Common Problems and Suggestions in English Writing in Senior High Schools

闫福翠

English wiring in senior high schools is of great importance， which is commonly acknowledged due to the social requirements， the New English Standards and NMET. But the English writing of students from Daqing Shiyan Senior School， a key senior high school in Heilongjiang Province， is not satisfactory， for there are always various mistakes or awkward impressions in their works. So the analysis is aimed at identifying the specific problems and categorizes them， after which related solutions are provided.

Not only society but also the New English Standards and NMET call for senior school students to improve their writing. The English writing of students from Daqing Shiyan Senior School， which is a key senior high school in Heilongjiang Province， is not satisfactory， for there are always various mistakes or awkward impressions in their works. But what specific problems are there？ And how to improve their English writing effectively and efficiently？

1. Observed Common Problems in English Writing

Based on observations from daily teaching in English writing in Daqing Shiyan Senior School， students usually have such problems in the following aspects.

（1） paper neatness： dirty， unrecognizable， poor handwriting

（2） length： too many or too few words （required around 100）

（3） content： off the point， irrelevant contents， missing main points， not enough expression of main points， improper order of content， recursive main points etc.

（4） structure： a one-paragraph work， too many （more than 5） paragraphs， structure disorder

（5） cohesion： no cohesion or poor cohesion between paragraphs or sentences

（6） vocabulary： no advanced words， improper words， repetitive words etc.

（7） sentences： only simple sentences， vague long sentences （no conjunction， too many conjunctions， misused conjunctions）， a lack of sentence variety， too high frequency in using sentences beginning with “and”

（8） meaning： inappropriate meaning expressions， word by word translation

（9） politeness/ inappropriateness： indecent expressions， inappropriate formality or politeness

（10） spelling： misspelling of some words

2. Categorization and Examples

Specifically speaking， the observed problems can be grouped into three types， such as problems related to paper surface （handwriting and neatness）， text arrangement （length， content and structure） and language expressions （cohesion， sentences， vocabulary and appropriateness）. Problems are clearly shown as follows.endprint

Two research subjects works with typical problems mentioned above are shown in the following part as samples， even though some problems of other research subjects will not all be shown here. The works are from the writing task of the exam happening at the beginning of the semester which requires students to write a letter to the headmaster to reflect the phenomenon of the schools rubbish and to provide some suggestions. The research subjects are named as Student A and Student B.

As is shown in Picture 2.1， the work of Student A has both strength and weaknesses. This work has also accomplished the required task， covered all the main points and applied various grammatical structures and words. However， she has problems in the accuracy of the command of the language even though the work shows an enjoyable paper surface and a logical and reasonable text arrangement （length， content and structure）. For example， the indefinite attributive clause in the second paragraph is mistakenly used as a result of the students attempt to use more advanced sentence patterns. More seriously， the choice of vocabulary needs practice and guide to make the work much more professional.

As is shown in Picture 2.2， the work of Student B work has roughly accomplished the required task， nearly covered main points and applied some good structures and words. However， this work has problems in not only unity and substandard handwriting， but also too long a passage than required， illogical text content and poor language expressions such as unnatural cohesion devices， less various or advanced sentences and words and inaccurate diction.

3. Conclusion

To sum up， the problems in students current English writing works can be mainly grouped as problems related to paper surface （handwriting and neatness）， text arrangement （length， content and structure）， language expressions （cohesion， sentences， vocabulary and appropriateness）. So there needs to be some plans for the teacher to help students to make progress in English writing.

4. Suggested Solutions

First， the teachers should be clear that students are likely to have such problems in English writing and then learn to guide students to get rid of the problems little by little and step by step.

Second， the Process Approach is of great help and use in teaching and learning English writing and the teachers may try to provide platforms for students to learn with this approach.

Third， the improvement of English writing needs time and comprehensive improvement in English， which should be keep in mind by both teachers and students. For example， the performance of other sections in a test paper may influence the writing result.

Fourth， once a new habit is formed， there must be timely practice to consolidate it. That is to say， practice makes perfect.

（作者單位：黑龙江省大庆实验中学）endprint