Advanced Writing Skills Training Course (Part 2): Practical Writing

Author: Ma Zhengping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: This book is one of the research achievements of the "Reform Plan for Teaching Content and Curriculum System of Higher Normal Education Towards the 21st Century" by the Ministry of Education. This series of textbooks consists of three volumes: "Introduction to Advanced Writing Studies," "Tutorial on Writing Thinking Training," and "Advanced Writing Training Tutorial" (Volume 1 and 2). "Introduction to Advanced Writing Studies" focuses on writing theory, while "Advanced Writing Training Tutorial" (Volume 1 and 2) focuses on writing training. "Tutorial on Writing Thinking Training" serves as an intermediary between basic writing principles and writing skill training.
In each chapter of the textbook on stylistic writing, the content is mainly divided into three knowledge modules:
1. Stylistic norms or stylistic thinking;
2. Analysis and imitation of stylistic writing thinking, demonstration and imitation of stylistic writing thinking operations;
3. Writing practice and after-class activities. If teaching time is sufficient, these contents can be used for instruction and training. If time is limited, some parts of the content can be assigned for self-study in advance, with classroom teaching focusing mainly on the second and third parts, and the fourth part can also be assigned as after-class activities.
This textbook, set against the profound academic background of contemporary writing philosophy and writing aesthetics, emphasizes the revelation of the principles (patterns, models) of writing thinking, writing culture, writing strategies, and writing diction, as well as the effective and operational training of writing quality and skills, aiming to truly improve students' writing proficiency. As a result, the writing theory knowledge and teaching training design of this textbook have a relatively high learning difficulty, so teachers and students using this writing teaching system should be mentally prepared.
1. This series of textbooks, and the second volume, constructs a brand-new discourse system of contemporary Chinese writing theory based on the cutting-edge academic achievements of contemporary writing theory and writing teaching philosophy. These theories not only delve into the humanistic spirit of writing philosophy, writing aesthetics, and writing culture but also enter the scientific and operational layers of writing thinking studies and writing diction studies, getting closer to the actual state of writing behavior. In a sense, this series of writing textbooks has little to do with the writing knowledge of various popular "Basic Writing Studies" since the 20th century; it should be a "Advanced Writing Studies." It is precisely here that university writing studies are distinctly separated from middle school composition teaching.
2. To transform the knowledge of writing principles and patterns into real and effective writing skills and proficiency, this series of textbooks designs multiple writing training programs from different perspectives in the third volume, forming a three-dimensional and systematic new writing teaching and training system. Each chapter in this volume is divided into three modules:
(1) Theoretical knowledge of stylistic norms or stylistic writing thinking;
(2) Analysis and imitation of stylistic writing thinking, demonstration and imitation of stylistic writing thinking operations, and writing training for revising and improving compositions;
(3) Writing practice and after-class activities. This approach makes writing training more practical.
3. The writing knowledge and teaching of this textbook are highly professional. Many of the stylistic examples in the writing training of this textbook are selected from articles and works already published by the authors. Perhaps these articles are not as typical or ideal as those by some writing masters, but this approach can fulfill the long-standing professional expectation for writing teachers and scholars who are both skilled in writing and teaching, who can "play" (discuss) and "spin" (imitate). These authors use advanced and scientific writing theories to conduct in-depth analysis and operational demonstrations of these articles, making writing teaching more specialized. This is gradually forming a professional entry system for Chinese writing teaching, where not just anyone can teach writing studies and writing courses. This is of great significance for the development of writing as an independent discipline.
This series of textbooks provides a "textbook library" or "knowledge network" for contemporary writing teaching. Schools can flexibly select and combine the use of this series of textbooks based on their own. Schools that place special emphasis on students' writing skills and allocate more class hours to writing courses can fully utilize the three volumes of this textbook for solid writing theory teaching and writing skill training. For schools that cannot allocate more class hours to writing courses, the second and third volumes can be chosen as required courses, while the first volume can be offered as an elective. This can also basically achieve the teaching effects and goals of this textbook system.
This series of textbooks should originally have included a fourth volume, "Analysis of Contemporary Article Writing," but due to space limitations, it had to be omitted. Teaching peers in writing training can refer to the writing analysis methods in this textbook when conducting article analysis, and the examples analyzed can be freely chosen, leaving teachers with creative space for article analysis.
The academic level of this series of textbooks strives to be no lower than the newest textbooks of other main disciplines in Chinese language and literature. This sets quite high requirements for the quality and ability of writing course teachers. We hope that through the promotion and application of the writing theory and teaching training system in this series of writing textbooks, we can reshape the academic-personality image of contemporary Chinese writing studies, writing courses, and writing teachers in the 21st century. Let writing courses and writing studies benefit the construction of contemporary human civilization and material civilization.