writing enthusiasm gets enhanced and they are willing to go on with their writing and strive to better their writing. Another writing teacher， also an American， Mr. Mettlach， uses another method to evaluate his students compositions. First of all， he asks his students to evaluate their compositions one another so that all the simple problems of their compositions are solved by themselves first and then he makes further assessment. Through these two steps， his students not only correct the errors in their compositions independently， but also notice what their teacher said about their papers. Both of them—Janas and Mettlachs evaluation is unique and makes their students writing improved unconsciously and gradually. Other suggestions for the teachers of English writing are as follows：

1.When teaching students writing， teachers had better not stick to writing merely， but try to employ various methods to increase the students ability of using the language. For instance， teachers can ask students to write advertisements or letters. In writing these practical things， the students can spontaneously attempt to express their ideas clearly and thoroughly. When Jana teaches her students writing， she asks them to write advertisements. She at first tells them how to write an advertisement and gives them examples， and then she asks her students to advertise famous products of local places. Finally she reads her students advertisements out. From those interesting and funny advertisements and also happy teaching atmosphere， the students have successfully practiced their writing while getting useful and good information. Furthermore， Jana asks her students to make pen pals with Americans. Making pen pals gives her students opportunity to get acquainted with foreigners. Simultaneously， to communicate with them well her students exert themselves to write. In this letter？鄄exchange some students become intimate friends with foreigners and often send each other presents， keeping corresponded ever after. Via writing advertisements and letters， students can find their fruits in writing， thus being keen on it.

2.If students are fed up with writing， teachers can give them some articles and ask them to read and retell. By means of retelling those articles， students heighten their ability of organizing words and sentences and improve their oral English at the same time. To some extent， their capability of organizing a composition can be strengthened indirectly.

3.In order to keep students writing interest， teachers can hold writing competitions regularly to encourage students to continue their writing. They can also read or exhibit some good compositions in their students to inspire other students to keep up with or exceed those who have done their excellent work.

4.The improvement of students writing doesnt depend on how many compositions they have written， but for the most part consists in how many books they have read. If a student can write well， he must like reading. Consequently， its necessary to give students some proper and classic works to read. Reading is an excellent way to improve students writing.

5.At present， the purpose of students writing seems to handle the examination. Suppose students write compositions well at other times and fail in the exam， they will have no passion to write in the future. So teachers should train their students to come out a good composition in a limited time， as do in the exam， under the condition that students have mastered all the basic knowledge and types of writing. In this way students writing ability undergoes all sorts of trials and they have the greatest possibility to do well in the exam. Later on they will have the courage and confidence to write.

To teach college English writing well needs long？鄄term experiment and effort， because its achievement cannot be seen immediately. However， teachers can eventually benefit from their hard work as long as they perseveringly probe， study and perfect it.

References：

[1]Wolf S. & Gearhart M. （1994）. Writing What You Read： Narrative Assessment As a Literature Event. New York： the American Psychological Association， Inc.

[2]Holden S. （Eds.）. （1983）. Second Selections from Modern English Teacher. Harlow： England and Associated Companies throughout the world.

作者簡介：

曹志红，女，内蒙古包头市人，副教授，硕士，研究方向： 英语课程与教学论。