A book for high school English teachers: English Writing, Mathematics, Theory and Practice

Author: Mu Linhua Zhang Lingdi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: This book consists of two parts: essays and lesson plans. The essay section includes nineteen articles, divided into five topics: background evaluation, applied research, teaching exploration, native language and second language writing, and testing and assessment. These topics are all frequently discussed in the context of secondary school English writing instruction, such as innovative thinking, controlled writing, process writing, etc.
"Background evaluation" introduces the main research topics and achievements in English writing instruction research in China over the past decade, as well as reviews the development of three highly influential writing teaching methods.
"Applied research" explores how to apply theories from other disciplines in writing instruction.
"Teaching exploration" highlights research on classroom teaching, offering guidance for teachers working at the frontline of education and providing reference models for them to write academic papers.
"Native language and second language writing" is a relatively independent topic. The issue of whether the native language has positive or negative transfer effects on second language learning is still debated. It is generally believed that second language writing is inevitably influenced by the native language, but how to avoid its negative effects and leverage its positive effects remains to be further studied.
"Writing testing and assessment" is a hot topic. Discussions on the question-setting approach, question types, and scoring criteria for open-ended writing in college entrance exams are heating up. Improving a writing assessment system suitable for China's context requires collective wisdom and in-depth exploration.
All authors of the lesson plan section are secondary school English teachers from the frontline of teaching. The materials used in the lesson plans are derived from their teaching practices. Each lesson plan addresses a specific writing issue for secondary school students, such as: how to brainstorm ideas, how to describe events, how to expand writing practice, etc.
The main part of each lesson plan is the teaching implementation process, where the authors detail the steps to guide students in solving writing problems. All content in this book revolves around how to effectively improve the English writing skills of secondary school students, attempting to answer the question that troubles many teachers: how exactly should English writing be taught in secondary schools?