Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas (Studies in Writing)

Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas STUDIES IN WRITING VOLUME 16 Series Editor: Gert Rijlaarsdam, University ...

Author: Mark Shiu Kee Shum | De Lu Zhang

164 downloads 2336 Views 15MB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!

Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas

STUDIES IN WRITING VOLUME 16

Series Editor: Gert Rijlaarsdam, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Editorial Board: Linda Allal, University of Geneva, Switzerland Eric Esperet, University of Poitiers, France David Galbraith, Staffordshire University, UK Joachim Grabowski, University of Heidelberg, Germany Ronald Kellogg, St. Louis University, USA Lucia Mason, University ofPadova, Italy MartaMilian, Universitat Autonoma Barcelona, Spain Sarah Ransdell, Florida Atlantic University, USA Liliana Tolchinsky, University of Barcelona, Spain Mark Torrance, Staffordshire University, UK Annie Piolat, University of Aix-en-Provence, France PaiVi Tynjala, University ofJyvdskyld, Finland Carel van Wijk, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Springer publishes the international book series Studies in Writing, founded by Amsterdam University Press and continued by Kluwer Academic Publishers. The intended readers are all those interested in the foundations of writing and learning and teaching processes in written composition. The series aims at multiple perspectives of writing, education and texts. Therefore, authors and readers come from various fields of research, from curriculum development and from teacher training. Fields of research covered are cognitive, socio-cognitive and developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, text linguistics, curriculum development, instructional science. The series aims to cover theoretical issues, supported by empirical research, quantitative as well as qualitative, representing a wide range of nationalities. The series provides a forum for research from established researchers and welcomes contributions from young researchers. All studies published in the series are peerreviewed.

Mark Shiu Kee Shum De Lu Zhang Editors

Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas

springer

Mark Shiu Kee Shum, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong De Lu Zhang, Ocean University of China, China

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CLP. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10: 0-387-26392-6 e-ISBN-10: 0-387-26915-0

ISBN-13: 9780387263922 Printed on acid-free paper e-ISBN-13: 9780387269153

© 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed in the United States of America. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springeronline.com

SPIN 11495598

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE Gert Rijlaarsdam

VII

INTRODUCTION: TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING AREAS Mark Shiu Kee Shum & De Lu Zhang

1

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING: MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG Mark Shiu Kee Shum

7

TEACHING WRITING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MAINLAND CHINA De Lu Zhang

29

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS MOTHER TONGUE: MAINLAND CHINA Yu Ping Han

47

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: MAINLAND CHINA Li Zhao, Yong Ji Xu & Xia Zhu

65

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MAINLAND CHINA Chun Li Zhao & Cai Ying Yang

87

THE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL AND TEACHING APPROACHES Ke Kang He & Mark Shiu Kee Shum

109

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN SCHOOLS IN MAINLAND CHINA Bai Man Li

131

EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH IN MODERN CHINESE PRACTICAL WRITING Cheng Kun Yu

149

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION ON THE TEACHING REFORM IN UNIVERSITY WRITING Guo Rui Yu

157

VI THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT: WRITING REFORM IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS Shek Kam Tse, Elizabeth Ka Yee Loh, Wai Ming Cheung & Che Ying Kwan

171

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION IN HONG KONG SECONDARY SCHOOLS Mark Shiu Kee Shum

199

ACADEMIC ESL WRITING IN HONG KONG Albert Tai Yuen Wong

215

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMAN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN Chen Li Yao

23 3

TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN SINGAPORE SECONDARY SCHOOL Seok Hwa Sim

245

REFERENCES

259

AUTHOR INDEX

267

SUBJECT INDEX

271

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

273

PREFACE

GERT RIJLAARSDAM University of Amsterdam & Utrecht University, the

Netherlands

It is only recently that to some extent I became involved in Asian research on Writing. In 2001, when I edited volume 11 in this book series, New Directions for Research in L2 Writing, I was struck by one chapter, a beautiful study on writing processes, set up in Japan by Miyuki Sasaki (Ransdell & Barbier, 2002). Until that chapter, not one chapter in the foregoing 10 volumes came from Asian countries. What a shame... In the same year, at the conference of the International Association for the Improvement of Mother Tongue Education (lAIMTE), I met delegates from Hong Kong reporting interesting research on teaching writing in the very complex bilingual situation in Hong Kong. From conversations with Shek Kam Tse and Mark Shiu Kee Shum and their colleagues, I got a global picture of other research developments in China and Chinese-speaking regions. We discussed the possibilities to publish a volume in the Studies in Writing book series, for two reasons. Insight in research and education in writing could help us, the Western world, to review current developments on our continents, and at the same time, such a volume would help us to enrich the writing research community - the Special Interest Group on Writing^ - founder of this book series. The result of the hard work of the volume editors amply fulfils these goals. However, I think it also adds something I had not anticipated. This volume arouses a curiosity as to what happens in China and related regions. Superficially, we seem to share educational problems and challenges. In China writing education faces the same challenges as it does in the West, - availability of Internet^'^, falling standards'^'^, teachers' workload, lack of interest^, time consuming but non-effective cor' http://www.sig-writing.org/ ^ "Due to the influence of the Internet, young people in Taiwan have become accustomed to using short phrases, or even just icons, to express their feelings. " (Yao, this volume) ^ "This resource (Internet) has not been adequately used, as most teachers are afraid that students might spend much time doing other things on the Internet. " (Han, this volume) ^ "A good friend of mine who is teaching at middle school once told me, 'in the near future we have worse students to send to the university you work in.' Every year, we hear the same complaint - the students 'proficiency of Chinese is going down. "(Yao, this volume) ^ "The chapter stated the lack of motivation, lack of composition writing skills and lack of knowledge as the greatest hurdles faced by Singaporean secondary school students. " (Sim, this volume).

VIII rection^, shortage of teachers^, quality of teacher^, resistance to innovations^^, centralized educational planning^ V However, the historical cultural differences are evident in how the needs to innovate are answered in a way different to that of the West. Fundamentally, two differences seem to play a role when we compare the Western situation with the Chinese. First, there is the Chinese conception of writing, which is definitely different from the Western conception: throughout the book, the Confucian roots in the conception of writing are present. Second, there is the way in which China copes with tradition and the demands of modernization: the Chinese world is now more open, and new genres develop in the wake of the rapid social and economical changes that have taken place in recent years. After reading this volume, for me the difference is that authors in this volume really try to bridge tradition and recent societal demands, while we often forget or neglect our Aristotelian tradition. In the West, we seem to use technology for improving current practice, that is, we play one bank of the River of Old and New, and forget about the other bank. In contrast, the Chinese authors obviously try to incorporate the essence of the tradition in the new content and methodology of education, while being very aware that to renew teaching practice, some relicts of the education practice tradition must be overcome. To me, it seems that the Chinese authors construct the bridge between old and new from home-made materials, embedded in the traditional concept of writing. Most chapters rely on Chinese references and studies only, with some exceptions. Only the systemic functional theory of Michael Halliday, almost absent in nonAustralian publications, has adherent among the authors in chapters. In cases where volume authors use studies from other linguistic, mostly Anglophone regions, they adapt them critically and carefially to the Chinese cultural environment. Even - in the Western world - well-accepted writing process models, for example Bereiter and Scardamalia's knowledge telling and knowledge transforming model are criticized because of their unidimensional nature. Indeed, the He & Shum model represents

^ ''The whole purpose of writing, many pupils hold, is to get high marks; and achieving high marks is only possible through producing work that contains no errors. For many pupils, writing is difficult and uninteresting; for many teachers, it is monotonous, painstaking and dull " (Tse et al, this volume) ^ "Essay marking is a headache to many Chinese teachers as marking composition essays is a timeconsuming task and takes a great deal of effort while students are just concerned about the marks and they may repeat the same mistakes in future. "(Sim, this volume) * "Now Korean middle schools are running short of teachers who can give instructions in Chinese writing. This is the main reason that some schools have Chinese writing classes separately. "(Zhao, Xu & Zhu, this volume) ^ "Many Chinese teachers themselves are not good at writing. They are poor at finding problems in compositions and correcting them. Each teacher must give writing lessons once every five to six classes. There are too many students for them to correct their compositions in a detailed way. Little by little, the habit of not correcting some errors in students' compositions is formed and becomes very common. So the language errors in the compositions become fossilized which are difficult to get rid of. If this situation continues, the improvement of teaching quality will become empty talk. " (Zhao, Xu & Zhu, this volume) ^^ "Despite the seminars and workshops held prior to the project, a number of teachers who participated did not fully understand the rationale of the approach or master the new teaching methods. "(Tse et al, this volume) '^ Only when the students feel it no longer hard to write would they be eager to express themselves (Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, 2001) (Li, this volume)

IX three dimensions, with for us, the affective and value dimension as a dimension that is often neglected in writing process models (Alamargot & Chanquoy, 2001). The He & Shum writing process model reflects interesting Chinese cultural entities aspects about teaching writing. To me, these differences in theory reflect a broader cultural difference. Whereas in current western research there is a strong focus on learning shared cultural practices (on becoming reader-based rather than writer-based), the emphasis in the research presented in this volume is much more on the individual: on how to make writing more writer-based (c.f Nisbett - "The Geography of Thought"). Perhaps each culture focuses on that which is not taken for granted. The more individualistic Western cultures take the individual imagination for granted and focus on the need to take the reader and social context into account, whereas the more collective Asian cultures take the social features of writing for granted and focus on the need to present an individual point of view. Observational and imaginative activities get far more attention in this book than in the recent Handbook on Effective Teaching and Learning of Writing in this book series (Rijlaarsdam. Van den Bergh & Couzijn, 2005), imagination almost being absent. Observation of daily life, writing 'truthfully', is one of the prerequisites for good writing in this book, as is imagination, "the cultivation of the students' imagination as a baton of teaching" (Han, this volume). The challenge in teaching writing in Chinese is to combine the traditional focus on deducing similarities in the daily life (the 'collective') with the modern and innovative focus on differences (the 'individual'). To break conventions, call for questions, seek differences and encourage innovations: that is what teaching writing should be (Han, this volume), while still related to value construction: There is no doubt that the missions of a writing course are to enable students to have a mastery of the knowledge of writing and to enhance their writing skills. Yet, these are not the underlying objectives of the writing course. Instead, the fundamental aim is to integrate writing knowledge and skills with human development in all other aspects so that the knowledge can be internalized as a basic character of human existence and development. This is what we call quality. (Yu, this volume: 160).

The volume editors start their introduction with: One of the most civilized nations in history, China has a long-standing writing tradition and many Chinese texts have become world treasures, such as the 'Four Books' and the 'Five Classics', the 'Classic of the Virtue of Taoism', the 'Red Mansion', the 'Pilgrimage to the West', the 'Water Margin', the 'Three Kingdoms' and the 'Art of War'. Confucius' teaching has been acknowledged worldwide both for ideas and methodology. However, the way the Chinese teach writing in various countries in contemporary times is little known to the outside world, especially Western countries. (Shum & Zhang, this volume: 1)

Indeed, until the publication of this volume, we knew little. We now can understand the educational challenges in Chinese-speaking regions a bit better. These chapters urge us to reconceptualize what writing is, should be, and can be. The implicit plea throughout the book for a multidimensional view on writing is now well understood. Writing functions in various meanings: instrumental to the society, to personal life and to the well-being of the writer. I hope we will have more opportunities in this book series to meet this rich part of the globe.

INTRODUCTION: TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING AREAS

MARK SHIU KEE SHUM & DE LU ZHANG The University of Hong Kong & Ocean University of China, China

One of the most civilized nations in history, China has a long-standing writing tradition and many Chinese texts have become world treasures, such as the 'Four Books' and the 'Five Classics', the 'Classic of the Virtue of Taoism', the 'Red Mansion', the 'Pilgrimage to the West', the 'Water Margin', the 'Three Kingdoms' and the 'Art of War'. Confucius' teaching has been acknowledged worldwide both for ideas and methodology. However, the way the Chinese teach writing in various countries in contemporary times is little known to the outside world, especially Western countries. The Chinese had an established traditional method of writing instruction. Academics followed particular patterns or formulae, such as the 'Eight-Legged Essay', performance in which determined whether a person could be promoted to a higher rank within the government. The most talented could become governors of provinces or climb even higher in the hierarchy. The main method of acquiring the skill of writing was imitation of the style of great authors. However, recent social and political developments have created the perception amongst both practitioners and researchers of a need for change. These developments have come both from inside China and as a result of contact with the West. Many of the authors in the present volume have noted these, which affect both the mainland and the other Chinese-speaking territories. Mark Shiu Kee Shum's hypothesis, that the 'context of culture' and the 'context of situation' determine the shape of the curriculum and implementation, regardless of the rhetoric of curriculum guidelines, (Chapter Two) is a theme carried throughout the book. As Chun Li Zhao (Chapter Six) has indicated, the drive for reform has affected the teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language, which, in any case, had been under the influence of Western theories for some time. It has also influenced the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (De Lu Zhang, Chapter Three). Cheng Kun Yu (Chapter Nine) has pointed to the need for reform of practical writing as a result of a change in the

2

SHUM & ZHANG

nature of administrative documents, originating from both political reform and the development of a market economy. Guo Rui Yu (Chapter Ten), on the other hand, has commented on reform occurring since the opening up of Mainland China to the outside world. The theme appears again in Seok Hwa Sim's Chapter Fifteen. In her discussion of the situation in Singapore, she has attributed the need for reform in the teaching of Chinese to the rise in status and popularity of English. Consequently, teachers of Chinese language have had to find ways of enthusing their students and improving their performance. Thus, in many different ways, social, political and cultural factors have fuelled various reforms in the teaching of Chinese as a Mother Tongue, Chinese as a Second or Foreign Language and English as a Foreign Language in the various Chinese-speaking regions. Whilst the acknowledgement of a need for reform seemed to be widespread, the actual definition of what was wrong with the current system varied. Yu Ping Han (Chapter Four), has complained that: The teaching process is simplified and formatted, so an active training of writing ability is turned into that of pure skills. The teaching activities are also rigid, old-fashioned, stereotyped, monotonous and spoon-feeding in nature, so no emphasis is attached to the development of the students' intelligence and affection. Therefore, the writings do not really go deep into the reality of human life and lack the cultivation of creativity. However, literary education itself is not given prominence and language training is not adequately implemented so the sole purpose of the teaching of composition is for taking examinations and the principle that 'composition teaching is a stimulating art' is not implemented. (Han, this volume: 59)

Ke Kang He and Mark Shiu Kee Shum (Chapter Seven) have outlined problems with the current approach as: valuing knowledge above ability; external above internal stimulation; writing above speaking; rationality above sentiment and language above setting. Seok Hwa Sim (Chapter Fifteen), discussing the situation in Singapore, attributes the problems to: lack of knowledge, writing skills, and interest in essay writing. Li Zhao, Yong Ji Xu and Xia Zhu (Chapter Five), discussing the situation relating to the teaching of Chinese as a Second Language to Korean students, have criticised current methods for being: confined to a closed teaching model, which emphasizes imitation and writing on given subjects...limited by test-oriented education and methods of training in writing. It is easy for them to narrate a thing in Chinese according to the requirements, but it is difficult to release their opinions...More attention should be paid to encouraging students' creative thinking and writing abilities. (Zhao, Xu, & Zhu, this volume: 75)

Thus, whilst the actual formulation varies, common complaints are that the system has been rigid, teacher-dominated and test-oriented, and reforms are suggested to address these complaints. These reforms come both from Western and indigenous Chinese theories and research. Yu Ping Han (Chapter Four), after outlining the evolution of teaching methodologies, has put forward suggestions for reform which, while following a similar line, do not seem to have emerged from a particular Western theory. The authors of Chapters Six, Seven and Eleven base their reforms on American psychological approaches, such as Bereiter & Scardamalia's framework of cognitive development, Goodman and others' 'Whole Language' and Graves' 'Process Writing' approach. This approach inspired the writing reform in Hong

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING AREAS

3

Kong primary schools, the 'Hong Kong Project', discussed in Chapter Eleven. One aspect of 'process oriented' methods, peer review, is taken up again in Chapter Twelve (Mark Shiu Kee Shum). Another Western theory that has been taken up with some enthusiasm in China is 'genre' theory, which was mainly based in Australia and was a development of the systemic-functional framework of grammar developed by Michael Halliday. Halliday is himself a scholar of Chinese language, and many of his concepts were developed through insights gained from Chinese (see Chapter Nine). Whilst Westerners initially had some difficulty integrating psychological and sociological approaches, practitioners and researchers in the East seemed to have less of a problem with it. Shum's report (Chapter Two) on his research into report writing in two different settings, Australia and Hong Kong, is based on this approach, but also incorporates aspects of the Process Approach, such as peer review and revision (Chapters Ten, Eleven and Twelve). Guo Rui Yu (Chapter Ten) has taken the elements of both Western and indigenous Chinese approaches. Cheng Kun Yu (Chapter Nine) has proposed a system for teaching practical writing which combines a systemic-functional framework with an approach taken from research in communication and a Chinese-based text analysis. The teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language has always been more open to influences from abroad and again, suggested methods show influences from the different Western approaches, as well as the linguistic theory of contrastive analysis. The suggestions for reform - integrating the four skills and paying more attention to speaking before writing - outlined in Chapter Five, relating to Chinese as a Second Language for Korean students, on the other hand, seem to owe more to internal than to external influences. In summary, whilst certain socio-political changes, both in Mainland China and in the territories, acted as catalyst for reform of the teaching of composition, the shape these reforms are taking has been due to many different influences, coming both from inside the countries themselves and from foreign sources. The impetus for change has come both from practitioners and researchers. Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore have each developed their own approach to the teaching of composition. This volume aims to give an accurate picture of the diverse composition teaching contexts and approaches in these four regions and countries. It reflects the choices faced by Chinese educators between traditional, highly structured methods of teaching composition and more process-oriented, student centered approaches. The recurring motif: the influence of social, political and cultural factors, brought to bear through pressures exerted not only by those directly involved, but by parents, administrators and the government, is of relevance not only to the East, but throughout the world. The Fourteen chapters following this introduction each focus on a particular aspect or area of teaching writing in Chinese-speaking areas. Chapter Two reports on a cross-cultural case study investigating how similar curriculum goals have been implemented in Melbourne and in Hong Kong. The study followed the teaching of the report genre in one classroom in each of these two cities, considering teaching cycles, classroom interaction patterns, teachers' views,

4

SHUM & ZHANG

goals and strategies, students' expectations and student performance. Despite similarities in rhetoric, implementation was very different, leading to the conclusion that the context of situation and the context of culture will shape the implementation of curriculum reform. Chapters Three to Six provide an overview of various aspects of teaching writing in Mainland China: teaching English composition as a Foreign Language, teaching Chinese composition as a Mother Tongue, Second Language and Foreign Language. Chapter Three outlines the development of the teaching of writing in English and its relationship with both external diplomacy and internal politics. Teachers have been dissatisfied with traditional, formal and structural methods and have been exploring new approaches. These can be divided into two types: those that extend from the static to the dynamic and those that extend from the teaching of writing to include other areas that can improve the students' skills. It is concluded that the best way forward is to integrate the various methods. The chapter offers valuable information for understanding the connections between fluctuations in the teaching of English as a foreign language and historical events. It gives Western readers insight into the education received by the Chinese students who come to US or Canada for graduate study. Chapter Four reviews the evolution and current situation regarding composition teaching in Mainland China. The fact that this teaching has long been examination-oriented has led to a utilitarian focus and rigidity in both teaching and learning practice. Suggestions for reform include attaching importance to the cultivation of students' cognitive abilities and stimulating motivation and imagination. Chapter Five investigates the teaching of composition to Korean second language learners in China. As Chinese and Korean belong to different language families, teaching practice cannot follow the traditional way of learning Chinese. An integrated approach is required, with speaking rated ahead of writing. A three-step procedure: to enlarge vocabulary intensively; to read extensively and to write frequently, both 'closed writing' - on certain topics - and 'open' or free writing, is proposed as an effective way to improve skills. Multi-media have also been introduced. The ultimate aim is to enable students to write simple compositions, with the minority Chinese proficiency test system as benchmark. Chapter Six traces the history of Teaching Foreigners Chinese (TFC) and differences between teaching European and Asian students. Various approaches, originating from diverse sources, are suggested. Teaching writing through other disciplines is also recommended. Next, the question of the order of teaching the four skills is discussed. It is suggested that for students from the East the four skills may be introduced simultaneously, whereas for students from the West, listening and speaking skills should be introduced before reading and writing. Chapters Seven to Ten continue to explore innovations in the teaching of writing in primary, secondary and university levels in Mainland China. Chapter Seven approaches the composition process from a psychological perspective in a study of primary school students. A thinking-processing model is proposed, based on three factors: knowledge, ability and attitude. In-class activities are proposed with emphasis on cooperative learning and the use of multi-media. Chapter Eight describes two innovations based on advanced theories both at home and abroad: 'Method of Live Demonstration ...' and 'Teaching Writing on Topics'. The first aims to provide see-

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING AREAS

5

narios based on students' lived experience. The second is a systematic training to write on more abstract ideas, for secondary and university students who have grasped the basics. As the two methods can be used in either secondary or higher education, they may help to bridge the gap between the two sectors. In Chapter Nine, the theme is highlighted once again, as the author outlines the emergence of new genres in the area of practical writing due to changes in the socio-political context and the development of a market economy. As well as new genres having emerged, the functions of some genres have changed. New forms of analysis influenced by Systemic-Functional Linguistics, the Theory of Communication and a functional theory of text structure are being applied to study these genres, but more research is required. Chapter Ten reports on two research studies into college writing over the last ten years. Using Systemic Theory, the research combines text study with process study and establishes a framework that integrates theories of context, text function and text structure. Suggestions for reform include a focus on student and activity based learning, integrative process assessment and making full use of technology. Chapters Eleven to Thirteen relate to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and describe innovations in teaching practice which are currently being trialled there. Chapter Eleven reports on a study of over 7,000 primary students evaluating the effectiveness of the reforms implemented in the 'Hong Kong Writing Project'. Results indicate that the cultivation of pupil-centred teaching methods is beneficial to all and challenge the notion that Hong Kong primary students detest writing. The authors recognize, however, that curriculum innovation cannot occur without the support of teachers and parents. They are also careful, while advocating new approaches, not to denigrate traditional ways. Chapter Twelve reports on a comparison of four methods of evaluating compositions in Hong Kong secondary schools: evaluation by teacher; evaluation by teacher using a symbolic code; peers using a checklist and self-evaluation using a checklist. After a six-month trial, students in the 'peer evaluation (checklist)' group performed better in terms of taking the initiative in rewriting, their writing habits and recall rate of revisions. A post-study survey of the students found they had a positive attitude towards peer evaluation by checklist. Nevertheless, students may feel insecure if they are asked to assume responsibility for the evaluation of their own or others' writing and they need to be prepared for such a task. The chapter also clarifies the importance of revision as a process of refining both thinking and expression. Chapter Thirteen examines in detail the cognitive processes and behaviours, using a think-aloud protocol, of two advanced ESL writers in two different settings: in class and at home. The subjects adjusted their composing strategies to cope with the changing setting, recycling previously used strategies as well as utilising new ones. Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen record innovations in teaching Chinese composition in Taiwan and Singapore, serving as useful supplementary descriptions of the development of writing pedagogy. Chapter Fourteen describes the current situation regarding freshman Chinese composition in Taiwan, using students' own comments about their composition classes. The author suggests teaching techniques based on both ancient methods and those gathered from years spent overseas and from practical experience and, using a tone that contrasts with the factual tone of the other

6

SHUM & ZHANG

chapters, shares the joy of helping students find their voice in writing. Chapter Fifteen outlines the history of policies relating to the teaching of composition in Singapore from a policy planner's perspective. The author concludes that there is a need both for creativity and imagination and for the training in specific skills if students are to be both capable and enthusiastic about essay writing. One important resource will be web-based teaching. This is the first book that systematically introduces recent developments in teaching composition in Chinese-speaking areas. It outlines current theories and paradigms originating both in the West and in China and Chinese-speaking territories and the way in which these have been adapted to suit the various cultural contexts and learning environments. This is an exciting time in language teaching methodology. With the rapid changes taking place in composition teaching in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, we can expect that the field will continue to develop. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project is partly funded by the Faculty Research Fund (FRF) of the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong to which we owe our gratitude. We would like to express sincere thanks to all the contributors who wrote fascinating chapters to enrich the book. We are very grateful to the two reviewers, who spent enormous time to read and comment on all chapters and offered enlightening and insightful suggestions about improving the manuscript. We are very much indebted to Dr. Marietta Elliot for her very helpful feedback and assistance during the process of editing. We are especially thankful to our colleagues in the University of Hong Kong, Natalie Yu, Vivian Chau and Stephanie Shi, who provided us with high quality research and administrative support. Thanks, too, are due to Carrie Lau, Jin Chi, Jacky Lo and Catherine Lee who were very helpful student research assistants of the project.

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING: MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG Implications for Global Curriculum Sharing

MARK SHIU KEE SHUM

The University of Hong Kong, China

Abstract. Globalisation has resulted in curriculum reform, particularly at matriculation level, in many educational jurisdictions. When Victoria (Australia) and Hong Kong reformed their curricula, both claimed that their reforms were intended to develop students' critical, independent and high-order thinking skills, and to foster their ability to learn independently. The question of whether the almost identical reform rhetoric has been translated into identical classroom practice was investigated in a comparative case study of the implementation of the reforms of Chinese writing curricula, specifically relating to report writing, in one classroom in Melbourne (Victoria) and one in Hong Kong. The study considered the following aspects: teaching cycles; classroom interaction patterns; teachers' views, goals and strategies; students' expectations and, through an analysis of students' writing, the relationship between teaching and learning. It is shown that despite similar educational objectives and rhetoric, major differences arose when it came to implementation in classrooms with diverse cultural, social and linguistic contexts. In conclusion, factors are presented, which curriculum designers must take into consideration if the goal of global curriculum sharing is to be achieved. Keywords: cultural context, teaching Chinese writing, LI learning, global curriculum, report genre

1.

GLOBALISATION AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM

Globalisation has resulted in the division of labour on a world scale, with most developed countries now having economies based on tertiary industries revolving around knowledge and services, while many secondary industries have moved to less developed countries (Jarvis, 1999:249). In response to this globalising trend, many educational jurisdictions, especially in the 'knowledge societies' have, since the late 1980s, increased the pace of reforming their curricula to equip younger generations with skills required in increasingly knowledge-and-technology-based societies (FuUan, 1993; Davies & Guppy, 1997; Levin, 1998). Because of the similarities

8

SHUM

in needs, education reformers around the world often refer to each others' plans and policies. Advanced cognitive skills such as critical, analytical, exploratory, problem solving, independent thinking skills, creative and holistic thinking skills, have been highly valued as a reaction to the remarkable pace of development in technology and current knowledge. 2.

REFORMED SIXTH FORM CHINESE WRITING CURRICULA IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

The state of Victoria (Australia) and the territory of Hong Kong were among those educational jurisdictions which reformed their curricula at the matriculation level in the early 1990s. Their reforms were part of a global movement to broaden the Sixth Form curriculum to prepare students for the needs of a complex, interconnected world. In Victoria, the new curriculum featured an increasing emphasis on Languages Other Than English (LOTE), especially a number of Asian languages, including Chinese, for reasons such as fostering social harmony, trade and tourism. Due to the large number of immigrants and overseas students from Chinese-speaking regions, the Chinese curriculum is divided into the Victorian Certificate of Education - Languages Other Than English: First Language Chinese - VCE LI Chinese and Second Language Chinese - VCE L2 Chinese, targeting LI and L2 learners respectively. In Hong Kong, to prepare for its change of status to a Special Administrative Region of The Republic of China, the new curriculum featured the introduction of the subject Chinese Language and Culture at the Hong Kong Advanced Supplementary Level (HKASL). Chinese has become a second compulsory language subject, apart from English, for all sixth formers. The two reformed curricula concerned, VCE LI Chinese and HKASL Chinese, share many similarities in respect of the way they originated (Curriculum Development Council (CDC), 1993:6, 1995:10; Board of Studies, 1995:6.) First, both are products of thorough reviews of the matriculation curriculum by the education authorities concerned. Secondly, both broaden the matriculation curriculum to cater for a wider range of abilities to allow students to fully develop their potential. Thirdly, each was initiated in the late 1980s and implemented in full in 1992. Finally, their shared objectives. These include: a focus on improved learning opportunities; development of critical, analytical and high-order thinking; learner-centred approaches; encouragement of exploration, imagination, independence and respect for other people's views. 3.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

At a macro level, the aim of the study is to explore how the objectives of the two reformed Chinese composition curricula, which appear to have similar objectives and make a similar commitment to the current global education reform movement, have been implemented in two very different contexts. How are these objectives implemented in actual writing classes? At a micro level, the aim of the study is to focus on the teaching of the genre of report writing which is a common component

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

9

of the two curricula. How is the report genre taught in senior secondary classes in the two different contexts? What are the classroom interaction patterns in the two contexts when report writing is taught? What are the teachers' views, goals and strategies in teaching the report genre in each place? What are the students' expectations about teaching and learning of the genre? How do the students perform in their written texts? The answers to these questions are of interest to curriculum planners, since one of the goals of curriculum reform prompted by the globalisation movement is to share curricula, on the assumption that globally shared goals imply globally shared means. 4.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research methodology chosen to investigate the research questions is that of a comparative case study. Two sites were chosen for observation, namely two secondary schools, one in Melbourne and one in Hong Kong. Both schools are wellestablished, with a long and valued history in their respective cities, and both offer Chinese courses from junior to senior forms, and are thus comparable. One class was selected from each school for observation, with the participating students in both Melbourne and Hong Kong taking Chinese as one of their matriculation subjects. All students spoke Chinese as their first language, although the Melbourne students' mother tongue was either Putonghua or one of the Chinese dialects, while the mother tongue of most of the Hong Kong students was Cantonese. The level of proficiency in Chinese writing did not vary greatly between the two groups. The two class teachers were panel head teachers of their subject and had a thorough understanding of the curriculum. The Melbourne teacher was Caucasian and spoke Putonghua during class, while the Hong Kong teacher was Chinese and spoke Cantonese, the local language of Hong Kong. The focus of observation was report writing, because both Melbourne and Hong Kong had included this text type in their reformed matriculation curriculum in the early 1990s. This genre is the most scientific, problem-based, critical and analytical form of writing taught to students, closely reflecting the objectives of the curriculum reform in Victoria (Jenkins, 2000). Furthermore, mastery of this genre is important to all students' future studies and careers. From a variety of report types the 'evaluative report' in Melbourne and the 'investigative report' in Hong Kong were chosen as the two most closely related. The Melbourne teacher spent eight periods teaching the evaluative report, while the Hong Kong teacher spent three periods teaching the investigative report. The main research questions stated above may be restated in greater detail, each research question prompting a particular method of analysis to investigate it. These are summarised in Table 1.

10

SHUM

Table I. Research Questions and Method ofAnalysis Research Questions

Method ofAnalysis

How is report writing taught in the two classrooms?

One class selected in each city. LI background learners of Chinese studying at matriculation level only. Experienced teachers of Chinese chosen for observation. Christie's (1997) 'curriculum macro genre' approach adapted for analysis of teaching cycles.

What are the classroom interaction patterns when report writing is taught?

Sinclair and Coulthard's (1975) model of 'conversation' used for analysis of classroom discourse.

What are the teachers' goals, views and strategies in teaching the report genre?

Interviews with teachers after classroom observation.

What are students' expectations of their teachers' teaching?

Interviews with students following classroom observation.

How do the whole class perform in their written work?

Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday, 1994) model for text analysis. Identify any common structures or features.

To what extent do students rewrite their texts?

Compare first draft withfinaldraft of students' written reports.

As part of the case study approach the researcher entered the classroom, conducted observations over a long period of time, interviev^ed participants and collected a large number of classroom conversations and students' written reports for fiarther analysis. 5.

SIGNIFICANCE

As very fevy^ case studies have researched the teaching of Chinese vy^riting, especially in a cross-cultural comparison, the present study is expected to make a significant contribution to our understanding of both the teaching of Chinese w^riting and the degree to which globally shared curricula are educationally desirable and culturally feasible. The strength of this study lies in its detailed comparison of the implementation of two similar curricula in two educational jurisdictions whose context of situation and culture differ markedly. A comparison of the way in which the curricula are implemented at these two sites and an examination of the way the students perform

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

11

allow us to identify factors that affect the implementation of curricula, factors which must be taken into account by curriculum designers. 6.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

In this section we describe the way in which the Victorian and Hong Kong curriculum recommendations for the teaching of report writing have been implemented in the two classrooms in Melbourne and Hong Kong. First, the teaching/learning stages are analysed as 'curriculum macrogenres' to show how report writing is taught. Secondly, teacher and student talk is analysed as classroom interaction to show the prevailing interactional patterns when report writing is taught. 6.1 Curriculum Macrogenres in Teaching Report Writing In this section we provide a detailed account of how the teachers in Melbourne and Hong Kong conducted the teaching of report writing. The stages of the teaching cycles in both classrooms are explored through a model of 'curriculum macrogenres' (Christie, 1997). Christie argues that a curriculum macrogenre constitutes a sustained sequence of curriculum genres occurring over several days or weeks in which new understandings and new forms of consciousness are taught and learned (Christie, 1997:147). In Christie's model a structural hierarchy is proposed with several levels of abstraction, from a 'macro genre' at the top, to 'genre', to 'elements of schematic structure' (also referred to as 'generic stages') and to 'phases' (within elements of schematic structure). Adopting the work of Gregory and Malcolm (1981), Christie defines phases as steps within an element of schematic structure which help achieve the goals of the element of structure and are often signalled by shifts in linguistic choices associated with at least one of the three metafunctions posited in a SFL model of grammar, i.e., the ideational, interpersonal or textual metafunction (Christie, 1994: 14-15). The present study adopted Christie's model for the purpose of identifying steps in the teaching cycles to show how the two teachers structured their lessons. The Melbourne teacher spent eight lessons (of 50 minutes each) teaching the evaluative report whereas the Hong Kong teacher spent only three lessons (of 35 minutes each) teaching the investigative report. This difference is clearly reflected in the two teachers' allocation of time and the organisation of their lessons. Table 2 shows the different learning/teaching stages in the two classrooms, with each stage identified according to separate class activities and specific linguistic markers. These stages can also be integrated into the curriculum macro-genres (Christie, 1997) as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Figures 1 and 2 show that teacher-student collaboration and interaction among students constitute the major parts of the teaching of report writing in Melbourne, whereas teacher direction is crucial in the Hong Kong classroom. The Hong Kong teacher plays a much more significant role in directing students compared with the Melbourne teacher.

12

SHUM

Table 2. Teaching/learning stages in Melbourne and Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Melbourne

Stage 1 Introduction: Teacher sets tasks for students to discuss aims, functions and structures of report, and to collect and analyse sample reports at home.

Introduction: Teacher introduces nature and function of report genre, telling students its formats and structures, and provides an overview of the steps to be taken in writing an investigative report. Stage 2

Model analysis of texts: In turn, each student is requested to present main structures and comments on the report collected by them. Teacher then asks students to write topics and introductions for some given reports.

Report structure through model analysis: Teacher teaches structures and format of target genre in detail by using model texts to support explanation. Teacher puts special emphasis on what constitutes a good introduction in a report. Stage 3

Joint negotiation: Teacher conducts debate on the topic 'Missile Test in Taiwan Strait'. Students are divided into three groups or teams: China, Taiwan and US. After the debate each student is asked to submit a conclusion based on the debate.

Group discussion of methodology: Teacher summarises what he had covered previously. He divides the class into five groups and assigns each group a specific topic. Each group is asked to conduct group discussions on how to collect data for their report. The lesson ends with group presentations. Stage 4

Individual Composition: Teacher sums up the task requirements and revises the report writing skills. The students start writing while the teacher moves around to provide individual consultation.

Individual data collection and report writing: Subsequent data collection in groups and individual writing of reports in students' own time.

Stage 5 Independent Writing Outside Classroom: Independent Writing in Students' own time.

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

Teaching / LearnEng Slagc Z

Teaching / Lettrning Stage 3

MODlJL ANAI,Y.S1S 0[- II-Xl'S

JOINT NL'ODTIAI ION

Teaching / Learning \ Stage 1 I isTRr)nucriON [ C u m c i i l u m Initiation ;

\ i

Teaching / Learning Stage 4

TcAching / Learning S(age 5

INUIVIDUA1. COSI I'OSl TION

INDKPhNDhNT W R i n N G

C;irTH'it!uiti(.,1<

Curricuhnn Ncpxitiiioii

Individual prcuniaiion <>rtc[ioib rpllcct»j by :itU(lcuts

tlL re<|uitcment

Training lo Mile hiu(liiii;.s & intctittuotiuiu

Twin- *" Trjtii- j inlcrvcn-^ ingtu nigtn \ write I tion '" wHu* hcadinptin! ttodu- i 01 ion* i i Nomination I ot'studdtti

13

"• Suninury of A-riUrii; skills

Sliuleiilk iiidL'pi:tiilciiI w-ritins ill ihcir own tinic uuisiJi' the cla^ti

v'iiliul wriliiiii

Group ' KcbuHftl ' [lulividuiil subnu.li ion pn;$ciiOf taiion conclusion of iliflcrciit ihc debate point-: of v-iew

Qumion' \ aruwcr i~ \

1

Student

rcacher-student IctiltaboraliuD —

IStudent

j

cutloboniUon MiflOtrpuu ># Nafionul ci)nvcT)tion.i (after Eggitw. I9'M:40) jdnrt stflge Y. I •'•' dctCTJbc; i fixed sequence of elcinenU of schcnaaiic structua-, i,c, X * Y ~ s-ugi X prcccdtr« laclivity I •()• nwans the stage insid* the parenthnus is opitotutl. '!) J ' lite aiTOw iwliwids (lai any stases Ktsitl*? the cudy bfackeiA ar« rccuisive.

'leachcr-Jtudrnt

jStudcni [Sn inttcpcii-

Stiidiuu —^ indi.'pcndi nctivity

colluboraiioti—Mint Uci |aci

' 1 period - ?() n^inutei

figiitv I. Cwriculum macroge.nre of teaching the 'evaluative ivpori' in VCE-LOTE LJ Chinese Class (after C/irisrie, J 997.f 49) Period* ] Teaching / Learning

Teaching/Learning Slage 2 PRFSF-NTATIOV OF REPORT STBUfTI-RF. ntftOtV.II MODEt.

MinHOttOUkiV

ASAr.Yfi'S

Curriculum Initiation liitKxluciion " oflopic

Cuiriuuium Negolialioii

Ovrroll sumniarv*

report %(-niiiig

I ] cfl d i ng '' Salutation '

I it Uixtut: ii oi i

Teaching / Learning Stage 4 i

I

stce-ORTwurnsG

CutTiculum Closure

Steps to

Auili-<

pefininj! • IJetlning '- Collwtinjji -^ An- j wbjcclixe iotf,rt.i data «ly. | ! j

Teaching/Learning Stage 3 Gitnijp nisci^sioN OF

Ut^cuisio

Oroup work

Outside the class, students collected data in gtrtups luxl u»ed itiein lo write their own mdividunl tvpt>ns

Group picsoiiatioo J

smeil data Tnn-liing '• Of inttodiiciion

Evumpli

Iditection—

ISiitdenl —Hcollaborai

Slud«ul indeiMfiidetii ••• ociivity after siudeni

Niitioiul Lunventioiis (aflei Eggins, 1994:40) "" describes a fixed sequence of clenKnis of whcniiilic stnictwrc, i.r, X ' Y " stage X precede* si«ge Y, • { } . J' the arrow indicates that any stages iiwtdi' tbc ctirly brjiekets nre Rtiiriivv, ' i period - iS minuies

Figutv. 2. Cumculiim macrogeniv. of teaching the ' invest igaiivc repon' in the HKASL Chinese Class (offer Christie, J 997: J 49)

6,2 Classroom interaction patterns in teaching report writing This section analyses teacher and student talk in the two classes to establish the patterns of classroom interaction during the teaching of report writing. The analysis draws on the model of classroom discourse proposed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975), with reference to Tsui (1994) as well as others, for example Ng (1996). The

14

SHUM

patterns of classroom interaction in Melbourne and Hong Kong comprised eight types of interaction: Teacher Pattern, initiated by Student T-IR Initiation-Response S-IR Initiation-Response-Follow-up T-IRF S-IRF Initiation-Response-Follow-up-Response-Follow-up T-IRFRF S-IRFRF Inform T-i S-i All Initiation-Response types of interaction (T-IR, T-IRF, T-IRFRF, S-IR, S-IRF, and S-IRFRF) represent different forms of exchange which reflect the depth of classroom interaction initiated by teacher and students respectively, while the inform types of interaction (T-i and S-i) represent forms of discourse which convey information or knowledge monologically. The informs in this study include not only information and knowledge imparted in a teacher's monologue {Teacher-initiated inform), but also reports and presentations in students' monologues {Student-initiated inform). All types of interaction, both exchanges and informs, are identified according to linguistic markers proposed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975). Observation of the classes reveals that teachers and students in Melbourne and Hong Kong engaged in very different interaction patterns. In Melbourne, teacherstudent exchanges predominated, while one-way presentation was uncommon. In Hong Kong, on the other hand, the teacher was the main initiator in class, presenting information. The types of exchange found in the two classrooms, and their frequency of occurrence, are compared in Table 3. Table 3. Classroom interaction in Melbourne and Hong Kong: Exchange type (absolute numbers, percentage between brackets) for macro and micro focus

Type

Teacher-initiated Exchange

Teacher-initiated Inform Student-initiated Exchange

Student-initiated Inform Total

Melbourne

Hong Kong Macro focus

139(49.0)

Type

Melbourne

Hong Kong

Micro focus

14(14.8)

T-IR

39(13.8)

9(9.5)

62(21.8)

3 (3.2)

38 (14.4)

2(2.1)

36(12.7)

58(61.7)

T-IRF TIRFRF T-I

36(12.7)

58(61.7)

52(18.3)

17(18.2)

S-IR

25 (8.8)

11(11.8)

14 (4.9)

2(2.1)

13 (4.6)

4(4.3)

5 (5.3) 94 (100)

S-IRF SIRFRF S-I Total

57 (20.0) 284 (100)

5 (5.3) 94 (100)

57 (20.0) 284 (100)

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

15

The relative and absolute frequency of the different patterns of classroom interaction in Hong Kong and Melbourne are shown in Table 3, while Figure 3 shows their relative frequency graphically. The differences in absolute frequency are due to the fact that the report genre was taught in Melbourne for eight periods in four teaching/learning stages whereas in Hong Kong it was taught for only three periods in three teaching/learning stages. Figure 3. Comparison of interaction types in Melbourne and Hong Kong (%).

70 60 50 S) 40

I 30

T-IR

T-IRF

T-IRFRF

T-i

S-IR

S-IRF

±

S-IRFRF

S-i

Bales IPA Categories • Melbourne = Hong Kong

The main differences and similarities between the patterns of interaction in the Melbourne and Hong Kong classrooms are as follows: 6.2,1

Differences between Melbourne and Hong Kong

Teacher-initiated informs. In the Hong Kong classroom teacher-initiated informs comprise 61.7% of all exchanges or interaction units in the teaching cycle, while in the Melbourne classroom they comprise only 12.7%. This difference reflects the fact that while the teacher in Hong Kong relied mostly on a monologic lecturing mode, the Melbourne teacher used a variety of modes. Teacher-initiated exchanges. The exchanges initiated by the Hong Kong teacher comprised only 14.8% of all interaction units, while those of the Melbourne teacher comprised 49%. This means that nearly half of the teaching in Melbourne was conducted in teacher-initiated exchange mode, with the teacher using elicitation techniques, inviting students to respond to his questions. However, in the Hong Kong class teacher exchanges T-IRF and T-IRFRF totalled only 5.3% of all interaction units while in Melbourne teacher exchanges T-IRF and T-IRFRF totalled 36.2% of

16

SHUM

all interaction units. The Melbourne teacher was clearly much more prepared than his Hong Kong counterpart to ask questions to build up his students' knowledge. Student-initiated informs. The main occasion for student-initiated informs was individual speaking, such as in debates and presentations. In the Hong Kong class only 5.3% of all exchanges were student-initiated informs while in Melbourne they totalled 20%. The actual number of student-initiated informs was more than ten times greater in Melbourne than in Hong Kong (57 in Melbourne and 5 in Hong Kong), which suggests that the Melbourne teacher provided more opportunities for students to speak, by inviting them to present to their class the reports they had collected and to participate in debate. In Hong Kong, student-initiated informs primarily took place in group presentations, with a group representative addressing the class. This marked difference in the incidence of student-initiated informs may be due to the fact that (1) there was significantly less teaching time available in Hong Kong (105 min.) than in Melbourne (400 min.); and (2) the Hong Kong class comprised twice as many students (30) as the Melbourne class (15). 6.2.2

Similarities between Melbourne and Hong Kong

Student-initiated exchanges. The occurrence of student-initiated exchanges, expressed as a percentage of the total number of interactions in each classroom, was virtually the same in Hong Kong (18.2%) and Melbourne (18.3%). Most of the student-initiated exchanges occurred in teaching/learning stage 3 in each class. In Hong Kong student-initiated exchanges occurred in the group discussions on methodology, while in Melbourne they mostly took place in the open debate. In these contexts it was likely that students would raise questions and give responses to one another. The virtually identical frequency of student-initiated exchanges in Melbourne and Hong Kong might suggest that the students were of a similar nature and similar learning styles prevailed, despite their different backgrounds (Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia). This explanation would leave open the question of why they behaved so differently in terms of student-initiated informs, with this type of interaction comprising 20% of all interactions in Melbourne and a mere 5.3% in Hong Kong. The answer probably lies in the fact that students had been socialised into particular classroom learning activities by their teachers. 6.3 Teaching modes in Melbourne and Hong Kong The marked difference in interaction patterns between the Melbourne and Hong Kong classes indicates that their teachers employed different teaching strategies, resulting in different modes of instruction in report writing (Table 4). Modes of instruction in a writing class are identified by Hillocks (1986) as falling into three patterns, namely 'presentational mode', 'natural process mode' and 'environmental mode'. The Melbourne teacher conducted the teaching cycle mainly in 'teacher exchange modes': he seldom employed monologic teacher-initiated informs. He used procedural facilitation skills, setting his students many tasks which

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

17

involved practising the language. He taught by involving students in substantial activities, acting in a role between that of a presenter and a facilitator. His mode of instruction could be described as 'environmental'. The Hong Kong teacher conducted the teaching cycle mainly in 'teacher-initiated informs' while he employed 'teacher-initiated exchanges' less often. He prepared detailed lecture notes, and taught by explaining the genre and providing models for students. Though he tried to promote student interaction by organising a group discussion, in general he spoke for more than two-thirds of the entire teaching time, acting in the role of instructor. His mode of instruction could therefore be described as 'presentational'. 6.4 Teachers' goals, views of education and teaching strategies Since differences in the teachers' cultural, institutional, social and educational backgrounds are likely to influence their goals in teaching the report genre, their views of education and their teaching strategies, and therefore the implementation of the very similar curriculum objectives in the two cities, the Melbourne and Hong Kong teachers were interviewed to gain a better understanding of the rationale for their teaching methods. The comparisons reported below reveal clear differences in the two teachers' views of education and in their teaching strategies, although their goals in teaching report writing are alike. These differences may be the result of many factors, such as the different social environments and educational systems in which teachers and students work, the teachers' personal experience of learning, the time constraints under which they work, the teacher-student ratio and methods of assessment. In other words, due to a range of situational and cultural factors, the apparently similar goals of their respective curricula were implemented very differently in the classroom. Table 4. Teaching modes in Melbourne and Hong Kong

Melbourne evaluative report

Hong Kong investigative report

Teaching stages

Introduction ^ Model Analysis of Texts ^ Joint Negotiation ^ Individual Composition ^ Independent Report Writing

Teaching strategy

Teacher let students explore, evaluate and share knowledge of report genre, using procedural facilitation skills and setting tasks which let students practise target language. 8 lessons of 50 minutes each 15 students

Introduction ^ Presentation of Report Structure through Model Analysis ^ Group Discussion of Methodology ^ Independent Data Collecting & Report Writing Teacher adopted knowledge transmission mode, demonstrating the genre in detail and providing models for students to follow.

Teaching time& class size Teaching content

Teacher asked students to collect samples of report and explain their analysis

3 lessons of 35 minutes each 30 students Teacher provided report samples for his demonstration of their relevant features.

18

Teaching Mode

6.4.1

SHUM

Melbourne evaluative report

Hong Kong investigative report

of the text to the rest of the class. Teacher provided some lecture notes in absence of textbook. Teacher used current issues of interest by asking students to present newspaper articles. He then organised a debate on China's missile drills in the Taiwan Strait, a hot topic of concern to students.

Textbooks with sample reports and notes available to students. Topics from daily life or students' experience employed in both the teacher's illustrations and the topics assigned for further work. Examples include: tuck shop service, students' reading habits, child rearing styles of parents, school bus services, etc.

Environmental mode (Hillocks, 1986) Teacher spent 1/3 of his time lecturing. Teaching mainly based on interactions and exchanges among students. Participation by questioning, discussion, individual report and debates encouraged. Independent research and sharing of knowledge encouraged. Teacher had prepared a lesson outline but responded flexibly as needed.

Presentational mode (Hillocks, 1986) Teacher spent 2/3 of his time lecturing. Teaching mainly involves unidirectional knowledge transmission. Teacher explained details of structure and features of the genre. Group discussion of method of data collection to enhance interaction between students. Teacher had prepared a detailed lesson script.

Goals in teaching the report genre

The Melbourne teacher's ultimate goal was to foster his students' independence preferring to guide them in ways of exploring new knowledge instead of simply telling them the 'facts'. The Hong Kong teacher also stressed the skills of independent research, for example by setting an activity which required his students to collect data for their investigative reports. The Melbourne teacher believed that the skills of report writing would be useful in his students' future lives and careers, whereas the Hong Kong teacher thought that the specific skills of questionnaire design, data collection, organisation and analysis would be useful in other subjects or in their careers. Both teachers thus tried to equip their students with the ability to work independently and apply their writing and research skills in real life. The two teachers thus shared similar goals, closely related to the stated objectives of the reformed curricula in their respective educational jurisdictions. 6.4.2

Views of education

The Melbourne teacher emphasized education as a process, focusing on the learning of skills and on competence instead of the outcome of a task. He allowed his students to make mistakes and tried to create an environment in which the students could take risks. He saw his role as one of facilitator, providing just enough information for students to develop their skills and finish their work themselves instead of giving them all the relevant information. He believed that questions should arouse students' interest, and that students could learn more when exploring their own

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

19

questions. He focused on the skills of report writing rather than grammar and the language of the report, according to his teaching goal of preparing students for realworld tasks. The Hong Kong teacher, on the other hand, emphasised the end product in education, expecting his students' work to be clear, logical and accurate. Given the local system and its limitations, he saw it as inefficient and unwise to let the students explore freely. He conceded that although teachers may sometimes be collaborators or helpers in the classroom, essentially he saw their role as teaching and leading their students. Consequently, he provided all learning materials and information necessary, and followed a monologic lecturing mode. At the same time, he organised a group discussion to encourage the students' involvement, since he also wanted the students to learn from activities apart from lectures. He believed that the focus of teaching practical writing was teaching students to apply their language skills. The two teachers' views of education thus differed markedly, most likely due to the differences in the cultural and social contexts in which they teach and to their own experiences in learning and teaching. 6.4.3

Teaching strategies

The Melbourne teacher required students to prepare for lessons to ensure an efficient use of time. While encouraging students to use their own sample reports, he would not comment much on the texts, instead encouraging students to judge the texts for themselves. He held a debate, dividing the class into three groups, to allow for three viewpoints to be represented. The debate served the purpose of demonstrating the linguistic features of evaluative reports. The students thus first worked in groups, the teacher then asked each of them to write a conclusion for the report based on the arguments presented in the debate. For other reports, the teacher provided the students with a list of possible topics but did not set the topic. The teacher's aim at all times was to enhance the students' independence and their ability to learn through risk-taking and decision-making. The Hong Kong teacher, to use his teaching time efficiently, sometimes distributed handouts before the lessons to help the students in their preparation using many examples to demonstrate the structures and features of the report genre. He would at times help students in analysing parts of a report. He also provided opportunities for the students to discuss their investigative methods in groups, thus presenting them with the experience of planning a small-scale research project or investigation. In addition, he asked the students to discuss in a group the method of data collection, and had a representative from each group report to the class. The teacher then asked for data to be collected by students in groups, with each student producing an individual report as homework. As the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) determines the topics for public examinations, the teacher did the same, explaining that this would benefit both teacher and students. The two teachers' strategies thus differed in terms of time allocated to teaching and learning, guidance and scaffolding provided to students, structuring of classroom activities and the planning of writing tasks.

20

SHUM

6.5 Students' expectations of their teachers: interviews 6.5.1 . Melbourne students' views The Melbourne students held two different points of view regarding the teaching they were receiving. Some students, mostly local born Chinese, who had become accustomed to the more informal Australian teaching style, thought that the teaching was good, as the teacher provided guidance, but also gave them the freedom to explore a topic for themselves. Others, mostly newly-arrived immigrants, however, said that the teaching style did not meet their expectations and that the teacher should have given them more information, taken the initiative in guiding them, lectured to them and provided more tests to make them study. One student commented positively (yet with a clear qualification) on the teacher's approach, saying that "...in general, for the kind of class where everyone wanted to do well he became very effective because he let us develop our understanding by ourselves."

Another student contrasted the teaching style negatively with the one he was familiar with, "I cannot say that I have not learned anything, but when compared to Saturday Chinese school, we have learned less."

A third student echoed these sentiments, making his preferred approach explicit by saying, "I like the lecture; it's probably because that's the way I learn something - I like to come back to lectures rather than doing problem-based learning."

The different opinions expressed are most likely a result of the students' different educational and cultural backgrounds. One of the students who expressed negative views was a new immigrant to Melbourne and was probably used to a 'presentational' mode of instruction, therefore finding it difficult to cope with an 'environmental' mode of instruction. Another student with negative comments was an L2 learner, a locally born Chinese who wanted to learn the basics. On the other hand, the student with positive comments, who had been studying in Melbourne for years, and had experienced this particular teacher before, nevertheless also thought that this approach only suited those who were highly motivated. 6.5.2

Hong Kong students' views

Hong Kong students by and large made positive comments on their teaching. They thought that the teacher's detailed handouts helped them to gain an understanding of the structure of reports. One student spoke for many when he said that, "Yes, he did help. For example, for the format, we knew how to divide them [reports] into parts for discussion."

However, one student was critical of the style of teaching, saying that, "I think that the teachers should not just feed the students everything that we are going to learn. We should first let the students feel what kind of genre this is, and let them talk about their understandings first. At least we can have an interaction. The teacher will

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

21

know the students' misunderstandings beforehand and so he will know which parts to focus on when he teaches." In short, while the students generally appreciated the teaching style of their teacher, at least one expressed a preference for more interaction so that learning might become an active and interesting process. The positive opinion expressed in all likelihood originates from the fact that students have been accustomed to their teachers' presentational mode of instruction from their early schooling. The student who held a critical view of the classroom interaction probably did so because she was currently studying at the College of Education and had acquired education theories which support the concept that a high degree of classroom student-teacher interaction can promote learning. 6.6 Class performance in written work Text analysis was carried out on all reports written in the two classes. It was found that students in the two places performed differently in their written work, possibly due to the different modes of instruction and types of classroom interaction. On the whole, Melbourne students' texts showed more variation in their generic structure, while Hong Kong students' texts more consistently followed the generic structure suggested by their teacher, as shown in Table 5. Table 5. Written performance of Melbourne and Hong Kong students

Melbourne

Hong Kong

Structure Method of developing argument

Varied Ways of developing arguments, e.g. evaluating a situation, making a comparison, etc.

Sequencing of stages

Sequence followed broadly: (Qualification) ^ Orientation ^ Point of View & Evidence ^ Evaluation ^ Recommendation ^ Bibliography

Uniform Ways of developing arguments mainly following structure: report offindings^ interpretation of data ^ implication of findings. Sequence followed uniformly: Aims & Background ^ Methodology ^ Results & Analysis ^ Conclusion ^ Recommendation ^ Authorisation & date

The differences between the students in Melbourne and Hong Kong are due to three main factors. First, the diversity of reports introduced to students varied between Melbourne and Hong Kong. In Melbourne the teacher used a wide variety of reports as examples when teaching the evaluative report, all collected by the students. Some were journal articles, some reports in newspapers. Hence different generic structures in the model reports may have led students to write reports of a wide variety, generically speaking. In contrast, only a limited range of model texts, similar in nature and structure, was used for the teaching of the investigative report in Hong Kong, and it

22

SHUM

is thus not surprising that the student texts are similar in their generic structure, since students will use the model texts as models for their own reports. Secondly, the range of topics available to students differed between Melbourne and Hong Kong. The topics for the evaluative report in Melbourne were chosen by the students and thus varied widely; some concerning current issues in which the stages 'evaluation' and 'recommendation' were important, and some analysing the character of a particular person, where value judgements became important. In contrast, five topics were assigned by the Hong Kong teacher for the investigative report, mostly current issues requiring problem solving, and as the investigative report generally follows a more rigid format than the evaluative report, less variation resulted. Thirdly, the varied methods of argument development by the Melbourne students may be related to what they had learnt in the two periods of debate. During the debate, students used different methods to develop their points of view and to win over the other side. In contrast, the Hong Kong students were taught how to write the parts of the investigative report in sequence, with the teacher reinforcing this lesson by reviewing the structure of a report before the students started their group discussion. The students could not have missed the importance of the sequence of the stages in writing an investigative report, and it is thus not surprising that their reports adhered to the structure presented. 6.7 Students' revision of their texts The study included the revision strategies used by the students in Melbourne and Hong Kong. By comparing the first with the final draft of their reports, the researcher sought to discover how students arrived at their final draft. The students' revisions were documented at word level (revision of words only), at sentence level (revision of sentence structure), and at paragraph level (revision of whole paragraph). The number of revisions made by three students, nominated by their teachers as representing three levels of language proficiency (High, Medium, Low), are given in Table 6. Students in the two classrooms used different revision strategies. The Melbourne students seemed to show more initiative in revising their texts, both in terms of the number of revisions they made and of the levels at which they revised. The three Melbourne students made a similar number of revisions to their first draft, i.e., between 18 and 25. Two of the Hong Kong students made fewer revisions overall, i.e., between 0 and 6, while one (medium level student) made a large number of revisions (73) at the request of her teacher, seemingly to show goodwill towards the researcher. The students in both classrooms mainly revised at word level (Melbourne 60.2%, Hong Kong 82.3%). However, the Melbourne students had a greater tendency towards revising at sentence (34.9%) and paragraph (4.9%) levels than the Hong Kong students, who revised at sentence level relatively infrequently (17.7%) and not at all at paragraph level.

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND H O N G K O N G

23

Table 6. Level of revision by Melbourne and Hong Kong students

Writers Rank

Melbourne High Medium Low Total Hong Kong High Medium Low Total

Level Paragraph Sentence Word

Total

N %

N %

N %

N %

2 0 1

10.0 6 30.0 12 60.0 20 100 0 6 33.3 12 66.7 18 100 4.0 10 40.0 14 56.0 25 100

3

4.9 22 34.9 38 60.2 63 100

0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O i l 15.1 62 84.9 73 100 0 3 50.0 3 50.0 6 100

0

0 14 17.7 65 82.3 79 100

The results also demonstrate the Melbourne students' greater motivation to revise, since the Board of Studies requires students to amend their first draft. Moreover, the examination system in Victoria provides students with ample time for re-writing. More importantly, their course work is kept in a portfolio to be handed in to the Board of Studies at the end of term, with the marks counted towards the final grade. Students therefore have an incentive to revise their texts continuously so as to achieve better results in the portfolio assessment. Students in Hong Kong, however, did not revise much between drafts, revisions being largely confined to word level. As course work is not counted towards the assessment in the public examinations, revision is not considered important. Furthermore, since the examination system does not require students to revise, students rarely revise at a whole text level, due to the time constraints of a public examination. 7.

CONCLUSION

The study has shown that the implementation of the two reformed Chinese writing curricula in cities that are significantly different in terms of cultural, social, linguistic and political variables has resulted in very different outcomes in the classrooms, despite the similar emphasis in the curricula. These findings demonstrate that the contexts of situafion and of culture (Malinowski, 1923, 1935) are fiandamental variables that affect the implementation of a curriculum.

24

SHUM

7.1 Context of situation If we consider a classroom cycle or curriculum macrogenre as a text, then its context of situation may be referred to as "the immediate environment of the text" (Halliday and Hasan, 1985:6). This environment may be described in terms of three 'register' variables: 'tenor' (who is taking part), 'field' (what is going on) and 'mode' (role assigned to language) (Halliday & Hasan, 1985:26). In this study, tenor refers to the relevant views, expectations and perceptions of teacher and students in each classroom, and the knowledge and abilities possessed by them. As shown above, tenor varied significantly between the two classrooms. Field also varied between the evaluative report being taught in the Melbourne classroom, where students were free to decide their own topic, and the investigative report in the Hong Kong classroom, where topics were assigned by the teacher. Mode also varies, since the medium of instruction or 'input' in Melbourne was Putonghua while in Hong Kong it was Cantonese. Similarly, the 'output' varied since in Melbourne reports were accepted in either simplified or full form while in Hong Kong reports were mostly expected to be written in full form. 7.2 Context of culture The concept 'context of culture' seeks to capture a broad range of circumstances and conventions crucial to an understanding of communication in the widest possible sense: it is a combination of the prevailing educational, institutional, social, economic and political cultures (Malinowski, 1923, 1935). Figure 4 summarises the factors that can be said to affect the teaching and learning in the two classrooms. Both teachers observed in this study are considered to be representative. They were competent and committed. Both attempted to devise models and strategies which followed the curriculum and suited the students. The Melbourne teacher took advantage of the ample teaching time of eight periods and adopted an 'environmental' mode of instruction (Hillocks, 1986, 1995). This was a student-centred approach in which students were invited to collect their own examples and comments on the structure and effectiveness of each report in front of the class. In addition, students were split into three groups to participate in debate, after which they were asked to write a conclusion. This activity can be seen as a joint negotiation process for students to create texts and a tool to help them understand that evaluative reports normally include several viewpoints regarding an issue. Finally the students were requested to write a report on a topic of their own choice. The main interaction pattern in the Melbourne class was teacher-initiated exchange. The teaching style created in the Melbourne class was free-flowing and relaxed, with few directions given by the teacher. The Hong Kong teacher was limited in what he could achieve, having only three periods of teaching time. He employed a 'presentational' mode of instruction (Hillocks, 1986, 1995). The dominant interaction pattern in the Hong Kong classroom was one of teacher-initiated inform. The teacher provided informative notes in which he demonstrated clearly how to write an investigative report. He also provided examples for the students to support his explanations. In the first two lessons

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

25

he focused on knowledge specific to the genre. In the third lesson he added some elements characteristic of the environmental mode of instruction by dividing the class into five groups and randomly assigning a topic to each group. Each group then discussed the research methods appropriate to their topics, which were then reported by a representative in front of the class. The students then collaborated to collect data, and later wrote their own individual reports. The teaching process in the Hong Kong class was more teacher-centred and knowledge-based than in that Melbourne, involving a great deal of direction from the teacher. The students appeared not to exercise the same initiative as the Melbourne students did.

Figure 4. Factors affecting the teaching of Chinese writing in Melbourne and Hong Kong.

The data gathered in this study suggest that teaching and learning practices in Melbourne and Hong Kong vary because of their different cultural contexts. In Melbourne the teacher had more space, time and freedom to adopt an exploratory teaching approach; and school-based assessment enables flexibility in teaching. Moreover, due to the limited resources available for LI Chinese learners in Australia, the Melbourne teacher had to invent and create resources for his students. The Hong Kong teacher, on the other hand, had to juggle a tighter curriculum, larger class size, limited teaching time and the need to prepare students for a high-stake examination. Therefore the Hong Kong teacher was not in a position to carry out relatively timeconsuming exploratory teaching.

26

SHUM

7.3 Implications for global curriculum sharing As stated above, curriculum reforms with similar educational objectives and rhetoric have been introduced in many different educational jurisdictions since the early 1990s. However, despite this similarity, implementation has been shown in this study to vary in different societies, most likely due to differing cultural, social, linguistic and political factors. It is of interest to understand which factors in particular seem to determine and shape actual curriculum activities, thus affecting the implementation of global curricula. The study demonstrates that although the curriculum designers in Melbourne and Hong Kong framed their objectives in a similar rhetoric and students in the two classrooms were guided to perform similar tasks to achieve similar objectives, the actual experiences and outcomes of teaching and learning turned out to be significantly different. This is consistent with Malinowski's (1923, 1935) contention that language use at any time is conditioned by both its immediate context of situation and the broader context of culture in which the situation is embedded. Halliday (1994) has made these ideas part of his functional theory of language, postulating that since language varies according to context, teaching and learning processes are subject to their situational and cultural contexts. The contextual variables affecting teaching and learning processes in this study included social, economic and political factors, such as the views of education shared by teachers and students, teaching and learning strategies, educational systems governing teaching and learning, class size and time allocated to teaching, resources devoted to teaching and assessment methods. The study thus provides important insights into the possibilities of global educational reform, highlighting the essential factors which curriculum designers must take into consideration to achieve global curriculum sharing. When educators and curriculum designers introduce policies, systems and practices from other countries, they are well advised to take into account the suitability of any foreign products for their intended local settings. Serious consideration must be given to the contexts of culture and situation relating to the classroom for which reformed curricula are intended, to ensure that their reforms may be implemented successfully, that the implemented curriculum closely matches the intention of the design. 7.4 Implications for pedagogy According to the availability of resources, and to factors such as class time, teacherstudent ratio, assessment methods and the subject contents prescribed in the syllabus, the two teachers devised different teaching strategies which were shown to benefit their students in each case. The Melbourne teacher was successful The Hong Kong teacher was successful in: in: Utilizing the time and space provided by Teaching 'efficiently', an important goal the curriculum and encouraging student since the time allotted for teaching the participation; genre was one-fourth of the Melbourne teacher's while the number of students

TEACHING CHINESE REPORT WRITING IN MELBOURNE AND HONG KONG

Using efficiently the resources contributed by students; Skilfully organising a variety of small tasks into one major task; Using an environmental mode of instruction and encouraging peer interaction; Teaching through activities and thus producing students with authentic exploratory learning experience; Acting as an effective facilitator.

27

in his class was double that in the Melbourne class; Having students conduct research after class to extend their learning; Arranging group activities to enhance interaction despite a tight teaching schedule; Teaching by explaining the investigative report in detail to ensure his students' grasp of the genre; Ensuring that the structures of students' texts was uniform, an advantage in sitting for a public examination with a standard marking scheme; Acting as an effective instructor.

The environmental mode of instruction demonstrated by the Melbourne teacher enabled students to be significant instead of marginal participants and encouraging them to be actively involved. However, this approach requires students to be highly motivated which may not necessarily be the case. While the presentational mode of instruction adopted by the Hong Kong teacher has a clear goal and is efficient in terms of its use of resources. Students may become passive listeners, making it difficult to gauge what they are thinking and learning in class. In addition to being successful teachers in their own setting, the two teachers could learn from each other. The Melbourne teacher might consider balancing the roles of facilitator and instructor, especially when teaching Chinese students from countries where the traditional mode of instruction - the presentational mode - may be the norm, since these students will expect the teacher to be an instructor rather than a facilitator. Therefore, at the beginning of the course, the teacher should be more directive and provide more guidance for the students. As the program progresses, he could increase the proportion of student exploration, since by then the students will have become familiar with different teaching methods. The Hong Kong teacher could learn from the Melbourne teacher, for example, by designing a wide range of activities to open up more opportunities for students to interact. He could include more elements of an environmental mode of instruction, allowing students to learn by participating in activities and to gain experience from exploration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This chapter arises from a research project funded by Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship from the University of Melbourne to which I owe deep gratitude. Thanks are also due to the teachers who opened their classrooms so generously and frankly to me, and to their students, from whom I learnt so much. I am very much indebted to Professor Michael Halliday, Professor Frances Christie and Dr. Jane Orton for their enlightening advice to the research.

TEACHING WRITING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MAINLAND CHINA

DE LU ZHANG Ocean University of China, China

Abstract. The chapter attempted to trace the development of English writing teaching back from the 19* century till present, which witnessed its interrelationship with Sino-American diplomacy and domestic Chinese politics (e.g., the Self-Strengthening Movement, the Cultural Revolution). It then illustrated the teaching procedures of English writing courses at different levels of education. In view of the advancement in information technology, the chapter also advocated the use of computer-aided instruction and proposed the process-oriented approaches to be used in class. The chapter finally concluded with four directions for future research. Keywords: Historical perspective, process-oriented approaches, computer-aided instruction (CAI), PPTB (Product / Process, Task-Based) approach, research directions

1.

TEACHING ENGLISH WRITING IN CHINA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

1.1 The Commencement Period English teaching in China did not begin until the commencement of the 19^ century when the British priests came to preach in China. In 1807, a British priest Robert Morrison came to Guangzhou, who translated the Bible into Chinese. From that time on till 1940 when the Opium War broke out, there were fewer than 20 people came to China to preach, and their efforts were not rewarding. After the Opium War, many people realized the importance of learning from the West, especially learning their advanced science and technology. Therefore, many science and engineering colleges and universities were set up, including foreign languages as the major courses so that the students could learn mathematics, physics, engineering and military science from the West. Later, some foreign language schools were set up, the language teachers were foreigners or priests. For example, in 1962, when the Capital Tongwen School was

30

ZHANG

established, J.C. Burdon, a British priest, was the first English teacher in the school. Then the post was taken over by an American priest, William Alexander Parsons Martin. Yet at that time, the main goal of English teaching was to train up translators to translate English texts into Chinese, or vice versa. Writing was not considered as important. So some schools did not have writing courses at all. Approaching the 20^^ century, Chinese teachers were employed to teach English. For example, in 1895, schools were set up to teach both Chinese and foreign languages. The teachers who taught English were Chinese. Starting from grade two, English writing started being taught, and then it was continued to the fourth year. As there were no set textbooks for the teaching of English writing, the methods of writing teaching varied among different teachers. Some might use a set of routine procedures: first they taught how to write narration, then description, and then argumentation. Others might use a very free method, for example, by an American teacher who graduated from a teacher's college. He taught students Shakespeare's plays: first Macbeth, then Merchant of Venice and finally Hamlet; while in another term, he taught English composition. The method he used was that he proposed a topic, asked the students to write and submit the articles the day after. In the period from the 80^^ year after the Opium War (1920) to the establishment of New China (1949), there were thousands of Chinese studying abroad in many countries overseas, especially in the United States. In the Yangwu Movement (Movement of Learning from the West), the Qing Government had sent many people abroad to study to train a large number of people qualified to work on diplomatic affairs. Most of them were sent to study in the United States. After the Eight Allied Nations invaded Beijing in 1900, the Qing government was forced to pay them 450 million Hang (22.5 million kilograms) of silver as compensation. Together with interest, it amounted to 980 million Hang (49 million kilograms) of silver to be paid in 39 years. This was called 'Gengzi Compensation' historically. The United States got 32 million Hang, which equalled roughly to 24 million U.S. dollars. As the United States had got too much money from the Gengzi Compensation, the Qing government asked the U.S. to reduce the amount of payment. Then in July 1908, the U.S. Government decided that it would return 10.785 million U.S. dollars to China year by year from January 1909 to 1940, but it was prescribed that the money could only be used for sending Chinese students to study in the United States. So from then on, many Chinese youth were sent to study there, including the famous Chinese American linguist Chao Yuanren. Despite the fact that many young people were not qualified to study abroad directly, they were trained in China first. In 1911, Qinghua Yuan (Qinghua Academy), as a royal decreed school, actually a preparatory school, was set up, called 'Qinghua Xuetang' (Qinghua School). There were 500 new students enrolled, who studied there for eight years. The aim of the school was to prepare students for studying in the U.S. to train a pool of 'nafional leaders', so that it became 'the experimental school and training ground of Chinese leaders'. The whole school was set up according to the design of American schools and the students were trained up by American methods. The English courses were mainly for skill training and were given in the morning. Courses included reading, as the most important, also, grammar, composition, dicta-

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

31

tion and spelling, etc. Apart from these, the students also had to learn geography, mathematics, geology, chemistry, sanitation, painting, music and physical culture. All of these courses were delivered in English. As a result, the students could fiilly develop all the four skills. Often at the beginning of a class or at the end of the lesson, the students were given a piece of paper, asked to write according to a certain topic, and had to submit their writings in 10 or 15 minutes. So the students could develop good writing ability. At the same time, many foreigners, especially the priests, also set up schools in China. English, including English writing, became an important course to be taught in these schools. According to the statistics in 1921, the priests alone had set up 7382 missionary schools and the number of students in school amounted to 214,174. Table 1. Schools Set up by Foreign Priests in China in 1921 (See Fu Ke, 1986)

Types of Schools

Primary school Secondary school Teachers' school University Law Institute Medical Institute Nurse School The Blind school The Deaf and Dumb school Orphanage Bible School Divinity School Total

No. of Schools

No. of Students

6,599 291 48 16 1 10 106 29 5 25 100 13 7,382

184,481 15,213 612 2,017 27 563 1,380 794 60 1,733 2,659 391 214, 174

In these schools, all courses were delivered in English, including English writing, the students had to talk to each other in English and give performances in English. They were also required to act and clothe in the western style. Thirty years before the founding of New China, China entered the civil war era. English was taught in different areas. In the Guomindang-occupied area, education was relatively formal. In the secondary schools, the first few years were devoted to listening, speaking, reading and writing. While the latter few years were devoted mainly to reading comprehension. Some new methods were adopted, such as the direct method, the functional method and the communicative method. In higher education, composition was given throughout the four years of study. At the end of the four years' study, a graduate thesis was required, but it did not worth the credit. In the first few years after the establishment of New China, English was not considered as important as before because many English-speaking countries did not estab-

32

ZHANG

lish diplomatic relations with New China. However, at the end of the fifties, many new foreign language institutes were set up, more and more English-major students were trained. Yet in the Cultural Revolution, foreign language learning was greatly dwindled. A revival of English teaching began after the Cultural Revolution. 1.2 The Established Period The established period of English writing teaching in China started right after the Cultural Revolution till the end of the eighties. As China opened its door to the outside world, many people began to learn English either for better performance at work, or for going abroad to work or study. The English teachers were always in high demand, and more and more students with English major went to work in various walks of life. 1.2.1

Secondary Education

At the secondary level, English began to be taught at the beginning of the middle school, and the pupils were supposed to learn English for six years. But they rarely learned to write. The focus was on reading. Speaking and listening were neglected somewhat and writing was considered even less as the students were not supposed to be competent enough to write articles. However, according to the new syllabus, students were required to be able to write some simple articles and to express their ideas in writing. Generally speaking, at the commencement period, the focus was on pronunciation and intonation. Through training in listening, speaking, reading and writing, they learned to use grammar. In high schools, the focus was on reading and grammar training. At the same time, they were also engaged in trainings in listening, speaking and writing. It was prescribed in the new syllabus that students needed to acquire the following writing abilities: to the able to write short passages and letters of 150 to 200 words with coherent meanings, correct spellings and usage of words, correct punctuations, and structures, apart from other abilities such as that of learning vocabularies, spellings and pronunciations, intonation, stress and pauses, and recounting the text fluently, etc. Many new textbooks were compiled, including textbooks of composition in English. As for the relationship between listening, speaking, reading and writing, the new textbooks prescribed that it abided by the principle of 'synthetic training and different training focuses in different phases.' In the primary phase, the focus was on listening and speaking, and at the same time, there were also exercises on reading and writing. After the students had gained certain abilities and habits in listening and speaking, and had mastered certain number of vocabulary items, and the basic grammar, i.e., the focus of the advanced stage would then be on comprehension and writing.

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

1.2.2

33

Higher Education

In higher education, writing was an obligatory course in all English institutions, which were held in all the foreign language institutes and universities, several universities of science and technology and teachers' universities and colleges. Generally speaking, the course began in the second year, and lasted for one or two years. It was described as follow. Aim: To train students' preliminary competence in writing. Method: (a) From learning to write simple sentences to writing complex sentences to writing passages to writing short texts; (b) from listening to writing and from reading to writing, etc. Requirements: (a) in grade one, there was no separate writing course, and the training of writing ability was immersed in synthetic course and other courses; (b) there was a writing course in the second year, and the students were mainly trained to write passages and short texts, to use fluent English to write short letters, the commonly used practical texts (such as invitation letters, thank you letters, notices outlines, sketches, abstracts and main ideas, etc.; (c) genres like narration, description, exposition, argumentation, etc. are adopted. The writing course was important, which ran through the first two years of learning. The students should develop good habit of writing and the workload should increase gradually. Apart from the English majors, writing course was also given to non-English majors. The prerequisite was that students should be able to write short texts of about 100 words. 1.3 The Innovation Period The period between 1990 to present characterizes the innovation period in which teachers are not satisfied with the traditional, formal and structural method of teaching. Many teachers begin to carry out research in English writing apart from writing teaching. For example, some teachers found that the writing quality of the students is poor because they lack certain abilities: the abilities to choose appropriate words, to organise texts, and to perceive and analyse things. Some people begin to study the feasibility of a process-based writing course. The focus is on different stages of writing, that is, at each stage of the writing process, certain measures should be employed to ensure the quality of writing. For example, when the whole text is done, the next stages are to revised and rewrite. Many people try to find out the relationship between writing and other abilities, and strive to improve writing quality through the improvement of other abilities, such as translation skills, dictation and sentence-making, etc. Some study the relationship between reading and writing, and endeavour to improve writing quality through reading. Some also study how to teach and improve writing teaching through computers. Although many of these researches are still at their preliminary stages, and are not systematic and theoretical enough, they are the very first step towards large-

34

ZHANG

scale researches to improve English writing practically, methodologically and theoretically. 2.

THE PROCEDURES OF ENGLISH TEACHING IN UNIVERSITIES

After the Cultural Revolution, in the eighties, the method of writing teaching had been established fairly, and it was characterized by using a set of textbooks for writing teaching in universities and colleges. However, it does not mean that the prescribed method for writing teaching would not be changed. Actually, it is constantly under improvements and revisions. For example, the textbook for writing teaching in colleges and universities in China was entitled *A College Handbook of Composition', published by the Foreign Languages Teaching and Research Press in 1983, representing the method of English writing teaching of the time. It included the eight parts in the order as below (Ding & Wu, 1983) (left column). The revised version was published in 1994, the new textbook include the following ten parts in the order below (Ding & Wu, 1994) (Right column). In the new edition, manuscripts, styles and practical writings were taken into consideration apart from detailed methods of writing. 1983 1994 Manuscript form Diction Diction Sentence Sentence Paragraph Paragraph Composition as a whole Composition as a whole Summary Summary and Book report Formal and Informal Styles Research paper Research Paper Letters Practical Writings Mechanics Punctuations 2.1 The Study of Manuscript Form When students begin learning how to write, first they should have a clear idea of what is a good manuscript form, and then write their articles according to the format, such as how to write the title, how to leave margins, how to indent, capitalize and arrange running lines according to the conventions. Manuscript form is placed at the beginning of the textbook for discussion since it is the most basic knowledge for any kind of writings. 2.2 The Choice of Words: Dictions Words are the basic units for the construction of sentences. The choice of appropriate words is very important regarding the expressions of one's mind. But in English writing, the students, as a foreign language learner, tends to choose the wrong, inappropriate or inexact wordings. The result is that the language used would then be

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

35

unacceptable, nonsensical, or inexact in expressing the intended meaning or is not coherent with the style. In the choice of words, five factors are considered: formality, meaning, generality, idioms and figures of speech. Finally, it also discusses the use of dictionaries. Words sharing the same or similar meanings can be of different degrees of formality. Stylistically, they are divided into three types: formal, common and colloquial. They are closely related to the situations in which they are used, that is, formal words are used in formal occasions, while colloquial words are used in casual conversations or informal kind of writings. Different degrees of formality also characterize the differences between speech and writing. The meaning of words can be denotative and connotative. The denotation of a word is what it literally means, as defined by the dictionary or as what it refers to, while the connotative meaning is the feeling, formality, idea as suggested by the word. For the English learners in China, the connotative meaning is the most difficult aspect of meaning for the students to comprehend. Comparatively speaking, some words are more general or more specific in meaning than others. The meaning of the general words covers a broader range of meaning than that of the specific words. In this sense, the specific words are more informative, exact and precise. So the students are advised to use as many specific words as possible to produce more vivid, colourful and emotive effect. An idiom is a fixed phrase with special meaning which is different from the combination of the meanings of the words that form it. Idioms would pose difficulty for Chinese students in various ways: (a) it is difficult for them to choose an idiom when appropriate; (b) it is difficult for the students to grasp the true meaning of an idiom; (c) it is difficult for the students to know the connotative meaning of an idiom. Therefore, learners of English writing should pay particular attention to the meanings and usage of idioms. Words with extended meanings for the purpose of making comparisons in the readers' or listeners' minds are used figuratively. There are different ways of using words figuratively, so are those for speech. The techniques include metaphors, similes, metonymy, personification, synecdoche, euphemism, irony, hyperbole, litotes, transferred epithet, oxymoron and alliteration, etc. At last, the section shows how to use dictionaries for the appropriate choice of words. 2.3 The Composition of Sentences A complete sentence is said to contain at least a subject and a predicate (or finite); if the verb is transitive, there must be an object; if the verb is a link-verb, there must be a predicative. These form the basic structure of a simple sentence, and it is said to be complete if the required elements are present. Sentences can be divided into different types according to different criteria. For example, according to mood, sentences can be declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory, etc. According to structural construct, a sentence can be simple, compound, complex and compound-complex. With reference to the length of the

36

ZHANG

sentence, it can be short or long. According to the internal arrangement of elements within the sentence, it can be loose, periodic and balanced. Each type exercises a particular function in the composition of English texts. For effective use of the sentences, there are factors to be considered, (a) Unity: A unified sentence can express a single complete thought; (b) Coherence: There must be clear and reasonable connection between different components of the sentence; (c) Conciseness: There should not be redundancies in the sentence; (d) Emphasis: Certain arrangement of sentence elements is required to emphasize a particular part of the sentence; (e) Variety: There should be a variety of sentences used in the same text to avoid monotony. 2.4 The Composition of Paragraphs A paragraph is a unit of thought; it is at once a unit in itself and part of a larger whole, the whole text. It contains one or more sentences, but generally speaking, a paragraph contains more than one sentence, so the connection between sentences should be considered. There are different ways of organising and developing a paragraph. First, an effective paragraph should have the following qualities: unity, coherence and smooth transition. A unified paragraph is one in which all the sentences in it lead to a central theme, which is part of the larger theme of the text. A coherent paragraph should be one that is arranged in a clear, logical order and transits from one to another smoothly and naturally. There are the following ways of smooth and natural transition: 1) Using parallel structures; 2) Repeating words or word groups; 3) Using pronouns to refer to nouns in preceding sentences; 4) Being consistent in the person and number of nouns and pronouns, and tense of verbs; 5) Using transitional expressions. A paragraph should be clearly designed, including the different ways of developing a paragraph. First, a topic or theme or main idea of the paragraph should be chosen, and then be expressed in a complete sentence (the topic sentence). The details, examples or facts that may be used to support or explain the main idea should be developed and finally arranged in a logical order. However, according to the content of the paragraph, it can be developed by different methods. For example, it can be developed in a chronological order, such as by narration; in a step-by-step manner, like an instruction manual; in a spatial order, like locating a particular place in descriptions; by examples or generalizations, such as by exposition; by comparison or contrast, and a paragraph can also be developed under a cause and effect relationship when you try to find out the reasons behind the phenomenon; when you want to put things into types, you can use the method of classification from general to particular; when you want to fine-tune the meaning of a concept to be exact and precise, you try to pinpoint it by definition; finally, a paragraph can also be developed by the combination of different methods.

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

37

2.5 The Composition of the Whole Text The basic aim of a writing course is to develop the ability to write whole compositions, such as essays, theses and papers. It is assumed that students attending this course should be able to write short compositions of 500 to 1000 words on their lives, studies, experiences and views on questions they are interested in. There are necessary steps in writing a whole essay, and certain types of writings should be taught in the writing course. There are five steps in writing a complete essay. The first step is planning: the writer has to find a thesis for the text, then the list of facts relevant to the essay, and finally the outline of the text. Second, drafting the topic outline that gives instant overview and the detailed plan of the entire paper; the third step is to write the first draft of the text, inserting the detailed contents into the outline. The fourth step is to revise the text, and the final step is to finalize the whole text. The composition should abide by certain principles, (a) Unity: All the facts and ideas in the essay should adhere to its thesis or central idea; (b) there should be several paragraphs; (c) the proportion should be taken into consideration. At this stage, there are four types of writings that students should learn: descriptive, narrative, expository and argumentative writings. Descriptive writing can also be divided into different types according to what is under description, such as the description of a person, a place, a scene, or an object. Narration is concerned with the recollection of an event. It necessarily includes the following steps: (a) Description of the setting in which the event takes place; (b) the selection of details necessary for the recollection; (c) the organisation of the details into a certain sequence in the narration; (d) the selection of the point of view, that is, whether the text is written in the first person or the third person point of view; (e) the clarification of the purpose of writing. Expository writing is a type of text for explanation. It mainly deals with processes and relationships. So many practical writings are of this type. Things can be explained in different ways according to the nature of the things themselves, such as by illustration, classification, comparison and contrast, an analysis of cause and effect or definition. These methods used can also be applied to develop a paragraph. Argumentative writing is used to persuade or convince others. It tries to persuade the readers to agree with the author's point of view, to change his mind or behaviour, or to support a policy or a course of actions that it proposes. Argumentative writings have some basic features in common. The features are (a) to provide a debatable point; (b) to give sufficient evidence; and (c) to argue with good logic, either using inductive reasoning or deductive reason. At the same time, it should also present an appropriate tone. 2.6 The Summary and Book Report A summary is a brief statement of the essential idea of a long composition. It reproduces the theme with as few words as possible. Summaries may have many practical ftinctions as a good exercise for improving reading comprehension, as a tool for composition writing, as a training method of skimming. The procedures of writing a

38

ZHANG

summary include reading the text to be summarized, writing a short summary and revising the summary. A book report is a review which comments and evaluates a book. A book report generally consists of the following parts: information about the author and his times, a summary of the books and comments on it. 2.7 Formal and Informal Styles All types of writings are obliged to comply with grammar rules, but at the same time, they each exhibit different features in words and grammar. The special features like these in language are affected by style. Style is important in ensuring the quality of writing. Among the different styles, the ones are formal and informal styles. It is supposed that, at this stage, the students should be clear of these two styles at least. 2.8 The Writing of the Research Paper The students should learn to write a good research paper, as when they graduate, they should be able to write their graduating theses. A research paper is usually a formal, fairly long and well-documented composition that explores, discusses or analyses a certain factual or theoretically issue, and it should be characterized by lucid and coherent expositions. The processes of writing a research paper consist of the following: choosing a topic, collecting materials, analysing the materials, working out an outline, writing the first draft, revising the first draft and finalizing the paper. There are about four steps before choosing a topic: (a) to select a general topic; (b) to read related materials and think about the topic; (c) to narrow down the scope of the topic to a facet that can be developed into a research paper; (d) to finalize the topic. Then the students have to go to the library and collect materials, read the books, take notes and arrange them in a systematic way. Besides, according to the materials collected, they should work out an outline, write the first draft, revise the draft and finalize the paper. The format of the paper is in the following sequence: thesis statement, introduction, main body, conclusion, references and bibliography. In the process of writing the paper, quotations from previous authors are often found. Quotations include direct ones and indirect ones. They are structured differently in the research paper. In writing citations, to avoid plagiarism, one should indicate clearly whether the ideas are originated from other authors or from one's own. In completing the references, certain information is necessary, such as the author, the title, the place of publication, the publisher, the date of publication, the page number, etc. For bibliography, the usage of bibliography cards is suggested. Yet these cards are not necessary anymore in the age of computers. You can enter all the information about the reference books into the computer, and it will organise everything for you.

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

39

2.9 Practical Writings At the end of the four years' study, the students should be able to write texts of different practical genres, which include notices, greeting cards, condolences, appointment letter, letter of apology, informal invitations, request letter, messages and curriculum vitaCo The focus is on the different types of models and their uses. Finally, the appropriate use of punctuation marks in English is discussed. 2.10 Comments and Evaluations We can see clearly at this stage, certain procedures, methods and formats of writing have been formulated, and English writing can be taught in a systematic way with textbooks in the writing course. But the whole scheme is still formal, structural and traditional in nature. Culture, context, functions, scenarios are rarely involved. Communicative method of teaching has not been introduced into the writing course. 3.

NEW DEVELOPMENT IN WRITING TEACHING

In the last ten years or so more and more teachers were dissatisfied with the established method of English writing teaching. They were trying to explore some new methods as improvements or complements to the established writing procedures and methods. Broadly speaking, the new approaches can be divided into two types in comparison with the established methods: (a) Those evolving from static to dynamic; (b) those adopting the writing proper originally and later switching to other teaching processes that can reinforce or improve students' writing ability also. 3.1 ProcesS'Oriented Approaches In recent years, when more and more teachers go abroad to study English language and literature, they also learn the new teaching theory and methods. For example, many Chinese teachers go to study in the United States and Canada. They have learned the process-oriented writing approaches that are prevalent in North America. The essence of these approaches is that the focus is not on the finished product, but on the process of writing the article. The process-oriented approaches are also meaning-oriented approaches, as when you focus on the writing process, you pay more attention to the meaning to be expressed instead of the formal features. Process-oriented approaches actually focus on two types of processes: the process of writing the first draft, that of rewriting and revising the first draft, and the final draft. In the first stage of writing, the student is not encouraged to make a complete, careful and perfect outline or plan, and then write exactly according to that; but he is encouraged to write down his isolated ideas and thoughts. They are not required to use exact and precise grammatical patterns and vocabulary to open up their thoughts. After they have gathered enough thoughts and facts, they should try to find out the relationship between the parts and arrange them in good order according to

40

ZHANG

the sequence of the content and the structure of the text. A clear chain of thoughts can often be formulated after repeated revisions. It is also suggested that the composition should be directed to an imagined reader in the mind of the author throughout the writing process. It should not be the teacher, but somebody else. Yet, the imagined reader should be the real reader intended by the author as related to the purpose of the writing. That is, in a composition process, it is usually supposed that the teacher would read the students' compositions first and give evaluations to them. However, the teacher is not the intended reader in real life, and the writing should also aim at the actual reader as the writing is intended to have an impact in real life. In the second stage of writing, the first draft should be revised several times. It is said that there should be three revised drafts. The first should focus on the meaning of the text. In this process, large passages may be deleted, or added, or changed. These passages should be marked to show that they have been drastically changed. The revisions of the second and the third drafts are similar to that of the second, but there are not so many drastic changes, and the focus has also been shifted to grammar, vocabulary and style (Zhang, 1993). The process-oriented approach of English writing can also be introduced according to the kinds of abilities to be trained in the composition class. According to Zhang (1993), composition ability are of two types: (a) Intratextual, that is, the language expressing ability to choose the appropriate vocabulary and the appropriate text formats; and (b) extratextual, that is, the cognitive ability to perceive and analyse things in the outside world. With a traditional approach of English writing teaching, the students have difficulties in acquiring both of these abilities. Using a process-oriented approach can overcome these difficulties. These are four methods to carry out the process-oriented approach he proposed. Act as a Coach instead of an Umpire: When the students submit their first drafts of compositions, the teacher should not just give evaluations or marks without further comments on improvement or revision. Instead, he should give comments on how to revise the article so as to improve the quality of the composition. Give a Comprehensive Evaluation of the First Draft and give Detailed Revision Suggestions: The revision suggestions should focus on the content, the selection of materials, logical reasoning, coherence, choice of words, rhetorical devices, and the detailed treatment of these problems, but not so much on punctuation, spelling, capitalization and grammatical mistakes. Comment on the First Draft in the Class: The teacher should set up certain criteria for the students, and find out what aspects of the compositions should be further improved according to the criteria. And the same method can be used to compare the students' compositions against the best composition done by the students in class. He can also cite the typical mistakes made in the students' composition, and find out

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

41

their causes and give corrections. The whole class can be alerted to correct certain typical mistakes in the students' composition. Train Students to Revise their own Compositions: Through the comments and appraisals given by the teacher on their compositions, the students know clearly the strengths and weaknesses of their compositions, so that they can revise their compositions accordingly. First, they can revise the content and the format of the compositions. Second, they can also revise other aspects, such as grammatical mistakes, coherence and rhetorical devices used. 3.2 Teach Writing through other Means Many scholars also study how to increase the quality of writing through teaching other aspects of language. Here we will talk about writing teaching by written exercises, reading and computers. According to He (1993), the traditional grammar-translation method was outdated, as functional notional method has become more and more popular in China. However, many drills and exercises can be used to improve the quality of writing. These drills include translation, dictation, sentence making and sentence rewriting. Dictation seems unrelated to writing, however, in the process of dictation, the students have to be conscious of the diction and sentence structure, and their ability to use the appropriate words and structures will gradually improve. Sentence making is directly related to writing: it is a good exercise to write good sentences using certain words and expressions, while sentence rewriting is concerned with the improvement of the quality and style of the sentences. Compositions are made up of sentences. So when the students have acquired the ability to make good sentences, their ability of writing good compositions will be greatly enhanced. Translation is a necessary step in the learning of English writing, an important stage for training students' ability to use precise words and structures. For the adults, they have developed certain conventional mode of thinking in Chinese. The set patterns in Chinese will always interfere with their learning of English grammar, therefore they tend to make mistakes in linguistic intuition and produce the so-called Chinglish. Through practices of translating texts from Chinese to English, the students would then be conscious of the differences between Chinese and English, and develop their linguistic intuition in English. Reading and writing are closely related as what is written is for what is to be read. In the reading process at the primary stage, certain writing exercises are carried out to improve the students' writing ability, such as grouping words into sentences, sentence making, practicing pattern drills, grouping sentences into passages by inserting appropriate conjunctions, grouping passages into texts, identifying the types of passages, like topic passage, development passage, transition passage etc. and identifying the types of texts, such as narrative, descriptive, expository, argumentative, etc. At the intermediate stage, students are required to write passages by imitating the texts for reading, write an outline for the text or write a gist of the text, etc.

42

ZHANG

At the advanced stage, students are required to provide the background information for the text, such as setting, the purpose of the writer, the style of the text, or write an introduction to the major characters, the events, or the causes or consequences of the events. They can also be required to investigate the theme or argument of the text by providing opinions and evidence from different viewpoints and aspects. With the development of information technology, computer-aided instruction (CAI) has been adopted in the writing course. Some scholars begin to investigate how to use computers to raise the efficiency and quality of writing. According to Wang, Xin & Wan et al. (1993) English writing course is divided into 2 aspects: (a) that of perceiving and instructing; (b) that of practicing, feedback-receiving and assigning new writing tasks. The first aspect is carried out with the aid of computers, while the second one is carried out with the use of textbooks, The software they have developed for the writing course consists of six parts: (1) Topic of composition, which is concerned with human life; (2) Phrases, including verbal phrases, noun phrases and adjective phrases, etc.; (3) Logical connectors, such as additive, adversative, causal and sequential, etc.; (4) Proverbs and maxims, which are concerned with life, study, philosophy, humour, friendship, value and morality, etc.; (5) Basic sentence structures, and (6) Model compositions, including the original copy and the revised copy. The operator would install the information into the master computer, and the students can use it via the terminals. The content of teaching is closely related to the knowledge and writing skill. It consists of the following aspects about writing: (a) appropriate choice of words; (b) grammatical rules and structures; (c) syntactic structures; (d) techniques of writing, such as punctuation, spelling etc; (e) genres, including narration, description, exposition, etc.; (f) titles; (g) textual organisers, such as topic sentence, unity, coherence, cohesion, etc.; (h) content and (i) process of writing. From a psychological point of view, computers offer aid to English writing teaching in three ways: (a) it increases the confidence of the students; (b) it inspires the students to use the language skills acquired; (c) it enriches the students' knowledge of the language, and fasten their acquisition of the competence to write quickly. The software they have developed has ten characteristics: (1) Its content is more systematic; (2) It contains more information than any other means; (3) It is easy to select the required information; (4) It is more flexible and saves time; (5) It can satisfy various kinds of needs; (6) It is more economical and practical; (7) It suits different needs, objectives and people; (8) It facilitates mutual interactions; (9) It reduces the burden of the teacher, and (10) It is ready to be enlarged. The software, method and structure of CAI in writing course are still at their primary stage in terms of development. More advanced, multi-purpose, more effective software and methods are yet to be developed.

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

4.

43

PROSPECTIVE RESEARCH IN ENGLISH WRITING

Alongside with the introduction of new linguistic language teaching theories, researches on new approaches and methods of English writing develop rapidly. The new developments can be summarized into four types: (a) remedial research on the traditional or established approaches and methods; (b) research on certain aspects of language, culture and situation involved in English writing; (c) research on processbased approaches and CAI approaches; (d) research on synthetic methods of English writing. 4.1 Remedial Research Many traditional and established methods of writing have their own merits, otherwise they would not have been adopted in foreign language teaching. For example, they are easy to be carried out, economical or suitable for different situations, and the examination system. Therefore, many people want to find out some supplementary methods, with regard to drawbacks of the old methods, such as writing exercises with dictation, sentence making and sentence rewriting, or the method of translation form Chinese to English, so as to spot out the differences between Chinese and English. 4.2 The Aspects of Language, Culture and Situation relevant to Writing There is another area of research that needs to be addressed, that is, the different aspects related to writing. Actually, only one of these aspects is stressed in the new developments discussed above, that is, the reader of the piece of writing. The new aspects to be considered consist of the following: (a) the cognitive process in the process of writing, which can be developed into the cognitive method in writing; b) the situational and cultural aspects concerning writing, and (c) the generic theory of the text, which can be developed as a generic method. This is of course closely related to the process-oriented method developed in North America and genre-based approach developed by the Australian circle. Fang & Fang (2002) have indeed developed the genre-based method into a writing model (see Figure 1).

44

ZHANG

Figure 1. A Genre-Based Model of English Writing Course (Fang & Fang, 2002). Mental expression of the writing task

i Determination of the topic, and field, tone and mode

T Semantic configuration/contents

^

\

^

Linguistic expression: knowledge

Rhetorical devices

Knowledge on text structure

.

i

Knowledge on grammar and lexis

First draft 4.3 Continuation of Research on Process-Based Approaches and CAI Approaches The process-oriented approach of writing is still heading in full speed. Many scholars carry out the researches in various directions, such as the detailed steps, strategies and the sub-methods to be applied, etc. For example, Yang (2002) studied the strategies throughout the stages of the writing process: the pre-drafting strategies, the drafting strategies, the post-drafting strategies, audience awareness and mother tongue avoidance. The stages are subdivided into details which amount to 27 strategies in total. CAI approaches have become outline methods now. A large amount of software on writing procedures has been developed and used in writing. And more will come. 4.4 Research on Synthetic Methods of English Writing The different approaches have their own merits and demerits. So some scholars try to combine the different approaches and develop a synthetic method. This forms another developing trend in writing. For example, Xiao (2002) developed a PPTB (Product / Process, Task-Based) approach (Figure 2).

TEACHING E F L WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

Teacher As designer and procurer

Task Process type and Product type

45

Student / Writer As active participant

i Result Writing Quality

Figure 2. The PPTB Model ofSL Writing Teaching (Xiao, 2002).

5.

CONCLUSION

English writing teaching in China began about 200 years ago when the British priests came to China to preach and set up schools. At first, writing was taken as a regular course running through the whole academic year at higher grades when English was taught in schools. As the teachers were mostly English natives, the students were forced to speak English on campus, and culture was taught routinely, the students could learn to speak and write very efficiently. After the founding of New China, China was virtually cut off fi'om the Western world; so English teaching had lost its breeding ground. It became a requirement for students to get enough marks or credits. However, after the Cultural Revolution when China opened up its door to the outside world, English teaching fiourished in China. The textbooks for writing were used extensively in China, which helped to standardize the writing course. The procedures and methods used in writing teaching in China could be described in a general way. After that period, roughly throughout the 80s, many scholars were dissatisfied with the standardized procedures and methods of writing teaching. They began to find out new approaches and methodologies, including the use of process-oriented approaches, the use of written exercises, the use of reading, translation, etc. to enhance the ability and skill of writing and the use of computers to assist English writing. At present, research on English writing flourishes in China, and the new researches can be summarized into four types: remedial research, new approach research, continuation of the former researches, and researches on the relevant aspects of language, culture and situation to the teaching of English writing. In this case, many new and more effective approaches to English writing will be developed and used in English writing teaching in China.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS MOTHER TONGUE: MAINLAND CHINA

YU PING HAN

Liaocheng University,

China

Abstract. The author first traces the evolution of teaching methodologies of writing starting from Shang Dynasty till present - the emergence of fairy tales, Book of Rites, 'Thousand Words Texts', 'EightLegged Essay (ba gu wen)' and the 'Vernacular Writing Movement' which was followed by the founding of the People's Republic of China. Then the teaching strategies at different stages of schooling are highlighted, with a special emphasis on the sequels of prevailing exam-oriented writing practices, which hamper students' creativity. Besides, the correlation between external cultural environment (as a factor changing over time) and students' conceptual construct after the re-orientation in teaching methods is established. In conclusion, the impact of the scopes of titles on students' thinking processes and mentality is investigated, and suggestions how to cope with such impacts are presented. Keywords: history of writing, 'eight-legged essays' ('ba gu wen'), teaching sequence(s), teaching stages, problems of exam-oriented training, 'New-Concept-Composition', methodologies

1.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS MOTHER TONGUE BEFORE THE FOUNDING OF NEW CHINA

The teaching and learning of writing in Mainland China has a history of more than 3,000 years, which can be traced back to the inscription on bones or tortoise shells during the Shang Dynasty. People paid a lot of attention to writing in ancient times. Cao Pi ('On Classics' and 'On Texts') said that writing was 'a great cause for governing a nation, and an immortal great event', which can generalize the mainstream views towards writing in Chinese history. Although some people said that writing was 'an insignificant skill which is likely to be given up by vigorous men', most people would like to compare writing to 'the carving of dragons' by Liu Xie ('Writing: the Carving of Dragons'). Important as it was, writing was a specific business for intellectuals and had nothing to do with farmers, workers or businessmen in ancient China, especially in the feudal society. Intellectuals paid a lot of attention to writing because they depended on writing for their living, their fame and hope of

48

HAN

becoming government officials. Given the importance attached to writing, there were established theories on the teaching of writing and writing activities in the early Chinese history. In primitive societies, people began to chant some fairy tales and ballads (for example, the story of the mythical bird ' Jingwei' which tried to fill up the sea with pebbles and that of the goddess 'Nuwa' who patched the sky), and then these fairy tales and ballads were taught to later generations by chanting. These activities should be regarded as oral compositions, but not teaching activities of writing in a strict sense. Real activities of writing appeared when written language came into existence, especially when schools were set up in the slavery society. At schools of the West Zhou Dynasty, students began to learn the Six Courses of 'Li' (the Book of Rites), Music, Shooting, Driving, Writing and 'Shu' (the Book of the Ancient Times) in which the skills of Music included the content of music, poetry and dance. Thus, the teaching of writing poetry began. What is more, they attached great importance to poetry, as Confucius believed that 'people cannot speak without poetry' ('The Confucian Analects'). In the feudal societies, especially in the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, the teaching of writing was further developed. More schools dispersed from the capital to the countryside. As the imperial examination system was exercised in the Sui Dynasty, people could secure an official position in government with a poem or composition at the imperial examination. This system reached its climax during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when students could change their lives with an eightlegged essay (a literary composition prescribed for the imperial civil service examinations, known for its rigidity of form and poverty of ideas). A Zhuangyuan (Number One Scholar, a title conferred to the one who came first in the highest imperial examination) in the Ming Dynasty could be appointed as 'the Cabinet Scholar', a position higher than that of a provincial official. Since this kind of writing was getting more popular, the teaching of writing became prosperous. A panoramic view of the teaching of writing in ancient China exhibits several characteristics. First, the teaching process is divided into three steps. The first step is copying: students were made to copy texts when they entered school. Generally speaking, students began with the copying exercises of books and modeling on calligraphy and writings, and then that of the children's primers, e.g., 'Three-words Classics', 'Thousand Words Texts', and the 'Book of Family Names'. These books were rich in content - illustrations of ethics and morals, introductions to the four seasons and agricultural knowledge, or advocacy of diligent study and strenuous training. Since the copying exercises were based on the knowledge of the Chinese character forms, students began to be able to read and recite during the repeated copying processes. The second step is imitating. Students began to imitate famous writings based on their copying exercises. In writing poetry, they started by making antithetical sentences, making poems with five characters in one line, poems with seven characters in one line, 'Jueju' (poems of four lines, with each line containing five or seven characters, with a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme), and 'Lushi' (poems of eight lines, with each line containing five or seven characters, also with a strict tonal

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

49

pattern and rhyme scheme). In the composition of poems to a given tune of 'Ci', students imitated the famous works of authors of poems composed in 'Ci'. They also imitated some selected works in compositions. These textbooks include 'Comments on Classic Writings', 'The Categorization and Compilation of Ancient Literature', 'The Selected Works of the Classical Writing of Various Scholars' and 'The Zhaoming Selected Works', and most of the excerpts in these books were famous pieces from all dynasties which enjoyed great popularity. By carefully reading over and over again and understanding the notes and comments made by their predecessors, the students would understand the characteristics of these texts and then begin to write compositions by imitation step by step. During the process of imitation, the students would know the requirements and patterns of each literary style, and learn a lot of vocabulary and sentences, which laid a solid foundation for creative writing. The third step is creative writing. Based on a great deal of imitation, the students were trained to write creatively and to write what they really thought. At the same time, books about writing were offered to students for reading. However, no matter how creatively students wrote, there were strict limitations on the forms of certain styles of literature. For example, students must follow the style and meter of poetry and 'Ci' in their compositions, and different patterns should be followed because of different purposes and targeted readers. Confucian thoughts became the leading school of thoughts in the teaching of writing. In the feudal societies, as Confucian thoughts were beneficial to the consolidation of feudal sovereignty, feudal rulers advocated Confucian thoughts for education. Thus Confucian thoughts became the mainstream ideology in the longlived feudal societies. In students' compositions, the illustrations must abide by Confiician thoughts and students must quote classics which mainly include 'The Four Books' ('The Great Learning', 'The Doctrine of the Mean', 'The Confucian Analects', and 'The Works of Mencius') and 'The Five Classics' ('The Book of Songs', 'The Book of History', 'The Book of Changes', 'The Book of Rites' and 'The Spring and Autumn Annals'). These books are full of content concerning politics, history, philosophy, literature and ethics. Together with Zhu Xi's 'Collected Notes on The Four Books' in the Song Dynasty, they dominated the feudal education for about 800 years. Moreover, there were plentiful theories on how to write compositions in ancient China. Ideas on how to lead and guide writing appeared in China at a very early period. For example, in the pre-Qin period and the Han Dynasty, the following theories stood out from the crowd - Confucius advocated the 'balance of outward grace and solid worth' and 'thorough perfection and beauty' in his 'The Confucian Analects'; Wang Chong mentioned 'hating fabrication' and 'devoting to honesty' in his 'On Balance'. Although these theories on compositions scattered around in philosophical and historical works, and were not pure theories on writing, they showed that the ancient people had begun to research on how to write. During the Jin Dynasty and the South and North Dynasties, theories on compositions began to reap, and specific literature on compositions appeared, for example, Cao Pi's 'On Classics', and 'On Texts', Zhi Yu's 'On Schools of Texts' and Xiao Tong's 'Preface to Selected Works', while Liu Xie's (a famous writer of theory of literature and art in the North and South Dynasties in ancient China) theory of writing in 'Composition: the Carv-

50

HAN

ing of Dragons' reached the climax. The essential characteristics of writing were clearly shown, more progress was made in the categorization of texts, and literary awareness was strengthened. During the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, more theories on how to write were created. In the Ancient Literature Movement in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi put forward their own ideas on writing in their works and letters. For example, Han Yu advocated 'writing with one's own words' in his 'A Return Letter' to Liu Zhengfu; Liu Zongyuan put forward the theory that a text is made to illustrate truth in his 'A Letter to Wei Zhongli on Doctrines of Teachers'. These ideas indicated that research in theories of writing had pored deep into the specific nature and laws of texts, which was a further step in the development of the theories of writing in the South and North Dynasties. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the eight-legged essays became popular, and more achievements in the fields of the problems, regular patterns and moral standards of writing theories were attained. For example, Wu Ne wrote about the different styles of poetry and essays present before the Ming Dynasty and made comments and notes in his 'Style of Texts'; Gui Youguang expounded his methods of writing in his 'A Guidance to Texts' and Wang Wenlu expounded essays from different periods in his 'Veins of Texts'. From the above illustrations, it can be observed that theories on writing in ancient China developed and flourished gradually; and they played a role as guidance in the teaching of writing. Of course there were some defects in these theories: most theories were about the learning of writing and there were only a few theories on how to teach writing, and no theory concerned about the teaching of writing in classes, although such classes in government schools and old-styled private schools (home schools with a private tutor) had already existed. Besides, the teaching of writing in ancient China was highly pragmatic. In ancient China, students could become famous and elevate their social positions by producing a good essay. Therefore, when the Imperial Civil Service Examinations were realized into actions, the teaching of writing became highly pragmatic and purposeful, and both the teacher and the students concentrated on their teaching and learning of writing before the Imperial Civil Service Examinations took place. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, if a candidate could write a good eight-legged essay in the Civil Exam on a given topic, he could be named officials. The eight-legged essay has both fixed form and content that could not be altered by the examinees. Its basic structure includes the prelude and the subject. The prelude (before the subject) includes three sub-parts: the first one explains the essence of the title in one or two sentences, the second one further explains the essence of the title and points out the author's point of view, and the third one goes on to elaborate on the essential ideas; the subject part includes three components: transition, development and conclusion. The subject should illustrate the relevant Confucian thoughts and express the author's understandings, and the sentences should be in antithetical forms, especially in the development, which underscores the first two sections at the beginning (the summary, the hypothesis and the highlights of the essence that lacks adequate illustration), the middle two sections (the elaboration of the essential ideas that clarify the idea), the last but two sections (the full elaboration of the essential ideas), and the concluding two sections (showing the regret of not having given full expression

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

51

of one's views, and summarizing the essay). In terms of content, they are limited to the fields of 'The Four Books' and 'The Five Classics' that illustrate the morals and the learning of great classics-expositors who earned fame by writing for the sages and men of virtues. Such eight-legged essays restrained people's creativity in both form and ideas because of their rigidity in form and content, but since the Imperial Civil-service Examination was the only way to officialdom for intellectuals, and under the influence of the ideology that 'officialdom is the natural outlet for good scholars', intellectuals devoted their lives to 'The Four Books', 'The Five Classics' and eight-legged essays. It is thus natural that the modeled eight-legged essays were high in demand. Hence the teaching of eight-legged essays should be partly responsible for the rigidity of thoughts and the popularity of plagiarisms in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Based on the new educational system which advocated the 'eradication of the Imperial Civil-Service Examination system', modern ideas of the teaching of writing began to take their shapes gradually with the rise of the 'Vernacular Writing Movement' during the period of the 'May Fourth Movement'. In the official documents in ancient China, writings in classical Chinese played an over-dominating role. Although vernacular writings in the folk literature had gradually turned mature in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were despised of, so students were trained to write in classical Chinese under formal composition classes. In 1916, Hu Shi advocated the 'Vernacular Writing Movement' in the New Youth Magazine, and was under attacks from conservative forces. After the 'May Fourth Movement' in 1919, vernacular Chinese gradually became the popular and official language in China, and modern styles and modern ideas of writing were established. The teaching of composition in modern times began on the basis of vernacular writing with a class size of about 40 once a week or fortnight. The general teaching procedures were: The teacher assigns a topic -^ Students write their compositions —> The teacher corrects the compositions -^ The teacher comments on the students' compositions in class. Generally speaking, teachers followed this flow of teaching and assigned planned topics purposefully. There were various types of topics: some topics are very clear, some are fragmented like 'That I like Best' and 'The Most Memorable', and sometimes the students were offered some reading materials and were asked to come up with a topic of their own after reading the materials. The time limit for composition is generally 2 hours. The teacher would grade the students' compositions and comment at the end. The comments given by the teacher in class were generally a summary of the achievements and problems found in the compositions of the whole class. The teacher would praise the good ones, organize discussions and edit the compositions with problems. At the same time, the teacher also encouraged, or even forced the students to write diaries, weekly journals or to take notes so as to improve their reading abilities. Then, the national educational departments offered clear provisions of different writing abilities that the students at different stages (primary schools, middle schools and universities) should reach in the teaching syllabus, so that the teacher could

52

HAN

guide and train them correspondingly. For example, the provisions for the teaching methods of primary school compositions were: • Paying attention to the design, research and making of practical writings. • Combining the teaching of composition and that of characters during the first three years as embedded in other subjects; teaching the students how to study by themselves in the subsequent three years. • Speaking and listening can be taught separately, or together with writing and reading. If they are taught separately, the time spent should be limited to one year if the dialects spoken in that area are similar to the standard language. The lowest standards of writing for graduates are: (a) 'to be able to write simple narratives and practical writings (including letters and diaries) that are easy to understand' for the elementary level, and (b) 'to be able to write practical writings, narratives and expositions that are easy to understand' for the advanced level. Studies in modern teaching theories of compositions were popular and there emerged a group of educators specializing in modern composition teaching, like Ye Shengtao, Xia Gaizun, Chen Wangdao, Li Jinxi, Ruan Zhen and Lu Shuxiang. They gave a lot of advice on modern composition teaching from different perspectives. For example. Ye Shengtao divided texts into three types: narrative, expositive and argumentative; Li Jinxi put forward a reform program of teaching compositions, and Ruan Zhen suggested on the guidance, questioning, correcting and grading of compositions. These specific suggestions on how to write compositions are instructive to modern learners. All of the above have been serving as guidance in teaching compositions in modern times. 2.

TEACHING CHINESE WRITING AS MOTHER TONGUE AFTER THE FOUNDING OF NEW CHINA

2.1 Introduction When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, teaching of writing almost inherited exactly the precedent teaching patterns: teaching was carried out in classes (with a class size of about 40, or about 70 in some rural schools); the teaching procedures included: Assigning a topic to the students —> Writing under the guidance of the teacher —> Correcting the compositions ^• Commenting on the compositions by the teacher. The students were supposed to imitate the texts from their textbooks, and they were trained to write texts in different types, such as practical writings, expositions, narratives and argumentative pieces at different stages according to the syllabus. The teaching of writing was considered as an important part of the education process in the Chinese society, and as a matter of fact, composition and basic Chinese knowledge together constituted about 40% of the total marks of an exam paper. The grading proportion of composition skills constituted a larger percentage of the total mark as students were promoted to higher grades.

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

53

Up to this stage, the process of teaching writing is generally divided into four stages: primary school, junior middle school, senior middle school and university. Different requirements for the teaching of compositions were put forward according to the students' writing abilities at different stages so that they could be trained to write texts of different types with different focuses at different stages. 2.2 Primary School Level The teaching of writing in its real sense begins from Grade Three in primary school, but the teaching of describing pictures and making sentences is a preparatory stage for formal composition training. In Grade Three, the teacher begins to instil the definition of 'composition' into the students' minds formally. At first, the students are assigned a common title and asked to write compositions with the aid of pictures. Usually the titles are very familiar to the students so that they are easy for students to write on, for example, 'A Happy Sunday', 'Our Cat', 'The Book I Like Best', 'A Visit to ' or 'My Hometown'. As this is the beginning to the learning of writing, the students usually did not know how to start. So the teacher often reads a model text to the students before they begin to write, and ask them to imitate it. Such teaching patterns are usually repeated till the end of the semester. The teacher would ask the students to study the texts in their textbooks. At the same time, there are also a lot of collections with selected compositions taken from each grade so that the different patterns of text types could be instilled to the students consciously. In primary schools, usually the students are required to write narratives with 400 to 600 characters in which the event can be narrated clearly with smooth language, correct grammar and accurate punctuation marks. At this stage, the teacher encourages the students to write what they experienced, what they are familiar with and what they really feel about. Students usually write down what they regard as the most important experiences with proper arrangements, so most of the contents are authentic. The teacher also pays attention to the cultivation of the students' motivation in writing, as it is considered as the essence of writing. The students are hoped to reveal their true feelings in the events as described in the compositions. The teacher tries to let students apprehend the genuine human feelings and social changes through writing. Besides, the teacher also has to focus on ungrammatical sentences and incorrect characters while correcting students' compositions. 2.3 Junior Middle School Level The syllabus tailors further requirements for students: being able to write (a) narratives, simple expositions, argumentative and general practical writings (such as letters, telegraphs, notices, news, applications and written proposals); or, writings with authentic and healthy emotions, specific and well organized contents, the usages of clear central ideas, smooth language, correct punctuation marks and patterns, and standard, orderly and neat characters, and (b) being able to foster a good habit of rewriting and revision.

54

HAN

The teacher begins to attach great importance to the conception and design of writing at this stage, and at the same time, the teacher also requires the students to make improvements in grammar, rhetoric and use of language. The conception within a composition becomes an important evaluation tool that serves as a standard to assess whether a student is capable of understanding the events concerned. For example, to write a composition with the title 'Duty', the students could write about their own duties to themselves, to their communities and to their nations and peoples. Comparatively speaking, the better the concept, the more probable for the composition to be appreciated by the teacher. Such quest for conception tends to glorify their conception in an irrational way. The teacher also has to focus on the students' abilities to plan the text. For example, different students could have different ways to develop the title 'My Habit of ' and the teacher prefers compositions with new and distinctive designs. At junior middle school level, the students would begin to exhibit clear discrepancies in their writing abilities — some compositions have the standard of distinguished publications, while some could not even meet the basic requirement of fluency. So the teacher would take the average students as parameters for teaching, and some good teachers would try to arrange separate tutorials to those who are good at writing. As teaching is conducted in big classes, it is almost impossible for the teacher to teach according to the ability of each student. Therefore, the teacher tends to give standard patterns of analysis to the students. These superficial analyses could not trigger the students' critical thinking; as a result the students seldom ponder more on the topic and improve with accordance to the teacher's analyses afterwards. 2.4 Senior Middle School Level Composition becomes even more important at this stage. The syllabus presents the following requirements: (a) there should be not less than 25 compositions to write throughout this period with a total number of characters no less than 20,000; (b) in the first year, students are required to write narratives and expositions; (c) in the second year, argumentative writings are required; (d) in the third year, they are required to use all sorts of expressions skillfully in narratives, expositions and argumentative writings. The teachers generally require the students to form a good habit of observations by thinking about the external world, collecting materials, organizing their thoughts well and pinpointing on the central idea. They also ask the students to develop their power of imaginations and associations according to their needs; to think clearly before writing; to express one's thoughts with concise, coherent and appropriate language; and to be able to write general practical writings (to write a composition with 600 words in 45 minutes) with appropriate forms of expressions. Viewed in the context of development of the contents, teaching writing in senior middle schools is a continuation of what has been done in junior middle schools, since the same titles (e.g.. The Person I Am Most Familiar With') could be written upon by students in primary schools, junior middle schools and senior middle schools, but filled with different contents. The general patterns include: (a) the mate-

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

55

rials for writing shift from phenomena around individuals to social phenomena; (b) the resources of materials are transformed from direct experiences to indirect experiences; (c) the moral thoughts reflected in the compositions become more colorful. More differences in students' abilities could be observed within the same class, and the purpose for writing became more specific in this period: to develop writing capacity for college entrance examinations, which becomes especially intense during senior high school years. At present in China, the college entrance examination is the most important and most influential exam of all, as studying in a college or university is an opportunity to change one's life. The examination of writing composition and that of the Chinese language are put onto the same examination paper in which the composition takes 40% of the total marks, so the skill of writing compositions is very important in college entrance examinations. Practically speaking, under the college entrance examination grading system, writing topics and requirements of composition themselves become the batons to guide compositions at senior middle school level. Hence, the teacher tends to guide students to think about the conception, the subject and the design of the writing according to the exam criteria for compositions. For example, in the 1980s, most composition questions in college entrance examinations were argumentative ones, so composition teaching in senior schools always focused on argument-making, while at present, there are often two compositions to complete. One is to test the students' narrative and descriptive abilities, and the other one is to test the students' argumentative ability. So the emphasis is devoted to the training of the students' competence in narrative writing as well as that in argumentative writings. In the third year of senior high schools, some teachers would try to teach students to pay attention to the details and connotations of composition titles. For example, the title 'Habits' (a college entrance exam example) requires students to know about habits in a comprehensive manner: (a) habits in general, (b) good habits and bad habits, (c) functions of good habits and negative influences of bad habits and (d) how to get rid of bad habits and form good habits so as to improve oneself and benefit the society as a whole. Then the students are required to grasp these elements in a profound manner without too many generalizations. The composition paper in the college entrance examination in 1997 required students to write a composition with the title 'I Like Better' after looking at two caricatures. If the students fail to grasp the point of 'like better', they could not write satisfactory compositions. In the last few months before the college entrance examinations, some teachers tend to guess what subjects or topics might appear in the examination based on the summary of the characteristics of the construct of the college entrance examinations. 2.5 College or University Level Great changes take place in the teaching of writing at this stage, and the number of composition classes has been greatly reduced. Composition classes are no longer offered to students studying science, technology, and engineering, but mainly to arts students, especially Chinese majors. Yet even in the courses for Chinese majors, the

56

HAN

standing of composition is greatly lowered as the universities or colleges do not attach much importance to composition, which is less important than literary history, Chinese language, linguistics, and even foreign languages. Composition teaching in colleges and universities is a course designed for freshmen, which lasts for a year. The course includes theories of writing and practices that enable students to grasp basic theories of compositions of all genres systematically and to analyze these genres according to these theories. Writing theories constitute an important part in this course. What students can learn in this course are theories about conceptions and textual structures, as teachers tend to focus on these theories in his teaching. There are less writing practices than in senior middle school days, and practices are usually done after class, which aim to help those who have not really met the requirements of writing in senior middle schools. Since teaching is conducted in class under this mode and all students are required to practise together, a satisfactory result is difficult to attain as the university students cannot improve their writing ability as quickly as those studying in middle schools. The teaching sequence is the same as that of primary schools and middle schools, which is, The teacher assigns a topic -^ The students write compositions under the teacher's guidance -^ The teacher corrects the compositions -^ The teacher comments on the compositions. Generally speaking, the teaching of writing in colleges and universities is only an extension of what has been done in senior middle schools, but the composition theories which students learn will be very beneficial to those who will become teachers in primary and middle schools after graduation, when they will teach their students writing. Furthermore, there are many literature societies formed by students who are proficient writing lovers who write independently or under the guidance of teachers in many middle schools, colleges and universities in Mainland China. These societies promote cultural activities, stimulate students' interests and improve their writing abilities. What they write in their societal circles is of a less utilitarian nature, and with more literary values. 3.

THE PRESENT SITUATION

The following four points can be used to summaries the teaching of writing with Chinese as the mother tongue in Mainland China. Teaching methodology. The teaching of writing in China has the advantage of attaching importance to the accumulation of language knowledge, to the cultivation of observation power, and to the structural design and conception. The integration of these factors can fasten the students' speed of turning in compositions and develop one's writing ability efficiently. While inadequate importance has been attached to the accumulation, improvement in the analysis and sorting of composition source materials, cultivation of imagination and the development of the students' individu-

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

57

ality have been shown in recent years. For example, the composition title of the college entrance examination in 2000 - 'If Memories Can Be Transplanted' is vivid for imaginations. For sure college entrance examinations like this will force the teacher to address this problem. In addition, adequate attention should be devoted to opening up more composition topics that can in turn broaden their horizons. Teaching procedures. The pattern of 'the teacher assigns a topic -^students write compositions under the teacher's guidance -^ the teacher corrects the compositions' is highly efficient in a big class setting, as the beginners often make similar mistakes. Giving comments in groups can improve teaching efficiency, and writing under the same title also helps to spot out students' individual differences in writing abilities so that they can be taught in accordance with their aptitudes. Yet there are some disadvantages: (a) the teaching method is too confined because only the texts in the students' textbooks are taken as basic models, and whether it is worth of discussion depends on how much exemplified value these models have; (b) the creative spirit and function of the teaching of writing are not fully explored, and the teaching procedures, like mass production lines, often produce empty thoughts, identical structures and skills, and vulgarity in contents; (c) composition titles assigned by the teacher are too general or too specific, so students are bound by a lot of inherent limitations. For example, the titles like 'An Ordinary Incident', 'A Happy Incident for Me', 'A Meaningful Day' or 'A Person Who Works Hard' are too specific, while the titles like 'Trials' or 'Be the First Man to Suffer, if Suffering Must Occur' are too wide in scope. In fact, there are some limitations inherent in these big and empty titles which may detract the writers away from the themes of the compositions. Both the teacher and the students are aware of such limitations in their composition training, so what they write is of no concrete value. Developmental stages. At the different stages of teaching, the middle school period is crucial to the development of students' writing abilities. Language items play an increasingly important role in compositions. Zhu Zuoren's statistics (see Zhu Xinhua, 1993:41) revealed the following results (Table 1). Table L Chinese Ability Development (Percentages)

Primary School Senior Middle School

Content

Language

Structure

45.27 20.65

30.82 61.43

23.93 18.00

According to Zhu Zuoren, these changes indicate that the students shifted from 'the stage of writing spoken sentences' to 'the stage of compositions'. Language items are much more crucial than the content and structural items. This shows that Ian-

58

HAN

guage ability is the key factor to determine one's writing ability during this period. While according to Cui Chengri's (1991) investigation, great changes have taken place in the students' use of language during the period of middle school, and the changes can be shown in table 2. Table 2. Changes in qualities. Sentence length (Mean number of characters), Use of conjunctions (Frequency per 1000 words), Grammatical errors (Mean number of characters for one grammatical error)

Grade

Junior 1 Junior 2 Junior 3 Senior 1 Senior 2 Senior 3

Sentence length

Quality indices Conjunctions

20.96 24.62 30.62 35.16 35.47 35.72

14.5 16.1 22.1 23.9 23.4 24.1

Grammatical errors

74.50 91.87 88.47 88.78 119.46 134.62

From the above investigation, it can be seen that the changes in students' language abilities reach their climax in Grade 3 of junior middle school and Grade 1 of senior middle school. In that transition period, their sentences are obviously lengthened, the frequency of the use of conjunctions and the ratio of grammatical errors have increased. Hence, this is the period when the students exhibit their differences in writing abilities. Those with strong writing abilities may begin to cultivate their interests in writing in that period, while those with poorer writing abilities may begin to detest writing. In 1994, an investigation was made in a middle school. Of the 500 students investigated for each grade, 41% were interested in composition writing at grade 1 in junior middle schools, 37% for grade 2 junior, 31% for grade 3 junior; and 27.6% for grade 1 in senior middle school and 23.3%) for grade 2 senior (Wang, 1996). This research showed that there were still a lot of disadvantages in arousing the students' interest in writing at the middle school stage. The teaching of writing in senior middle school. This is a continuation of the eightlegged essay writing of the civil service examinations at old times as they are only tailored for examinations and adhere to formalism, although in terms of contents they are quite different. To some Chinese teachers, good compositions refer to those that can satisfy the general standards and earn high marks, so such a rigid and examoriented teaching method will not allow students to write freely, and their writings tend to strive for a baffling pattern of ideological content. Generally speaking, such method of teaching writing for examinations has the following basic characteristics:

TEACHING LI -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

•

•

•

•

59

The themes are light and sweet. Students are required to praise the happiness in real life and attraction of future developments under the control of preconceived lofty, bright and beautiful ideas. So, their thoughts only touch the superficial facet of life, and the moods are happy and light and there is a lack of dignified and deep emotions. Such a trend of themes tends to lead people to be satisfied with current conditions and indulge in a dream of bright and colorfiil fiiture, instead of stimulating the students' strong urge for achievements. The subject matter originates from the same source. The preconceived themes determine the subject matter naturally, and subsequently the common topics of 'good personalities and good deeds' are used to serve the presupposed bright themes. So, such a trend of creating stories mechanically will lead to an unsatisfactory result. The language is poor and empty. As students are required to read and study textbooks mechanically instead of reading widely, they cannot make use of the rich pool of vocabulary, and their narrow-mindedness makes their writings inactive and dull. In sum, the students tend to use the same vocabulary in the same voice and tone. The methods for structural designs are the same mechanically. The spoonfeeding method of 'problem consciousness' throughout the teaching process is too rigid for students to break the fetters of the text genres, such as the narrative patterns, the argumentative patterns or the expositive patterns, as these patterns are deep-rooted in their minds. It is impossible for them to transcend old text types and create new ones. 4.

NEW RESEARCH AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

At present, great importance has been attached to the teaching of writing with Chinese as the mother tongue in Mainland China. Teachers have realized some disadvantages and defects in their teaching, and a great outcry for reform on the teaching of writing is prone to start. In the pursuit for reform, teachers first realize the defect present in their teaching of writing, which is a divorce from reality. The teaching process is simplified and formatted, so an active training of writing ability is tuned into that of pure skills. The teaching activities are also rigid, old-fashioned, stereotyped, unitary and spoonfeeding in nature. As a result, no emphasis is attached to the development of the students' intelligence and affection. Therefore, the writings do not really go deep into the reality of human life and lack the cultivation of creativity. However, literary education is not given prominence and language training is not adequately implemented, so the sole purpose of the teaching of writing is for taking examinations and the principle that 'the teaching of writing is an 'stimulating art' is not implemented. Writing ability is predetermined by the ability to think. However, in Mainland China, the trend of formalism is very prominent in the teaching of writing, so teachers have been appealing for measures undertaken to cultivate the students' innovative thinking and consciousness as part of innovative education. Briefly speaking, innovative education refers to the training of students' thinking ability that enables

60

HAN

them to put forward new ideas and to cultivate observation ability, imagination, associative thinking, especially the trait of seeking differences. Teachers have also realized the importance of computers and Internet in their teaching of writing. With the development and popularization of computers and information technology, students could get more information about writing, and their horizons are greatly widened. At the same time their vocabulary, thoughts and styles are also greatly influenced by the Internet Literature. Teachers begin to pay attention to students' activities on the Internet, and they also use resources on the Internet themselves in their teaching of writing. But generally speaking, this resource has not been adequately used, as most teachers are afraid that students might spend too much time doing other things on the Internet. So, teachers are very careful at this aspect so that the Internet resources can be used reasonably without influencing students' learning. At present, it is generally agreed that the following three points must be accomplished to develop an innovative thinking ability amongst middle school students. The students should be trained: To analyze in multi-directional and think in three-dimensional manners: Seeking for similarities plays a leading role in the cognitive processes of the students who have just entered middle schools. This leads them to think in a single-way manner and to view problems in a static and isolated manner, which is reflected in the chains of thoughts in their careful choice of composition titles. Therefore, students should be encouraged to analyze multi-directionally and think three dimensionally. To grasp the central idea, acknowledge differences and respect individuality: Whether the conception is noble or not, it should be put aside, and the target of reasonableness should be sought to acknowledge differences, respect individuality and teach students according to their aptitudes. In case the students do not write according to the title, they should be encouraged to write according to their own ideas. If students can grasp the characteristics of an event or else, their achievements should be approved in their description or discussion of that entity. If there is a trace of gracefulness, it should be approved even when there are some deviations of thoughts. At the same time teachers should give special help to those less capable students so as to let them catch up with others. To break conventions, call for questions, seek differences and encourage innovations: The value of a composition with complete conception but no innovation is believed to be much lower than that of an insightful one. So in the cultivation of the students' innovative thinking capacity, the rigid patterned mode of thinking must be broken, inertia in thinking should be overcome and the quest for novelties must be pursued actively to express life with one's own unique views. For example, the teacher can guide the students to think diversely with regard to social and natural phenomena.

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

61

It is believed by the composition teaching circle in Mainland China that the future teaching of composition should attach importance to the following five points besides the emphasis on the cultivation of the students' innovative thinking: To perceive and understand modern life sensitively so as to open up a rich resource for writing materials'. Contemporary students should have ambitions to create a new life. Although their life is comparatively dull and strained, the campus activities and communication between teachers and students can regulate and change their life. Students should pay particular attention to all aspects of human life - national affairs, family events, folk customs, astronomy and geography, campus scenery, and friendship. All these can be good materials. As a famous artist said, 'Beauty exists everywhere. What our eyes cannot perform is not seeing beauty, but discovering beauty.' To cultivate the sense of needs for writing, tell the truth, express the real emotion and foster imagination: These are the requirement of the era and the qualities that modern people should possess: (a) Boldness in writing. Speaking and writing are two important abilities in learning a language. People do not find it difficult to speak, nor do they find writing difficult. 'To think and express clearly' is the requirement for speaking, and also the principle for writing, (b) A training of the minds. Teachers should be good at guiding students to look for the inherent connections between things, strengthen the ability to associate and compare things and give way to their imagination and creativity. The students should learn new technical knowledge, pay attention to new things and events, adapt to new developments and look forward to the future. For example, during this era of information technology, students should be trained with knowledge on computers and Internets to catch up with the development of society, (c) Imagination based on real life and the inherent logical development of things. Students should be encouraged to imagine boldly and their imaginations should be inspired consciously. This has already been shown in the composition paper of the college entrance examination in 2000. The title Tf Memories Can Be Transplanted' requires the students to have good imaginations. It is believed that the teacher should attach more importance to the cultivation of the students' imagination as a baton of teaching. To broaden the students' horizon by making them read more actively: Although the teaching of writing is constrained by many factors, there are always students who become outstanding in this field. Their compositions are rich in contents, language, and individual characteristics. This is mostly due to their wide and active reading. Not only does such wide and active reading regulate their dull school life, but it also enriches their experiences and promotes their development of individuality. Hence reading classes, information technology classes and Chinese laboratories should be developed and expanded; systematic reading programs should be organized; and students should be required to read after class, develop their strong points and individual characteristics, master modern teaching techniques, make good use of campus

62

HAN

internet, learn to read on the internet, and know how to collect information with the help of computers. To encourage students to write in their own words with new ideas and sincere feelings: Lack of sincere feelings definitely leads to emptiness in language, and insubstantial life experience would result in a lack of information output. Compared with that of the Cultural Revolution era, language styles of the students' compositions have transformed alongside with the great changes taking place in the social spiritual life and campuses since China opened up to the outside world more than 20 years ago. Vocabularies and phrases have modernized greatly, but they still fall short of the great cultural changes happening outside the campus. So, we should stress the importance of individual linguistic characteristics at the primary stage, with the prerequisite that we pay attention to the basic language requirements in students' compositions. To polish the flow of compositions and increase the expressiveness of the language used: The problem in writing lies in the amount of practice given to the students. As the saying goes, 'reading more will make you rich in mind, and writing more will make you write like an angel'. Attention should be paid to the following aspects in writing practices: (a) To achieve the desired effects of the prescriptive composition. Most of such compositions are those with assigned titles which are ensured to be corrected on time, on the ground that they should be written well and corrected carefully. Writing should be done in a flexible way so that the text is closely related to the title, and via the use of the subject under discussion to advocate one's ideas, (b) To stimulate writing with oral practices. Create opportunities for students to talk about their plans and write with diverse thinking patterns and multidirectional inspirations. (c) To write journals and informal essays. The teacher should assign appropriate amount of journals and informal essays for students together with writing materials and text genres so that the students can choose what they are interested in and write with hearty content. Commentaries, poetry, fairytales, prose, and science fictions at any length or in any style can all be tried out. In this way, different writing styles can be practiced, the language fiow can be polished, and the students' wills can be tempered. Teachers should create opportunities for students to communicate. Excellent writings should be exhibited and recommended to others to stimulate their enthusiasm in writing, let them enjoy the fruitful growth and success, and achieve the unification of'imparting knowledge and educating people' and 'writing compositions and fostering oneself. At present the appeal for reform in the teaching of writing has been put into practice in China - the 'First National New Concept Composition Contest' was co-sponsored and hosted by the 'Buds Office', Peking University, Fudan University and the other five famous colleges and universities in December 1998; the 'National Innovative Composifion Contest 2000' co-sponsored and hosted by the Chinese Campus Literature Office, National Primary School, Middle School and Kindergarten Teachers Associafion, Tsinghua University, Peking University and others in December 1999;

TEACHING L 1 -WRITING IN MAINLAND CHINA

63

or the 'Dingxin Cup National Composition Contest for Primary School and Middle School Students' by the Chinese Youth Daily Newspaper Office and some famous enterprises in November 1999. All these composition contests, which aimed at cultivating the innovative spirit and imagination of the students, formed the 'Phenomenon of New-Concept-Composition'. Such composition contests serve as valuable and experimental arenas in challenging the present exam-oriented Chinese education system. For example, the 'new thoughts, new expressions and new experiences' advocated by 'New-ConceptComposition Contest' offer enough space for the students to bring about their literary talents into full display which are complementary to the teaching of composition. The teachers will, as a response, draw beneficial inspirations from these contests to create a free and comfortable environment for the students to develop their individualities and exhibit their imaginations. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First I should show my most sincere thanks to Professor Zhang De-lu, my supervisor at Ocean University of China, who gave me the opportunity to write about teaching writing in Chinese as the mother tongue in mainland China, and gave me beneficial advice as to the structure and language of the writing, and edited my writing carefully and patiently for several times. Then I should show my gratitude to Mr. Ji Sheng-guo, a teacher in the Chinese Department of Liaocheng University, who lent me some reference books. Lastly I should show my thanks to my husband, Mr. Su Ming-hai He encouraged me, typed the manuscript and checked the spelling, and did all the housework so that I could concentrate on the writing itself

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: MAINLAND CHINA

LI ZHAO, YONG JIXU & XIA ZHU

Yanbian University, China

Abstract. The authors first trace the education history of the Korean minorities in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and the difficulties of learning writing in Chinese as a second language encountered by the Korean students. They then outline the syllabi and orientation of Chinese learning policies for the group from the Cultural Revolution until present time at different levels (primary, secondary and tertiary). Emphasis has been placed on the establishment of the National Minority Chinese Proficiency Test System as a mean test for narrowing down the learning gap drifted apart by the inappropriate Chinese learning materials and guiding curriculum reforms in Korean schools. The authors finally spot out the inter-related problem induced by both parties (teachers and students) and offer solutions like in-class activities and after-class writing exercise drills. Keywords: Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Korean nationals, teaching Chinese as second language (TCSL), syllabus, National Minority Chinese Proficiency Test System

1. HISTORY OF CHINESE EDUCATION AND THE TEACHING OF WRITING IN CHINESE TO KOREAN NATIONALS IN THE YANBIAN PREFECTURE The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture lies in the east of Jilin Province, with a Korean population of more than two million, which amounts to 40.7% of the total. There are 106 primary, 33 junior and 12 senior middle schools for Korean minority students in the prefecture. Modern education of Korean nationals began at the beginning of the 20^^ century. Three terms, 'zhongwen' or 'zhongyu' (Chinese), 'zhinayu' (language of China), and 'manyu' (Manchurian), had once been used to name Chinese courses in Korean minority schools until 1945. Among the private schools run by Korean minority patriots and religious groups, such as Dalizimingdong School at Helong County established in 1908, Chinese {zhongwen) courses were introduced into the curricular when secondary education commenced. Even in the Korean minority schools run by

66

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

Japanese, including the general schools run by the Korean governor and the private schools run by Japanese, Chinese {zhinayu) was taught. During the Japanese Occupation after the 9.18 Incident, Manchurian (manyu) was still taught in some schools such as Jiandaoshidao School. The teaching of Chinese at that time focused on word explanation in class, following the traditional method in private schools. 1.1 The Upsurge of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (simplified as TCSL) after 1948 Ethnic language teaching was restored after the Japanese surrendered in August 1945. At the same time, Chinese was taught in some Korean minority secondary schools and the Chinese texts compiled by teachers themselves were easy to understand. The Sino-Korean Secondary Education Conference of Jilin Liberated Area was held in Yanji in February 1947. It was stipulated that Chinese should be taught in primary and secondary schools for Korean minority. In 1948 when the Northeast China was liberated, secondary education stepped onto a new stage on which the knowledge courses took the leading position and course design tended to be standardized. In the same year, Chinese was taught three hours a week in all the Korean minority middle schools. The curriculum of 1949 showed that Chinese courses amounted to 9.7%, and Korean amounted to 19.3% of the whole teaching contents in junior middle schools, while Chinese shared 9.4% and Korean shared 12.5% of such in senior middle schools. Yanbian Education Press began to compile Chinese textbooks in 1948 and published one for junior middle schools in 1949. The Education Department stipulated for the first time in Temporary Teaching Plan for Elementary Students (Draft) that both Chinese and ethnic languages should be taught in minority junior middle schools. In December 1951, the Provincial Culture and Education Office of Jilin Province prescribed the term for a Chinese course as 'hanyu' in Notice of Amending Course-design for Advanced Primary School of Korean Minority. In the same year, the Education Section of the Prefectural Commission of Yanbian Prefecture decided to begin the teaching of 4 hours Chinese course per week from the fifth grade in primary schools instead of from the first grade in secondary schools, and there were four hours of teaching per week. During this period, the teaching of Chinese began in very hard conditions and in most schools where the traditional teaching method was still used, a routine teaching procedure was adopted: Word explanation -^ Sentence translation —» Reading texts -^ Sentence making practice. Termed as the traditional method, it aimed at developing the students' competence in reading comprehension by explanation. Its formation and long-term influence on the teaching of Chinese were possible because of its enduring domination in Chinese

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

67

private schools and the use of Chinese characters in Korean. In the past, the Korean minority students learned Chinese by guessing the meanings based on the forms of the characters so that they could understand some simple articles in a short time. Consequently, more attention was paid to reading and the students were accustomed to learning by reading, but not by listening and speaking. As a result, the teaching of writing in Chinese for Korean minority students was hindered. 1.2 The Development ofTCSL, including Chinese Writing after the Establishment of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture Since the establishment of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in 1952, Korean education has been developing rapidly. Yanbian Education Press has published a set of Chinese textbooks entitled 'Chinese' for primary and secondary schools. In 1953, a Chinese teaching symposium was held by Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture to exchange teaching experience and the Education Department of Jilin Province hosted a Chinese teaching colloquium. It was pointed out that 'the teaching of Chinese in minority schools aims at cultivating in the students the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing and focusing on language teaching'. It began to be realized that Chinese lessons were not sufficient to meet the students' needs of passing entrance examination to colleges and universities and finding jobs. Therefore, the education sector of the prefecture prescribed in 1956 that Chinese should be taught at the beginning of the third school year. The Education Press started to compile new Chinese textbooks. This plan defined the nature of Chinese as a tool and prescribed the range of basic Chinese knowledge and requirements for the four skills. The newly compiled textbook represented the approach that characters should be learned gradually, starting from phonetic symbols, and the texts taught were organized in the pattern of conversations. In 1956, the Chinese teaching supervisor group of State Ministry of Education inspected the teaching of Chinese in Yanbian from September 25 to October 11 and wrote A Report on Chinese Teaching in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (Draft). It was specially pointed out in the report, "the Chinese teaching syllabus needed to be designed immediately for primary and secondary schools". In response to this comment, three colloquia were held in succession by the prefectural education section to define Chinese teaching goals, tasks and features and to design 'Primary and Secondary Chinese Teaching Syllabus for Korean Minority Students (Draft)'. The Drafting Committee of The Primary and Secondary Chinese Teaching Syllabus for Korean Minority set up in 1957, investigated the teaching situation in primary and secondary schools. Based on the investigations, the committee designed the first Chinese teaching syllabus after 1949. Specific requirements were presented in the new syllabus. Students were required to learn 1,500-1,700 characters for daily use after five years' study in primary school, 1,200-1,300 more characters, that is, 2,700-3,000 characters when graduating from junior middle school, and then 500-600 more characters, that is, 3,200 -

68

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

3,600 characters for a senior middle school graduates, after another three years. As for vocabulary, 1,800-2,000 words were required for primary graduates, 2,200-2,500 words for junior, and 5,500-6,500 words for senior. It also required students to know the meaning, word class, collocation and usage of those learned words. In terms of writing, junior graduates were required to be able to write a short passage with 200300 characters, which is clear and logical in thoughts and ideas with correct punctuation. Word limit of 700-800 characters was required for senior graduates. In 1952, the teaching of writing in Chinese was affected by leftist ideas and Korean minority students were taught in the same way as native speakers for the sake of making greater progress. As a result, the teaching of Chinese was rated at a much higher priority than other subjects, especially Korean. At the beginning of the 60s, a series of experiments were conducted to explore how to develop the students' speaking and writing competence. Among all the middle schools, the Yanbian Experimental Middle School and the attached primary school of Yanbian Normal School were typical for giving students an intensive teaching of Chinese. In the former school a preliminary class was set up for the first school year students who were taught Chinese intensively, and in the latter school new characters were learned based on classification. It was clear that teachers began to notice the relationship between speech and writing and so the teaching of writing was strengthened. Unfortunately, the nation-wide education, including the teaching of writing in Chinese, was banned during the decade from 1966 to 1976. 7.3 The Maturity of Teaching of Chinese Language and that of Writing In the late 1970s when the Cultural Revolution ended, the teaching of Chinese writing experienced a long period of fiiU-bloom development after a short time of restoration. The compilation of new textbooks began in November 1977. In the Syllabus of Chinese Language Education in Full-time Primary and Middle Schools (draft) issued by the State Education Commission (SEC) in 1982, Chinese teaching got its new name 'Chinese language education', which was defined as 'second language education'. A certain number of articles were designated for the new textbooks and the rest of the articles were left to the publishing houses to select accordingly. To offer more opportunities for students to practise, some senior high schools utilized Chinese as the teaching language in some courses. Though much effort had been made on oral Chinese teaching, students remained not so proficient in speaking and writing. This could be seen in the Korean Nationality General Education Survey conducted by the Prefecture Education Commission in 1987, which pointed out that one of the most important causes for Korean middle school graduates' inability to adapt themselves to society was that they could not use Chinese well. In 1992, the SEC issued a new syllabus. Based on the new syllabus and the actual situation of the schools in this area, a series of new textbooks called 'Chinese Language' were published by Northeast China Korean Nationality Education Press in 1994 for junior and senior middle school students. On the basis of the acceptable parts of the existing textbooks, and with the representation of the second language

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

69

learning laws of minority students as the goal, these new books systematized the composition writing and training and clarified the stylistic requirements at each grade level. In 1995, the Prefecture Teachers' College made a brave move in Chinese language teaching and proposed a new system: classroom activities (before class, in class and after class) were designed as a body plus two wings (one is a five-minute speech before class; the other is a great variety of learning activities). They rated speaking ahead of writing, which, they believe, accelerates writing, and more speaking was done in class and more writing was done after class. Their theory was that speech is the base for writing and the key to opening the students' mind. So the teaching of composition should aim at finding ways to improve the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing with speaking as a breakthrough. They also believe that these four skills can only be learned through practice since learning something by using it is the only way to learn it well. In practice, they themselves compiled materials for oral practice. For example, the story 'Watermelon Brothers' in Grade 4 was transcribed into a short play and was performed immediately after reading it. In this case, students could easily grasp the content and new words. Simultaneously their speaking ability was improved. All these laid a solid foundation for writing. There are various kinds of five-minute activities before class. In primary schools, students do oral work using pictures, while middle school students practise communicative conversations and plays. Oral topics include 'who is my favorite...', 'what languages I can speak', 'what I have been learning recently', 'how to say hello to a guest at home', 'what to say to an old man', 'how to borrow stationery', 'how to say good-bye to a guest', 'how to introduce some places of historic interest and scenic beauty', 'autumn is coming', description of a picture, TV news in a week, story telling, idioms, and sentence making with new words and phrases. In junior high schools, students have communicative dialogues and the argumentative topics, such as self-introduction, my own story, my point of view, 'Do our parents really understand us?', memories of my old school, deep thought exchanges, introduction of one of my acquaintances, topics on conscience and story-telling, etc. In senior high schools, they have five-minute lectures or debates. Examples are 'my view on parents' meeting', 'we can build up the world only after we have changed our own world' (that is, we must be strict to ourselves, then to others), 'one of the articles I once read', masterpiece appreciation and my ideals. Students also take part in Chinese learning activities after class. For primary students, there are talks on pictures, dialogues in Chinese, short plays and story telling. Junior students have contests such as dictionary consultation and vocabulary race, idiom race, story telling, language clinic, news story, and commodity introduction. Debate is for senior high students. Topics include 'Shall we learn from the Foolish Old Man who tried to move the mountain or not?' 'Do small mistakes matter or not?' Through these activities, the long existing problem of shy and passive Chinese students is solved. Students are brave enough to open their mouths and make great progress in speaking. This reform provides us with precious experience for fiiture teaching.

70

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

Practical experience of teaching shows that writing should be based on oral training. If not, it is hard for students to improve their writing. From 1990, with improvement in the teaching of writing, especially with the increase in the proportion of writing in Senior High School Entrance Examination and College Entrance Examination (40% and 30% respectively), more and more attention has been paid to writing. For a long time, the training of writing went hand in hand with the learning of selected works. Recently, however, writing has become an independent course, with two hours a week in some schools, handled by teachers specialized in writing. 2. BRIEF REVIEW OF THE TEACHING OF CHINESE WRITING AT KOREAN NATIONALITY PRIMARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN YANBIAN 2.1 The Teaching of Chinese Writing in Yanbian Korean Primary Schools The teaching of writing in Chinese in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture is carried out in accordance with the requirements of SEC and the actual situation of education in Yanbian. The textbooks are compiled and published by Yanbian Education Press and are used in Korean nationality primary schools in the Provinces of Helongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, and also in Inner Mongolia. Its standards and requirements can demonstrate the universal situation of teaching of Chinese writing in Korean Minority areas. Considering the situation that minority areas have their comparatively independent language as their mother tongue, the Chinese writing requirements imposed on primary students are not high. The final aim of the teaching of Chinese writing in Korean schools is to make students able to write simple compositions, which undergoes four stages. Stage One: Paragraph Writing. This is for students of Grades 3 and 4. They are asked to write a set of coherent sentences. That is, they should be able to describe a set of actions with the correct use of verbs and conjunctions. Imitation is the main approach taken. Stage Two: Sentence Grouping Writing. This is to be achieved in Grade 5 and during the first Quarter of the first term of Grade 6. Students are required to write a paragraph of 200 characters. They should be able to state a fact or describe a simple thing and express a complete meaning using the simplest expression. Methods used here are imitation and expansion. Imitation begins with writing a message asking for leave or writing a notice (leaving a message) to make students be able to tell the reasons behind and make simple requests. Then letter imitation follows, which includes making simple description of themselves, and expressing their wills accurately. Finally they try to imitate a simple piece of expository writing describing one of his toys, for example. In this way, students not only become able to express simple ideas, but also come to know the forms of practical writing and the methods of writing them.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

71

Expansion includes sentence expansion and paragraph expansion. The sentences to be expanded are mainly statements, such as 'there is a forest in Changbai Mountain' or 'there is a hole in the wall'. The students are expected to add modifiers to the original words. After such training, they become aware of the importance of making their language more colorful and accurate. In paragraph expansion, they are provided with an outline of a story and then try to make it into a complete and coherent tale. Stage Three: Short Article Writing. They ask students in Grade 6 to write a paragraph of 300 characters. Students should know how to describe an object or narrate simple events in chronological order. The training method extends from imitation to writing according to pictures. Imitation practice enables students to know how to construct a paragraph. When writing about 'My School', with 'My Hometown' as a model, they will know how to describe the school in spatial sequence, and describe football matches in chronological order. Composition according to pictures is a comprehensive training since imagination and language organization are necessary. The pictures are about a story with several episodes and very simple conversation. Inspired by the conversation, students recreate the whole story with imagination, make the story more complete with their expansion experiences and finally finish it with their imitation experiences. After this training, students become able to do the task by themselves. Stage Four: Enriching Vocabularies To Make Writing Easy. The biggest difficulty for the students of Korean nationality in writing in Chinese is their shortage of words and phrases. The phrases are also known as raw materials for writing sentences. So it is very important to enrich the students' vocabulary. There are several ways to do this, and the most common one is the substitution of antonyms and synonyms. For example, 'a heavy rain' can be substituted by 'a pouring rain' or 'a rainstorm'. This method can both enrich students' vocabularies and stimulate their desire to write. 2.2 The Teaching of Chinese Writing to High School Students of Korean Nationality in Yanbian Prefecture: A Summary 2.2.1 The Teaching Plan for Writing in the Textbooks for High School Students of Korean Nationality As shown in table 1, writing exercises in Chinese amount to 47 times in high school: 24 times for narration, 7 times for exposition, 8 times for argumentation, and 8 times for practical writings. For example, the teaching of Chinese writing in the first year of junior high school mainly concerns narration. The objective is to cultivate students' ability to observe what is around them, and their ability to organize their thoughts as well as the articles. The topic can be about an impressive teacher or student, the activities in

72

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

school, family, or any other place they visit after class, or even natural and humanistic scenes. • An Unforgettable Class • A Wonderful Match • My Teacher • To Visit Table L The Teaching Plan for Writing in the Textbooks for High School Students of Korean Nationality

Grade

Narration

Junior 1 Junior 2 Junior 3 Senior 1 Senior 2 Senior 3

4 6 4 6 2 2

Exposition

Argumentation

Practical Writing 1

2

2

4 1

2 4

3 2 2

Sum 4 7 8 9 10 9

The teaching of writing for the first year students in senior high school consists of two parts. The first part still deals with narration. In the first term, the students are required to practise the narration of an event with six elements: time, place, person, cause, process, and result; to practise the ways of revealing human individuality and character through appearance, language, and behavior; and to practise the method of chronological narration, fiashback narration, and narration interspersed with fiashbacks. In the second term, the students are required to learn to choose proper materials, to make a balanced structure of the whole article, and to combine narration with argumentation and lyrics writing. The second part is about practical writing. The first term continues practising the writing of diaries and letters, and the second term begins with the writing of applications. An Anecdote on My Dormitory Life The Person I Like Most Recollections inspired by... A Precious Photo My Unforgettable Life in Junior High School Morning on the Campus Between Teacher and Student 2.2.2

The Teaching Methods

As a second language, the teaching of Chinese writing should not follow entirely the traditional way of learning Chinese. It should be acknowledged that differences do exist between Korean and Chinese; however, these are not exhibited in the textbooks used from primary school to senior high school. Chinese, which is different from

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

73

sound writing languages and syllable writing languages, belongs to the genre of character writing language. So it can only be learned word by word. The learning of three thousand words needs ten years of ceaseless efforts for most students, and this process is too slow to improve the students' writing ability. So enlarging the vocabulary intensively, reading extensively and writing frequently can be effective ways of improving writing. These three steps should be combined and implemented one after another. To learn 3,000 words in Grade One intensively is possible for Junior High School students in their first year, and is necessary for enhancing their writing ability as well. Extensive reading is the key to writing. For a long time, due to the limited number of texts in Chinese classrooms, students' sensibility to the Chinese language is rather low. Reading, as the first major channel to receive information and the entrance to comprehension, is the base for successful writing. In reading, the various usages in Chinese will be stored in the students' brains along with the main plots and the arguments. And, the students inspired can acquire the words, phrases, sentences and methods of writing naturally, coherently and effectively. So students can grasp the idiomatic expressions and improve their sensibility to Chinese without interference from his native languages in this process. The students who had great difficulty in writing before can now write a coherent article in about 400 words within 45 minutes. This ability is obtained largely from reading practices instead of writing itself Writing exercises have a catalytic effect on the improvement of the students' writing ability. Based on the Syllabus of Chinese Teaching and the proficiency of the high school students of the Korean nationality, the teaching focus in respect of genres should be on narration, exposition, argumentation, reading notes, letters and other practical writings. With regard to the knowledge and methods of writing, the following principles should be observed: 'first give lectures, and then write with a definite topic'; 'first learn from others, and then write with skilful organization'; 'first read, and then write by imitation'. And the teacher's explanation should focus on how to develop the topics, how to write the theses, how to select the materials, how to organize the texts, how to use the language accurately and effectively, and how to make outlines for writing. As for the ways of allocating writing exercises, the following principles should be observed: (a) Writing and reading go hand in hand; improve reading through writing, (b) To develop speaking and writing abilities at the same time; improve writing ability through the improvement of speaking ability. (c) Improve writing ability through correction. Apartfi-omwriting exercises in class, diary writing is another effective way to improve the students' writing ability. It is not only effective to express feelings, but also easy to carry on for a long time. A student will obtain all-rounded benefit from diary writing. It can cultivate not only their noble character and healthy outlook on life, but also their abilities of observation, comprehension, analysis, and expression. The teacher should give necessary instruction and keep a close check on these daily writings. Through these daily writings from the beginning, the teacher can gradually move his focus from helping students form a good writing attitude to developing it as a habit, from writing an event-

74

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

listing to a theme diary, from simply narrating a simple event to writing arguments and lyrics. In this gradual process, their writing ability will improve greatly as well. The cultivation of the students' writing capacity should abide the 'closed after open' principle. 'Open' means to write freely, and 'closed' to write with certain requirements. The teaching of any second language writing basically follows this rule. To give a systematic training to the students, teachers usually shift their teaching focus to closed writing in Senior High School. Some schools, to ftilfill their teaching purposes, separate writing from intensive and extensive readings. Corrections and comments on the students' work are also important for developing the students' writing ability. Correction is the first step in the teaching of writing and the base for commenting on writing. The aim of these two steps is to point out the merits and weaknesses in the students' compositions, which serve as a supportive instruction for successive writing exercises. The aim of correction is to offer no correction at the end. So correction by the teacher should help the student to correct his/her paper by himself/herself and to form a habit of making a detailed outline before writing and giving detailed corrections after that. Teachers'/students' corrections can take various forms, for example: Mark the improper uses in the paper and correct them o by students o mutually by students o by the teacher o by the teacher in front of the students o in group, mark the improper uses, and correct them together o by the teacher and correct them by the student himself These forms entail the combined activities of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. TCSL has achieved a lot, but there is still a long way to go. The teaching in this field will surely develop in a scientific and systematic way in the future. 3.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHING OF WRITING IN CHINESE IN YANBIAN UNIVERSITY

Yanbian University is a comprehensive university with Koreans comprising approximately 60% of the student body; most of them are graduates of Korean middle schools. During the 12 years of education in the primary and middle schools, these students are taught in their native language. Since 1990, the course of college Chinese (64 hours) was offered to the Korean freshmen to help them get used to being taught in Chinese and to improve their ability to use the standard language of our country. In terms of contents, practical writing is offered with the addition of elementary literature knowledge and appreciation of literary works with the purpose of further training and developing Chinese reading and writing ability of the Korean students.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

75

3.1 New Objective in the Teaching of Writing in Chinese According to the requirements of the National Education Committee for the Chinese national minority middle schools, the Korean high school graduates should be able to write an essay of about 800 - 1,000 words with clear arguments and structure. In fact, the writing ability of the Korean freshmen does not meet the national requirements. According to the examination given to the freshmen every year after their registration, most of the students make at least two mistakes in grammar, rhetoric, logic and expression in a 600-word article on a given subject in a given period of time, while some students commit numerous errors in spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. The reason is that there is a considerable disparity between the actual ability of the Korean students to write in Chinese and the standards stipulated in the requirements of Chinese education of Korean middle schools. There is a gap between high schools and universities in knowledge structure and training methods in the teaching of writing in Chinese. Because of this, we have tried to narrow down the distance between high schools and universities in the teaching of writing in Chinese, and to explain and examine repeatedly the misuse of some idiomatic expressions, such as prepositions and auxiliary verbs. But this will neither change their habits nor improve their Chinese writing ability. On the contrary, it takes up a large amount of their time. With regard to learning to write in Chinese, the Korean students face the problem that there are differences between writing in their native language and in Chinese. First, although both the Korean native language and Chinese are Oriental languages, they belong to different language families. They are distinct in grammar, and ways of expression. Secondly, the practice of teaching writing in Chinese for the Korean primary and middle schools is confined to a closed teaching model, which emphasizes imitation and writing on given subjects. Taught in this way, the students are skillful in passing exams, but are not good at practical writing. The ways of learning Chinese of the Korean students are limited by the traditional test-oriented education and methods of training in writing. It is easy for them to narrate a thing in Chinese according to the requirements, but it is difficult to express their opinions. At the same time, the inadequacy of their vocabulary and the limited type of reading materials they read restrict the development of their Chinese writing ability. Compared with the Chinese middle school graduates, the Korean high school graduates have the same Chinese writing ability as the Chinese junior school graduates. But the writing course materials adopted at universities are based on the Chinese high school practical writing requirements. So the Korean high school graduates can hardly understand and improve their Chinese writing ability by using this kind of materials. Therefore, we should develop a Chinese writing course for Korean freshmen on the basis of the actual situation of the primary and middle school writing education, systematize the writing knowledge taught in the primary and high schools, and strengthen the basic writing skills before teaching practical writing. It is also important to broaden the Korean students' scope of reading and upgrade their reading levels.

76

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

3.2 Strategies for the Reform of Teaching Writing in Chinese at Universities The deficiency of the middle school Chinese writing education forms an obstacle that the national minority university cannot go through, so any plans on the reform of this course should begin with the solution to this problem (And it is not possible to confine the task of reform to the university itself) Therefore, the teachers teaching writing in Chinese at universities should pay more attention to the Chinese writing education in Korean middle schools. It is important for the teachers to get background knowledge of the Korean students' acquisition of Chinese writing knowledge and ability and to make correct judgments on the distance between the actual knowledge and the requirement of the syllabus, which would help us to formulate the right goals and strategies. The strategies certainly include the constant negotiation and communication with the middle school teachers for the improvement of the teaching of Chinese writing in the middle schools, which would lead to the formation of a scientific and perfect teaching system with clear distinction of different stages and tasks. To conform the teaching of writing in Chinese to the laws of SL writing teaching, we must carry out reform and research on the teaching of Chinese writing at the college level. 3.2.1 The Establishment of National Minority Chinese Proficiency Test System and Teaching according to the Different Levels of Students Most of the Korean students of Yanbian University come from the Korean middle schools of the three Northeast provinces where courses were taught in their native language, and there are differences in culture, geography and Chinese teaching quality. The students' Chinese proficiency levels are not the same, which is shown by the fact that some are 'hungry for more' after learning but some are not able to follow it. Based on the unfavorable situation of Chinese writing teaching, we set up the Chinese Proficiency and Writing Test System for the freshmen after registration, then teach writing according to the divided classes based on the grades of the students in their tests, and use the competition mechanism, that is, to encourage the students to have better performance to get promoted into a higher grade at every stage. By the end of the course, the students must pass another examination; otherwise, they have to study the course again in the lower grade next year. 3.2.2 The Choice of Teaching Material which is Adapted to the Actual Situation and Realises Pedagogical Goals Teaching materials are the basis of education. The Chinese writing teaching material for the national minority college students should neither be the repetition of that for national minority high schools nor that for ordinary universities. On the basis of the usual standards such as intelligence, scientific talents, interests and organization, the new material should have two more characteristics: one is the consideration of both quantity and depth, which strengthens the links between the high school and the college; the other is the combination of knowledge and ability, which strengthens the practical ability of the students in this field. The new material should also begin with

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

77

the writing patterns, observe the rules of SL learning of the national minorities, consist of the knowledge and training given in the primary and middle schools, and stress on basic writing and then gradually transfer to practical writing. Based on this, we have compiled the 'A Training Course on Practical Writing' (Zhao & Zhu, 1994), 'Selected Works on Writing' (Zhao, Xu & Zhu, 1995) and 'College Chinese' (Zhao, Xu & Zhu, 2000) since the beginning of course offerings in the 1990s. 3.2.3 Encouraging the Students' Creative Thinking and Training their Writing Ability In primary and middle schools, the dominant method of the teaching of Chinese writing is imitation after the reading unit. The teaching of Chinese writing, from the beginning of Grade 3 of the primary school through to the high school is imitation step by step in a closed or half-closed frame. This method is unquestionably an appropriate way to link the teaching of Chinese writing with reading. However, the point to be made is that more attention should be paid to encouraging the training of students' creative thinking and writing abilities. Teachers should pay more attention to students' guided writing by quality-oriented theory, to inspiring their conscious activity, to changing from 'writing-by-imitating' to 'wanting to write', and to changing from thinking in the Korean way to thinking in the Chinese way. A writing course should be a practical one, and writing ability is a reflection of comprehensive abilities. We should cultivate not only the students' ability to grasp the writing knowledge and theory, but also the writing ability that serves the society. For this purpose, we wish to carry out reforms to broaden the scope of writing training by including in it: • Five-minute speeches at the beginning of the class associated with the teaching of writing; • Regular activities such as: recitation of poems, speeches, debates, and competitions on solicited articles (to encourage their creative writing); • Recommendation of books for self-reading (the obligatory and the elective), book reports, lectures, etc. The use of a variety of activities inside and outside of the classroom has proved to be successful. The students are interested in them and begin to study actively, so they know more about writing rules and standards and get higher grades. Furthermore, their thinking, expression and writing abilities have also been improved. University Chinese writing teaching should form a systematic framework with equal emphasis on two aspects: one is to systematize the writing knowledge and grade the writing training, and the other is to ask the students to perform the related activities out of class. 3.2.4

The Establishment of a New Model for the College Chinese Writing Test

To establish a new model for the College Chinese Test is something important for the development of college Chinese writing courses. The traditional way to give the test is usually to evaluate the result of teaching and learning by a test paper, which

78

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

has gone astray from the requirements and goals of the quality education. To establish a model to examine students' oral expression, open writing and closed writing is not only a change in test methods, but also a representation of the new requirements of both modern education and quality education. It puts forward new requirements for students' learning and sets a higher standard for classroom teaching to the college Chinese writing teachers. This will be beneficial to the transformation of a mere college Chinese writing teaching to the establishment of the students' proficient Chinese language ability. During the course of the classroom teaching of college Chinese writing, it has been found that the students have great difficulties in communicating in Chinese, although they may be able to pass the exam or even get a high score on the test paper. To bring about some changes, we have tried to undertake radical reforms to change the mono-method test into a multi-method one and it has been proved to be effective. According to the content and the basic requirements of the college Chinese writing courses, with regard to reading, the students are required to catch the exact meaning of the words in the text, to understand the main ideas, to be clear about the outline and the strata and to find out the writing features. In terms of writing, the students are required to write articles in various ways to express their ideas accurately and make sure that their writings are structurally complete, grammatically correct and logically coherent. Correct uses of punctuation marks and Chinese characters are also required. In terms of oral expressions, the students are required to communicate efficiently with standard Chinese according to the needs of different occasions. From the above, we can infer that the focus of education in Chinese language is to develop the students' ability to master Chinese in a comprehensive way, including the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, and to practically use the language. The establishment of the Trinity' Test Model including oral expression, open writing and closed writing, enables the Chinese language teaching to be changed in its nature from static to dynamic and helps to transform students' learning style from passive to active. This will solve the serious problem of the gap between teaching and learning. The test method of 'oral expression' is an effective way to check the result of learning on the basis of the classroom teaching content in oral ability training. In the course of teaching, the subjective potential of the students is highly stimulated by the response of the students in class, the topic discussion and the discussion after class. To develop the students' ability to use Chinese is taken as the ultimate goal of education. Free writing is a new testing method, which is put forward against the traditional writing training and the composition test used to check writing ability. In the training of writing, the students are required from the very beginning to form good writing habits, such as constant and deliberate observation and thinking, and writing two articles per week. The teacher should state in advance that the students may write whatever they want as long as it is true and proper for reading, without any limitation on style, content or length. In the requirements, the teachers can ask the students to write a diary at the beginning and weekly reports thereafter. Later, the students can be asked to write short essays and research papers. These steps can form a trape-

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

79

zoid-shaped writing training model. A comprehensive evaluative method can then be adopted to check free writing, which accounts for 50% of the score for classroom performance and 15% of the final result. It is the teachers' responsibility to check the students' writing at a fixed time or at any time. By the end of the semester, an overall test is necessary. Another way is that the students may be required to hand in a most satisfactory article, serving as material for final evaluation. The test paper, as a traditional way for the Chinese language test, is still effective in checking students' ability in the aspects of memorization and reading comprehension. But it should focus on the comprehensive ability of using language and try to avoid simple and direct questions as much as possible. In terms of the designated test items and measurement for evaluation, we should take the goal of checking the students' real ability into consideration and place the development of students' ability of imaginative thinking as the premise. And we should gradually narrow down the standardized test items, and increase the amount of reading passages and the questions for the comprehensive use of language. The test paper represents 70% of the final result. From the above we can infer that the establishment of the test model, including the test of oral expression, free writing, and test paper, embodies the features of college Chinese language education. Comparatively speaking, it helps, in a scientific way, to meet the requirements of a test that aims to stimulate the development of various aspects of the students under the three requirements of the principles of quality education. It also helps to develop the comprehensive ability of the students in the Chinese language. The test method used throughout the whole teaching process is actually the exchange and interaction between teaching and learning. The establishment of the new test model is a further step in the reformation of the teachers' attitudes towards teaching and the implementation of the principles of creative education. Also it focuses on helping students transform from the passive learning style with test-oriented education to the active learning style, from 'being asked to learn' to 'wanting to learn'. Simultaneously it fortifies the training of the comprehensive ability of the students, which, in turn, helps to lay a solid foundation for the students of minority nationalities who aim to communicate efficiently in Chinese and are preparing to participate in social competitions. 3.2.5 The Change in Teaching Method and the Application of Computers to Writing Teaching With the widespread of modern science and technology, the traditional way of education is undertaking a great reform. It is an inevitable tendency that computers as a medium are being introduced into the classroom and are being applied to the teaching of various fields. But our writing education is still restricted to a traditional model, which is incompatible with the development of time. Thus to change our attitudes towards practical writing teaching, to apply the new methods to the teaching process, to make use of computers in the writing class and to explore the program for applied writing is a tough and long-term task confronting the teachers of writing courses.

80

3.2.6

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

The Components of a Practical Writing Courseware Series

A multimedia courseware should manifest a complete teaching procedure and reflect a certain teaching method. A teacher can create a particular teaching effect. Practical writing courseware is divided into four categories according to the writing styles: news, economy, official documents and academic essays. Because each style of writing is composed of subtypes, correspondingly, courseware belongs to different series in each category. Generally speaking, the courseware consists of four parts: the main points of writing knowledge, formation drills, model writing and unit test. The teaching content, features of subtypes of different writing styles and teaching aims are taken into consideration together to determine what the writing knowledge is. From the point of view of developing the students' writing ability, in the formation drills, video and audio materials are given on the lively and vivid interface which stimulates the students' thinking during their drills at different stages. Model writing provides the controllable writing environment so that the students can complete a writing task by themselves. A unit test puts forward various questions for self-testing. For example, in official document courseware, the main points of writing knowledge include the introduction to an official document and its features, its types, the relationship between lines in an official document, the procedure of writing and ways to respond to it. Learning how to write an instruction, a subtype of an official document, its formation drills according to the given multimedia materials, requires the students to tell or write down respectively what the instruction is for, its headline, the reason for writing, the content, the concluding remarks and deliver-to, copy-to, accessory and signature. Model writing provides the model-writing environment, but the students themselves have to choose the materials, simulate roles and finish their homework alone. Test supplies all kinds of multimedia materials and test papers according to the teaching aims of the unit. 3.2.7

The Principles of Design and the Making of Courseware

Multimedia courseware is an instrument used for transferring information and knowledge in classroom teaching. To help the students to construct the framework of new knowledge, the following teaching principles must be observed. Enlightenment: From the psychological point of view, each learner is curious about new information or knowledge, that is, 'the unbalanced state in cognition', which actually forces learners to construct the framework of the new knowledge. Traditional writing teaching follows the principle of enlightenment as well, but students usually do not respond to the enlightening stage from their teachers, because they are not good at imagination and thinking. The advantages of directness and liveliness of video and audio courseware will be fully exerted in multimedia-assisted writing teaching, and it is easy to make students more open-minded. For instance, while displaying the news writing courseware, the students uttered in unison 'dragon boats contest', when the dragon boats and turbulent waves appeared on the screen. In this way, their thinking and enthusiasm are aroused immediately.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

81

Directness: The lively, colourful and direct interface of the multimedia courseware has changed the stereotyped idea that practical writing class is always dull and uninteresting. The movable and expressive video and audio materials should be chosen while the multimedia courseware is being made. For instance, when the draft paper, the paper for copying an official document and a completed formal official document in a courseware are displayed on the multimedia, the students get a direct visual impression immediately. Step by step: According to the theory of constructivism in learning, the logical process from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, and from concrete to abstract should be followed while a multimedia courseware is being made. For example, a news courseware usually starts from a brief dispatch to a more complex report, and then to a review and commentary or a more in-depth reporting on specific topics. In an official document courseware, what is first displayed is a notice which students are familiar with, followed by the distinction between the official notice and the ordinary notice. Then students will learn how to write an instruction and a response to it. Finally, they will learn the other subtypes of official documents. Step by step, students will grasp the complete cognitive system of practical writing. Consolidation: Interaction is one of the most important features of the multimedia courseware. What's more, it is a tool to consolidate what has been learned. Interaction happens not only between students and computers, but also among the different types of knowledge and between the new knowledge and the old one. In traditional practical writing teaching, it is difficult to recall the teaching content and the immediate situation for they disappear instantly after the teacher explains them. Students must consult the textbooks to consolidate the writing knowledge. However, the interaction of multimedia courseware not only makes it possible for the teachers to control the courseware in a way that it can be repeated as many times as they please, but also provides students with the conditions to consolidate what they have learned after class. Popularity: Popularity refers to the similarity or even sameness in the design and manufacture of the different types of practical writing courseware. For example, the interface design and the operating process in the different types of courseware for different writing styles or contents should be similar or the same, so that they are easy for teachers and students to control. There should be similarities in the design style, the base forms, their locations and the operating program of start, exit and jump, etc. in different courseware. 3.2.8 Evaluation on Practical Writing Teaching with Recourse to Multimedia Courseware In classroom teaching, effective use of multimedia technology can create an effective environment and arouse students' interest, enthusiasm and initiative in learning.

82

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

In particular, in the class with multimedia courseware, no restriction is enforced upon the teaching materials; therefore, the latest information can be introduced into the classroom to broaden the students' vision and help them renew their knowledge. In this way, their intelligence is tapped effectively, and their thought, memory and creativity can be improved quickly. Multimedia courseware can not only provide students with direct audio and visual materials, but also assist teachers to explain teaching content so that students are capable of understanding and memorizing easily what they have learned. However, in the traditional mode of teaching, teachers just resort to a blackboard and chalk, and it takes teachers both time and effort to write on the blackboard. What's more, blackboard writing lacks vividness and is subject to being an empty sermon. But all types of media with a variety of functions are integrated into the multimedia courseware. In multimedia-assisted teaching, the teaching content can appear on the screen with voice and emotion and the teacher can choose the corresponding zones in the courseware, move the mouse and click the button. Any zone can be combined with others and displayed together. Teachers and students can also enter, exit and jump to any zone and get a direct visual feeling about the teaching information. There are various types of classroom exercises in multimedia-assisted teaching. During teaching, the teacher may stop the display of an audio image text and keep it on the screen to carry out the exercises, for students are facing the visualized screen, and the exercises can be designed flexibly. There may be pre-designed questions or impromptu ones, which will be answered by students orally or in writing, or they may induce students to imagine freely so as to arouse their creative thinking. Multimedia technology that has been applied to the teaching of writing will essentially eliminate the dullness in the college class in which Korean students learn how to write practical writings in Chinese and will help improve their writing ability. 3.2.9

Reconsideration of Chinese Writing Teaching Reform at Colleges

Chinese writing teaching at minority nationality colleges faces challenges and opportunities in the 2V^ century. The ultimate aims of the teaching are not to help learners to master basic writing knowledge, writing styles, or the knowledge about how to generate a text, but to help them to apply the knowledge to their writings in the work of social and scientific research. The teaching of writing at minority universities should not stick to the static development of writing knowledge and drilling methods in the existing Chinese textbooks for primary and middle schools, but should follow closely the major trend of market economy, quality education and information communication on networks and reconsider the problems of teaching aims, teaching contents and methods in teaching writing at minority nationality colleges. In practice, we find that it is impossible for Korean students to improve their Chinese writing within a short time. It does not conform to the law that writing ability is improved step by step. It is not beneficial to students' writing to place a Chinese writing course only in the first college year. Chinese writing teaching at college should be divided into several levels and conducted at different stages from the first

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

83

year to the last. Specifically, there are three stages. The first stage is in the first year, during which the system of knowledge is established; the course at this stage takes up 50% of the total class hours. The second stage can be conducted during the short semesters of the second and third year which amounts to 30% of the total class hours, the students will attain the elementary writing abilities. At this stage, lectures on special topics will be given and research subjects and homework would be assigned. Students will go out into society to carry out research, collect materials, and associate themselves closely with ongoing social practices. Then they will write practical compositions to hand in to teachers for correction at the beginning of the new semester. The third stage will take place in the fourth year, which takes up 20% of the total class hours. By this time the students will have become experienced in doing research work. Teachers will assist students in choosing the topics for their graduation theses and participate in the writing process to help them complete their theses. The allocation of courses in this way not only reflects the law that writing teaching should proceed step by step, but also conforms to the concrete situation of Korean students' current learning to speak Chinese and improve their Chinese writing. 4.

PROSPECTS FOR THE TEACHING OF CHINESE WRITING IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

4.1 The Main Problems in the Chinese Writing Education In the past fifty years, Chinese writing education in Korean middle schools and elementary schools has been on the right track and is improving day by day. This is the result of the good Nationality Policies of the country and continuous endeavors devoted by many Chinese teachers. After conscientious pursuance and continuous exploration of several generations of Chinese teachers, the Chinese writing education sector has accumulated rich experience and obtained amazing achievement. However, there are still a lot of problems to be solved. 4.1.1 The System of Composition Exercises does not suit the Present Situation of Second Language Writing Education In the above composition statistics, we can conclude that the content of writing training in Korean junior middle schools and senior high schools is mainly about writing styles and techniques. This is generally the same as the writing drill system of Chinese studied as the mother tongue. The result is that most of the students still have a lot of language errors in their compositions after twelve years of Chinese learning from primary school to senior high school. The problem catches our attention. In TCSL, we would focus on the language training itself, that is, on the writing of characters, words, grammar, discourse cohesion, and punctuations. Using proper words in appropriate places is the main purpose of writing. Furthermore, thinking techniques and other problems should be paid attention to. The solution to all these problems would be a systematic writing training system with a definite goal and in a gradual process.

84

4.1.2

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

Composition Instruction Emphasises Form and Is Indifferent to Language

Before the students start their compositions, they are instructed on how to write opening and closing paragraphs, how to choose their writing materials and how to express their ideas, even the whole class are required to write in one pattern. This has blocked the thought of students and strangled students' writing interest and passion, so the compositions written are usually full of empty verbiage and lack real ideas. We have listened to several model Chinese teaching classes. One of them was on teaching Chinese writing in Grade Two of junior middle schools. The topic is The Teacher in Charge of Our Class'. This topic is too narrow. If we change it to 'My Teacher', the scope of materials to be chosen will be broadened. The students can write about any teacher who has taught them. They will have a lot to say in their compositions. Moreover, if the teacher himself who was giving the lesson were the teacher in charge of the class, it would be even more difficult for the students to write their compositions. Even if a very excellent teacher was in charge of the class, it is impossible for him/her to be loved by all the students in the class. Therefore not all students would like to write something about the teacher. This kind of topic restricts students' thought and cannot arouse students' interest to write a composition. As a result, some lies and empty words will emerge in the students' compositions. Therefore, topics for composition must fit in the lives of students and lead the students to write truthfully and develop their writing ability. Correction of students' composition is more important than the instruction given before writing. Correction is a personal instruction to each student. It can solve a lot of problems. The students can get the most out of it. However, most Chinese teachers do not correct compositions conscientiously and carefully. As a result the language errors of the students cannot be corrected in time. Although some teachers did do some corrections, the remarks they made were often too abstract and general. They pointed out whether the central idea was clear-cut and the thoughts appropriate, but they did not correct the language errors in detail and may have simply ignored them and brushed them aside. The main reason is that it takes up too much time to correct compositions and teachers have no time for it. The workload of Chinese teachers is heavy. Middle schools offer five Chinese lessons a week. Generally speaking, each teacher teaches at least two classes or even three classes, and the number of students in each class is above 50 or 60. Furthermore, some Chinese teachers are also teacher-in-charge of some classes. The heavy workload of Chinese teachers must be reduced to improve the quality of the teaching of Chinese writing. Then they can concentrate on teaching and have time to correct the compositions. Tehs econd reason is that many Chinese teachers themselves are not good at writing. They are poor at finding problems in compositions and correcting them. One teacher must give writing lessons once every five to six classes. There are too many students for them to correct their compositions in a detailed way. Little by little, the habit of not correcting some errors in students' compositions is formed and becomes very common. So the language errors in the compositions become fossilised which are difficult to get rid of. If this situation continues, the improvement of teaching quality will become empty talk.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

85

Last reason the shortage of teachers. Now Korean middle schools are running short of teachers who can give instructions in Chinese writing. This is the main reason that some schools have Chinese writing classes separately. 4.1.3 The Basic Reason for the Students' Poor Chinese Writing Ability is a Lack of a Sense of Reading and Writing Reading is the basis of writing. It is especially true for second language writing. If you read little and cannot obtain the language sense, you cannot acquire good writing ability. The teaching materials and methods should be reformed. The Chinese teaching materials used at present in middle schools are too easy in content and too limited in numbers. Only about ten texts can be taught in one term. An article of five hundred words is designed to be finished in three or four hours with the outdated teaching method and low teaching efficiency. In sum, the teaching materials are not enough. And the teaching is inadequate in quantity and low in efficiency. So in recent years, some primary and middle schools have begun to adopt the Chinese teaching materials used by Chinese schools. This shows that many teachers, students and parents are dissatisfied with the Chinese teaching materials in Korean schools. More readings can be done by classroom teaching and after class. The essential purpose of classroom teaching is to lay a solid foundation for reading after class. Hence the Chinese teaching must break the barrier of words. Furthermore classroom teaching must be linked with reading after class. Teachers should teach students how to read by themselves after class, and how to subscribe periodicals and magazines, and help them to read the required books according to the schedule and write diaries persistently. All these depend on the teachers' sense of responsibility and effective methods. All in all, there are a lot of problems existing in the teaching of Chinese writing in Korean middle schools, such as outdated teaching materials, outdated teaching methods, inefficient teaching staff, large number of students and heavy workload of the teachers. The quality of teaching Chinese writing can be improved only if there is a change in the concept of Chinese educafion and the reform of teaching materials and methods. It also depends on the improvement of the teachers' teaching ability and the reduction of the Chinese teachers' workload. 4.2 The Advent of a New Situation of Chinese Writing Education and Research Chinese composition teaching is an important component of national language and literature education. Apart from the responsibility of guiding the students to use the standard Chinese skillfully, the teachers are also responsible for developing and training students' ability to describe things and to express their feelings correctly, accurately and vividly. The Korean students encounter restrictions and limitations in second language writing from every perspective. These restrictions result in a lot of difficulties in teaching Chinese compositions. In recent years, our Korean students have found that the expressions they use and their writing ability are inadequate to meet the needs of society after graduation. A large amount of feedback shows that the reform of the teaching of Chinese composition is urgent. We must overcome the

86

ZHAO, XU & ZHU

blindness and arbitrariness of the former writing education. We must carry out a further study and research, not only on the problems of the goals and structures of TCSL, but also on the relationship between the teaching of writing and other things, such as other subjects, after class activities, social life, etc. In conclusion, Chinese writing education in minority schools is a significant project on writing system. It is related to a lot of difficulties that exist between the second language and particular subjects. Teachers at all levels who are engaged in the teaching of Chinese writing in elementary schools, middle schools or universities should do some research earnestly and work together as one. They should devote themselves to improve the whole nation's quality of civilization and foster the education of talented young people who master two languages.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MAINLAND CHINA

CHUN LI ZHAO & CAI YING YANG Ocean University of China & Shandong University, China

Abstract. The authors first introduce the history and development phases of TFC ('Teaching Foreigners Chinese'), and highlights the interactions among the curriculum, teaching materials and the ethnical background of the students, for the teaching strategies used in dealing with European students and Asian students (e.g., Koreans and Japanese) are different. The author then poses the debate on whether the four main skills (listening, speaking, writing, reading) should be developed simultaneously or the first two be cultivated prior to the last two skills, with regard to the difficulties encountered by foreign students in learning Chinese characters and piny in. He also divides the teaching cycle into three levels and suggests some teaching clues such as the use of topic-restricted compositions and free compositions. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research directions and teaching techniques. Keywords: teaching foreigners Chinese (TFC), character teaching, pinyin teaching, text writing, teaching procedures, topic-restricted composition, free composition

1.

INTRODUCTION

'Teaching Foreigners Chinese (TFC)' has been practiced for 50 years since 1950 in China. Bisong Lu (1990) summarized the history of teaching Chinese to foreigners from 1950 to 1989 in his book 'Summary of Developments in Teaching Chinese for Foreigners' and divided the time span into four phases. The first phase is the commencement period from 1950 to the early 1960s; the second one is the development period from the early 1960s to 1970s; the third one is the exploration period from the early 1970s to 1980s; the fourth and last one is the innovation period from the early 1980s to date. This division basically reflects the development of TFC (including composition writing teaching) in Mainland China.

88

ZHAO & YANG

1.1 The Commencement Period During this period, the teaching principles, methods and materials were clearly linguistically oriented. The teacher focused on grammatical rules, and paid little attention to language learning theories. Linguistics-oriented teaching principles were followed throughout the whole process of teaching. Just as Zumo Zhou (1953) said, teaching methods must be based on the prevailing language theory. The predominating one at the time was descriptive linguistics originated from the United States of America, which was mainly concerned about formal structures and grammatical analysis. The syllabus centered on phonology and grammar, while the practical teaching contents would be vocabularies and structures. The curriculum also consisted of grammatical analysis, pattern-drills and exercises. Grammar, rather than the practical drills themselves, was explained in a much more detailed manner. There was neither listening, reading, speaking nor writing courses with accordance to the four major language skills, when the drill exercises were supposed to be comprehensive, i.e., the students were taught to develop the four skills comprehensively by different types of exercises. Therefore, although the first TFC course-book 'Chinese Textbook' embodied structural linguistic theory and teaching methods, it should be noted that the effect of this method was not satisfactory. The curriculum of the teaching of writing included the teaching of Chinese characters and composition. In phase one, simplified Chinese characters, Chinese morphemes, strokes and the order of strokes were taught. Only after foreign students could write characters could they write compositions properly. There were some arguments about whether 'listening and speaking should be trained prior to reading and writing' or 'the four skills should be developed simultaneously'. It was then concluded in practice that the latter is more effective than the former. 1.2 The Development Period During this period, the principle of practicality prevailed in the teaching of Chinese. TFC was cultivated by teaching practical drills to raise the Chinese consciousness of the foreign students. A relatively direct method was adopted in class. The teacher would explain Chinese grammar in detail and distribute more exercises to reinforce the listening and oral skills of the students. The impact of TFC was more satisfactory in this period than before. The syllabus, which focused on vocabulary and grammar, underwent no change and the four skills were still taught simultaneously by intensive reading of the textbook. Also, the teaching procedures changed from phoneme- and grammar-based to text-based. The curriculum was improved alongside so as to reinforce the effectiveness of the skill drilling exercises. The unique grammatical explanation classes were changed into those with a mixture of grammatical explanations and pattern drills. Besides, listening classes were added to complement the grammatical explanation and oral practices, while reading and writing were supplementary to the teaching of the text. Writing seemed to be an independent language skill, since there was no special textbook on it. The training of writing was not systematic and purposeful. The representative course-books abided by the principles in this period were called

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

89

the 'Basic Chinese' and 'Chinese Reading Book'. In the meantime, the significance of character teaching was taken into consideration of writing ability training, which consists of the teaching of Chinese characters and compositions. 1.3 The Exploration Period During this period, the principle of practicality became the mainstream thought under the influence of the theory of communicative language teaching. Practicality was not only applied to teaching techniques, but also to textbook designs. Approaches based on linguistics theories were gradually replaced by those based on both linguistic theories and language learning theories. The 'direct method' was revised and the audio-lingual method was introduced into TFC. In the first two periods, syllabi were designed with the belief that Pinyin, Chinese characters, words and grammar should be learnt prior to the training of language skills. At that time, the teaching of linguistic knowledge was still considered as more important than the acquisition of language skills. Textbooks began to meet the needs to train up the skills and the boundaries between sound, grammar and text became blurred. The typical coursebooks included the 'Textbook of Chinese', published during the Cultural Revolution and the 'Textbook of Basic Chinese', published after the Cultural Revolution. It should be noted that two experiments related to the teaching of writing were carried out at the Beijing Language Studies University. One was held in 1973, and the subjects of which were taught characters in advance and Pinyin directly by means of characters. Another one was conducted in 1975, in which the comprehensive, intensive reading classes were substituted by the listening-and-oral, and writing-and-reading ones. More attention was paid to the teaching of characters and composition. It was a pity that the results from the two experiments did not lead to satisfactory conclusions. Then in 1978, an experiment was conducted to reform intensive reading classes and reinforce listening and reading skills. It was underscored by the fact that the course was designed on the basis of the requirements of language skills trainings, before the course-book was compiled. The earliest Chinese serial course-books published include 'Course of Elementary Chinese (CEC)', 'Exercises for Listening (EL)', and 'Exercises for Reading and Writing of Characters and Comprehensive Reading (CR)'. They looked up to the former ones as models, and EL and CR were the first course-books about specific language skills. The teaching of Chinese characters in writing courses became more independent. There were a large amount of academic papers published for the research on the study of Chinese characters then. Special topics for writing started to be studied, but there was no specific course-book for writing yet. The pedagogical circle of TFC proposed in 1978 could be studied as an independent discipline, hence at the beginning of the 1980s, the basic task to construct the discipline of TFC was on the agenda and the objects, range, goal and methods were defined.

90

ZHAO & YANG

1.4 The Innovation Period As a discipline, TFC had applied western language teaching theories to the development of its own. Being consistent with the policy of reform and the opening up of contemporary China to the outside world, TFC was also under reform. The functional approach was introduced into TFC to explore the possible combination of structures and functions. The relationship among course design, course-book compilation, teaching procedure and tests was clarified. Course-books were written to develop specific language skills and courses were arranged according to the four skills. The book 'What is Said and How to Say' was published in 1980 as the first ever book to present the functional approach, which included the exercises of fiU-in-theblanks according to the conditions given, dialogue designs, and practical writings. The 'Practical Chinese Textbook of Functional Approach' in 1981 consisted of six volumes and was subdivided into three levels: elementary, intermediate and advanced. The first two levels include specific exercises on characters and the third one includes a part on writing. A specific course of writing was set up in the Beijing Languages Institute in 1987, and the corresponding 'Course-book for Writing' was used in class. Later, advanced level courses like Chinese writing, news writing, writings on foreign trade and practical writings were developed as associated with the writing skills on certain subjects and the selective writing courses became obligatory ones. In terms of theoretical studies, many academic papers on the teaching of characters were published. However, the number of papers on writing skills and the teaching of writing is much less than that of the other three skills. TFC in Mainland China has employed various teaching approaches and methods and is developing on the basis of a variety of linguistic, language learning and language teaching theories. The four language skills are studied profoundly and systematically. A series of course-books have been published, aiming at skill training for propaedeutic Chinese and different subjects. Course-books for different skills have been sorted out as well. More course-books and teaching techniques for writing flourish and writing teaching becomes scientific and systematic. Compared with listening, speaking and reading, writing is still the weakest part of TFC in the Mainland. Further research is needed in these areas. In the last five decades, we have witnessed the development of TFC as follow: • As a discipline, TFC has developed from experience-dependant to scientific theory-dependant. Teaching methods based on linguistics have changed into those which are based on theories of language learning and language teaching. • Course design has been developed from comprehensive intensive reading-based to specific skill training-based. Textbook compilation has been modified, switching from using one textbook all the time to using a series of textbooks for language skills training. The goal of teaching has been shifted from grammatical explanation to skill training. • The teaching of writing has been developed from being integral to the intensive reading course to becoming an independent course itself Course-books are therefore developed for teaching Chinese characters and composition.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

91

•

By combining the teaching of writing skills with the teaching of other specializations, writing courses that are suitable for many other disciplines emerge, and they reinforce the collaborative research on the acquisition of different skills. Many people then begin to introduce and study the theories and methods that are appropriate for acquiring the different language skills, including that of writing. To summarize, as one of the language skills, writing consists of character writing and composition. The former and the latter are related to the teaching of characters and the teaching of composition respectively. At the elementary level, the main tasks of the teaching of writing are to recognize and write characters and to write sentences. At the intermediate level, the main tasks are to write paragraphs and some basic practical genres. At the advanced level, the main tasks consist of writing compositions according to topics and free writing. It can be said that composition teaching is a natural extension of character teaching, and the teaching of characters is the starting point of composition. The improvement of compositions is definitely dependent on the learning of characters. The learning of character components is only part of the grasp of Chinese alphabetic system at the beginning because the number of character components in the Chinese alphabetic system is finite. The learning of Chinese characters should be conducted throughout the whole process of the teaching of writing because they are in such a great number. Previous TFC ignored the learning of characters; therefore, foreign students often made mistakes in reading or writing. In general, Chinese characters are formed according to their meanings, and they have an external realization of meaning and serve as a 'bridge' to link up sounds and meanings. Reading presupposes character recognition and composition presupposes character writing. The teaching procedure is supposed to consist of character recognition, reading, character writing and composition. In other words, the learning of characters is a basic step to develop competence in writing in Chinese, and writing is a comprehensive realization of the synthetic utilization of the various kinds of language knowledge and skills. 2.

THE FIRST STAGE: THE TEACHING OF CHINESE CHARACTERS

2.1 Nature, Goal, Status and Requirements of Teaching Characters in TFC At teaching, the foreign students are divided into two groups - non-native speakers who do not have any experience in using Chinese characters and those who have. The part on character teaching in TFC courses is conducted by employing foreign language teaching approaches so as to cultivate the foreign students' ability to remember, express and communicate in Chinese. The students are mainly those foreigners who have never learnt Chinese before. The teaching process lasts for a year or so, Among the four major components in TFC: piny in, Chinese characters, vocabulary and grammar, the teaching of Chinese characters is the most difficult one. It is a preliminary and basic prerequisite of the development of oral, listening, reading and writing skills. The learning of characters takes place throughout the whole process of learning Chinese and is difficult. The students are required to be able to read and

92

ZHAO & YANG

understand the meaning of the characters that they have learnt immediately; or in another way round, they should be able to recognize strokes and structures of characters, write characters correctly and quickly, read and write canonical words and sentences in characters, look up characters in the dictionary and learn characters by themselves using the dictionary. 2.2 The Specific Number of Characters to he Learnt The number of characters to be mastered. How many Chinese characters are there on earth? To date the statistics is not precise and authoritative. There were 9353 characters in Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi ('Origin of Chinese Characters') in 100 AD. 46933 appeared in Zhang Yushu's 'Dictionary of Kangxi' in 1716, and there were 53768 in Xu Zhongshu's 'Great Chinese Dictionary' in 1990. The number of Chinese characters increases with time. But how many characters are needed for the foreign students to read and write? Zhou Youguang hypothesized that according to the diminishing marginal return phenomenon of the 'efficiency rate of Chinese characters', if they could master 1000 characters common in daily life, they would have covered 90% of all the characters used for reading and writing. Yet when 1400 characters are added to their character stock, the coverage can only be increased by 1%. Hence, 2400-3800 characters can meet the needs of reading and writing for foreign students. Other linguists approved this hypothesis. The specific characters to be learnt. What are the specific characters that foreign students are supposed to master? The Chinese National Language and Orthography Working Committee and the Chinese Educational Commission published 'A List of Modern Chinese Characters in Common Use', which nominates 2500-3500 characters as commonly used ones. There are four principles to be observed in choosing them: the frequency of usage, distribution at various registers, potentiality to form words, and commonality in daily life. The 'Chinese Proficient Vocabularies and Chinese Characters Grading Syllabus' was published in 1991 by the Board of Chinese Proficiency Test of Teaching Chinese to Foreigners and the Beijing Languages Institute. It consists of 2905 characters, among which there are 800 Grade One, 804 Grade Two, 601 Grade Three and 700 Grade Four characters. The syllabus is a principal reference for TFC, especially for teaching Chinese characters. 23 The Present Situation and Stage-Division in TFC Foreign students are often divided into two groups: (a) non-native speakers from Europe, who have no knowledge of Chinese language and Chinese characters at all, and (b) Asians like those living in Japan or Korea where Chinese characters are in use. It is easier for Asian students to learn Chinese characters than their western counterparts. Therefore the teaching methods are different for the two groups. Gen.erally speaking, character courses are specially designed for elementary students to train up their ability to write characters. Character teaching and word teaching proceed side by side for intermediate students so that they can understand the

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

93

meanings of characters. However, some teachers teach words instead of characters, so character teaching actually does not exist. The result is that foreign students can speak fluently but cannot read and write well. This is obviously due to the difficulty in learning Chinese characters. Therefore it is necessary to teach characters throughout the whole process of TFC. Several experiments have been conducted to determine the sequence of teaching pinyin, characters, words and grammar. Pinyin First, Characters Second. An experiment conducted in 1950 showed that the best method was to learn hundreds of new words by means of Wade Giles Phonetic Alphabet before learning Chinese characters. Another experiment in 1951 showed that the best method was to learn about eight hundreds words by means of International Phonetic Alphabet first, and then to learn how to write the Chinese characters concerned in about ten days. The main drawback of this method is that foreign students would feel it is too monotonous to learn texts in pinyin and it becomes too difficult to learn Chinese characters at a later stage. Learning Pinyin and Characters Simultaneously. Speaking, listening, reading and writing are drilled simultaneously. Foreign students are required to read and write characters when they are trained to listen and speak. The supporters hold that the difficulties in learning Chinese characters are diverted and the four skills can be developed simultaneously. The adversaries argue that the syllabus focuses on vocabularies only; and the choice of teaching materials is subject to the types of characters learnt, and the students cannot learn characters in stages with different levels of difficulty. Learning Pinyin and Characters Alternatively. The model texts for experiment in 1975 included characters learnt and those to be learnt. Characters beyond the reach of the syllabus are substituted by Pinyin. The affirmative side of the debate thinks that new characters can be learnt as planned, while the opposition argues that some commonly used compound characters, such as '3fi', which is composed o f ' ^ ' and ' ^ \ cannot be learnt earlier without learning singular components first. Separate Courses for Listening and Speaking, Reading and Writing. In 1975, an experiment was conducted to separate listening and speaking from reading and writing. Teaching was conducted in Pinyin in the first two weeks to train students' listening and speaking abilities. Then reading and writing elements are added. The ratio of the hours distributed to listening and speaking to those distributed to reading and writing is 3 to 1. Reading and Writing prior to Listening and Speaking. This logic is based on the theory of adult language learning and the characteristics of Chinese language. It is designed to make full use of the visual ability of the foreign students, such that they

94

ZHAO & YANG

can learn how to recognize and write Chinese characters, and then to memorize and comprehend them before listening and speaking can be achieved. Furthermore, the characters learnt in reading and writing can be consolidated in speaking and listening. 2.4 The Syllabus of Chinese Characters Teaching in TFC Setting Elements like features, strokes, order of strokes, parts, structures and handwriting are included in character teaching. Chinese characters are based on the morpheme system, which operates differently from the syllable-system. One cannot understand thoroughly just by reading the sounds of the composing units of the compound characters. Order of Strokes of Characters. Stroke order is the basic principle of Chinese calligraphy. For example, the horizontal stroke should come prior to the vertical ones (such as the characters ' + ' , ' T ' ) j the left-falling strokes should come prior to the right-falling ones, (such as 7 \ ' , ' A \ ' A ' ) ; upper parts written prior to bottom ones (such as ' H ' , ' H ' , 'M'); left prior to right (such as ']\\\ 'M\ '\WC)\ outer parts written prior to inner ones (such as ' ^ ' , 'f^\ 'M'); middle strokes written prior to peripheral ones (such as '/\\\ 'TR', 'tij'). Parts of Characters, Parts here refer to the structural units of Chinese characters. Simple characters are composed of only one part. Compound characters are composed of two or more parts. For example, ' ^ f is composed o f ' ^ ' and ' ^ ' ; ' ^ ' is composed of'Tfc', ' S ' and ' ^ ' , and ' ^ ' is composed of VJN' and ' A ' . Structure of Characters. Structures are the frameworks of characters. There are six main structures to form compound characters: Horizontal, such as 'f/j\', 'M'\ vertical, such as ' ^ ' , ' § ' ; horizontal prior to vertical, such as ' ^ ' , ' ^ ' ; vertical prior to horizontal, such as 'pp', ' ^ ' ; inner part prior to outer boundary such as ' H ' , ' H ' ; and partly-closed one, such as ' ^ ' , ' ^ ' . Handwriting of Characters. Legibility and simplicity are two principles in writing Chinese characters. The flow of the text is from left to right and from top to bottom. 2.5 Techniques of Teaching Foreigners Chinese Characters The teaching of Chinese characters is regarded as the cultivation of foreign students' ability to read and write. The purpose is to help them to memorize, express and communicate by means of characters, and therefore, they can write, read, recognize, speak and check them up in dictionaries. Six techniques are often employed in teaching.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

95

1) Strokes, the order of strokes, structures and components of characters are displayed on the blackboard. Students are required to imitate the teacher's, or a model calligraphy so as to grasp the essential features of Chinese characters. 2) Pinyin and notes in the students' native language should be added to the displayed characters to give aid to students. 3) Students are taught names of strokes so that they can name the components of characters. They are also required to split up the characters so that they can recognize the structures and components of such and recognize the differences and similarities between different characters. 4) The teacher would analyse the components of the compound characters by means of simple characters that the students have learnt and explain the meaning parts and the sounding parts of pictophonetic characters, so that the students can associate the sound and form of the characters with their respective meanings and thus increase the number of characters they can master. 5) Students are instructed to look up characters in the dictionary as part of the selflearning process. 6) Dictation is used to check whether the students have mastered the characters they have learnt. For Japanese and Korean students, the contrasts between sound, form, and meaning should be stressed. For all other students, the combinations of sound and form should be emphasized. 3.

THE SECOND STAGE: WRITING TEXTS

3.1 Nature of Text Writing Teaching By the time the second stage takes place, foreign students will have studied Chinese for half a year. They will have learnt about 600 characters and mastered the explicit grammatical knowledge. They can utilize daily expressions and understand the Chinese culture. These are the foundations of text writing. The aim of this course is to train students on how to use the learnt characters, words, grammar, and punctuations correctly in their writings. Accordingly the teacher is supposed to encourage the students to express themselves with what they have learnt. That is to say, pragmatism is the principal feature of this course. 3.2 Goals and Requirements The goal of teaching is to inspire the students to review, consolidate and practise the learnt characters, words and grammar, to assist self-correction, and to write about what they hear or speak. The teacher should let the students know the differences between oral expressions and written expressions and help them to master precisely the rules of using punctuation marks and writing formats in recounting a particular event so as to lay a solid foundation for developing their ability to write texts. The teaching requirements include: • Write what they think about or what other students have said • Use words and simple sentences appropriately • Check if the sentences are correct by using the grammar they have learnt

96

• • •

ZHAO & YANG

Make sentences logically and clearly by employing the conjunctions and adverbs they have learnt Master the basic expressions when writing some basic narrative, descriptive, expository and argumentative paragraphs Comprehend certain coherent and cohesive devices; no matter they are rhetoric or logic.

3.3 Teaching Contents In terms of forms, students are taught how to write simple sentences, complex sentences, utterances and mini-texts side by side with their oral and reading learning. In terms of linguistic knowledge, students are supposed to learn the basic expressive skills, rhetoric and logic of written Chinese, In terms of contents and genres, the teaching materials should include some basic genres of practical writing, such as filling in tables, writing brief notes, congratulations, some basic notices, application letters, personal letters, and short narrations; and doing translations from their mother tongues to Chinese. 3.4 Teaching Methods Text writing is a principal teaching activity in a comprehensive manner. It is necessary for students to practise how to write precise, standardized and decent compositions. This period serves as a bridge to connect character teaching and composition teaching. There are five teaching techniques at this stage. Restoration. The students are required to arrange a sequence of words into the correct order, and to make coherent sentences based on the given key words. It aims to develop the students' ability to make sentences. Dictation. Dictation materials include simple sentences, compound and complex sentences and utterances. It aims to inform the students of the characteristics of Chinese writing. The teacher should ask the students to pay attention to cohesive devices, speech patterns and usage of punctuation marks in the utterances. Restatement. First, the students are asked to make sentences or utterances orally according to instructions. Then they are required to write them down. The topic may be about an event, a person, or a scene. Errors in oral speaking should be corrected before the contents are being written down. Differences between oral and written Chinese should be noted. Producing Texts according to Pictures. The students are required to write a minitext according to the pictures, which can be a story, a map, a postcard or a symbol. The teacher should instruct the students to make coherent utterances related to the

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

97

picture, aiming to illustrate writing techniques for narration, description, exposition and argumentation. Questions or key words can be presented as clues. Dictating Down What is Heard, At first, the teacher asks the students to listen to a story or a text. Then based on this text, the students are required to produce their own texts. In this way, foreign students can adapt themselves to Chinese patterns of expression and mode of thinking. The former refers to some Chinese specific expressions, such as the syntactic structure of "suiran (although)... dans hi (but)", 'Uian {QWQn)...dou/ye'\ "}^/...y/V (as soon as) etc. The latter refers to the way of how Chinese construe the world. Traditionally, Chinese tend to think in a holistic manner, that is, they prefer to recognize things from whole to part, from large to small, and from general to specific (He, 2001). When they speak, they tend to follow such sequences as from year through month, date, hour, and minute to second in time, and from country through province, city to county, and from the name of the road/street to the number of house in space. And the surname is always followed by the first name, so the first name becomes "the second name" in Chinese. Another feature of the Chinese mode of thinking is that they tend to speak euphemistically, implicitly, and context-dependently. Consequently, the Chinese speech is full of ambiguity and implications. For example, "wojie tayi ben shu'' can be understood as either "I borrowed a book from him." or "I lent him a book." The bi-directional verb of "7/^" is equal to two uni-directional verbs of "borrow" and "lend" in English (Shi, forthcoming). The disambiguation completely depends on the context. The Chinese mode of thinking can be found in the grammatical patterns of the Chinese language, and so Chinese students can acquire their Chinese mode of thinking lying in grammatical patterns of the material, through dictation, at least partly. The concrete procedure is to ask the students to listen to a tape two or three times first and then dictate it down as much as they can. For example, the students should remember the main characters, the place, the event, and the gist of the story when they hear the story for the first time; then they should know the time sequence and cause-and-effect for the second time; and they should understand the story thoroughly at the third time. Besides, the teacher can write down some difficult key words to facilitate understanding. These exercises can attract students' attention to the meaning and also the forms of expressions, so that they can write according to what they hear. It paves the way for topic-restricted composition. What should be noted are the following points: (a) the material should range widely from stories to comments; (b) the grammatical points and words in the material should have been learnt earlier; (c) the article should be a short one and represent the typical Chinese mode of thinking; (d) the recording speed should be slower than normal so that the students can remember the contents of the story; (e) the students should be required only to note down key words or sentence patterns if they want to make notes. The teacher should correct errors in sequence, collocation, usage of conjunctions, and choice of words later. Sequences and Analyses. In the text production period, the students are supposed to know the style, typical structure of each genre, cohesive devices and simple rhetori-

98

ZHAO & YANG

cal devices in the text, (a) The teacher should give the students a series of sentences and ask them to put the sentences in the right order. It aims to train the students' ability to think about the texts and organize them in Chinese, (b) The students are given a clearly structured text. At first the teacher would explain the structure of the text and show the function of each paragraph. Then they are required to divide it into several paragraphs. The teacher should choose different types of narrations, descriptions, expositions and argumentations respectively for exercise, (c) Given a specific text, the foreign students are asked to point out what the topic is. The teacher can ask the students some relevant questions to elicit the topic sentence, (d) Given a topic sentence, the foreign students are asked to develop the topic sentence into a text. Different types of texts are formed by means of different methods of development. These methods include sequential or partial description, illustration, division and classification, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition etc. Format Imitation. The students should learn to write texts of basic practical genres by imitation. Practical genres include bills (banking bills, registration forms, parcel delivery forms, receipts, etc.), notices, greetings, good wishes, congratulations, notes (appointments, apologies, invitations, requests, thanks, messages, etc.), personal letters and curriculum vitae. At first, the teacher should analyze the model text, and then point out its structure, format, and set expressions. Finally, after the students become familiar with the characteristics of the model text, the teacher will ask the students to practise with given scenarios, conditions or special expressions. Translation. By translating the texts written in the their mother tongue into Chinese by the students themselves, the students can familiarize themselves with the characteristics of Chinese written language through comparing or contrasting the mode of expression between the two languages. 4,

THE THIRD STAGE: FREE COMPOSITION AND NARRATIVE WRITING

4.1 The Nature of Teaching The students undergoing this stage are those who have learnt Chinese for one year. They have mastered about 1000 Chinese characters, basic vocabulary, grammar, rhetoric and logic, and various genres of practical writings. Meanwhile the students have made great progress in the acquisition of the four skills and they have known more about the Chinese culture. All of these have laid down a solid foundation for the students to learn how to write in Chinese. 4.2 Teaching Goals and Requirements On the one hand, the students should review, consolidate and employ the characters, words, grammar, punctuation marks and format of practical writing they have learnt in their writings; on the other hand, they should also utilize the knowledge correctly and should be more familiar with the rhetoric and logic in writing narration, descrip-

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

99

tion, exposition and argumentation in Chinese. Consequently the students can organize a composition by themselves. There should be four hours of instruction per week. The students are required to write correctly and concisely by using the functional words, conjunctions, prepositions and idioms. They should also be able to handwrite characters correctly; master the usage of punctuation marks and format; narrate, describe and express themselves smoothly; enrich their vocabularies; and use complex sentences and rhetorical devices skillfully so that they can write good articles. 4.3 Teaching Contents Free composition adopts the skills of expansion, continuation, simplification, and rewriting. Topic restricted compositions usually entail the description of a particular person, event or scene and story telling. 4.4 Teaching Procedure Guidance before Writing. The teacher should explain the format and pattern of the text and some specific terms and vocabularies used in practical writings. The features and requirements of the model text are specified - whether it should undergo expansion, simplification, continuation or rewriting. The teacher should summarize the style of the text and point out the weaknesses and strengths for future reference. Correction. (1) Corrections should be done after reading through the whole composition because the students have to understand why they have made such mistakes. (2)Amending the sentences in the composition as little as possible so as to build up the confidence of the students. The repetitive errors should be explained in class. (3) The teacher should give appropriate evaluations and compliments as much as possible. Appraise the students' compositions individually and give suitable evaluation according to their aptitudes. Comments and Appraisals. (1) The teacher should read aloud some good compositions or paragraphs in class and show students why they are good, so that the students can review what they have learnt about, like the stylistic features and techniques in writing. Good model texts should include compositions written by students at the middle and lower level so that all the students are encouraged. It is also a good opportunity for students to communicate. At the same time, this method can engage students in writing actively because their own compositions are easy for them to understand and accept. (2) Generally speaking, students are eager to be respected and be paid attention to. If they are not, they will lose interest and give up. In free writing, each student should be given a chance to express himself/herself, therefore he/she would not regard writing as hard work but as an interest so that they can write voluntarily and actively. The model composition becomes vivid through the embellishment of all the students. In the activity, the students think and express actively such that they can learn from each other and enrich their knowledge. On the other

100

ZHAO & YANG

hand, they analyze errors under the supervision of the teacher. Thus they can be consciously aware of their own errors in their subsequent writings. (3) The teacher could find out the universal errors made by students, classify them into types and write them down on the blackboard, and ask students to spot them out and explore the rationale behind and correct them. Examples of errors include those in terms of the usage of prepositions 'JE', 'W and auxiliary words 'M\ ' T ' , ' ^ ' in expressing temporal, directional and static complements, in the order of multi-modifiers and multi-adjunctions. (4) The teacher should ask the students to correct the repetitive grammatical mistakes and those new mistakes generated by the students. The teacher should also correct false collocations, inappropriate use of words and inappropriate and incoherent sentences in the compositions. Coherence and cohesion of the text should be ignored for the moment. 4.5 Teaching Techniques Free Composition. (1) Expansion: expansion as a technique means to expand a short text into a long one in which details can be added, but its topic and style remain unchanged. In fact, the method of expansion is the development of topic sentences in passage writing. It can develop the students' competence in comprehension, imagination, language awareness and logic. (2) Continuation: It means to complete a composition based on the first two or three paragraphs. The topic, style and texture remain the same. The teacher can discuss with the students together what the genre is, what the context of a situation is and how the text is developed. (3) Simplification: It means to restate in a brief manner the essence of a longer passage. Further interpretation or comment should not be added. All the students have to do is to give the gist of the passage. The theme of the original text should be reproduced in fewer words. The method of simplification is a good exercise to improve the students' reading comprehension skills by reproducing the story concisely. (4) Rewriting: It means to reproduce a composition using one's own words after reading a passage. The point of view or even the conclusion of the original text may be changed. The method of rewriting is helpful to students in writing book reviews or argumentative texts. Topic-Restricted Composition. In a topic-restricted composition not only a particular topic is given, the pattern and content of the text are also restricted. The teacher will first illustrate the goal of the course, read out some model texts, analyze them, offer the topic, restrict the content, discuss, analyze and even list out the major points. The given title must be specific and interesting. To be specific means that the context of the situation and the genre of the text should be given so that the students have a clear idea about what will be written and how to write it. 'To be interesting' means that the topic must be attractive and fresh so that the students can write with pleasure. In a topic-restricted composition, it also involves: (1) Outlining: It is significant for the students to draft an outline for their compositions. It has two functions: (a) for the students to use them as reference to write their own compositions, since the teacher would analyze a model text, and find out the topic sentence of each para-

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

101

graph and their relationships; (b) for the teacher to analyze and outline what will be written as reference for students to organize their compositions. (2) Describing pictures, books with illustrations, slides or movies: To describe a vivid scene can develop the students' ability to narrate a story. The materials should be clear and easily comprehensible. Clues can be given via questions and discussions. (3) Prescribing the context of the situation of the text: The context of the situation of the text should be related to the foreign students' daily lives and thus stimulate their imaginations. (4) Offering specific topics: The teacher can offer a title or the content of the text, which is relevant to the students' daily activities or experiences. Reviews of an article or a movie may also be chosen as the right topic to write on. 5.

THE FOURTH STAGE: EXPOSITION AND ARGUMENTATION

5.1 The Nature of the Teaching Process The students at this stage are those who have studied Chinese for two years. The course is featured by specialization and pragmatism. On the one hand, the focus of this course is writing skills, and on the other hand, teaching activities should focus on the students' capacity to write expressions by employing words and grammar, and writing techniques that they have learnt synthetically before. 5.2 Teaching Goals and Requirements Teaching Goals. The course aims to assist the foreign students to make further progress in their writing ability within one year. After character teaching, students can master Chinese characters. The teaching of passage writing is to develop the students' ability to make sentences and utterances. Free composition and narrative teaching focuses on the development of the students' ability to master the structural formats of some practical genres and some patterns of descriptions, and to learn certain rhetorical devices. Exposition and argumentation teaching can enhance textual cohesion and coherence and develop the students' ability to think in the Chinese mode and to express themselves smoothly. Teaching Requirements. This course is delivered four hours a week and there are seven requirements for the students, (a) They should be able to master the style and techniques to write exposition, argumentation, and academic papers, (b) They should be able to handle the procedure and techniques of paper writing and of collecting and analyzing data, (c) They should be able to grasp the basic knowledge of writing and apply it to the writing process, (d) They should be able to master the Chinese collocations and idioms and use them in their writing, (e) They should be able to identify the differences between the different styles and genres, (f) They should be able to communicate in different registers, (g) They should be able to use some figures of speech deftly.

102

ZHAO & YANG

5.3 Teaching Contents Vocabulary and Grammar. The teacher should guide the students to use vocabulary and collocations that can best represent the stylistic features of the genre they are studying. Students are instructed to use conjunctive words, distinguish the differences between the different syntactic constituents and different moods, and master the difficulties in grammar, etc., such as ' T ' (le) as 'complement', sentences with 'PB' (ba), etc. Dictions. Diction reflects the choice and use of words of the author while expressing him/herself The writer strives to express him/herself effectively at each level of the text, from the design before writing to the choice of words and sentences, from the organization of text in writing to the embellishments after the writing. The devices include lexical collocations, the choices among synonyms and sentence patterns, the use of figures of speech (similes, metaphors, personifications, rhetorical questions, metonymy, synecdoche, euphemism, overstatement and understatement, etc.) Genre. It includes expository, directive or argumentative writings; commentaries; books and article reviews, etc. Style. Style is the integration of the structural, syntactic and lexical characteristics of the text at different registers. There are mainly five styles in total: conversational, official documentary, artistic, political commentary and scientific style, (a) Conversational style is identifiable by the use of short natural sentences with intonations, idioms and colloquial expressions. Exclamatory and mood particles and ellipsis are often used flexibly and congruently. (b) In an official document, archaic words and expressions and specific expressions for documents are used. There is a fixed procedural formula. Declaratives occur much more frequently than others. The syntactic structures are generally complete and the whole text is formulized, accurate and concise, (c) The literary text is characterized by passionate and colorftil words and descriptive and emotional sentences. Figures of speech are frequently used to give vividness and color. The whole text is emotive and lively, (d) In political commentaries, political terms and vivid idioms or sayings are used to strengthen the arguments. Priority is given to long and condensed sentences. Such figures of speech as metaphors are another feature of this type of style to ensure accuracy and impressiveness. (e) In scientific-styled writings, both abstract and concise scientific terms, and complex and compound sentences are used. The text develops logically by means of definition, evaluations and inferences. The whole text is coherent and concise. The analysis of these styles can give the students a clear picture of the features of narrative, descriptive, expository and argumentative writings. In the meantime, their abilities of judgment and inference can be improved.

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

103

5.4 Teach ing Procedures At the advanced level, both long- and short-text writings are taught in and after the lessons. The teacher gives instructions to the students in class and gives writing assignments to them to be completed after the lessons. The students are supposed to collect data and complete the compositions by themselves. Guidance. First, the teacher introduces stylistic features such as the format, techniques, language characteristics, requirements, and proceedings of what will be taught using a sample. Secondly, he reads and analyses a model text. The teacher then asks some related questions for discussion with the students. Lastly the teacher picks up a piece of composition and comment on its stylistic features with the students. Compositions by the Students. The students are required to express themselves centering on a particular topic in Chinese, (a) Topic restricted composition: The composition is restricted by certain formats, i.e., a film commentary. As for which particular topic should be chosen, it is at the discretion of the students. This type of teaching is suitable for teaching expository writings, essays, and commentaries. Another method is to assign a specific topic to the students. This type of teaching is suitable for teaching expository writings and commentaries, (b) Requirements: The composition is supposed to be clear and concise, able to represent the style of writing in question, of the length of 700-1000 characters and finished in two hours, (c) Problem solving: The teacher should solve the problems met by each student. Revision. A good composition takes its final shape after many revisions. The writing skill would develop alongside with the process of revisions. Revisions done under the guidance of the teacher are important in improving the writings. There are four points that the teacher should pay attention to in error corrections, (a) The teacher should read over the whole composition to find out the students' intention before correction, otherwise it is difficult for the teacher to understand some illogical expressions in the students' essays. The suggestions given to the students should be indicative so that they can help the students to correct their own mistakes, (b) Abide by the principle of wide-arrayed ideas and precise language. The teacher should correct the compositions of the students according to the different criteria with reference to the proficiency of the students. If there are many grammatical errors in the students' essays, the teacher should tell the students how to express themselves precisely and concisely. If there are few grammatical errors but many errors in the organization of the text, the teacher should tell the students how to write effectively. The revision is supposed to go hand in hand with the goal of writing, (c) Evaluation should be given to each student according to his temperament. It should be accurate and concise, and there should be no repetition and contradiction, (d) The teacher should express himself/herself appropriately and serve as a model for students.

104

ZHAO & YANG

Comments and Evaluations. Teachers ought to praise the top students and motivate the average ones. The comments given by the teacher would let the students realize their own strengths and weaknesses as a reference for their later studies, (a) Give general comment: Inform the students if they have realized their goals and explain the common merits and mistakes shared by the students, (b) Comment on a typical composition: The comment aims to help students to find out and correct errors by themselves. The teacher chooses several typical compositions, among which some are good and some are not that satisfactory. Then the teacher would invite the students to discuss and draw a conclusion, (c) Analyze the errors: The teacher should be able to distinguish grammatical errors from logical ones. Only one or two crucial problems are supposed to be solved in class. Students have to find out the problems themselves. Finally, the students are required to revise their compositions under the supervision of the teacher. 5.5 A Typical Teaching Process Writing techniques at the advanced stage are complicated. Generally speaking, the procedures run in the sequence below: The teacher hands out a model composition -^ The teacher and the students discuss and analyze the structure, con-^ tent and some key sentence patterns, and write the outline. The students are required to follow the model, adopt the above struc- -^ ture and sentence patterns. The students discuss how to write it appropriately under the guid—> ance of the teacher. The students should complete the writing assignments in class, and -^ then the students read out their compositions in class. The students revise their compositions based on the discussion. -^ The teacher and the students discuss the revised version. -> The students revise the compositions again after class, hand them in. 6.

EVALUATION OF THE TEACHING METHODS

Writing in TFC consists of character teaching and composition teaching. The elementary students learn how to write characters and texts for about one year. The writing of texts usually commences after half year's study. The intermediate students begin to study how to write narratives. For the advanced learners, expository and argumentative writings can be taught. The teaching of writing is supposed to be completed in three years. The foreign students are required to master the formats of Chinese writing. In teaching characters, the first problem we meet is the dispute concerning whether 'listening and speaking should be prior to reading and writing' or 'the four skills should be developed simultaneously'. If we make a comparison between learning Chinese characters as a second language with learning the mother tongue, we

TEACHING

WmiiNG IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA 105

can see that the former is more difficult than the latter. The reason is that learning characters follows the 'from easy to difficult' principle in the syllabus. Learning to read is separated from learning to write. Character teaching for Chinese children is visible and interesting. In the method of'developing the four skills simultaneously', reading and writing are integrated and the teaching of writing lacks transparency and fiin. Consequently, the students' inferior knowledge of characters will obstruct the development of other skills, especially for students coming from Europe. Meanwhile, foreign students would lose confidence in character learning. As a result, the method of 'listening and speaking prior to reading and writing' is preferred. It is a method to learn Pinyin first, then to come to learn characters separately. The theory underlying the method of 'developing the four skills simultaneously' distinguishes language acquisition and language learning. Most foreign students are adults who can comprehend abstract concepts easily, yet their memory is mostly short-term. On the contrary Chinese children can speak their mother tongue fluently before they learn to recognize and write characters. Their cognitive and linguistic competence is developed simultaneously. At present, the method of 'developing the four skills simultaneously' has been adopted in Mainland China, especially for foreign students in the cultural circle of Chinese. The teaching is effective and satisfactory. However, with the increasing number of intakes of foreign students, we would better teach the two groups separately. The method of 'developing the four skills simultaneously' is suitable for Asians while that of'listening and speaking prior to reading and writing' is appropriate for Europeans. Correspondingly, course-books should be designed separately. Furthermore, the foreign students are not interested in the character course. The reason is that for Japanese and Korean students, they can learn characters easily because there are 1945 Chinese characters in Japanese and 1800 ones in Korean. But for the westerners, textbooks for character learning are dull and difficult to follow. So it is an urgent task for researchers to study character-teaching techniques in a more systematic way. Lastly, with respect to Chinese character learning as a whole, the students are better at reading than writing. No matter it is first language acquisition or second language learning, the items of vocabulary needed for reading is much greater than that for writing. One of the reasons is that it is dull to memorize how to write characters. When we design course-books, we should take the teaching methods of writing characters into consideration and pay special attention to its iconic nature. Apart from the techniques discussed above, the analysis of the form and meaning of characters can be added as a supplement. In addition, calligraphic teaching and multimedia teaching can be explored. Generally speaking, the relationship between character teaching and Pinyin teaching, and that between teaching vocabulary and teaching grammar should be balanced and harmonized. Reading and writing characters, producing words and expressions, and sentence-making should be integrated as a whole. Utterance writing at the elementary stage paves the smooth transition from character writing to composition writing. Teaching materials and techniques set the scopes of what to teach and how to teach. Techniques of sentence making, the methods of dictation, restoration, writing down of what is heard, sequence and analysis,

106

ZHAO & YANG

format imitation and translation play a transitory role and lay down a firm foundation for composition writing. Students should not only consolidate their language knowledge, but should also develop their writing skills. In utterance learning, the students cannot organize sentences and the content of their writings often lacks order and logic. To solve this problem, the teacher should tell the students to pay attention to the usage of conjunctions so as to form a cohesive and coherent point of view. At the same time, the teacher should teach the students how to observe and think logically. Many teachers believe that it is not necessary to instruct the adult students how to observe and think logically. However, language is the medium of thought, and when foreign students express themselves in Chinese, their original mode of thinking may be in conflict with the Chinese one. Here, negative transfer occurs. For example, the conjunction of "he (and)" in Chinese can only occur between nouns and pronouns. It cannot be used to connect two adjectives or verbs. The sentence "jiaoshi da he ganjing (The classroom is large and clean)" is ungrammatical, obviously because "he'' is used. And the fact that a sentence always has a subject in English is transferred into Chinese. An English student writes "wo defangjian zai sushe de libian, ta zai liulou, wodefangjian bu da, ye bu x/a6>.(*My room is in the dorm. It is at sixth floor. My room is not large, also not small.)" Here the subject of "/a" in the second sentence and "wo de fangjiarC' in the third sentence are redundant. It is more acceptable if we say "wo de fangjian zai sushe libian, liulou, bu da, ye bu xiao'' since the subjects of the sentences following the first sentence are often omitted when a series of sentences share the same subject. Contrastive analysis between Chinese and other languages at the textual level is supposed to be carried out by resorting to linguistic theories, especially to the systemic-functional linguistic theory. The intermediate students are taught how to organize paragraphs into texts and how to write narrations. Those advanced students are taught to write argumentative and expository writings. Both the intermediate and advanced students are taught how to write texts. So these two stages should be considered simultaneously. Free composition aims to develop the students' language awareness and comprehension ability. Students must learn how to expand, continue, simplify, or rewrite texts based on the given materials. As a result, how much the students master the linguistic knowledge of Chinese and how well they can write in Chinese can be evaluated. The students can also understand ftirther about genre, role switching, imagination, and logic in writing in Chinese. The topic-restricted composition can help students learn how to organize a text on a specific topic. However, observing from the composition assignments done by students, we can notice that the teaching techniques at the intermediate and advanced stages need improvements as illustrated below: 1) Inter- and intra-syntactic cohesions should be highlighted. The students usually utilize explicit cohesive devices well, such as conjunctions of time, ellipsis of subject or object, repetition, etc., but for complex cohesive devices, they often encounter troubles in mastering conjunctions of concession, comparative reference, pronouns, etc. 2) It is a difficult task for foreigners to master the texture of the Chinese text. In addition to explicit cohesive devices, implicit cohesive devices are often em-

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN MAINLAND CHINA

107

ployed to attain textual coherence. Implicit cohesion is difficult for foreign students to handle. Accordingly, teachers should sort out the model texts of narration, description, argumentation and exposition and analyse them with students together and find out some manageable devices for students to follow. Certainly, textual research should be reinforced to promote the teaching of writing. 3) For foreigners, a text of a single genre is easier than a text of mixed genres. In Chinese texts, argumentation is often mixed with narration, expression of emotion with description, and comment with exposition. Variation is one of the major features of Chinese texts. 4) Under the categories of rhetoric and diction, figures of metaphor and personification can be easily mastered. But for such rhetoric as euphemism, irony, parallelism, etc., it is difficult for them to learn. 5) In genre teaching, instead of practising generic techniques, explanation should be given in class. The teacher should contrast Chinese genres with those of other languages so that the students can easily master the typical generic elements such as format, structure, fixed expressions, etc. in Chinese texts. For sure the students cannot switch freely between different situations even though they have mastered a variety of genres. Doing more reading and writing practices are effective ways to improve their capability in writing in Chinese. 7.

CONCLUSION AND PROSPECTS

TFC in Mainland China has made great achievements throughout the five decades. Teaching methods based on combination of language theory with language learning theory pave the way for TFC. The teaching of writing consists of characters and composition teaching at the elementary, intermediate and advanced stages respectively. Teaching goals, requirements, materials and techniques at each stage have been laid down. However, writing still lags far behind listening, speaking and reading in theory and practice. Then what should the teacher do in future to improve the teaching of writing? Character research should be systematized and broadened into semiotics, orthography, cognitive psychology, etc. A course book of characters for non-native speakers from the European context should be designed in a way in which teaching follows the principle of 'from easy to difficult' and the teaching materials should be arranged in term of relations between characters. The book should presuppose character recognition and include character handwriting. The relationship between character and Pinyin teaching, and that between vocabulary and grammar teaching should be balanced. The students should be taught to learn the sound, form and meaning of characters in listening, speaking, reading and writing sessions. They should also be taught to learn characters in words, word groups and sentences. The principles of pragmatism, function and communication should be followed in character teaching so that Chinese characters can be taught more efficiently.

108

ZHAO & YANG

The choice of vocabularies should be taught separately based on the characteristics of the students (the European context or the Asian context). For example, the teacher can provide synonyms, antonyms and collocations for the students to distinguish the words that are similar in forms but different in meanings. The teacher should compare the Chinese lexeme with the lexemes of the mother tongues of the foreign students in a systematic manner. The teacher should study explicit and implicit cohesions in narrative, expository and argumentative writings and explore the transfer and manageability of Chinese rhetorical devices. Contrasting analysis on the styles of various types of writing should be conducted to set up standards for the students to observe and imitate. The teacher should compare and contrast between the styles of Chinese writing and those of other languages, targeting to find out the different types of techniques and strategies of writings. The reasons for the errors made by the students can then be better understood, and the focus and difficulties in writing can be ascertained by this comparison method. TFC has been a pioneer in this regard. The teacher should conduct comparative studies between Chinese and other languages. Generally speaking, in Chinese writing, the students usually think in their mother tongue and express themselves in Chinese. The analysis of the erroneous and illogical passages in the text can reflect the reasons for their occurrence. Positive and negative transfers in Chinese writing should be studied in great depth. All the points above are stated from the perspectives of linguistics and language teaching. In addition, elements like motivation and affection should not be neglected. From these non-intelligent aspects, the teacher can stimulate students' interests in writing. Thus Chinese writing can be transformed from a passive activity to an active one. Students being driven to write will become those who write as driven by their own momentum. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to extend our special thanks to Professor De-lu Zhang who revised the whole chapter. Otherwise it is impossible for us to finish our article on time.

THE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL AND TEACHING APPROACHES: PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPOSITION

KE KANG HE & MARK SHIU KEE SHUM Beijing Normal University & The University of Hong Kong, China

Abstract. This chapter attempts to illustrate the different psychological constructs of junior and senior primary students in Beijing during the composition processes. It begins with a brief analysis of the major problems existing in the process of teaching composition. It then highlights the essential teaching goals in class by dimensionalising and categorising the elements of composition teaching into the aspects of 'ability', 'attitude' and 'knowledge of writing'. Discrepancies in tailor-made curriculum are spotted out with regard to the variation in school levels and composition genres (picture description writing and special topic composition). A number of in-class activities for teachers and students have been proposed with special emphasis on cooperative learning and the use of multi-media. Keywords: Beijing, primary school, picture description composition, special topic composition, psychological model, teaching activities

1.

MAJOR EXISTING PROBLEMS IN COMPOSITION TEACHING

The process of composition is psychologically complex. It involves psychological elements like attention, cognition, memory, imagination, thinking, emotion, etc. The ability to compose is developed through extensive reading and comprehensive training in which students can acquire the abilities in topic examination, material selection, layout sketching, as well as the abilities in the use of words, sentence structure and rhetoric skills. Composition is a synthetic training to students upon words, phrases, sentences and passages. Therefore writing skills are accurate tools in assessing students' language ability. Thus composition teaching has long been treated with emphasis and as a knot in language teaching. Primary school teachers have devoted themselves to a large pile of studies on composition teaching. The result is fruitful, thanks to dedicators like Yi Si-xia, Huo Mao-zheng, Yu Yi and Wei Shu-sheng, who are the outstanding language teaching professionals involved in the primary school composition teaching reform. How-

no

HE&SHUM

ever, laying in our conventional pedagogical concepts and traditional teacheroriented teaching approach are many problems in the scope of composition teaching, which are summarized as follows. 1.1 Value 'Knowledge'above 'Ability' Conventional primary school composition teaching generally emphasizes the knowledge of writing. According to the 'Nine-year Free Full-time Primary Education Language Teaching Conspectus' promulgated by the State Education Committee, the primary school students are mainly expected to 'learn narrative writing, as well as common, practical writing' and 'practice to write sentences in junior form...passages in mid-level...essays in senior form'. Practices are arranged based on the quaternary facets: picture description, passage writing, simple narrative and various kinds of writing formats as exemplified in practical writing. Obviously, these practices in composition teaching are definitely systematic and logical, which further strengthen teachers' leading role in classroom teaching. Nevertheless, an ultimate problem is generated - writing is only regarded as an ability to manipulate language, which has nothing to do with synthetic ability in close relation to diverse psychological activities. This kind of composition teaching places emphasis on how to deliver the knowledge of writing with model essays and examples (the focus is on the knowledge of writing), rather than on how to foster synthetic ability of students. Indeed, these two facets of ability training should be started from primary one. L2

Value 'External' above 'Internal'Stimulation

To deliver the knowledge of writing in composition teaching, the direct instruction approach has long been applied in conventional composition lessons. Teachers explain with supplementary examples of different literature styles, object description skills and expressions to students. Students are required to imitate and memorize model essays. Through massive drills (frequent, repetitive 'external stimulation'), students' memory and comprehension in the use of phrases, sentences and the associations between them would be consolidated and students would finally develop into competent language users. The above teaching approach is indeed an application of the method 'stimulus-response-reinforcement' in behaviorism to composition teaching. The ultimate goal of this approach is to facilitate students' establishment of 'reflex' in language operation by grasping large amount of language knowledge in a short time. However, writing is a complex psychological process and it involves different kinds of psychological activities. Individual writing ability does not only depend on the quantity of language knowledge acquired, but also some internal factors like one's observation ability, emotion and attitude, thinking style, and value judgment. The training that focuses on external stimulation and reinforcing observable behavior without taking internal factors into account can only be effective in shaping behaviors into automatic operating mode, but students who are used to imitating model

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

111

essays and adaptive to constant language environment will find themselves helpless once the scenarios change. 1.3 Value Writing'above

'Speaking'

As Mr. Ye Sheng-tao mentioned, the phrase 'Yuwen' (Language) embraces the meaning of how to listen to others and how to speak properly, and language teachers should be aware of this. Language teaching specialist. Professor Gao Hui-ying, also stated that "composition should comprise both oral and written training. In other words, children should be taught to express ideas in both spoken and written forms."

Although this is the case, our primary school language teaching policy usually places 'Wen' (written expression) at the centre of study and ignores 'Yu' (oral expression). Students become shy and dare not to speak in front of the class. Spoken language is different from written language in many ways. The former is more figurative, arbitrary and less formal, while the latter is more rigorous, formal and logical. Despite their differences, spoken and written languages are closely related to each other in terms of information processing. Both 'speaking' and 'writing', regarded as information output (where 'listening' and 'reading' as information input), express individual thoughts, opinions or feelings, yet in different ways. To express a clear and precise idea, we should be sure of the idea in mind, select appropriate phrases and consider the sequences of utterances or sentences before speaking or writing. Since speaking requires one's immediate discretion and prompt decision, high oral ability can establish an excellent foundation for writing. To complement the merits of each other and make up for the deficiencies, it is pointless to separate speaking from writing in the training. 1.4 Value 'Rationality' over 'Sentiments' In composition training, teachers mainly deliver writing theories and neglect emotional interactions with students. In teaching narration, six major criteria, "time, venue, people, cause, process, and consequence" will be introduced with illustrations on several pieces of model essays. Practical writing teaching puts emphasis on six parts of standard format, namely 'topic, title, text, wish expression, signature, and date.' Again, model essays are used for explanation. However, all these theories alone cannot convey messages through descriptions of people, episodes of story and affective expressions of author, in which readers are unconsciously edified and enlightened. In addition to the content of a text, teachers' body language is important in delivering the central idea of the text, especially to junior students. Apart from learning theories, students should be moved by affection. The integration of these two criteria can arouse students' interest in reading and writing; otherwise they will be discouraged from learning.

112

HE&SHUM

1.5 Value 'Language' over 'Setting' Conventional composition teaching commits a mistake in emphasizing too much the explanation of the language of a text, but ignoring the design of setting. Formularized and standardized teaching cannot trigger students' interest in writing. Therefore it is difficult to inspire their excitement and imagination to write. In special topic compositions, the topics are usually set without adhering to students' daily life and without consideration of their sentimental world for them to start writing. In contrast, authentic topic setting can rejuvenate the atmosphere of lessons, stimulate student's interest to write and imagine, foster their figurative thinking ability, and develop their fondness for composition lessons. 2.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS AT COMPOSITION

The cause of the preceding problems in composition originated from the influence of traditional teacher-oriented teaching approach. This approach over-emphasizes teachers' leading role and their teaching skills, but underrates students' psychological activity in learning. In implementing changes to the traditional composition teaching approach, we should primarily build up a psychological model of students in writing, and study the internal cognitive activities of students and key psychological factors involved in writing compositions. In this way, we can find out the conditions and variances in teaching that affect the development of these psychological factors in implementing the proposed '4-in-r composition teaching reform. 2.1 The Psychological Process in Special Topic Composition There are two types of primary school compositions, namely 'picture description' (for junior students) and 'special topic writing' (for mid-level and senior students). In special topic writing, students have to write according to the topic and requirements proposed by teachers (also called specific-meaning composition). Although distinctive differences between the two exist in terms of thinking process and cognitive activity, they have gone through four identical procedures - material selection, thought construction, language expression and language refinement. So, how do we associate these procedures of psychological process with special topic writing in a right manner? Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987) suggested that for young writers composition is a 'knowledge telling process'. They claimed that writing is to a large extent processing upon the stored information in the authors' mind. Figure 1 shows this model of psychological process in special topic writing (Peng & Tan, 1991). Bereiter & Scardamalia's model regarded knowledge as playing a key role in the writing process. They put forward the idea that the knowledge of writing (including topic examination, material selection, layout, strategy, syntactic rules, use of words and punctuation marks, etc.) is a prerequisite in compositions (knowing how to write), while knowledge of nature and society is a basic element in compositions (knowing what to write). Their model proposed that young writers retrieve knowledge (information) from their long-term memory according to the topic and the form

113

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

of composition, subsequently organize the retrieved knowledge logically, and present the central idea precisely and grammatically in written form. The defect of this model is that it only concerns about the function of knowledge in the writing process without considering the decisive influence of observational and psychological capacities. Besides, the model only regards two procedures, namely the 'retrieval of information in memory' and 'checking the eligibility of retrieved information', as the whole psychological process in writing compositions. This illustration is too general and insufficient to explain the whole picture. Psychological factors do play a significant role in thinking and writing processes but this model has put psychological factors aside and focused too much on knowledge. So it is a one-dimensional (dimension of knowledge) psychological model in writing compositions. Figure 1. Bereiter & Scardamalia 's psychological model in composition (knowledge telling psychological model in composition). (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987: 8) Mental representation of assignment Content knowledge

Discourse knowledge

Knowledge telling process Locate topic identifiers

Locate genre identifiers

Construct memory probes

Retrieve content from memory using probes Fail Run tests of appropriateness Pass Write (notes, draft, etc.)

Update mental representation of text

Mainland studies on psychological model in writing compositions lag behind those of foreign countries. Meanwhile, the most in-depth and fruitful study on this issue is conducted by Zhu Jing-xi at the Contemporary Pedagogical Research Centre of Beijing Normal University (Zhu, 1997). He has constructed a 'psychological model of

114

HE & SHUM

primary school students in writing compositions' (see figure 2) based on the foundation of 'image-operational processing model' proposed by Dr. Zhao Wei-hua from Beijing Normal University's Developmental Psychology Research Centre. The resultant output is called 'image-operational psychological model in writing compositions'. Figure 2. Image-operational psychological model in writing compositions. Material collection

Knowledge

Internal processing

/

^

"w

/

Experience system

/

^

V

/

Sentiment

'Image processing' is the core part of the model (including the first and the second "accommodation"). It is built upon Dr. Zhao Wei-hua's 'image-operation processing model' (Zhao, 1995) (see figure 3), which is adapted from Shepard and Cooper's mutual adaptation theory introduced in 1995 (Cooper & Shepard, 1984). According to Zhu (1997), 'The primary operation of writing is to transform the newly retrieved information into virtual images, which is built corresponding to the basic structure of the writing. After confirming the structure of the first adaptation, individuals would proceed with the second adaptation in accordance with personal affections and value concepts. The second adaptation consists of two operations, refining and appending. By using the stored information, refining means making use of such to fine tune to image with accuracy; where appending is to fill in the gaps of the image by such.'

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

o o

eg R H) C/3 C/3

c^

CD

B. In-Depth Processing

A. Preliminary Processing S

P

<^ O) a

115

3. P

1'^ Order Construct; reflection of objective images

Abstract Process

2"^^ Order Construct; i.e. symbolization of components

Functions of internal language

Concrete process

Strategic functions L Rules 2. Program of cognition 3. Experience of image operation 4. Inclination of cognition

Repeated exercises Create strategic opportunity Automation

Conceptual status 1. Knowledge of obj ect nature 2. Knowledge and rules of spatial construct of objects 3. Symbols of spatial features of partial objects 4. Rules about how to revert to the original form of 'object symbols' for spatial construct of object

Storage and processing stage

Figure 3. Image-Operation Processing Model.

The distinctive feature of image-operational psychological model in writing compositions is its focus on the significance of internal and psychological process. It largely mends the loophole of Bereiter & Scardamalia's model, from which it gains its credits. Furthermore, the 2-staged adaptations can work correspondingly and separately with 'decomposing operation' (extracting information from different areas and forming real-life situational image) and 'assembling operation' (refining and appending). This design is more likely to analogies with computers, and thus being found compatible with the composition software CAT A defect of this model is the simplification of the psychological process. It deems the image-operations (decomposing operation and assembling operation) of the first and the second adaptations as the entire psychological process. Imageoperation does deal with tangible image thinking, but not with abstract, logical one. Image-operational processing entails a procedural conceptualization, which can adjust and control the second adaptation by using knowledge of attributes of related objects and that of spatial structure. Refining and appending procedures help to convert the retrieved images into a complete and accurate whole. Image-operational processing belongs to the scope of image thinking, yet it is essentially different from abstract-logical thinking. Image thinking comprises 'substantial image thinking' and 'general image thinking' (also called linguistic image thinking) (Zhu & Lin, 1986). As shown in figure 2 and figure 3, image-operation is only involved in the area of

116

HE & SHUM

substantial image thinking, that is, decomposing and assembling images in the first and the second adaptations. It is a lower level image-operational without tackling the third kind of operation - imagination (re-constructed and creative thinking). According to the view of developmental psychology about thinking, imagination is a general practice in image thinking, which is a high-level image-operation (blending and re-constructing the image, not just simply decomposing and assembling it). The model in figure 2 not only hides the difference between substantial image thinking and general image thinking, but also neglects the association of and distinction between the three kinds of image-operations. In other words, the model illustrated here is a 'low-level image-operating psychological model in composition', which gets rid of general image thinking and abstract-logical thinking. Moreover, the model mainly concerns about the roles of 'knowledge' and 'ability' (observation, image and language processing) in composition and seldom discusses 'integrity' in detail (Zhu, 1997). To sum up, the model in figure 2 is a preliminary, two-dimensional model (preliminary in the sense that it does not include imaginary ability and abstract-logical thinking in the model). Failing to consider the role of integrity is another defect of the model. Although it is a big leap compared with Bereiter & Scardamalia's onedimensional model, it does not fully reflect the psychological activity of primary school students in writing compositions. Figure 4. Thinking-processing psychological model in writing special topic compositions. Formulation of writing

Material selection

Refinement

>< Psychological orientation

Images (past cognition)

Concepts (daily concepts, scientific concepts)

Conceptualized thinking

Logical abstract thinking

Formation of internal language

Externalization of internal language

Attitude (emotions, temperament, value, ethics, aesthetics)

Long term memory

J Constructing on the basis of Bereiter & Scardamalia's one-dimensional model and Zhu Jing-xi's two-dimensional model, as well as our recent experimental study on '4-in-r, we have constructed a new psychological model in writing special topic compositions that takes factors of knowledge, ability and integrity into considera-

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

117

tion. It is a model focusing on internal process that contains substantial image thinking, general image thinking and abstract-logical thinking. So it can be called 'thinking-processing psychological model in writing compositions' (figure 4), which is in three dimensions. Below is an illustration of the model in three different phases (material selection, thought construction, language expression and refinement). 2.2 Phase 1: Material Selection Primary Education Language Conspectus requires students to learn narration, so the topics set in special topic compositions should be about past experience dealing with particular events, people and objects. There are two aspects in the selection of materials, image and concept. Psychologists (Zhu & Lin, 1986) believe that image is a bridge linking substantial feeling and abstract thinking. 'Image' is the reoccurrence of residual trace from past experience. 'Feeling' is the subjective experience of people towards objective events generated from our sensory register. 'Sense' is an organization of information derived from feeling. It is close to but not equal to feeling. The formation of sense depends on the information of feeling, as well as past knowledge and experience. Feeling only reflects a single attribute of a thing, while sense reflects many of it, that is, the whole entity of a thing. Feeling, sense and image share the same characteristics of being intuitive in nature. They belong to the sensational information scope and they represent three different developmental stages ranging from low to high. In spite of the same characteristics stated above, image and sense are different in the following ways. (1) Image is the residual trace generated from past experience, which is the substantial memory of events stored in mind. It does not deal with feelings since it exists separately from the substance. Further processing of image, such as refining, is thus possible. (2) Except being intuitive, image has the nature of generalization to a certain extent, which can be compared among different events, integrated and generalized with events alike. Facilitated by intuitive and generalized reflections, sensational information can be successfully converted to a logical concept under adjustment and control of language. 'Concept' is another material used in thought construction of writing. To express opinions upon past experience (image), we should proceed from a sensational information level to a logical one. Concept helps to examine and infer rules and logics of things and events, so that authors can write according to the information and generate qualified articles with stances. In short, image is a sensational type of material, whereas concept is a rational type; they are closely related but have their own distinctive features. Authors generate feelings towards objective events through sensory registers, while image is derived from the residual trace of feeling and being kept in long-term memory. Undergoing repetitive processing, image is converted to precise and consistent experience. Experience is elevated to concept after further refining and generalizing. From this, we know that concept is a higher level processing originated from image.

118

HE&SHUM

The most important psychological operations in selecting materials are 'psychological orientation' and 'information retrieval'. Psychological orientation should be set in advance so as to facilitate individuals to select relevant materials and discard the irrelevant ones according to the topic of the composition. Under the premise of psychological orientation, information retrieval refers to an extraction of images and concepts that are relevant to the topic from long-term memory. From the above analysis, there are two concerns about the selection of materials. (1) Large quantity of imaginary, lively and tangible materials can be generated from rich images; the key is how to change the past experience of students into writing materials in the lesson. To get a complete and accurate image, strengthening exercises should be provided to foster students' ability to observe physical objects. (2) Accumulation of knowledge is essential for students to build up 'concepts' in a more advanced nature. To achieve this, more instructions should be given to students in in-class and after-class reading. This helps to enhance their knowledge in the areas of natural science, social science and general knowledge, thus becoming less restricted to the knowledge of writing. 2.3 Phase 2: Thought Construction in Writing Thoughts play a key role in writing. In conventional composition teaching, they usually cover the following areas: • Examining the topic: specific scope, content, people, time and situation. • Determining the central idea in relation to the selection of materials. • Writing outline. • Selecting and designing concrete details: Description of events, people, scene and objects. Regarding the psychological operation in writing special topic compositions, thought construction should be formed by the following constructs (refer to figure 4). Image Operation (Image Thinking). Cognitive psychologists agree that images can be sorted into definite images and general images. Definite images reflect the characteristics of a particular event, where general images reflect the shared characteristics of similar events. We usually form definite images at the initial learning stage, followed by formation of general image while getting more information from society at a later stage. The general image is an integration of many definite images with common attributes. In writing special topic compositions, general images are frequently extracted from long-term memories. According to individual variations in cognitive development, the general images of different people formed towards the same kind of event would be different. These differences are laid out according to the different levels of depth, conciseness and generalization. General image thinking apparently plays a significant role in affecting the completeness and accuracy of a piece of writing. In the thinking process, extracting general image is a basic step. More should be done through image-operations so as to increase the level of generalization. This is a critical step in thought construction.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

119

There are three kinds of image-operations: decomposing, assembHng and imaginary (Zhu & Lin, 1986; Zhao, 1995; Zhu, 1997; Cooper, 1990). Decomposing operation is to break up an entire image into several fractions. Each fraction is a unique image. For instance, we can break up the image of a rabbit into eyes, ears, mouth, etc. Assembling operation is to adjoin the same kind of images into a rich and precise image, such as combining the images of a rabbit's movement, stillness and other kinds of motions. You would get a more figurative, vivid and complete image of a rabbit. Imagination plays a crucial role in image integration and creative reformation. In the imaginary process, all images have undergone several stages of changing from their original traits (which are kept constant in decomposing and assembling operations). As a result, a new image, the imaginary image, is formed. Typical characters in fictions, for example, belong to the category of imaginary images. Imaginary images can also be distinguished into 'anticipated' and 'unanticipated' images by tracing back to their formation process. Unanticipated image is a low level imagination without a conscious and intended goal, while anticipated image possesses no such goal. Composition thinking process involves anticipated imagination. The anticipated image is reformed and integrated by various images, thus reaching a certain level of innovativeness and creativity. According to the level of innovativeness, anticipated imagination can be classified into reformed image and creative image. Reformed image is produced upon others' description of a new object (like dinosaurs), while creative image is constructed upon individual imagination towards a new object alone. Apparently, creative image contributes significantly to thought construction. To conclude, developing students' ability of imagination, especially creative imagination, is an indispensable part in upgrading their writing ability. Abstract Logical Thinking. Although image-operation has the power of generalization, the resultant conclusion is merely drawn from the appearance of an object, not the object itself It is a kind of image thinking which stays at the sensational information level. In the writing process, sensational information itself cannot take the shape of an accurate central idea because it fails to reveal the intrinsic nature of the object and event. As a result, it cannot generate typical and reflective details about the nature of people and event, which is essential in constructing thoughts in composition. Therefore, additional processing in thinking should be appended to the foundation of image-operation. The process specified here refers to 'abstract-logical thinking'. A finding from a long-term research project on thinking development of primary school students conducted by developmental psychologists in our country (Zhu & Lin, 1986) indicates 'a shift from substantial image orientation to an abstract, logical one in the basic format of students' thinking'.

However, their abstract-logical thinking still highly associates with sensational experience and keeps hold of the figurative nature.

120

HE&SHUM 'The transitional period starts when students' thinking mode transforms from substantial image into an abstract, logical one'.

This is a critical developmental period of their thinking. This period is generally believed to start in primary four (aged 10-11), which can commence even earlier in primary three as long as appropriate education is provided. Intermediate and senior primary students gradually enter this transitional period and their thinking mode will go through a great change between the years of primary three and four. Language is a medium to express abstract-logical thinking, so an adjustment and control on language is likely to be seen in this period. Besides, concept becomes the material selected in thinking processes; a large quantity of sensational information (from image-operations) will undergo a refining and reforming procedure in conceptual examination and inference. The most meaningful idea, and the episodes that most probably reflect the intrinsic nature of people or events, will be chosen to construct the thoughts in special topic compositions. Thinking-processing (abstract-logical thinking process) usually contains analytic, integrated, abstract, generalization, comparative, categorical, systematic and various kinds of substantial psychological operations (Zhu & Lin, 1986; Cai, 1994). Among these operations, analytic and integrated operations are the basic types of processing because other operations are derived from them. Within analytic and integrated operations, distinctions and associations among things are found through comparison, which form a basic condition for abstract processing, generalization and categorization. Systematization develops along generalization while materialization is converted from abstract processing. Hence analytic and integrated operations establish a platform for further processing; abstract and generalization operations form concepts about objects' nature and ruling principles, which help people to grasp knowledge from sensational to rational level. For the purpose of convenience, we generally designate this core company as analytic ability and generalization ability. To state clearly, as always, analysis integrates comprehensiveness; generalization incorporates abstraction. The above analysis indicates that image-operation and thinking-processing are prerequisites for topic examination, central idea formulation, and material selection and design, while outline sketching is the simple external expression of imageoperation and thinking-processing. Constraint of Emotions upon Imagination and Thinking Processing. According to Modern Chinese Dictionary, *Qing Cao' (integrity) refers to a consistent psychological state stemmed from sentiments and thoughts; it consists of emotion, feeling, concept (moral, aesthetic values, etc.) and so on. Psychologists (Wang, 1992) believe that 'feeling and emotion are like a censorial machine that is responsible to develop and organize working memory, inference operation and problem solving skills.' It is because emotion is a subjective experience expressed in objective behaviors. This psychological state would organize and incorporate ongoing thinking activities. Emotion helps us select information and accommodate the environment. It also directs our behavior to change the environment. We usually think broadly and flexibly to figure out quick solutions to prob-

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

121

lems when we are in a good mood. But we will do the opposite when we are in a bad mood, as our mind is blocked up and thus our creativity would be gone. Therefore, it is important to keep our mind working (both image and abstract-logical thinking) in an effective way. We should on the one hand guide students to maintain good psychological state, which eases their thinking in composition, and on the other hand, we should incorporate daily life materials into teaching texts so as to promote students' healthy emotional development. The effect of thinking concepts on the process of constructing thoughts in composition affects the scope and the area of imagination, the understanding of the topic, and also the deepness of processing. To sum up, every thought construction is swayed by authors' thinking, moral, aesthetic and value concepts. In fact, this kind of influence extends from the whole process of thought construction, as well as the initial phase of'material selection' (see figure 4). Formation of Internal Language. Forming internal language brings thinking process of composition to an end as the final product. We have discussed three psychological operations - image-operation, thinkingprocessing and integrity effect. Image-operation deals with division and assembly of images and imaginations. It is indeed a process in image thinking. Thinkingprocessing refers to the process of abstract-logical thinking. Image thinking and abstract-logical thinking share the same qualities on analytic, integrated, abstract, generalization and other various kinds of operations; they are different in terms of the selection of thinking materials. The former and the latter originate from intuitive, sensational experience and concepts (including science and daily life concept) respectively. Furthermore, a major distinction would be that abstract-logical thinking should act upon language because abstract concept is expressed in characters or phonics, whilst image thinking acts upon reflections of physical objects. In the following part, we will investigate how people use language as a medium to complete the thinking process in writing compositions and form internal language as a result of thinking. Language consists of phonetic, semantic and syntactic components. It is a kind of communication tool and can be a sign of society. Communicative language refers to the exploitation of certain kinds of languages. It is unique since it represents individual physical and psychological state. Individuals can express themselves in different communicative languages within one kind of language. Communicative language can be classified into "spoken", "written" and "internal" types according to the expressive mode (Zhu & Lin, 1986), In the writing process, spoken and written forms of communicative language are not the media in abstract-logical thinking since authors need not interact with others in the thought construction process. A special kind of internal language takes the task to construct thought in abstract-logical thinking. Internal language is the product that brings the final stage of thinking process into being, and it has several characteristics:

122

HE&SHUM

•

Although internal language is an unspoken language (muted language), it still triggers our articulation device that transfers signals to the brain. This signal is weak but sufficient enough to regulate and control thinking activities. • It is a simplified language (fragment of external language). A word and a phrase can embody an idea or a whole concept. This is the case since authors only communicate to themselves. The complex association of the word (or phrase), the idea or the whole concept is activated in mind, thus facilitates high-level processing. • It connects individuals' conscious behavior. People do usually think before speaking or taking action, since they hope to accomplish tasks in a systematic, goal-oriented, and planned way through internal language. In the material selection process of writing special topic compositions, one would concentrate on the specific image or image group related to the topic through psychological orientation (i.e., extract relevant information from long-term memory), and subsequently organize the materials in a systematic way. At the beginning, the selected image or image group is vague and tentative. Further processing on decomposing and assembling the circumstantial images (substantial image thinking) would advance it into a clear, complete, rich, and lively image. A new image that is effective in reflecting the central theme of a topic in composition would be established after undergoing a reformed and creative thinking process (general image thinking). However, not all new established images fit the requirements of the theme and the form of the topic. At this juncture, internal language acts upon individual concept (moral, aesthetic, and value concept), as well as individual emotion, to analyze, integrate, examine and infer various images and concepts by the related concepts. This procedure is followed by internal associations, the confirmation of the reflected information and their basic natures, as well as their roles in expressing the central theme of the topic. Right through the repetitive imagination and consecutive processing, only images that are closely correlated to the topic are retained. Under the consideration of the requirements of the form, a basic structure, main content and expressive mode would be gradually formed in mind. This is the thought constructing process in writing. The final product that exists in the form of internal language is called 'Fu Gao' - internal draft, (so that 'Da Fu Gao' means constructing thought). 2.4 Phase 3: Expression and Refinement of Language The two phases in the writing process, expression and refinement, are responsive to 'externalization of internal language' and the transformation of 'Fu Gao' (internal draft) into words correspondingly. It converts the structure, content, and format stored in the form of internal language in mind into grammatical texts. It seems that the process of externalizing internal language does not involve psychological processing, but just the knowledge of writing. However, this is not the case. The psychological process still persists in the midst of the writing process. Once the authors find that the wordings are not going well with the topic, they would return to the thought constructing phase and repeat the preceding thinking procedures before go-

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

123

ing further to write (usually done partially, but it is possible to start from the very beginning in few unusual cases). We can see that written language expressions interact with thought construction. In this part, writing knowledge and related trainings play a significant role (much more than in the other parts). It works hand in hand with thought construction. 3.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL IN PICTURE DESCRIPTION COMPOSITION (INCLUDING ORAL AND WRITTEN DESCRIPTION)

As mentioned before, picture description is mainly practised by junior primary students. The emphasis is on the role of image thinking (both substantial image and general image processing) in psychological processing. Picture description and special topic composition are different in two ways. First, regarding the psychological operation of material selection, materials for picture description retrieved from long-term memory are not associated with specific topics, but with the observation of external characteristics of objects in the picture (image relevant to the observed objects). Although they are similar operations, the goals are different. The purpose of selecting materials in picture description is to supplement and refine the new image formed in the observation. In other words, to get richer materials for writing, one would extract the original image in mind and refine it into a new image, which is more complete and real-situation-like. Secondly, the development of thinking of junior students is still in the image-thinking phase, so they are not competent enough to conduct authentic processing on abstract-logical thinking. Concept and language involved in junior students' thinking deal with simple, daily life experience or concept associated with tangible things. Besides, image remains to be the main thinking materials in the thinking process, and the intervention of concept and language only enhances image processing. This is far different from the nature of abstract-logical thinking, which takes concept as the material in thinking. In teaching picture description, the focus is placed on promoting students' abilities in observation, image-operation (including imagination) and primary language expression; but less in dealing with thinking-processing. Nonetheless, it is essential to build a favorable environment for students to acquire picture description skills, so as to accelerate the transition between picture description phase and special topic composition phase. 4.

EXPLORATION OF THE '4-IN-l' MODEL OF COMPOSITION TEACHING

4.1 3-Dimensional Model of Goals under Composition Teaching Derived from the previous analysis of special topic composition by primary students, one may notice that the process of writing compositions includes three aspects - knowledge (common life knowledge, natural and social knowledge, knowledge of writing), ability (abilities to observe, process images, operate concepts, express in written and spoken forms) and attitude (emotions, sentiments and perception upon

124

HE & SHUM

ethics, aesthetics and values). Knowledge determines 'what to write', ability determines 'how to write' and attitude determines 'why bother to write'. These elements are shown by figure 5 in 3-dimensional sense. The elements are not learnt solely through lessons. For example, for common knowledge and knowledge in social or natural science, they are attained by daily life experience and socialization, and after-class reading respectively. It is only for writing knowledge that which is taught in composition lessons. So in the discussion concerning the 3-dimensional model below, one can regard the 'knowledge dimension' as the 'writing knowledge dimension'. Attitude Knowledge riting knowledge Social Science knowledge l^atural Science knowledge Emotions, sentiments

Daily life knowledge

Observation Image Operation Processing of thoughts Expression of contexts

Ability '

Figure 5. 3-Dimensional Model of the 3 Elements in Composition.

In the case of picture description composition, since the target group is mainly primary students, the 'attitude dimension' does not involve value and perception, and the engagement of ethics and aesthetics is also preliminary. Besides, the teaching of ability has nothing to do with abstract logical thinking in a strict sense. Therefore, we may build upon the foundation laid in the model of figure 5, and integrate the synopsis of 'writing knowledge' teaching requirements targeting primary students, thus resulting in the model in figure 6(a).

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

125

Attitude Kno\\ledge Aesthetics Connect sortences into parag::^)hs MDralit>4

Ktopdation ofjtoses and sentences

EmoticMis, soitiments i

Analyses of vocabulary definition

Observation Operation of images Ejqjtession ofvocals (written and a^) Ability

Figure 6(a) 3-Dimensional Model of Writing Knowledge' tion Composition.

Requirements for Picture

Descrip-

, Attitude Kno^edge Tqx)graphic arrangement

Tq)ic definition Fcrmaticxi of soitmces and paragr^hs

Analyses of vocabulary definiticai

Obsavatiai ImaginaticHi Thinking Language (writtoi and (xal)

Ability^

Figure 6(b). 3-Dimensional Model of Writing Knowledge' Composition.

Requirements for Special Topic

In the case of teaching special topic composition, since the target groups are intermediate and senior primary students, the ability to decompose and assemble con-

126

HE & SHUM

cepts is already handled well by them, so in writing special topic compositions, teachers may emphasize the abilities of image operation (especially the ability to imagine) and abstract logical thinking based on experience. On the other hand, the materials of special topic compositions are not based on the direct senses in response to an object after observation, but the images chosen from the memory bank. It seems that this process has nothing to do with observation. Yet, as mentioned before, images are just reflections of past feelings, that means they may still originate from the observation of an object (not recent but past observations). It would be impossible to conjure up fruitful and complete images without concrete, detailed and comprehensive observation. As a result, in writing special topic compositions, we cannot overlook the nurturing of students' observational ability. Thus, on the basis of figure 5, we may integrate writing knowledge requirements of intermediate and senior students as in figure 6(b). 4.2 Model of Teaching for Picture Description Composition Table 1 shows a real-life scenario in implementing the teaching model step-by-step. Table 1. Activities to be conducted in implementing the 3-Dimensional Teaching Model for Picture Description Composition

Teacher's Activity

Creation of Environment

Guidance in Observation

Operation of Images

Language Training

Cooperative Learning

Create scenarios that match students' age characteristics

Offer concrete guidance of observing objects by logical deduction, comparison

Offer methods to operate images by decomposing, assembly, imagination.

Let students:

Offer a setting of multi-media network:

Present the scenario orally; Type the oral description out; Evaluate the oral description.

Let students carry out collaborative learning Students and teachers would evaluate and correct the good compositions together Both students and teachers would summarize writing methods together In-class discussion

Students' Activity

Observe the scenario and obtain a preHminary image

Observe teacher's instructions and make detailed observations (to form a rather complete image) Type the result of

To operate images with teacher's instructions on their own To type out the decomposed and

Based on the foundation of image operation, To describe the scenario orally To type out the

Actively participate in the learning activities organized by teachers on the web

127

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

Creation of Environment

Guidance in Observation

Operation of Images

Language Training

observation out (integration of reading and typing)

assembled result from imagination

oral description

(integration of thinking and typing) To assist students' image operation

(integration of speaking and typing) To realize the scenario in relation to the typed script and oral description Oral training

Functions of Media

To realize the scenario

To enable students to make observations in depth

Teaching Contents

To realize advanced ideologies, sentiments and ethics

Methodologies in observation

To let students understand the ideologies, sentiments and ethics at the first place ('attitude dimension')

Develop students' observation power to gain insights into the concepts further ('attitude dimension')

Teaching Requirements

Methodologies used in image operation

To develop students' image operation skills, especially the ability to imagine ('ability dimension')

Cooperative Learning

Preliminary training of writing skills

To develop students' preliminary presentation skills, including oral and writing abilities ('ability dimension')

To offer images of correlated scenarios

Writing knowledge and writing methods To extrapolate into the ideologies of scenarios Let students learn basic writing skills ('knowledge dimension') Let students feel the sentiments, concepts and ethics from the setup naturally ('attitude dimension')

4.3 Model of Teaching for Special Topic Composition With reference to Figure 6(b) concerning the 3-dimensional teaching model for special topic composition, together with the "Thinking-processing psychological model in special topic composition" as shown in figure 4, we have designed the practical teaching model (table 2) below. Table 2. Activities to be conducted in implementing the 3-Dimensional Teaching Model for Special Topic Compositions

Teacher's Activity

Analyses of Topics

Material Selection

Inspirations for Imaginations

Development of Intellects

Language Training

Cooperative Learning

Guide students to choose the right topics

Guide students to choose materials

To inspire students to make fascinating but rea-

Through model essays, inducements, segment

Let students type out the drafls

Offer a setting of multimedia network

128

HE & SHUM

Analyses of Topics

Material Selection

Inspirations for Imaginations

Development of Intellects

Language Training

(be aware of the scope of the question)

reasonably

sonable imaginations by their initiatives

exercises, etc. to develop students' analytical, integral, abstract thinking

Let students read aloud their compositions

Require students to derive the theme of the topic

Selection around the theme To create relevant scenarios to enrich students' original images

Cooperative Learning

Let students carry out collaborative learning Students and teachers would evaluate and correct the good compositions together

Use concepts to implement deduction, diffusion of ideas

Both students and teachers would summarize writing methods together In-class discussion Students' Activity

To confirm the central theme of the composition

Functions of Media

Teaching Contents

How to analyze a topic

Extract relevant images related to the topic from memories as materials

To decompose, assemble the materials and create regenerated images or imaginations

To supplement and refine the images after observing the scenarios created by the teacher Using projectors, transparencies, videos and multimedia to create relevant scenarios to facilitate students to enrich the original images

Using multimedia to initiate the process of imagination

How to select materials

How to form re-generated imaginations or images

Based on the relatively complete images with reference to the topic, using analyses and logics to elevate the sentimental elements into rational ones, then using internal language to preserve them To create the relevant scenarios for exercises like model essays, inducements, segment exercises

To type out the draft contents

To create the relevant scenarios when students express their writing aloud

Offer relevant scenarios for discussions on the web

How to process the materials fijrther

Oral training Ability to express

Writing knowledge and methods

To read by heart or read aloud their compositions

Actively participate in the learning activities organized by teachers on the web

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL & TEACHING APPROACHES

Analyses of Topics

Material Selection

Inspirations for Imaginations

Development of Intellects

Language Training

How to define the central theme

Teaching Requirements

To teach the 2 steps of analyses: define the topic clearly and confirm the central theme ('ability dimension') To grasp the central theme and the values ('attitude dimension')

129

Cooperative Learning

The values, ethics and contents reflected by the central theme Learn how to select the appropriate materials ('ability dimension')

To develop students' creativity ('ability dimension')

To develop students' ability of abstract logical thinking ('ability dimension')

To develop the power of observation and logical deduction ('ability dimension')

To develop students' expression techniques (orally and in writing) ('ability dimension')

To enable students to handle wiring knowledge and methods ('knowledge dimension') To enable students to accept naturally the values and ethics that the topic wishes to convey ('attitude dimension')

4.4 The Six Key Elements of Composition Teaching Activities As seen from tables 1 and 2, the dimensions of teaching requirements and their correlations are shown below: 'Knowledge Dimension': the teaching of knowledge writing can be realized in various stages, but the most intense teaching stage is when the teachers and students collaborate in the 'cooperative learning' stage; for daily life knowledge, it can be acquired through 'creation of scenarios' and 'observational guidance'. 'Ability Dimension': Four abilities (observation, imagination, thinking and expression) can be realized in the four corresponding teaching stages. Attitude Dimension': It is mainly realized through 'creation of scenarios', 'observational guidance', 'topic definition' and 'cooperative learning', but we wish to use the attitude dimension to thread up every single stage of composition teaching. It should be noted that the composition teaching process should not be dissected into stages with strict ordering. In contrast, we should regard them as the 6 key elements of composition. Hence an organic entity of composition teaching can be formed. The gist of the six elements is illustrated below:

130

HE & SHUM

Creation of scenarios:

Observational guidance:

Operation of images: Development of thoughts:

Language training:

Cooperative learning:

Have to realise the theme in fiiU, which means, to express certain correct perceptions or emotions effectively. To teach students how to observe and to use the correct perspective to observe. To guide students to experience events with a healthy state of mind. to guide students to imagine in the correct direction, but not blind imaginations. Abstract logical thoughts use words as the medium, therefore, using conceptual thoughts to deduce ideas, students must be under the influence of values, ethics and aesthetics. This is a good opportunity to perform value education. The process of language training is an integral part of conceptual processing, which is under the influence of values, ethics and aesthetics that thread up value education. To summarize and strengthen the teaching of writing knowledge. The value education should also be emphasised through exchanges. 5.

CONCLUSION

Although this chapter considers primary students as the subjects, basically the psychological process of special topic composition still applies to lower form secondary students. (This is because lower form secondary students and senior primary students both reside at the same conceptual development stage. It is only the development paces of them that differ.) Therefore the teaching activities are also applicable to the latter group, Since upper form secondary students have reached the stage of logical abstract thinking, the psychological model for them has to be constructed with more supplements on the basis of image-operation' and 'abstract logical thinking' models. It would have gone too far to conclude the applicability of the findings about senior primary students on upper form secondary students.

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN SCHOOLS IN MAINLAND CHINA

BAI JIAN LI Shanghai University,

China

Abstract. The author advocates the use of two new writing teaching methods - 'Method of Teaching on Topics' and 'Method of Live Demonstration in Teaching' - and offers concrete examples of lesson plans with games that can relieve students' anxiety on doing composition in class. These methods stress the incorporation of real-life scenarios as 'topics', which are to be distinguished from the conventional 'titles' used, and the effectiveness of learning through role-playing. Students would then be equipped to adapt to the changing society through practical writing tasks. The author also addresses the problem of lack of stimuli in provoking the students to write, and sentimental thinking (attachment to the writing subjects) in writing as an often-neglected mechanism was introduced into the games. The author then concludes the essay by stating the 'Standards of Chinese Teaching' upheld by the PRC Ministry of Education. Keywords: China, 'Method of Teaching on Topics', 'Method of Live Demonstration in Teaching' (Joyful Composition), games, writing scenarios

1.

INTRODUCTION

Since China opened its door to the outside world in the 1980s, the teaching of composition writing in Chinese became formalized and focal point of many secondaryschool teachers. From 1980s to early 1990s, although many new teaching methods and teaching streams were introduced, there was still no great progress in teaching writing because many teachers were still dominated by the same genre-centric belief that genre teaching was the most important thing (Ma, 1995). After the restoration of college entrance examination in 1977, teaching of writing was added to the curriculum in most universities as a public course. In the post-1980 period, universities basically followed the stance of 'intellectual static teaching doctrine', which was mistakenly regarded by many teachers as merely teaching of writing theories. The concrete writing task is the process of teaching of writing; teaching theory would be the structural theory of the composition. Therefore the eight basic elements of writing such as theme, style, structure, expression, language, and modification would be the framework for teaching materials for theory.

132

Ll

In class, students were taught established theories and the basic elements of writing. Apart from the concrete lesson itself, students were required to write their compositions in 45 minutes on the topic given by teachers. Concentration and sentimental thinking training before writing were not taught in class, nor did the teachers induce and instruct the students on how to prepare for writing. They only cared for the final result instead of the process. They did not need to pay any attention to the complex process of how students rounded off their work or expressed their feelings and thoughts, which led the students to mistakenly think that it was for none other than the teachers that they had to write. Since 1980s, there had been no great efforts to improve the teaching of composition writing at university level. It was until early 1990s that Shanghai University created a new teaching method called "The Method of Teaching Writing on Topics" after accepting more advanced theories of teaching writing both at home and abroad and undertaking a profound education reform. This had changed the traditional concepts and methods of teaching writing. The Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' was published in the Journal of Shanghai University (Li, 1999). The method endeavors to develop students' abilities, including those of observation, memory, imagination, deduction, operation, expression, and even more, creation, which shifts traditional method from the narrow goal of improving written ability in expression. In addition, systemically designed games are introduced into classes, in replace of the boring, monotonous writing lessons to creative, cooperative ones. Shanghai University was awarded by the Ministry of Education the second-class prize for the publication of the book titled The Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' in 1994 and third-class prize in 2001 for its achievements. To solve the problems of writing lessons in primary and secondary schools in Mainland China, the professors of Shanghai University revised the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' and then created the 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching', making it more adaptable to the primary and secondary school environments (Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999). In the following years, they had several experimental lessons in both primary and secondary schools and made some achievements. Several books were published, including such books as 'Transforming into Quality Education', 'Joyful Composition Writing' for primary students, 'Writing Compositions with Interest' for junior students, 'Writing Compositions Creatively' for senior high school students and the 'New Theories and Methods of Teaching of Composition Writing' for teachers' use. The new teaching method also attracted the attention of the media when they had demonstrated talks in Beijing, Shanghai, Henan, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, winning approvals from both teachers and students. Although being a mediocre school, Qing Yang Primary School in the City of Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province was nominated as the experimental base for composition- writing teaching because the principal of the school Zhang Saiqing tried hard to apply the new method - 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' - to all grades in less than two years and students had greatly improved their writing abilities.

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

13 3

This new method was also applied to other fields such as reading comprehension, mathematics and English teaching. Meanwhile, it also changed the traditional method of assessment on compositions, thus liberating the teachers from the complex and meaningless work. Now not only the students' abilities to learn and create have been improved, the school was also nominated as an experimental base by the Education Department of Jiangsu Province as well and was under supervision for research by the country. 2.

THEORIES AND METHODS OF TEACHING OF COMPOSITION WRITING

The new concepts and methods developed in the recent 10 years could be realized in theories and exercises as follows: one is 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' designed for the primary students and the other is the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' for the secondary and university students. 2.1 The Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching (Joyful Composition) To have an insight of the specialty of writing teaching in primary schools since 1991, Professor Baijian Li of Shanghai University had been carrying out researches at the frontline, guided by the new teaching method called 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' in primary schools. It aimed at arousing the students' enthusiasm to write and helping them to develop the ability to make observations by playing games in a relaxed atmosphere. Teaching of writing in primary schools is based on the same foundation as those of secondary schools and universities, but of a different approach. We must take into account the psychological and physical characteristics of the youths and design exercises systemically. To arouse their interest in writing, we must encourage students to fully engage in this type of training with a light mood. Only when the students feel it no longer hard to write would they be eager to express themselves (Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, 2001). 2.1.1

The Theory of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching

There are two prerequisites necessary for writing good compositions: first is the ability to observe and collect materials in real life and second is the passion to write. The former of which, unfortunately, is unavailable to those primary school students. Alongside, the composition topics cannot arouse children's mood for writing, and that is the reason why traditional topic-naming compositions fail to work or even bring about sequels to primary students. Take Li Bai, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, as an example. He needed to drink alcohol when he was writing poems since alcohol to him was a source of inspiration for writing ideas. Lu Xun, the great-

134

Ll

est writer of modern China, always depended on cigarettes as a stimulus to writing. Even those famous writers and poets had to depend on some stimulation to arouse their passion to write, it is thus quite unreasonable to ask those primary school students to sit straight and remain silent and finish their compositions upon the request of their teachers in class. To overcome the above problem of students, we introduce games into teaching of writing. After playing a series of interesting, scientific, operative and demonstrative games, the students will then meet the two prerequisites discussed above and therefore be eager to write something about the games. Next, we will take the game of playing dumb show as an illustration of the mechanism of the 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching'. 1) The teacher announced that neither he nor the students was allowed to speak in class and the students' attention was caught, which would have them prepared to make observations. 2) In counting down, the students felt quite uneasy with the silence. 3) The teacher wrote 'doing ?' on the blackboard and then asked someone to fill in the blank to offer an answer to the problem, that was, what they would do that day. If the blank was not filled in correctly, the students might feel even more puzzled. 4) When the words 'playing dumb show' were written on the blackboard, the teacher would ask two students to come up to the blackboard, still in silence. 5) One student would stand on the left and the other on the right. When the teacher walked towards the corner of the classroom, holding something around his arm, more questions would arise: 'what is the teacher doing?' 6) The teacher handed "a rope" to the two students and asked them to swing "the rope", only then would the students come to know that they were required "to skip rope". 7) The students would feel overjoyed when "rope-skipping" became part of the teaching of writing. 8) In addition to "rope-skipping", they also played the game of tug-of-war, either 5 to 5 or 10 to 10. It would become more interesting and dramatic if 10 tall, strong boys and 1 thin, small girl were placed at each end. And what was more, the teacher must write on the blackboard that 'the girls must win'. 9) Therefore contradiction might arise when the students were eager to express themselves, but the rules of the game did not allow them to do so. The only solution to the problem was to give them pieces of paper and ask them to express themselves by words on the topic of playing dumb show (Li, 2001). The game would offer various sensual stimuli to the students and would leave a deep impression on them, which meant they had something in hand to write about. Meanwhile, their eagerness to express themselves after the game would make it easier for them to write because they were keen to do so.

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

13 5

2.1.2 The Use of the 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Writing' to help students gain insight through games The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Writing' aims to provide the students with a real life scenario in which they are encouraged to observe and then vent their passion by writing. Games offer boys and girls an opportunity to grasp a look of their future and the platform of which they will be eager to demonstrate themselves and become brighter and stronger. Once games were introduced into the class, the tense atmosphere was relieved and the students would relax themselves and become less cautious about the concept of composition. They must fully engage in the games so that they could observe what was happening around them carefully, experience role-playing, and have their retrospective mode of thinking strengthened. Competition was necessary in games because children would tap their potentials incredibly. With the real scenario provided by the games, the teacher could help children to develop their abilities to observe and note down what they experienced in games. Thus, revitalizing a lighter mood in composition lessons. We would give an example of a game called "Tapping Codes" so as to demonstrate how to encourage the children to write. 1) A teacher announced: 'We will play a game about taping codes and the rules of the games are: a.

If I tap the table with my palm and then with my finger, it means No.l (symbolized by *-), if I tap with my palm and then my fingers twice, it means No.2 (symbolized by *-) and so does No.3, No.4, No.5 etc.;

b.

If I tap with the joint of my finger and then with my palm, it means No.6 and if I tap the table twice with the joint of my finger and ten with my palm, it means No.7, an so does No.8, No.9 etc.;

c.

As for zero, I only need to tap the table with my palm.'

2) Then the students are required to guess after the teacher taps the table. 3) Everyone, including the teacher, is coded and then the game begins. 4) First the teacher taps a code, and the student represented by the code must stand up and tap another code. Those who fail to answer correctly will have to stand at the corner of the classroom as punishment and be interviewed by the teacher. 5) The teacher must tell the students that the emotions of the ones being punished are important and must be paid attention to. 6) If the teacher does not answer correctly, he will bear the same punishment and this will attract students' interest and they will write about it in their compositions (Li, 2001). After the game, the idea of writing composition will vanish gradually in their minds and the fun of the games overwhelms other concerns. That is the goal of the 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Writing', which aims to encourage the students to express their feelings and enthusiasm through playing games.

136

Ll

For many years, we always write something with purposes, such as for sake of examinations or contests, while the idea that writing as a form of expression is always neglected, so it is necessary for the students to first relieve their emotional burden and to develop some interest in games. Only then can they be able to write down what they think and be eager to express themselves. 2.2 The 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' The 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' is a method of teaching by means of prepared and systematic 'processes of training'. It helps the students who have grasped the basic writing techniques to some extent to discover their lives, arouse their own emotions, engender their own interest and enrich their own imagination by the methods of induction, communication and stimulation. It therefore develops their creative thinking and polishes their skill of changing thoughts into words. The concept of 'topic' in the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' differs much from that of the 'title' of ordinary composition teaching, which gives rise to differences between ideas of writing and teaching methods. The following is the illustration of the method by comparing between the 'title' and the 'topic'. 2.2.1

Title' is simple, Topic' is complex

The 'title' of the ordinary composition classes is basically in a simple form. Students merely think and write within a stipulated scope in accordance with the 'title' assigned by the teacher. 'Topic' is different in the sense that it is usually related to the entire event, which is multidimensional and the themes to be selected are multifaceted. Take the topic 'Launch a Post Office' as an example: when we give 'title' alongside with the exercises of writing 'letters', generally speaking, we first set an objective and teach the students the form and requirements of writing letters and then ask them to write. However, the topic 'Launch a Post Office' is different. First of all, it is an exciting and interesting activity in class. Secondly, it is a natural writing action. The procedures of teaching are as follow: 1) Ask all students to write down their names, addresses and postcodes on pieces of paper. Having collected them, the teacher then distributes them to the students again so that everybody has another student's piece of paper. 2) In the meantime, the role of every student has changed. Some may imagine themselves as students just arrived at American (so they may imagine themselves as those staying in other countries or regions), and then they should write letters from America to friends of their country of origin. 3) Having finished the letters, they should fold the pieces of paper and put them into envelopes with the names, addresses and postcodes on them and make up addresses in American where they are supposed to live in.

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

13 7

4) After the letters are written within a set time limit, pick out 3 to 5 students as 'head' of the post office and the 'postmen' to collect and deliver all the letters to the students. 5) Those who receive the letters should reply to them and ask for 'delivery' by the 'postmen' again (Li, 2001). It is not difficult to observe from the example above that this kind of exercises of writing letters is very different from composition writing under a given single title. The students have to play different roles due to the 'letters from America'. Besides, they have to make up addresses in America, which can enhance their imaginative ability. To set up a 'post office' in the classroom and deliver letters to students can improve their oral skills as well as practical skills. Delivery of letters is easier to be said than done, especially when they encounter a letter without a definite address. The 'head of the post office' has to pay some attention before sending it to the receiver. Usually, the process of writing a letter is conducted quietly and inactively. Yet when this method is used, the classroom is full of happiness and laughter. The students usually perform the same kind of exercise twice as they write two letters at the same time (a letter and a reply). After the students finish writing the letters, the teacher can make some comments and present some theories of writing which will be very helpftil for the students to understand how to write effectively. Nearly all 'topics' bear the characteristics mentioned above. Therefore the training by writing on topics is much more complicated and interesting than that of 'writing' on a particular title, and contains much more information. 2.2.2

Emphasizing Creative Potentials

Prime Goal of Writing on a 'Title' is writing itself, but 'Writing on Topics' involves other knowledge and taps the students' creative potentials in writing. Many 'procedures of training' in the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' are based upon the theory that contemporary students have a great deal of potentials and the ability of transferring knowledge. The 'procedures of training' are not only based on the belief in the students' creativity and the ability of exploring new knowledge but also on the respect and persistence of the spirit of originality. Another 'topic' showing these characteristics to a great extent is called 'two triangles, a line and a circle'. 1) The teacher explains what a 'design' is by examples. 2) Ask the students to make new designs with two triangles (no matter they are big or small, with sharp, obtuse angles or isosceles triangles), a line (no matter it is short or long) and a circle (no matter it is big or small). 3) Ask the students to draw designs on the blackboard and name them, just like all other artworks with their own names. Each name should not be shorter than eight characters. 4) If each student is required to write a narration, recalling the whole process of creating the designs, then ask the students to create a title for each article,

138

Ll

5) All the students begin to write (Li, 2001). It is apparent that the fore-mentioned 'topic' needs geometric knowledge and requires the students to be imaginative. 2.2.3

Particular element of Writing

A Title' requires the students to write an entire article, but a Topic' sometimes may only require completion of a particular element of writing. The 'title' of a composition requires students to write a complete article. However, 'topic' is different, because it is essentially a 'way of training', which often requires the students to focus on some 'elements' of writing. There is a 'topic', which is designed for 'intentional description', an element aiming at improving the trainees' ability to observe and describe. This sort of description is similar to the narration of a gambler's hand in the Austria author's Swig's story 'A Woman's 24 hours in her life". Description seems to be a writing technique, but it has indeed great correlation with the writer's ability of observation. When we begin with a 'topic', we learn to describe by observing and vice versa, because observation and description are just two sides of the same coin. There are a lot of topics deserving intentional descriptions: a grain of rice, a pair of shoes, a hand, a finger, a watch, a picture, a leaf, a walking stick or a pair of glasses. Moreover, the time and the length of the article should be prescribed. 2.2.4

Encouraging Cooperation

A 'Title' treats a single student as an object, but a 'Topic' requires cooperation between students throughout the writing process. In general, a composition with 'title' assigned by the teacher should be completed by individual students, while a 'topic' is different, for it has more dimensions, complicated digressions and goals. Sometimes compositions based on a certain 'topic' have to be completed by the joint efforts of several students, which in turn trains their ability of coordination. Take the 'topic' of designing a logo for the school as an example. It requires the teacher to take the following steps in class: 1) Ask every two students to form a group. 2) Every group should provide a 'notice' eliciting for school logos. The teacher then delivers all the collected 'notices' to the students, so every group receives a 'notice' with various requirements. 3) Each group should design a logo for the school according to the requirements set forth in the 'notice' and write an article entitled 'how I design the logo'. 4) Return the 'notices' and the completed logos to the original groups just like being in a real client-designer relation on product retrieval (Li, 2001). We can observe from the above that two interchanges of roles take place during the entire writing process. At first, the writer plays the role of the 'school' or the 'client', who needs to write a 'notice' soliciting for logos; then he shifts to play the role

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

139

of a 'designer', who has to design a logo together with an account for his design. Eventually the writer becomes the 'school' or 'client' again, who should write the commentary accordingly. The conversion of roles and the style of writing serve as a tough test of the students' ability to respond but the pressure is reduced when the process takes place under such vivid and interesting circumstances. 2.2.5

Learning to Explore Life

The contents for certain 'titles' require accumulation of knowledge in daily life, but 'topics' help students to learn how to explore their lives. A 'topic' usually involves vivid and interesting activities for all the students whereas the procedure of teaching would proceed with the activities at the first place and composition at the second. Thus the writing class is no longer a pure practice of writing; rather, it is a big and multidimensional activity which can improve the students' abilities of planning, organization and coordination. Take the topic 'everybody is a book' as an example. It is a 'topic' for the students to learn how to write biography, which requires mutual aid and coordination among students. The procedures of the class are as follow: 1) Divide the whole class into two halves, each with the identical number of students. Then the teacher briefly explains the method of writing a biography. 2) Ask all students to describe their faces on a piece of paper. The description should focus on the facial characteristics with around 300 characters. Neither name nor sex is allowed to appear on paper and hairstyle and clothing are excluded from the list of description. 3) When anyone finishes his/her writing, they fold up their pieces of paper, and exchange theirs with another from the other half of the class so that every student can have one passage of facial description. 4) While the students of the first half remain seated, those of the second half are asked to leave their seats and pick out the ones being described according to the facial descriptions on the paper. 5) The students of the second half should become 'journalists' and try to interview those who were spotted out according to the description. 6) While the students of the second half remain seated, those of the first half are asked to leave their seats and pick out the ones being described according to the facial descriptions on the paper. 7) The students of the first half should become 'journalists' and try to interview those who were spotted out with accordance to the description. 8) Every student should write a mini-text of a 'special report of a person' according to the collected materials (Li, 2001).

140

2.2.6

Ll

Fostering Comprehensive Quality

The 'title' of an argumentative writing provides nothing but the arguments in question, but the 'topic' of an argumentative writing fosters the comprehensive quaHty of students' participations in developing arguments. The key to teach argumentative writing is to produce 'verifiable' subjects and trigger off the students' desire to argue. Therefore it is critical to create an environment of debate as well as to stimulate the enthusiasm of the students. No idea is better than holding a moot for this purpose. The following are the scenario for the topic 'three-staged moot' and the procedures: Stage 1: The students in the class are divided into two groups. After the teacher having declared the topic for debate, the pros and cons sides should be decided by the representatives after tossing the coin. Then the two groups state freely their viewpoints in turn. If one of the parties has nothing to say reciprocally, it should be deemed as being failed in the argument when the teacher counts to ten. Stage 2: The class elects two groups of representatives, each side with ten people. Each group occupies one side of the platform. The representatives will come up to the platform to argue for their stance on the topic of debate. Everybody has only one chance to argue and should go back to his seat immediately after he rounds up his speech. Stage 3: Delegations are selected just like the setting of the TV public debate. There are umpire and the first to the fourth debaters. In addition, they have to write briefs for references. When the debate is over, the teacher divides the class into two groups again. The students of one group would write down their opinions for the topic while those of the other side would write down theirs against the topic (Li, 2001). Students, who have already pondered over the topic of debate before, have to think, listen, speak, write and act in the process of the debate. As a result, their understanding of the topic, their control of the ground and their familiarity with the evidence can flourish. Hence there will hardly be a problem for them to write a good argument. 2.2.7

Systematic Training

The 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' includes many systematic and comprehensive training procedures. Among the 'training procedures' of the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics', there are many large activities which require the students' participation, organization and planning. Such activities integrate various styles of writing and bear many traits of games. In a stipulated time, not only do the students have to use their pens and mouths, but they also have to organize and cooperate. Besides, they should act, debate, report, direct and imagine. These sorts of training take advantages from other 'topics' too and have them integrated and refined, so they are called the 'kits' of'topics',

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

141

The multidimensional, diverse and synthetic 'training procedures' give rise to enormous changes in the writing classes and so are hailed by university students. The following is a 'kit' called 'setting up a publishing house'. It is an integrated, creative and logical 'topic' that belongs to the realms of both extremely abstract thinking and quite concrete visual imagination. In the class, the students' chains of thoughts have to pass through two obstacles so that they can infer and comment on the imagined 'books'. The procedures are as follow: 1) Every student in the class should provide a title for a 'book'. However, there is no detailed requirement with regard to the genre of the book. 2) Everybody should write an 'abstract' in about 250 characters for the imagined 'book' according to his/her inference or imagination. 3) Having completed the 'abstract', everybody should write the 'chapters' and 'sections' in the 'table of contents' of the imagined book. Every book should contain at least five chapters and each chapter should contain at least five sections. Students should sign on their books. 4) The students would then exchange their 'drafts' of the 'books' with one another so that everybody will receive a 'draft' of a 'book', actually a sheet of paper. However, the students should imagine these as very thick 'books'. 5) Meanwhile, every student should change his/her role to an 'editor' of a 'publishing house'. The 'editors' each should write a letter of revision, providing detailed advice on how to revise the book. The letter means that the publishing house agrees to publish the book, but gives suggestions for further revision. The letter is sent back to the author, who should post his book to the publishing house after the revision is made. Such letters should contain a lot of comments (Li, 2001). Everybody can write texts of three genres with regard to the 'kit': abstract, table of contents and letter of revision. Students should therefore change their roles when their thinking is wandering around different subjects. In addition, they have to name their books and design the plots and contents. The difficulty of the assignment is understandable. But all the students are absorbed in their work in the environment of a game and the result is satisfactory. 2.2.8

Activating Students to Write

A 'Title' clams up the students, but a 'topic' activates them. If the only goal of asking the students to write on a title is to examine, test or inspect the students, then a topic expects that the students, through the comprehensive training in writing knowledge and the practice of the writing process, to make fiill use of their potentials, display their abilities, realize the key to writing and appreciate the charm of writing. Compared with a 'title', a 'topic' is more humane, moderate, friendly and affectionate. If all the students calm down and begin to meditate when the 'title' is declared, then they should predict the final score of this term using the 'law of moving aver-

142

Ll

age'. For almost the whole process adopts self-learning guided by teachers; therefore the students will not feel nervous and frightened but excited, happy, and full of challenges. See the following procedures of the class: 1) Briefly introduce the way to design a 'questionnaire'. 2) Briefly introduce the way to write a 'report of prediction'. 3) The two students sitting at the same desk should design a questionnaire. 4) Begin the investigation with the questionnaires among the classmates (meanwhile the class is somewhat in a mess but order still remains). 5) The two students sitting at the same desk begin to write the 'report of prediction'. 6) The teacher makes a summary at the end of the class (Li, 2001). In short, students learn to design 'questionnaires', investigate among classmates, summarize the results of the questionnaires, make diagrams of results, predict the scores and write a report of prediction, etc., all of which demand the students' actions. The 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' contains a lot of 'kits' for training concerned with various fields in daily life. Generally speaking, we can find that 'topic' is a brand new concept to teachers. It will thoroughly activate the solutions to the shortcomings of the ordinary methods of teaching composition and bring about a revolution in teaching compositions. The 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' is a set of systematic procedures of training and is supported by an entire set of theories, which will be put into the book entitled 'Topics - Comparison: The Training Procedures' to be published by Shanghai University Press.

3. EVALUATION OF THE THEORIES AND METHODS Professor Pan Xinhe of Fujian Normal University has made a precise evaluation of the reform in teaching method since the 1990s. The 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' established by Shanghai University brought a new life to writing teaching. There is no obvious definition of what The Method of Teaching Writing on Topics is, but it can demonstrate their pursuit for vivid and creative atmosphere. Every experimental attempt will lead the students to a new area in which they can have a deeper understanding of how to change their thoughts into words. They add discussions, games and life scenarios into the teaching of writing, encouraging the students to fully engage in the games. It arouses the students' enthusiasm to write in a light and harmonious atmosphere. Nearly all modern ideas and advanced experiences can be demonstrated in the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' (Pan, 1997). In the early 1990s, in the preface to the book 'The Tutorial of Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' published by the Chinese Language Press, the Chairman of Writing Committee and President of Shanghai Theatre College, famous prose writer Yu Qiuyu wrote: A capable teacher is a person who can realize what is in his mind in a series of operative exercises. The unique advantage of the book is that it requires all the students to fully engage in writing with a series of systematically designed exercises. And therefore they

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

143

can have a more profound understanding of those succinct writing theories. I think these exercises may be the most valuable part of this book.

He also wrote: These exercises not only pursue for a light atmosphere and for stimulating the students' interest, but also for a simulated situation in which they have to write according to the need of the society. In other words, to keep up with the changing society, the teaching methods have to be improved (Yu & Li, 1994: 2).

Since the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' was published in the Journal of Chinese Teaching in Secondary Schools of Capital Normal College, we have received letters from many teachers all over the country, giving their approvals to the new teaching method. For example, Mr. Li Peiyi, a teacher from Hua Mao Experimental School in Bao An District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, wrote that he tried hard to apply the new method in his school as the head of the teaching and researching group. In less than one semester, they had made a great progress. Both the enthusiasm of the teachers and that of the students were aroused and most of their compositions were published.

4. SUMMARY AND PROSPECTS OF FURTHER RESEARCH For many years, the teaching of writing in universities in Mainland China is disconnected with that in secondary and primary schools. The same situation persists in between secondary and primary schools, which wastes a lot of resources. The gap could be bridged when the more advanced teaching concept in universities is introduced to secondary and primary schools, which enhances the effect of the teaching of writing. According to The Standards of Chinese Teaching' published by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (2001), teachers have the obligation to consider students' conditions first and then provide topics that are not too difficult for them. Under this kind of regulations, teachers should also encourage the students to make up topics by themselves and what is more, they must give comments on students' compositions in oral form, written form or grading. Following these principles, there is no doubt that the new method will lead us to a new era in which we will take a revolutionary step to improve the current situation. APPENDIX I The number of words students produced per unit time reflects the speed of students in turning their thinking into words, and thereby demonstrates their ability to master words and express ideas. Table 1 to Table 6 below show the change in students' writing speed over one semester after applying the 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' (Primary First Grade to Sixth Grade). Table 7 and Table 8 show the change in the writing speed of the Second Grade students of Shi Jia School in Shanghai over thirteen weeks after applying the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics'. As seen in these two tables, students in each grade, after three months'

Ll

144

training, increased not only their mean number of words per article, but also their mean number of words per minute. To enhance the generalising ability of the primary students, they were required to set their own topics in the narrative compositions after each game. The teachers encouraged them to set not only more topics, but also good topics. The last column of Table 1 to Table 6 shows the number of topics set by the students. Table 1. The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' Applied in Qing Yang Primary School, Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province (Class One, the First Grade, Genre Narrative). Number of students (N), time in minutes, Number of words, sections and topics provided by students

Purpose

Game

A^

Time

Words

Sections

Topics

To learn how to observe To learn how to observe

Playing with water Eating something in class Idiom Imagination Changing texts into plays

32 32

30 35

114 102

1 1

5 8

32 32

30 45

121 198

2 4

14 10

To learn how to imagine To learn how to examine pictures carefully

Notes: After the game, all the topics are provided by the students. The more the better. Teacher: Zhuang Xiaodan, Sep-Dec 2002. Table 2. The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' Applied in Qing Yang Primary School, Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province (Class Two, the Second Grade, Genre Narrative). Number of students (N), time in minutes, Number of words, sections and topics provided by students

Purpose

Game

N

Time

To observe others' actions To write down one's feelings To listen to music To listen to others

Making face Blowing chicken feathers Going to concert Delivering words

32 43 32 43

40 40 45 35

Notes: Teacher: Heng Lijia, Sep - Dec 2002.

Words Sections Topics 128 159 164 239

2 3 2 3

6 9 14 15

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN MAINLAND CHINA

145

Table 3. The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' Applied in Qing Yang Primary School, Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province (Class One, the Third Grade, Genre Narrative). Number of students (N), time in minutes, Number of words, sections and topics provided by students

Purpose

Game

A^

Time

Words

The ability to observe

Colleting and observing leaves Keeping silent

38

40

128

4

1

38

4

246

4

8

Opuscule playing

34

40

187

2

3

Orange Restoring actions

37 38

40 40

153 306

2 3

3 13

A number-trap

33

40

514

4

7

Observe how to harness dolls

37

40

280

3

8

The ability to describe others' actions and gestures The ability to describe others' actions and gestures The ability to observe The ability to describe others' actions precisely Describe feelings, actions and scenery The ability to observe and imagine

Sections

Topics

Notes: Teacher: Fang Lili, Sep - Dec 2002. Table 4. The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' Applied in Qing Yang Primary School, Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province (Class One, the Fourth Grade, Genre Narrative). Number of students (N), time in minutes. Number of words, sections and topics provided by students

Purpose

Game

N

Time

Words

Sections

Topics

The ability to observe and operate The ability to imagine

Making framework

29

40

428

4

9

Going shopping in Carrifoure Guessing riddles Dribble with a spoon

24

45

853

5

10

32 30

50 40

610 489

7 5

15 9

The ability to observe The ability to observe and cooperate with others

Notes: Teacher: Lu Yunlin, Sep - Dec 2002.

146

Ll

Table 5. The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' Applied in Qing Yang Primary School, Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province (Class One, the Fifth Grade, Genre narrative). Number of students (N), time in minutes, Number of words, sections and topics provided by students

Purpose

Game

N

Time

Words Sections Topics

Make observations Change words into scenery Make imagination and describe somebody Making imagination and describe somebody

Playing dumb show Idiom films Who is he

38 38 38

40 40 45

542 538 589

8 9 10

12 23 15

Describing on his nicknames

38

35

521

8

12

Notes: Teacher: Wei Yan, Sep - Dec 2002. Table 6. The 'Method of Live Demonstration in Composition Teaching' Applied in Qing Yang Primary School, Wu Xi, Jiangsu Province (Class One, the Sixth Grade, Genre Narrative). Number of students (N), time in minutes, Number of words, sections and topics provided by students

Purpose

Game

N

Time

Words

Sections

Topics

Make observations as long as possible Learn to describe something Learn to describe something Learn to imagine and describe somebody

10 minutes teacher enters Rubber Thumb Who is he

45

35

614

8

1

45 45 45

35 35 35

640 632 732

9 12 12

2 5 8

Notes: Teacher: Hu Aiqi, Sep - Dec 2002.

INNOVATIONS OF TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN M A I N L A N D C H I N A

147

Table 7. The statistics of change in writing speed in 13 weeks after the 'Method of Teaching Writing on Topics' is applied to junior students in the Second Grade of Shi Jia School in Shanghai

Week

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Mean number of words per article

Mean time taken

Mean number of words per minute

585 834

45 41 53 36 46 42 31 35 29 43 23 34 43

13 20 19 23 25 21 24 24 26 23 27 26 25

1038

731 1132

920 749 828 756 1015

638 890 1082

Notes: Teacher: Hu Aiqi, Sep - Dec 2002.

Figure 1. The Visualized Version of Table 7.

I

i

I •g 20

EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH IN MODERN CHINESE PRACTICAL WRITING

CHENG KUN YU University of Shanghai,

China

Abstract. Since the 1980s, far-reaching changes have occurred in modern Chinese practical writing: a number of new genres have emerged and the functions of some genres have changed. These changes include: extension, restriction and diversification. There are a variety of reasons for these changes, such as political reform, development of a market economy and development of modern communication technology. These changes have attracted the close attention of experts, who have adopted advanced methods of analysis and research to examine closely the pattern of development. Keywords: international use of practical writing, modern technology, new genres, the achievements of the reforms

1. NEW GENRES SINCE THE 1980S Since the 1980s, a large number of new genres have emerged in political, economic and cultural discourse fields in China. Some are new, some were introduced into China and some have undergone a transformation. There were many of them, they were a novelty and were simple to apply. For example, in Mainland China, new genres, such as proposals, resolutions, opinions and minutes began to emerge in the bureaucracy. In management administration, some cadres used models in regulations, notices, mission statements, progress reports, duty statements and civil service examinations. Even before the handover and the establishment of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, these two regions had established their own systems for official documents, but since the handover, many new genres have emerged, with media switching from foreign languages to Chinese. Examples include circulars, minutes, memos and proposals. The emergence of these genres has aided the implementation of administrative reforms and enhanced administrative efficiency. In economic and cultural areas, there were only a small number of investigative reports before the Cultural Revolution. These included situation reports, reports on experience and investigative reports into problems. As the country changed from a

150

Yu

planned economy to a market economy, a large number of new genres emerged. In the course of attempts to raise management standards and implement efficient policies, different kinds of reports were developed, such as census reports, industrial surveys, area surveys, social development surveys, economic development surveys, market development surveys, business results, interim survey results, reporting results, assessment of tangible assets and intangible assets, assessment of employee qualifications, evaluation of construction proposals, market research, summary of market predictions and individual market research, clients' reports, supervisors' reports and feasibility reports. These reports exhibit a striking contrast with those of the past, when there were only a few kinds of investigative reports. The new genres were used in administration, in technological enterprises or in research. There were even more new genres in economics and trade. Whenever a foreign trader decided to invest in China and collaborate with a Chinese-based enterprise, a Sino-foreign joint venture documents would be generated, such as a Sino-foreign cooperation agreement, contract, proposal, quotation document, application form, documentary proof, curriculum vitae, employment contract, job application, franchise application, advertisement, internet trade document and new import or export invoice. If products were found to be counterfeit or to infringe copyright, investigations would have to be carried out in accordance with world trade regulations and an investigative report would need to be completed. Many written genres of this kind were not found in the planned economy. In the area of culture, there were many new genres, such as proposals for cultural activities, enterprise profiles, advertisements, sales and marketing brochures and publication. In everyday life, with increasingly advanced, convenient and diversified technology, many new media emerged. The development of new modes of communication resulted in a change in the form of a number of genres, such as telephone records, facsimiles, e-mails, mobile phone messages and electronic letters (which combine the characteristics of facsimiles, emails and letters). Although these were seldom utilized in the past, they have become very popular. 2.

CHANGES IN GENRES' FUNCTIONS

2.1 Diminishing use of certain genres The use of some genres has become less common and some genres have even disappeared. For instance, the notice as a genre was widely utilized in the past, but now it is seldom used in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan. It has lost its official status and its function has been superseded by the announcement. Telegrams and other forms of telecommunications were once popular modes within the business sector. These were quickly and conveniently adopted around the world during the 20^^ Century. However, they were not used in the business sector in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan. In Mainland China, except for those remote areas where communication technology is still underdeveloped, many in cities have stopped using the above modes.

EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH IN MODERN CHINESE PRACTICAL WRITING 151

2.2 The growth in use of other genres While the use of certain genres has become less common, the use of other genres has grown. Take the official letter for example. The destination of letters can be internal to the enterprise or external, i.e., between one enterprise and another. Internal destinations can be upward (from subordinates to superiors), level (between equals) or downward (from superiors to subordinates). Official letters in Mainland China usually assume an addressee equal in status but hierarchical and distant forms may also be used where appropriate. The extension in the use of official letters has largely superseded such genres as statement (no longer used), request, report and announcement. 2.3 Change in the use of certain genres In the course of commerce, a number of genres have been used in advertising and their function has therefore been altered. For instance, personal letters, invitations, newspaper editorials may be used in advertisements. 'Notice' was originally a general description for informative genres and did not exist as a separate text type. However, since the diversification in use in Hong Kong, it has been used by the Government to issue instructions. The original function of the announcement was to provide information. However, in Mainland China, it can be used for announcing personnel appointments and dismissals and for instructions. 2.4 Reform Initiatives It is not surprising that tremendous changes have taken place in the area of modern practical writing throughout these last ten years and that these changes have been influential on education. The first issue was to respond to the need for reform as a result of China opening up to the outside world and political transformation. Transformation of official administrative documents can mostly be interpreted as a direct reflection of political reforms, whether it was the introduction of the three-paragraph format in Taiwan in 1973, the bilingual format of official documents in the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, or the reform of official documents in Mainland China from 1987 to 1993, these transformations reflected political reform. The introduction of proposals and resolutions in the government in Mainland China also reflected political and democratic reform. A further issue was to respond to the need for the development of a market economy. After the implementation of policies opening Mainland China to the outside world, particularly as the country shifted from the planned economy to a marketoriented system, the function of the government was modified. There were significant changes in both personnel and enterprise management systems. A number of organizations emerged as a result, such as industrial unions, consumers' associations, different consultative organizations, human services organizations, training organizations, and research institutions. They adopted standardized formats for writ-

152

Yu

ten reports and other documents. After the establishment of a modernized enterprise system with a view to China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), with regard to policies, management, business operation, inspection and external trade a series of new and standardized documents was necessary for adapting to international markets and coordinating with international organizations. Examples include official circulars, notes of hearings, reports of listed companies, annual business reports and import and export invoices. By the time China joined the WTO, a consistent law was required to be enacted in Mainland China to conform to WTO requirements. Hence, the Chinese government implemented the 'Procedures for Administrative Law Enactment Ordinance' and the 'Procedures for Regulation Enactment Ordinance', which laid out the requirements and formats for the implementation of regulations. The State Council then revised up to 2300 relevant legal documents, of which 830 were abolished and 325 amended. Even more state laws and regulations were abolished. In mid-2002, 599 laws and regulations were revised in Shanghai, while 202 were abolished. Both the content and form of laws and regulations have been amended. The stock report can be taken as an example. In the past years, the China Securities Regulatory Commission published the 'Nos. 1 & 2 Report for the Contents and Formatting Style of Information Disclosure of Publicly Listed Companies'. It not only specifies legal responsibility for the disclosure of information, but also sets higher requirements for the quantity and quality of presentations. For example, as stated in article No. 13 of the 'Quarterly Statement relating to Special Restrictions regarding the Report's Contents and Format', the contents that can be disclosed have been listed in detail and the necessary format is specified. Apart from the above factors, the development of modern communication technology has also led to great changes to the format of modern practical texts. Facsimiles, e-mails and electronic networking save money, time and effort and hence are very popular. Some traditional formats have been abandoned altogether. Elements such as the recipient's name, signature and greetings are being omitted and language use has changed. 3.

THE CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH INTO MODERN CHINESE PRACTICAL WRITING

The rapid changes in practical writing have aroused the attention of many scholars in the disciplines of research into writing and linguistics. 3.1 International seminars on modern practical writing and their achievements Since 1994, seven international conferences have been held in Shanghai, Wuhan, Ningbo, Hong Kong and Macau. In addition, many local seminars were held in Macau and Inner Mongolia. Ideas and opinions on the system, genre, teaching and research methods have been exchanged among scholars. Recommendations have also been made on research and teaching. Significant progress was achieved. As commissioned by the first international conference, Fudan University Press published several books on modern practical writing, edited by Pei Xian-sheng and

EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH IN MODERN CHINESE PRACTICAL WRITING 153

Zhang Ren-yu, including: 'Curriculum for Modern Practical Writing' (edited by Yu Cheng-kun), 'Standardized Chinese Administrative Documents' (edited by Li Xiaohua), 'International Investment Writing' (edited by Yu Guo-rui) and 'Dictionary of Vocabulary used in Administrative Documents' (edited by Wang Zhi-bin). In addition, the Jiaotong University Press has published books on commonly used practical texts, edited by Yu Cheng-kun. These, including 'Administrative Documents', 'Judicial Documents', 'Trading Documents' and 'Domestic Documents', have been w^ell received. 'Curriculum for Modern Practical Writing' w^as even classified as a 'first class book' by the Chinese Writing Association. More than 70,000 copies of the first edition were printed and it vs^as later revised and re-issued. A collection of papers was published after each international conference, which concentrated on one or two themes in a real life situation. Leaving behind traditional approaches, the discussions were very fruitful. 3.2 Theoretical research into practical writing Theoretical research into practical writing has undergone significant development. In the past, this research was based on teaching materials and focused on the explanation of concepts and introduction to a format. Recently, important theoretical questions have been identified. The extent of research on the depth and scope of theories has been unprecedented. For instance, in 'Notes and Explanations on Wen Xin Diao Long' by Wang Zhi-bin, three important articles were published based on new perspectives on theories of creativity, on genre and on criticism. In the summer of 1999, a seminar, held in Inner Mongolia, was well received by the participants who all found the format and examples in the book novel. The book not only brought new ideas to academic researchers, but also provided a historical reference point to the analysis and development of modern practical writing. Furthermore, the framework for the theories was established. 'Methodology and Writing System of Economies', edited by Guo Zhang-cai and Yu Guo-rui, focuses on the analysis of the functions and structure of 430 genres in the field of economics. The text contains more than 1,800,000 words; a substantial analysis. 'Computer Writing' is a new publication from Jin Zhen-bang, whose previous publications include a genre dictionary, a dictionary of writing techniques and a work on genre studies. This is the earliest systematic teaching resource on computer writing in China. 'Bibliography of Modern Practical Writing Reference Books', by Lee Hok-ming of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, has offered a clear definition and detailed description of publications on modern practical writing. The civil service training materials: 'Teaching Curriculum for Chinese Official Writing' edited by Li Xiang-yu of the Macau Polytechnic Institute, is the first instruction manual for writing official documents in Macau and has provided a reference on writing official documents for the Macau government. The above publications investigate writing theories and genres of modern practical writing from different perspectives and have been welcomed.

154

YU

3.3 Breakthroughs in methods of analysis Two errors should be avoided in research on practical writing. The first is adopting Western concepts and building an individual writing theory rather than building a theory from elements of the actual situation. The second is merely addressing superficial issues by focusing on the presentation of the format of the text type, rather than generating a more sophisticated theoretical framework. In recent years, there has been a breakthrough in writing research methodology. The two errors noted above were eradicated and new directions have emerged. Three new trends in research and analysis are presented here. 3.3,1 Application by Mark Shiu-kee Shum of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to research on practical writing Mark Shum, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong, has applied the theory of SFL, developed by Professor M.A.K. Halliday, to the research on Chinese practical writing. He has drawn material from the extensive body of SFL studies of Chinese language carried out during the past quarter of a century, both in China and elsewhere, as well as from the work of leading Chinese grammarians. Using this as a base, he has presented a functional analysis of the Chinese clause and applied system to the analysis of different types of text (Halliday, 2003, in Shum, 2003: ix). Shum believes, as Halliday, that language is a social process. When people communicate, they use the most appropriate language to express their ideas and give responses. Language is a system. As an individual resource, it exists in a networking system in the mind, selecting language. Language is fiinctional, comprising three metaflinctions: ideational metafunction, interpersonal metaftmction and textual metafunction. Hence, much importance is given to the analysis of situational and cultural contexts in which language is used. In his analysis of Chinese practical writing, Shum has linked text firmly with context. His analysis of the context of a text includes the following aspects: • Background: The surrounding environments in which the text unfolds, including historical, cultural, economic, political and social contexts and the direct motive in generating the text; • Aim: Social function, purpose, objective and intention; • Writer and Audience: Relationship between writer and reader, in terms of status, contact and degree of intimacy; • Writing strategy: Method, perspective and ways of structuring the text to cope with the context; • Genre: The text type used to realize meaning; • Discourse form: The media used, the format of the text; • Common wordings: Common terminology and language features exhibited in this particular text; • Social impact: The social impact and implications of the text. Shum applied SFL theory in research into various aspects of Chinese language education (Shum, Tse, Yu & Ki, 2002; Shum, 2003; Shum, Tse, Yu & Ki, 2004; Shum,

EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH IN MODERN CHINESE PRACTICAL WRITING 155

2005). His publications include: Analysis of the language use of secondary school students in Hong Kong, focusing on subject specific genres; analysis of Chinese practical writing in Hong Kong and Mainland China; research into peer evaluation of composition of students in Hong Kong and Shanghai; research into the theory and practice of peer checklist evaluation of Chinese composition; and research into the language features of report writing and modern letter writing. 3.3.2 Shek-Kam Tse's Application of the Theory of Communication to the analysis of modern practical writing Shek-Kam Tse is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong conducting theoretical research in communication. Communication became a subject of concern to researchers in the 1970s. Their focus has been to analyze how people establish relationships through communication with other individuals, with groups and with society as a whole, to achieve their objectives of spreading information, exchanging ideas and achieving preservation of knowledge. The study of written communication focuses on the processes of written communication, and the following factors are taken into consideration: Background: Including environment, history and psychology; Agreement: Rules of communication; Message: Ideas, emotions, views, knowledge, information; Medium: The text; Disturbances: Factors which hinder communication, such as inappropriate words, incorrect sentences; Feedback: Responses after presentation of a text; Gatekeepers: Editors, three tier judgment system and review bodies. Tse applied this theory in the following publications: * Communication and the Teaching of Writing', 'Error Analysis of Examination Questions and the Expression of meaning' and 'Research and Application on Official Documents in China Mainland' (Tse, Shum, Miao & Ki, 2001; Tse, Shum, Ki & Yu, 2004). These works constitute a significant trial of the analytical framework based on communication theories as applied to modern practical writing. 3.3.3 Guo-rui Yu's application of a Functional Theory of Text Structure to analyse modern practical writing Guo-rui Yu is a professor at the Central China University of Agriculture. He is a theorist who has developed a functional theory of text structure. The theory proposes an analytical framework that includes text structure, purpose and language selection. The core of the theory embraces: • Essential elements: Intention, purpose, objective; • Procedure: Serialization, in sequential order; • Rules: Rules, specifications, requirements; • Format: Style, system, pattern and structural pattern;

156

Yu

•

Internal Structure: the construction of internal organization, the internal relationship among the materials; • Language requirement: Conforming to the language context. Yu made use of the above theory in devising teaching strategies (Yu, 2000; Yu & Peng, 2002). His publications included 'Writing Methodology and System of Economies', 'Writing Guide for International Investment Documents' and Teaching Materials for Writing in Economies'. 4.

CONCLUSION

This chapter has reported on some effective research tools for investigating practical writing. It is hoped that further innovative approaches will be developed and promoted so that that teaching and research on modern practical writing are further enhanced. Modern practical writing is a product of contemporary politics and economics. A highly socialized, internationalized, free economy with modern communications has led to the emergence of new genres of modern practical writing, different from those existing in small agricultural economies. The international use of practical writing, bilingualism and modern technology have aroused attention, especially among entrepreneurs and the young. The latter will make use of their writing skills, foreign language proficiency and information technology to find jobs, so that modern practical writing is popular among them. Thus, modern practical writing can be a critical link to a new century with job security. Practical writing has been widely used and attention should be paid to its development.

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION ON THE TEACHING REFORM IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

GUO RUIYU Huazhong University of Agriculture,

China

Abstract. This chapter briefly introduces the content and resuhs of two research topics that have been going on and completed by the author since the late 1980s with respect to the teaching reform in university writing. After an exploration for more than ten years, a new and more extensive framework of writing has been established with systemic theory as the guide for syllabus renewal. For the reform in teaching methods, with a change of the concept of education as the precursor, the situation in which students are willing to learn and teachers willing to teach has basically been brought about by adopting new teaching and examining methods. Pilot tests made in different schools show that, despite the existence of quite a few problems in the new writing theories and teaching methods, the effect is good and the orientation is correct. Keywords: Teaching of university writing, writing theories, teaching methods, teaching reform

1.

INTRODUCTION

Since the 1980s, we have undertaken two research topics with respect to the teaching reform in university writing that has taken more than ten years. One of the two topics is "The Theory of Applied Writing and Its Application in Teaching" and the other, "An Investigation on the Teaching Reform in University Practical Writing". The former is a topic at the provincial level that won the second award for achievements in teaching of Hubei Province in 1997 while the latter is a topic that has been included in the national "Plan for Reform in Course Content and the System of Syllabus of Higher Education Oriented to the 21^^ Century". Beginning in 1995 and through the certification by experts organized by the Ministry of Education, one of the achievements, namely, "Practical Writing" was listed as one of the "Textbooks of Courses Oriented to the 21^^ Century" examined and approved by the Ministry of Education and published by the Higher Education Press in 2002. To popularize the research achievements of the topic, the Ministry of Education entrusted us to sponsor two sessions of "Seminar for Backbone Teachers of Practical Writing in China's Institutions of Higher Education" in the same year. This chapter is meant to make a

158

Yu

brief analysis and explanation of the background, contents and achievements of the two topics. 2.

BACKGROUND AND LINE OF THOUGHT OF THE PIEFORM

With the advent of intellectual economy, the relationship between people and writing is becoming closer and closer. However, in sharp contrast to such a social demand, the writing ability of college students is continuously lowering. In the mid1990s, we conducted a series of tests on the proficiency of the Chinese language of 4287 college students in 11 institutions of higher education in China. The tests covered six aspects, namely, pronunciation, diction, vocabulary, grammar, logic and rhetorical devices, and writing. The overall average passing rate was 26.1%. For diction, vocabulary and grammar, the average passing rate was 31%, which was much higher than the rate of the other three aspects while the passing rate of writing was only 19%, which was the lowest. The writing test was designed mainly to examine students' knowledge of and ability in practical writing. In the test, students were asked to write an official letter based on a given context and some materials. However, only few students could correctly grasp their 'role and position'. The content and form of their letters were mostly casual and inappropriate in tone (Yu, 2000). That is precisely why since China's opening up to the outside world institutions of higher education in China have been very active in offering courses in writing and listed enhancing the knowledge of and ability in practical writing as the main contents of teaching. Nevertheless, offering writing courses is not tantamount to raising the writing ability of students. Some investigations show that, in a certain institution of higher education, students who took the course of practical writings and those who did not were scarcely different from each other in their level of practical writing ability. According to the test results, the difference in the average passing rate was only 2% (Shen, 1998) and the difference is mainly due to their knowledge, not ability. There are many reasons for this and we believe that the most important one is that teaching itself is seriously divorced from reality. 2.1 The Syllabus Seriously Divorcedfrom Reality To make clear the discrepancy between the syllabus and the actual situation, we conducted a research on an actual economic topic in the late 1980s. The research proceeded in depth and breadth and on a fairly large scale for over a year. It was found from the well nigh 1,000 different styles of writings on economics and an allround investigation on the process, manner and method of writing in different economics departments that writing on economics was a very complicated, open and large system. Many of the actual writing situations are simply impossible to explain using the traditional theory of 'Ba Da Kuai' (Eight Big Blocks) or the modern 'theory of the writing process'. 'Ba Da Kuai' is a popular expression for the static 'theory of textual analysis'. This type of writing theory divides textual analysis into eight components: Theme, topic, mode of expression, structure, language, style, revision and literary form. According to our investigation, it is very difficult to explain

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF TEACHING REFORMS IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

159

certain phenomena in actual writing situations using this theory. For instance, the above w^riting theory holds that the 'theme' is the commander and soul of an article vs^hile the theme, in turn, represents the author's views and opinions expressed by certain materials. But this is not the reality. What plays the commanding role in writing is not the theme, but the purpose of writing or its function. In actual writing activities, many articles do not have a theme as described in traditional writing studies. For instance, in 'investigation notes', the author's perspective and opinions are not permissible and there should only be completely objective records and representations. Such a kind of notes is an important literary form in auditing. The actual situation is also somewhat different from what is discussed in the modern 'theory of writing process' and is known as the 'abstract theory of process' which, instead of discussing the importance of the purpose of writing, places special emphasis on the socalled concept of 'dual transformation', asserting that writing is a transformation process from 'object' to 'meaning', and then from 'meaning' to 'text'. However, the actual situation is not so either. Writing is in fact purpose-centered and involves the interplay of the context, fiinction and structure of a text; and their ever-evolving process. We have also found from our investigation that a large number of texts from practical writings were not 'articles' but 'diagrams'. Such a kind of diagrammatic texts is not taught as a literary form in both traditional 'theory of textual analysis' and the modern 'theory of writing process'. In addition, none of the questions like the complexity and diversity of the subject of practical writings and the standardization of writing activities and literary forms, can be easily explained using the existing writing theories. 2.2 The Teaching Method Seriously Divorcedfrom Reality For a long period of time, a guiding thinking has been dominant in the teaching of writing in universities, secondary and primary schools in our country that regards the writing course as an instrumental course. Such a mentality is considerably lopsided. Guided by such an ideology, it is inevitable to stress the form at the sacrifice of contents. Despite its instrumental nature, writing is in essence a way of existence of man as man. The writing course is first of all a course of the humanities rather than an instrumental one. Therefore, the focus of attention for teaching should not be its instrumentality, but its humanistic character. The lop-sidedness of the "theory of instrument" is manifested as two undesirable tendencies in teaching. One regards the writing theory as dogmas, thinking that by grasping these dogmas through instructions and drills one would be enabled to write. The other denies that there is a theory of practical writing and is of the opinion that if only the format is known by students, then they would be able to copy. Both tendencies are divorced from the reality of writing and students' actual conditions and are bound to lead to the situation in which the teacher would become the focus of attention that regards students as passive objects that receive education or spoon-feeds or trains students without an aim. The result would be that students have no interest in learning and teachers no interest in teaching. To remedy such a situation, we suggest here a renewal of the course content and a reform in the teaching method by strengthening the role of quality education so as to

160

Yu

enhance the teaching quality and efficiency in an all-round way. In brief, the underlying principle is to strengthen the role of quality education as the gist. It is believed that the writing course is neither a purely theoretical course nor one of purely practical use of skills. It is a course of 'humanistic qualities'. There is no doubt that the missions of a writing course are to enable students to have a mastery of the knowledge of writing and to enhance their writing skills. Yet, these are not the underlying objectives of the writing course. Instead, the fundamental aim is to integrate writing knowledge and skills with human development in all other aspects so that the knowledge can be internalized as a basic character of human existence and development. This is what we call quality.

3. EXPLORATION OF THE RENEWAL OF THE SYLLABUS 3.1 Taking the Road of Systemic Theory Research To renew the syllabus of the writing course, the fundamental mission is to establish a system of writing theories that can better reflect the actual writing activities. Since the 1980s, important achievements in this respect in the writing circles of our country have been obtained, the most outstanding of which being the transformation of traditional 'theory of textual analysis' into the modern 'theory of the writing process'. The essence of the transformation lies in widening the vision of the theory from the article itself to the 'writing process' beyond the article, investigating writing as a genuinely mental productive activity. Unfortunately, the 'process' as mentioned in the 'theory of the writing process' is an abstract process divorced from the purpose in writing and context. Influenced by this theory, the same training package of observation, thinking, imagination and the ability of expression was once in vogue in China's universities, and secondary and primary schools. As a result, the writing course became a course of thinking. Thus, many rational ideas of the traditional 'theory of textual analysis' were abandoned. Is there a way to avoid the lop-sided view and unify the rich dialectic thinking of ancient Chinese writing theories and the theory of 'Ba Da Kuai' which is rich in analytical spirit with the 'theory of the writing process'? We believe there is, that is, taking the road of systemic theory research. Since 1980s, the advent and development of the research on the function of writing, which focuses on the systemic function, has been a new trend in the development of the writing theory. This theory of using systemic theory in research on writing is called 'Systemic Functional Writing Theory'. Since the birth of systemic theory, it has become not only a thinking tool of natural disciplines, but also one for the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The ancient disciplines in the humanities were incorporated into philosophy and theology. Despite the fact that its method of cognition contains simple dialectic thinking, it is distinctly fuzzy and non-scientific. Hence, various disciplines in the humanities have entered into their period of disintegrated and isolated development. These disciplines stressed the methods of analysis and reduction, which have played a big role in promoting the development of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. However, this type of metaphysical thinking pattern, in turn, has hindered the development of the humanities and social sciences disciplines. By the 20^^ cen-

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF TEACHING REFORMS IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

161

tury, as is the case of natural sciences, the humanities and social sciences reembarked on the road of becoming integrated, systematic and comprehensive on the basis of analysis, embodying the trend of "return to dialectic thinking" predicted by Engels. Such return did not mean duplicating the dialectic thinking in ancient times. Just as said by some scholars, ' the trend of integrated development of contemporary humanities and social sciences is different from the first phase of development of the humanities disciplines, which has the integral feature of general, intuitive, dialectic and vague structural relationships. Rather, it was established on the foundation of large-scale and intensive separation of researches on different specific disciplines. And it is mutually complementary to the steady separation of different disciplines and the trend of steady specialization of the understanding of its various facets. Hence, a higher level of integration and unification is achieved.'(Ou, 2001).

This is the basic feature of the research on contemporary humanities: the systematic and dialectic character. Nowadays, the systemic theory 'has found wide and successful application in nearly all research fields and serves as an effective tool for researchers on different complicated subjects engulfing extensive scopes and long duration, promoting a great transition once again in human thinking, leading to revolutionary modem transformations in the development of humanities and social sciences and becoming the major mark of the new scientific era (Ou, 2001).

Writing is a humanistic discipline and it is a historic inevitability to take the road of systemic theory research. In the late 1980s of the last century, after discovering all kinds of problems arising from the serious divorce of existing writing theories from reality based on extensive in-depth investigations, we made an attempt to find a way to unify the simple dialectic thinking of the writing theories in ancient times with modern and contemporary writing theories that stress analysis. Therefore we started to apply the systemic theory to explore a new approach which could incorporate the simple dialectic thinking into other types of modern writing theories. Beginning with a study of practical writing, we proposed a new framework of writing theory for the first time which we chose to call "function - structure" in the booklet 'System and Skills of Writing on the Topic of Economics' published in 1991. The nuclear idea of the systemic theory is the idea of interconnection between function, structure and environment. The three concepts can most accurately and comprehensively generalize the basic essentials of the system of writing activities. These essentials can explain the three critical questions of 'why to write', 'what to write about' and 'how to write'. By using these elements to construct the framework of writing studies, the horizon can be broadened. As a result, the rational contents of all types of writing theories can be integrated and the theories of practical writing and literary writing can be unified. For instance, literary and practical writings have different fiinctions. While the former is against standardization, practical writing asks for standardization. One advantage of this theory is that it emphasizes the leading role of purpose in writing, which makes it more apprehensible for actual writing activities. In 1991, we introduced the preliminary framework of this theory in 'System and Skills of Writing on the Topic of Economies', 'Writing Methodology on Economies', etc. Meanwhile, research on the application of writing theories in teaching started.

162

Yu

3.2 Incorporating Research Results of the Relevant Disciplines In 1995, after undertaking the research topic Teaching Reform in Practical Writing' approved by the Ministry of Education, we learned from and assimilated the research results of some other disciplines in a big way while continuing to go deeper into the investigation on practical writing using the systemic theory, the greatest part of research results learned and assimilated being those of modern linguistics. Linguistics is a discipline of the humanities that made brilliant achievements in the 20* century and one of the disciplines that applied the systemic theory most successfiilly. It was the father of modern linguistics, de Saussure (1959), who introduced the systemic theory into linguistics research for the first time at the beginning of the last century. He believed that language is a symbolic system and 'everything is based on relationship.' Following his steps, scholars of structuralistic linguistics focused on researches in the relationships among different essentials within the system and made great achievements in the research on language forms. However, the relationship between language system and the environment was ignored and research on language meanings was also excluded. In contrast, the Prague's school of thought, which emerged after structuralistic linguistics, objected to making purely static analysis of language form as is done in structuralistic linguistics. Instead, they advocated language analysis as a 'changing system', emphasizing that it is important to pay attention to the purpose in using language and its function while investigating the structure. They were called the school of'structural fiinctionalism'. In the 1960s, the British linguist Halliday developed the theory of structural-functional linguistics. He regarded language as a social behavior and started a comprehensive research on three major elements in the language system, namely, context, function and structure. Then in the 1980s, he established a fairly complete system of 'Systemic Functional Linguistics'. This theory believes that language has three major characteristics. The first characteristic is that language is a system. Halliday believes that language, being a personal resource, is a systemic network existing inside a person's mind. This systemic network provides choices of different uses of language. When a person wants to express a certain idea or emotion in different situations, he or she will extract information from his or her own mind, and choose the language which is appropriate to express the idea or emotion according to the situation. The second characteristic is that language is fiinctional. Language has three major metafunctions. Ideational metafunction helps one to grasp the surroundings and build up experience. Interpersonal metafunction makes one to build up a social relationship with others, which means that language can reflect the social status and how close the relationship is between the speaker and the audience. The third metafunction is textual metafiinction. Its function is to transform the above two metafunctions into a complete text to make the language coherent and suit the requirement of the context. The third characteristic is that language is a social process (Shum, 2003: 4-5), the theory of which is in agreement with the writing theory of "function—structure" conceived by us in many aspects. Halliday's researches on the relationship between language context, function and structure merit further study. Nevertheless, it is no easy job to apply the research results of linguistics to the research on writing theories because the object of research for linguistics is up to now mainly the sentence.

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF TEACHING REFORMS IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

163

Although Halliday advocated shifting the research focus to the textual discourse, vy^hat he meant by discourse is not tantamount to the article or the text studied by the theory of vy^riting. On the other hand, for Systemic Functional Linguistics and studies of language use, etc., sentences and dialogues are mainly regarded as the major objects of research at present. This is because too complicated factors and great difficulties are involved when articles or texts are the research objects. For the study of vs^riting, one simply has to take an article or a text as the major research object. The area concerned has to be more macroscopic and broader than that of linguistics research. In addition, the foundation of ancient and modern w^riting theories cannot be abandoned v^hile one can only selectively incorporate the research results of linguistics and some other related disciplines into this foundation, which is where the difficulty lies. The best way to overcome the above difficulty is to make an all-round and deep-going investigation on the writing activity and the interconnection between the context, function and structure of its product with the systemic theory as a guide, and combine the static textual analysis with the dynamic research of process, so as to enable the writing theory to possess an even stronger generality and a wider adaptability than the linguistic theory. 3.3 Basic Framework of New Writing Theories After carrying out researches for many years, we have preliminarily constructed a more general framework of writing theories. Figure 1 briefly outlines this theoretical framework. The above theoretical framework has several major characteristics. First, it embodies the basic idea of the composition and evolution of the writing system. For instance, such nuclear concepts as the three major essentials of textual theory and the evolution mechanism of the process theory all come from the systemic theory. Secondly, the ancient writing theory that stresses the whole, the article analyzing theory that stresses textual analysis, and the theory of the writing process that stresses process analysis are unified. All of the rational contents in these theories are included in this framework. The difference between the traditional theory of textual analysis and the modern theory of writing process is that the former only talks about textual structure and neglects context, function and structure of diagrammatic texts while the latter only talks about phases and methods of writing and neglects purposes of writing, and the adaptation and interaction between the essential elements of writing. Thirdly, some of the research results of linguistics have been incorporated, especially those of Systemic Functional Linguistics, e.g., the division between non-verbal and verbal contexts, the division between the function of knowing and acting, the division between the interpersonal function and discourse function, and the division between theme and rheme, known and unknown information, and conjunction and coherence. Fourthly, research results of some other disciplines have also been incorporated, such as, "explicit statement and metaphor' are incorporated into the theory of language use and metaphor, and the theories of need, of purpose, of interaction, and of adaptation are incorporated into the theory of psychology and sociology.

164

YU Figure 1. Basic Framework of New Writing Theories. Theory ofte xtual context

Textual theory

Writing process theory

Theory of textual function

Theory of textual structure

Nonlanguage context

Language context

Content function

Format function (Textual metaflinction)

Form

Writing target Writing subject Writing space Cultural background

Textual language context Language context within the text

Function of knowing and doing Interpersonal metafijnction

Subject and narrative Known and unknown information Explicit illustration and metaphor Conjunction and coherence

Literary style Textual structure Genre of an article Textual structure of a diagram

Theory of stages in the writing process

Methodology of writing process

Theory of the mechanism of| writing process Needs and objectives Adaptation and interaction

Preparation stage Drafting stage Revision stage

Textual structure

Writing strategies Writing methods Writing skills

On the whole, the most significant characteristic of the new theory is its integrated character, or dialectic character, to be more exact. There is one thing of this dialectic character that cannot be represented in the above figure, that is, its relativity and evolutional character. All its concepts are relative and can be interchanged under certain circumstances. For instance, function can change into structure and vice versa. This is the greatest difference between it and other new writing theories. For space reasons, we are unable to explore this aspect in detail. 4. EXPLORATION OF THE REFORM IN THE TEACHING METHOD The key to raising the quality and efficiency of teaching the writing course in an allround way is to reform teaching method. Otherwise, nothing can be improved no matter how good the syllabus may be. Whether the method is appropriate or not is reflected in whether the students are interested in learning and the teacher in teaching. If so, then it is a proof that the initiative of both teacher and students has been brought into play. To attain this, the teaching concept has to be transformed by focusing on teaching through activities and training in capability. Open, fair and impartial assessment methods should be adopted while modernizing the means of teaching step by step.

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF TEACHING REFORMS IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

165

4.1 Changes of Teaching Concept First, the concept of regarding the writing course as an instrument should be changed so that it is treated as a course in the humanities and quality development and it vs^ill organically unify vs^ith the fostering of the all-round development of sound personality and lofty emotions of a person as w^ell as creative capability of innovation with the improvement of the writing capability. Secondly, the teachercentered concept should be changed. The concept that students are the centre and the subject in teaching while the teacher will play the role of a guide should be cultivated in real earnest. Thirdly, the lop-sided viewpoint of looking down upon practice or theory should be replaced by the dialectic viewpoint of combining theory with practice. It is obviously inappropriate to overlook the practicality and technical know-how of the writing course and regard it as a general theoretical course. However, it is equally wrong to only emphasize the so-called practicality while negating the knowledge and theoretical aspects of the discipline of writing. 4.2 Stressing the Method of Teaching through Activities The method of teaching through activities is a method of teaching writing mainly through activities both in and outside of the classroom. 'Activities' here refer to different kinds of interactive learning activities in which students can directly participate. These activities are characterized by teamwork, participation, interaction, situation, cooperation, and exploration. Commonly used methods include classroom discussion, case analysis, made situations, and competitive training. Classroom discussion is meant to be a way of teaching in which students are asked to hold a discussion on a certain topic and is subdivided into group discussions, whole class discussion, and debates which are mainly used by students for analysis and understanding of theoretical knowledge. Case analysis is a teaching method in which a case can be provided either by the teacher or found by the students themselves for discussion and training depending on the teacher's requirements. Unlike a sample text, a case is a real life example of writing activity involving the writing process and background knowledge. Hence it is particularly applicable to the integrated analysis of such essentials as the context, function, and structure. The method of making a situation refers to developing the relevant situation by the teacher or students organized by the teacher according to the specific content of the course so as to enable the students to take part in the situation, acting as the relevant character related to the writing activity for the fulfillment of a definite learning and training task. The situation developed is mainly a virtual one, such as a press conference, at which students may act as press briefers or journalists and complete their missions of learning news report writing and improving the ability to write news reports, while the competitive training is a way of teaching very much like the actual situation, e.g., having students select a topic on their own and gather materials and make investigations, based on which a report of inspection, paper or popular science work of definite practical significance should be written. The method of teaching through activities also includes guiding students to engage in specific writing activities and complete specific writing missions during extracurricular time.

166

Yu

4.3 Focusing on Training in Capability People hold different views towards training in capability even today. Some believe that writing should be regarded as a discipline, the chief mission of which can only be to learn and master the theoretical knowledge of writing within a limited number of class hours and the aim in training is also mainly to understand and grasp the knowledge. According to them, it is not practical to regard training in skill as the main task of the writing course, the result of which is not only that it is impossible to effectively raise the students' writing capability, but also that the necessary theory and method cannot be learned well. Though it is not completely without reason, it does not give the whole picture. We believe that precisely because only very few class hours are allotted, we are obliged to enable students to learn how to understand the true meaning of writing through the writing activities. Within a prescribed study period, what is of the utmost importance is to enable students to be clear about the method to enhance his or her writing capability and how to improve the writing know-how and writing capability and how to creatively acquire the knowledge. To attain these objectives, it is necessary to get hold of the focus on capability development so as to promote students' understanding of writing know-how from abstract to specific. To be able to take capability development as the centre, it is indispensable to carefully design the training system and include capability training as the basic content of teaching in the textbook. This is exactly what we have tried to do in the textbook 'Practical Writing', In the practice of capability training, the main points should be stressed at the sacrifice of some other points. So long as the training method is appropriate, students' writing skills will be enhanced within a prescribed period of time. More importantly, through skill training activities, students are given more opportunities to understand the writing theories and methods which do suit the practical requirements based on their own experience, paving a good foundation for learning in the future. 4.4 Reform in the Method of Assessment We are of the opinion that a scientific assessment should be a student-oriented interactive process, with the teacher playing the role of a guide and taking full-scale assessment of the whole teaching process. Besides, the checking of teaching effect should be combined with the assessment of students' learning outcome so that assessment can also become a teaching motive. In addition, the assessment should be an open, fair and impartial one of students' attitude toward study, ability of study, and actual level, and the results of which should be helpful to stimulating students to continue to work hard. What we have so far done is as follows: First, we divide the class into a number of groups (each made up of 5 to 7 people). These groups are the grassroot units of both study and assessment. In addition, an examination panel is set up in the class which is formed by the study committee members and all the group leaders. This is the organizational structure of assessment. Secondly, the assessment content should be designed carefully. We have designed a set of "Comprehensive Assessment Records of Students' Achievements in Writing Lessons", which includes the performance of students in different stages of study, their attitude toward

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF TEACHING REFORMS IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

167

study and method of study, and the evaluation by the teacher, classmates and all quarters of society. The record sheets were kept and completed by the group leaders and examined by the study committee members. Some sheets were completed by the students themselves and then submitted to the group leaders for assessment and filing. Thirdly, the class assessment panel will finally provide overall comments and the results of assessment. It is the teacher's duty to guide, supervise and participate throughout the whole process. In the event the teacher thinks differently from students, he or she should persuade them with facts and reasons. As it is, such method can help encourage students to study and make scientific and rational comments on their performance. 4.5 Making full Use of Modern Means of Teaching This is also an important mission of the reform in the teaching method. The use of computers and the Internet can greatly help compile and store academic references and information, build database and multimedia materials for students' training. First, more updated knowledge can be provided to students. Secondly, teaching can be made more graphic, intuitive and vivid. Thirdly, it is conducive to the standardization of teaching and assessment. Fourthly, students' learning horizon will be widened as they can learn through the Internet anytime. 5.

EFFECTS AND PROBLEMS OF THE REFORM

5.7 Effects and Evaluation In the research on the two topics, we attach great importance to examine the effects by test teaching, identifying the problems and constantly improving. Below is the relevant information about the comparative tests conducted in two universities. The first comparative test was conducted in Huazhong University of Agriculture. The objects tested were 857 sophomores and juniors. In the test lasted for three teaching cycles, each consisting of 40 class hours. The purpose of the test was to examine the effects of the new writing theories and teaching method. For each cycle, there is a test class A plus two comparative classes B and C. Class A adopted new writing theories and teaching method; Class B adopted the theory of 'Ba Da Kuai' and conventional teaching and exercise; Class C adopted the teaching method of 'format with sample texts'. The test was a closed one without the students knowing that it was a test. In the end, the results were assessed according to an overall test. Table 1 shows the comparative values of the tests between Classes A, B and C. The second test was conducted in Hunan University of Agriculture. The content and format of the test were the same as those of the first test, the only difference being that in this test, the test class was known as Class C. While the comparative Class A adopted the theory of 'Ba Da Kuai' and the conventional teaching method, the comparative Class B adopted the teaching method of 'format with sample texts'. Table 2 shows the results of this test.

168

Yu

Table 1. Comparison of the Test Results between Testing Class and Comparative Classes in Huazhong University of Agriculture (Yu & Peng, 2002)

Classes compared

A vsB A vsC

Mean Deducted Marks of the Whole Class

-5.5 -3.0

Mean Total Marks

+ 5.6 + 3.0

Failing Rate (%)

Low-Mark Group (%)

Mean and Outstanding Groups (%)

-7.3 -7.0

-6.1 -4.1

+ 10.4 -11.1

Table 2. Comparison of the Test Results between Testing Class and Comparative Classes in Hunan University of Agriculture (Rao, 1999)

Classes compared

CvsA CvsB

Mean Total Marks

+ 6.0 + 8.7

Outstanding Group (%)

+ 21.1 + 24.9

Average Group (%)

-2.0 + 0.3

Passing Rate (%)

-11.9 -17.3

Failing Rate (%)

-7.1 -7.9

Experts have praised both research topics. Early in the 1990s, when the booklet 'Writing on Economic Topics: System and Skills' was published, a famous economics professor Xu Yi commented that a "concise practical theoretical system" in fairly good conformity to the reality of writings on economic topics has been established on the basis of a comprehensive collection and arrangement of writings on economics from the systemic theory point of view and that it 'is a very great contribution' and 'has provided the conditions for the modernization of writing on economic topics, dissemination of knowledge of writing on economic topics, enhancement of the capability of economic workers especially in the wider application of the computer in writing on economic topics'. In 2002, Professor Pei Xiansheng, Chairman of 'Chinese Writing Society', pointed out in his preface to 'Practical Writing' that 'it should be said that, the "systemic theory on writing" have extensively absorbed the traditional and modern writing theories and also the research results of many disciplines such as linguistics, communication studies and sociology. There is a great breakthrough in the learning and understanding stages. In the process of solving the problems that exist in practical writings and teaching, the foundation of the theory has been established and is becoming more mature. I believe that it is a creative and brand new theory which comes after the theory of textual analysis (commonly known as the theory of "Ba Da Kuai") and the "theory of writing process" '.

A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF TEACHING REFORMS IN UNIVERSITY WRITING

169

5.2 Existing Problems As our exploration of reform in the university writing course is preliminary and tentative, it is inevitable that there exist many problems a^^aiting further investigation, the most outstanding of which are as follows: First, with respect to the reform in content, new theories still lack a wellorganized logical system. There are two major reasons: one is that writing is an open and complicated macro-system, exactly like the three-dimensional web-like structure of a complex macromolecule. Within the system, each point can be linked to any other through a medium. In particular, as this system is undergoing continuous movement, everything is relative and temporary. Hence, no matter where we want to start exploring this system, many other aspects would get involved at the same time. For instance, if we study the function, then the context and structure will also be involved. Similarly, an analysis of structure will involve the context and function. It is often impossible to use linear language to express such kind of non-linear complexity and transformation. The other reason is that the new theory itself is as yet imperfect. What we are now certain is that it is scientific and rational to explain the phenomena of practical and literary writing using the systemic theory, namely the three major essentials - context, function and structure, and their relationships. This theory also embraces different types of writing theories. But this only shows that the systemic theory, like a big basket, can hold various kinds of writing theories but it just cannot show that the inter-relationships among these theories in this big basket have been clarified. For instance, there are still a lot of problems to be solved before Halliday's theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics is integrated with the existing writing theories. It is believed that, through a more thoroughgoing study, these problems will be solved step by step. Secondly, no matter whether it is the renewal of the syllabus or the reform in the teaching method, the research is not thorough enough. On the whole, integration is overemphasized at the sacrifice of analyses. Besides, more systematic operating principles and standards are still unavailable. Integration and analysis represent dialectic unity. The higher the level of integration is, the greater the need for an indepth analysis. The more refined, microscopic and thoroughgoing the analysis is, the greater the help to the integration into an organic whole. For instance, it can be said that for the relationship between known and unknown information, the linguistic analysis at the level of sentence is very specific and thorough. Yet, if the analysis is to be applied to a text, a book or a collection of books, more thorough research is still required. Thirdly, there is a lack of auxiliary facilities. The reform in the teaching of writing is a complicated system-engineering project. The reform so far completed is far from complete and comprehensive. We have not yet done as much as needed on such items as the compilation of reference books, the development of information and question database, the development of multimedia teaching materials, and the use of computers and Internet, which greatly affects the enhancement of teaching quality and efficiency of writing. Fourthly, we have quite a few problems in the research method. Despite the fact that a number of teaching experiments have been carried out throughout the process

170

Yu

of research, on the whole, the method used is mainly qualitative research on evidence, experiment and quantitative analysis. To resolve these problems, further unremitting exploration should be made. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On behalf of the teachers who took part in the research on the two topics, I extend our most sincere thanks to Chairman of Chinese Writing Society, Professor Pei Xian-sheng of Nanjing University and Professor Yu Cheng-kun of Shanghai University for their concern, support and help throughout the research. Thanks to Dr. Mark S.K. Shum who helped with the major translation of this chapter. Thanks also to Professor Zhang De-lu of Ocean University of Qingdao and Professor Cao Hua-min of Huazhong University of Science and Technology for their support, guidance and assistance during the writing, translation and publication of this chapter.

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT: WRITING REFORM IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

SHEK KAM TSE, ELIZABETH KA YEE LOH, WAI MING CHEUNG & CHE YING KWAN

The University of Hong Kong & Hong Kong Institute of Education, China

Abstract. Pupils in Hong Kong schools find writing in Chinese very boring. With regard to this phenomenon, the theoretically framework of 'Hong Kong Writing Project' aims to create an environment for language usage, and help pupils to learn how to write efficiently in a pleasurable environment. The project has been implemented in Hong Kong for five years, and the number of schools participating in this project is increasing. Theories of linguistics, psychology and language teaching serve as the project's foundation and surveys were conducted after the end of the project. Results indicated that most pupils liked writing and did not consider it difficult. Compared with the traditional teaching method, pupils were considered to have performed better when taught by new teaching methods, especially the peer review strategy. The teachers also indicated that the Project helped them to have a better understanding of their pupils. Keywords: Hong Kong writing project, Chinese writing, effective and enjoyable learning, learning environment, peer review, writing strategies

1.

EDUCATIONAL AND LINGUISTIC ISSUES IN THE TEACHING OF CHINESE WRITING IN HONG KONG

Pupils in Hong Kong schools find writing in Chinese very demanding. They have problems in selecting and using the right vocabulary, recalling the form of Chinese characters, organizing texts into grammatically correct forms and in setting down and developing themes (Tse & Cheung, 1993). Even though many pupils in primary schools have been taught to write in Chinese for several years, they are competent with only a limited range of grammatical rules, and their extended writings consist predominantly of well-practised strings of expressions and familiar phrases. Most pupils lack fluency in their expression and they frequently omit words and ideas when writing. Scholars (Tse, 1995) found the verbal expressive ability of primary pupils to be far superior to their writing ability. A series of investigations into the

172

TSE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

writing process engaged in by primary pupils using the 'think aloud' method (Tse, 1990a; Tse & Cheung, 1991; Tse & Lam, 1992) found a wide gap between the standard of pupils' spoken mother tongue (Cantonese) and that of the Modern Standard Written Chinese (MSWC) they are required to use when writing in class. In many countries in the West, children can often transform their speech and thoughts into elementary written forms as soon as they have mastered the alphabet. In other words, the language they speak and the language they write are the same. A fundamental problem faced by Hong Kong pupils is that they speak one language but are asked to write another. They speak Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese, but are required to write in MSWC, the written equivalent of Putonghua, which is the official spoken language of Mainland China. Although Cantonese has close linguistic links with MSWC, there are very important and significant differences. Generally speaking, the only primary school pupils in Hong Kong who are able to think and present comfortably in both Putonghua and Cantonese are those who have migrated to Hong Kong from China. The overwhelming Cantonese-speaking majority regards Putonghua as virtually a foreign language. Since their everyday speeches and communications are almost exclusively in Cantonese, it is not surprising that almost all primary pupils find it hard to write MSWC. One would expect that most Hong Kong teachers, who also use Cantonese as their mother tongue, would be sympathetic to the pupils' plight. However, this would not appear to be the case (Liu, 1998; Tian, 1987). One might also expect that the teaching of writing would begin, as it was the case in the West, with helping pupils to master simple strings of expressions from their own language repertoire. If this were indeed the case, then writing would be based in part upon the Cantonese mother tongue of the child. However, it is clearly stated in the Curriculum for Chinese Language for Primary Schools (Curriculum Development Council CDC, 1990) that pupils are not to use Cantonese in their writings. As a result, although pupils are competent in communicating verbally, they have problems in writing. When teaching children to write in Chinese, teachers are to a very great extent influenced by the views of Chinese scholars and recommendations stated in the official Syllabus. Although they appreciate the difficulties generated by the differences between Cantonese and Putonghua, most teachers comply with the Syllabus and forbid pupils to write in Cantonese or to include lexical and syntactical items from Cantonese in their writing. As a matter of fact, many Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong themselves lack high levels of proficiency in Putonghua (1988), and they would be gratefiil if the school authorities would provide a handbook of Cantonese words and their equivalents in MSWC. In the Syllabus for Teaching Writing in Chinese (CDC, 1990) at Primary 1, the emphasis is on sentence construction, including sentence completion and sentence pattern drilling. At Primary 2, the emphasis is the same but is extended to include paragraph writing and the teaching of sentence construction using prescribed phrases. From Primary 3 onwards, students are required to write passages of different kinds. They begin to write narrative passages in Primary 3 and 4, expository essays in Primary 5, and argumentative essays in Primary 6. There are clearly stated targets in the Syllabus concerning the number of words expected for each phase of writing at different levels:

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

173

• Primary 3: About 150 words • Primary 4: About 200 words • Primary 5: About 250 words • Primary 6: About 300 words. With the endorsements of these requirements in the official Syllabus, these target levels have become important benchmarks for assessments, but pupils are usually discouraged from writing more than it is prescribed. For many primary school pupils, the number of words in a piece of writing has become an important goal. Many of them will count the number of words written and try to end their script on the exactly prescribed number. The conceptual link between the number of words that children are expected to write at different levels and the various stages of development in Chinese writing proficiency are far from obvious. Nevertheless, many teachers seem to infer from the Syllabus that there is a correlation between the number of words produced and the writing skill of the pupils. They should, of course, be looking for growth in the ability of the pupils to communicate efficiently, correctly, legibly and elegantly. Number targets are also found in the Syllabus for the Chinese Language for Secondary Schools (CDC, 1990), with, for example, students are required to write 600 words in the School Certificate Examination. The implication from such target word specifications is that there is an implicit link between quantity and quality. This simple belief is hard to understand since the assessment guidelines emphasize sentence construction and paragraph construction, a very structural approach, rather than inferring merit from pupils' ability to produce text volume (Education Department, 1998). The Working Group on Language Proficiency appointed by the Hong Kong government's Education Commission (Education Commission, 1994) criticized Chinese language teaching. The Working Group found relatively little teaching directed at helping children to develop an ability to communicate in black and white. Today, this is still a valid criticism of many composition lessons. In numerous research studies, it has been found that students do not enjoy writing. The writing they complete in class is usually 'once-and-for-all' writing, in the sense that they are asked to write one version only, a version that is expected to be correct and final. Drafting and corrections are strongly discouraged. In addition, as stated above, the pupils must meet the word length targets specified in the Syllabus. Most language teachers seem to regard writing as a form of testing, so students are usually required to write under strict time constraints and examination pressure. They are not allowed time for pausing and revising; crossing out and redrafting are discouraged; and making alterations at the late composing stage would invite a low grade. The whole purpose of writing, many pupils hold, is to get high marks; and achieving high marks is only possible through producing work that contains no errors. Pupils rarely engage in purposeful, real-life and relevant writing tasks at school and the teacher is invariably the only reader. Furthermore, pupils regard the teacher as an examiner, but not a mentor. Pupils are not encouraged to write compositions at home since parental help is available and therefore the actual writing performance of the students cannot be assessed (Tse, 1993).

174

TSE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

Teachers of Chinese writing are very much influenced by traditional ideas and approaches. Perfection is attained when the child can imitate examples of 'good' writing and spontaneously generalize from such models. Thus, frequent practices in which pupils try to base their own writing on classical styles are given in the hope that the characteristics of the classical style writings will be appreciated, "rubbed off and be absorbed (So, 1988; Wong, 1991). This approach focuses primarily on forms and syntax of writing and the close imitation of prescribed texts. In effect, pupils are not encouraged to be creative (Leung, 1993) and the concept of communication for a distinct or utilitarian purpose, and the catering of the audience are usually ignored. In a case study by Tse and Hui (1993), it was found that pupils in an international school learning Chinese as a second language started writing full length scripts in Chinese earlier than their counterparts in mainstream Chinese primary schools. When marking pupils' written assignments, Chinese language teachers feel it is their responsibility to highlight every error made by the pupil. In fact, it is expected by parents, panel heads and principals that teachers will draw every single mistake to the attention of the pupil. In addition, teachers are expected to make comments in the margin and to add a general comment at the end of the piece of writing (CDC, 1991). It is also a tradition not to give high marks for pupils' writing; the range of marks being 55 to 70 (total mark 100). Thus, producing 100% perfect writing is absolutely impossible. This approach to teaching writing, with its heavy emphasis on error-free writing, invariably promotes apprehension about writing in the learner. For many pupils, writing is difficult and uninteresting; for many teachers, it is monotonous, painstaking and dull (Tse, 1993). There is a clear need for reform in the way writing is taught in Hong Kong. 2.

THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS UNDERPINNING THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

2.1 Theories of Writing Pupils are individuals who learn different things in different ways. A major objective of language teachers is to help pupils to learn effectively and efficiently, with their writing and speech reflecting their personal 'inner' thinking. Marton and Booth (1997) proposed that effective learning takes place when learners are actively involved and contribute to the acquisition of their own knowledge. They also maintained that, during writing, pupils should be encouraged to relate their learning to their own experiences. In other words, the writing pupils produce should reflect the way they themselves have experienced the phenomenon or topic, the way they have been taught, the way they have learnt and their understanding of the writing purpose. The learning process itself is an experience; the writing context is crucial, and the pupils' physical, social and cultural worlds are the essential ingredients. According to Krashen's 'Input Hypothesis' (Krashen, 1991), students acquiring language are most assured when they receive 'comprehensible inputs' and understand the message. For learners trying to acquire language skills, they need to understand and engage in what they hear or what they read, and they need to face tasks

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

175

that call for the search of the message being transmitted. Krashen also pointed out that the actual writing act does not promote writing skill and development if writers are not involved in formulating messages on their own. One does not 'learn to write by writing', but writing has other virtues (Krashen, 1992). As Smith (1988) pointed out, people write for at least two reasons: to communicate with others and, perhaps more importantly, to clarify their own understanding and thinking. Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987) proposed two models of the composing process, the 'knowledge telling' model, which is intended to capture essential features of immature composing, and the 'knowledge transforming' model which displays features that characterize mature writers. Knowledge telling is a way to generate text contents, immature writers often generate text without any overall plan or goal in mind and the composing process is not being perceived to have involved problemsolving procedures. Mature writers can make use of complex knowledge-processing procedures to draw upon, elaborate and refine available knowledge. 2.2 Teaching Approach 'Whole Language' is a popular teaching method worldwide. Goodman (1986) encouraged 'whole language' teachers to create numerous opportunities for pupils to learn by using language in authentic, richly contextualized, and functional situations. The idea is that 'teaching strategy and experience support each other. The objective is helping children to learn reading, writing, speaking and listening in a pleasurable atmosphere' (Watson, 1990). According to Weaver (1990), 'language is a whole, it should not be divided into parts. The skills of reading and writing should be developed together as a whole.'

In terms of developing and implementing a teaching approach that would reflect regional or local characteristics of language usage, a key strategy of the Hong Kong Writing Project (HKWP) was to examine effective teaching theories and methods, relevant researches, school experiences and the opinions of principals, teachers, pupils and parents. These elements were examined in relation to Hong Kong's practice and those of Mainland China and other Asian countries. Notes on the experience of successful strategies for teaching writing used in the West were taken. The HKWP study scheme originated from the 'National Writing Project' in the U.K. (National Curriculum Council 1989a, b, c, d; 1990a, b). Close attention was also paid to the National Writing Project (U.S. Department of Education, 2003) in the USA. According to the approach of writing teaching in the West, for pupils to learn effectively, teachers should act as facilitators who motivate them to learn. They should provide pupils with an interesting learning environment, encourage them to express their own ideas and thoughts, and then respond strategically and sympathetically to any mistakes in the writing produced. At the early stages in particular, the emphasis is on the message itself rather than on its form. Being allowed to experiment and to learn by trials and errors are essential components of the learning process. Pupils will naturally express their true feelings and thinking in writing if they feel comfortable with the teacher's reactions to what they are trying to say. They need a stressfree atmosphere if their writing skill is to develop smoothly without hindrance. If

176

TSE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

these conditions are satisfied, then the pupils' ability to think independently should also develop. Based on the theories stated above, a rationale for the teaching of Chinese writing in Hong Kong was developed by the HKWP team. The main elements include! Participants: Teacher and pupil play mutually important roles in the learning process, each actively participating in the classroom. Spirit: Language functions as a mean of communication. The role of the teaching materials and the meaningfulness of the writing context are crucial elements. Contents: The communicative channels of listening, speaking, reading and writing are interconnected mentally. Rather than concentrating on each channel in isolation, the emphasis is on learning language by using it in its entirety. 2.3 The Rationale of the Hong Kong Writing Project The HKWP was solidly founded on research and practice in Mainland China, Hong Kong and overseas, to seek the experiences and opinions of principals, teachers, pupils and parents. They also took account of the official Syllabus and especially, of popular practices in writing teaching at schools. They found that the teaching of writing in Chinese in primary schools was, on paper at least, clearly based upon recommendations in the Syllabus. As stated earlier, writing at Primary 1 was characterized by an emphasis on sentence construction. At Primary 2, this emphasis was retained and extended to include the teaching of sentence construction using prescribed phrases and paragraph rules. From Primary 3 onwards, the emphasis was supposed to change, with pupils now required to write passages of different kinds. However, the Project team noted that the shift in focus from sentence construction in Primary 1 to passage writing in Primary 3 was far from smooth and continuous. It was because of the stress generated by the emphasis on the production of error-free script that stilted and halted Chinese learning. Pupils were unable to write naturally and fluently to record or transmit ideas and the fact that they were thinking in one language and writing in another was an impediment to spontaneous expression. The HKWP was hence unable to adopt current practices in Hong Kong as a suitably solid launch pad. Instead, the roots of the pedagogical approach and theories underpinning the Project were prominent in the very successful 'National Writing Project' carried out for the National Curriculum Council in the UK (National Curriculum Council, 1989a, 1989b, 1989c, 1989d, 1990a, 1990b; School Curriculum Development Committee, 1987a, 1987b, 1987c, 1987d, 1987e, 1987f, 1988a, 1988b). The authors examined the underlying concepts and structure of the UK scheme and made modifications to tailor it for the Hong Kong context. In particular, the Project amended the approach in view of the anticipated problems faced by the Cantonese-speaking majority and the outcry from parents who hope to lessen the

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

177

emphasis on relentless and repetitive drills and practices. The slavish learning of phrases and text was a practice that would be hard to abandon. 2.4 Curriculum Objectives of the HKWP Tse, Kwan, Wong & Zhu (2000) laid out the curriculum objectives for the Project as follow: 1) To enhance pupils' interest in writing. 2) To commence the teaching of writing as soon as possible. 3) To enhance pupils' writing ability. 4) To help pupils to grasp the purposes of writing. 5) To respond constructively to pupils' writings. 6) To strengthen pupils' self-confidence when expressing themselves. 7) To encourage pupils to communicate their ideas in written form. 8) To teach pupils the conventions of verbal exchanges in writing. 9) To teach pupils using mind maps to guide their writing. 10) To improve pupils' ability to appreciate and evaluate writings and texts. 11) To teach pupils how to select writing strategies appropriately with regard to the context and situation. 2.5 Teaching Approaches in the HKWP Tse et al. also set out teaching approach principles guiding the Project as follow: 1) The Project is based upon a pupil-centered, school-based writing curriculum. 2) The Project integrates the teaching of listening, speaking, reading and writing. 3) The Project encourages pupils to start writing expressively in Primary 1. 4) The contents of the teaching materials used should be related to the pupils' daily-life experiences. 5) Pupils are encouraged to learn in a stress-free, pleasurable atmosphere. 6) The importance of the knowledge of the writing process is stressed, with writing as a central component within a flexible system of communications. 7) Pupils are encouraged to develop a spirit of co-operation and collaboration, and a sense of respect for the views of others. 8) Pupils should be encouraged to build up their self-confidence as communicators. 9) Every opportunity should be grasped to engage pupils in writings. Writing should help teachers to gain a better understanding of pupils' language ability and they should use this to encourage all-round development. 10) All teaching must have a theme and a purpose that make sense to the pupils. 2.6 Suggested Stages in the Teaching/ Writing Process The teaching/writing process advocated by the HKWP is essentially very practical, and a number of suggested stages in the recommended approach to the teaching of

178

TsE, LoH, CHEUNG & KWAN

writing are laid out (Tse, 2001). Figure 1 summarizes the various stages or components that may build up the writing/teaching process. Figure 1. The Various Stages or Components that build up the Writing / Teaching Process. Topic setting Topic blank Gap filling topics Teaching activities Drawing

Collect information

Group discussion

Creative strategies

Writing Peer review Records of mistakes Parents' feedback Teachers' feedback 1. Stickers 2. Comments Post good work Selecting and Generating a Topic to Write About, The choice of topic can range from a pre-prepared 'topic bank' to those brainstormed in class. 1) A 'suggested topic' refers to a topic proposed by the teacher, e.g., 'Spring'. This initial suggestion may prompt pupils to set their own topics according to their interests. The pupils themselves may then suggest alternative topics, e.g., 'Food in Spring' and 'The most favorite season - Spring'. 2) Topics can be set in a 'gap filling topic' style. For instance, the topic may be 'My most favorite ', 'The most annoying ', 'The Story of '. 3) Open-ended writing topics can widen the scope of writing for pupils. Traditional ways of teaching writing rarely allowed creativity and imagination on the part of pupils, by which the teacher set the topic, offering no other choice of topics. Extending the Range of Topics. In addition to the setting of open-ended writing topics, teachers can also engineer different contexts to increase pupils' incentives and interests in writing. For example, the teacher may take pupils to visit a nearby tourist location and ask them to write about their impressions after the visit.

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

179

The teacher may prepare a short passage on environmental issues, and then ask pupils to write down and justify suggestions for improving the environment. The pupils may be invited to send their suggestions to newspapers and magazines. A good way to persuade pupils to think about a topic is to present them with a problem to solve. For example, pupils may be asked to propose ways to solve traffic congestion in Hong Kong. Pre-Writing Activities. Teachers can engage pupils in a range of activities designed to stimulate creative thinking about the topic. Lists of key words may be drawn and 'mappings' of the topic may be constructed. Teachers can also encourage pupils to draw an illustration of the topic, discuss the topic in small groups or consider ways of finding information about the topic. The Writing Act: A Means of Recording Ideas and Problem Solving. Writing can be regarded as a key experience contributing to learning. It may involve practising letter or character formation and the recording of information when others have presented it. This may involve giving written responses to questions or tasks set by the teacher. When writing involves the expression of one's own knowledge, it involves the reconstruction or the formulation of one's own inner knowledge. In formulating ideas yet to be clearly articulated or summarized in the mind, writing helps the writer to instill knowledge into memory. The HKWP encourages pupils to set topics of their own. This provides opportunities for pupils to express their innermost feelings about the topic. However, as stated earlier, a major problem in Hong Kong is that people have a verbal label (in Cantonese) in the mind for a word or concept, but do not know the MSWC. Teachers may help pupils to note down their ideas by using pictures, symbols and so on of their own, and then show them later how to transform these personal abstractions into Chinese writing. The advantage of this method is that the momentum and originality of pupils' ideas can be sustained without slowing down the writing progress. These words are often ideas that pupils need to express, but do not know how to do so correctly in Chinese. The Project team believed that if teachers accept the difficulties facing pupils and respond by helping children to bypass the immediate problem of not knowing the exact Chinese vocabulary, then the language competence of pupils will improve rapidly and a love of writing will stand. Inviting a Peer or Third Party to Review. After pupils have finished the initial act of writing, they can pass what has been written onto their classmates for review, and ask them to suggest ways for improvement. In other words, the HKWP endorses the practice of peer review. The 'target' of pupils' writing is not necessarily the teacher only: it may be extended to include peers of the same class and even schoolmates from different forms. Pupils read each other's writing and exchange suggestions and comments. Peer review can enhance the ability of pupils to assess their own writing and the writing of others. The act of sharing ideas with peers can boost up pupils' enjoyment of writing and interest in communication via the written word. The hope

180

TSE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

is that writing will no longer be viewed merely as a prelude to homework or assessment: it can also be an outlet for artistic creativity. Inviting Parents to Participate in the Teaching of Writing. After completing a writing assignment, pupils may show them to parents and seek their comments and suggestions on how to improve their assignments. Parents can also guide their children to make text, pictures and symbols more appropriate, and to indicate whether the choice of words is suitable. Inviting People from the Wider Community to Participate, Teachers can invite people from the community as readers to read pupils' writings. They may arrange pupils to participate in writing competitions organized by the community. They may form sister-school links with foreign schools, with pupils from each school becoming pen pals. This helps the school to create an authentic context for writing and enhances the fun of writing. To encourage pupils to write seriously, teachers can collect pupils' writings and edit it into a book that may be placed in the library for pupils to read and appreciate. The teacher may also use the writing as reading materials. Responding to Writing: Assessment. The HKWP encourages teachers to set clear learning objectives for each lesson. They can then refer to these objectives as a yardstick for evaluating and correcting pupils' writing. When pupils are aware of the learning objectives, they are in good position to judge for themselves of whether they write appropriately. When marking, teachers can use the objectives as assessment criterion. Focused marking can reduce teachers' workload by removing the tedious task of highlighting every single error for the child. When what the child has written seems to be ignored, and pointing out language errors seems to be at a higher priority, confidence is reduced and interest in writing diminishes. In addition to stressing the importance of focused marking, the HKWP encourages teachers to use seals or stickers rather than scores to respond to pupils' writings. This reduces the strong sense of testing in traditional teaching of writing. It may also reduce the pressure that pupils experience when they are asked to write in Chinese. When teachers seek to evaluate progress in pupils' writings, they may select three pieces of writing, one written at the beginning, one from the middle and one from the end of the academic year. These can then be referred to when monitoring and gauging progress. Changes in a pupil's writing ability are more noticeable by sampling at such intervals, and it is not necessary for teachers to give a writing test every two weeks, which is common practice in most schools. As the frequency of rigid marking and recording scores is reduced, pupils will become aware that the chief purpose of writing is to communicate, but not to produce error-free text. Teaching children to write correctly remains a key objective for Chinese language teachers, yet it is hoped that children will refine their own writings

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

181

when the emphasis is on clear expression of meaning rather than on producing script that is correct but dull. When teachers assign a wide and exciting range of writing tasks for pupils, this increases children's interest and enjoyment in writing. Although it may appear that teachers' workload in the area of assessment has been reduced, the task of building up a writing profile for each child is very precise. The profile will include details of children's strengths and persistent errors, handwriting standards, a record of self-corrections and attention to the expression of meaning, the extent to which pupils gain from peer reading and input from parents and how well pupils respond to the writing task. The Problem of Corrections. Principals, parents and panel heads expect that children's errors would be pointed out and those corrections are completed as a form of guidance for future writing. The HKWP is mindful of the importance of responding constructively to pupils' errors. One strategy for teachers is to design 'wrong words booklets' for each child. Pupils are only required to make a note of the words they have written incorrectly and they have to refer to these when writing in the future. There is no need to copy out the whole script. This encourages pupils to avoid mistakes, to understand how and why errors were made and gives them the confidence to use words in new circumstances. "Wrong words booklets" can also be used as a reference for upper form teachers to see whether or not errors are persisting. When teachers are aware of pupils' habitual errors, they can deal with these accordingly rather than assigning general vocabulary work. They can also ask pupils to refer to their "wrong words booklets" when revising. It is important to stress that the traditional teaching approach of correcting children's work is valid and entirely appropriate on occasions. However, if it is the only approach used when responding to pupils' written errors, then it is sidetracked from worldwide developments in the teaching of writing. The key strategy is to combine and use both old and new approaches as appropriate with reference to the situation of the school and the ability of the individual pupil. 3.

DEVELOPMENTAL WORJC AT SCHOOLS

3.1 Recommendations to School Principals Once the research team had decided that certain new theories in the West about the teaching of writing might be relevant for practice in Hong Kong, the team had to check whether they were actually applicable. It was also important to investigate how they might be introduced into local schools. It was recognized from the beginning that the new methodology questioned certain well-established practices in Hong Kong and that the support of principals and teachers was vital if the innovation was to be given a fair trial. Thus the study group contacted a small number of primary schools known to be enthusiastic about curriculum reform and the promotion of new teaching methods. The rationale for the innovation was explained and

182

TsE, LoH, CHEUNG & KWAN

discussed and the problems associated with learning to write in Chinese were acknowledged. 3.2 Individual Trials Since the proposed innovations had not been previously tested in Hong Kong, the principals suggested that pilot studies should be conducted in some classes first. The principals commented that the innovation might apply in schools and that it might greatly improve pupils' writing and motivation. They invited the study group to introduce the new methods to Chinese subject panels and to try them out in selected classes. 3.3 School Promotion and Subject Panel Training The Project team held meetings for the subject panels, explained the theories and explored the implications for classroom practices. Once the subject panels became familiar with the theories and its implementation, a number of them agreed to hold trial lessons in their own classes. The feedbacks from these early trials were very positive. As a result, approval was granted by the principals and subject panels to carry out more extensive trials in schools. 3.4 The Need to Brief and Train Chinese Subject Teachers The study group was unable to launch the scheme until they were sure that the teachers were familiar with the new teaching theories and that they understood the rationale for the new classroom methodology. Training seminars and workshops for teachers were held in which details of the theories were explained and discussed. Related researches and evidence were presented and the teachers had a chance to try for themselves the new methods and explore potential obstacles. 3.5 First Full-Scale Implementation The Project team and the participating teachers thought that it was essential that the approval of parents is gained prior to the language reform trails. A series of meetings with parents were arranged and the Project team and the school principals explained the project to parents. Parents were generally supportive and they were told how important it was for their approval to be gained. The Project team also had several meetings with the teachers to further strengthen their understanding of the new theories and methods. The focus was on the concrete planning of lessons, the administration of the scheme as a whole, the design of school-based materials and procedures for assessing pupils' responses and progress. During the early period of the trials, members of the Project team visited schools at fixed intervals, observed, and videotaped lessons. Particular attention was paid to the way the new teaching activities were received and to the spontaneous responses

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

183

of the pupils. The Project team maintained close contact with subject panels and teachers and to help resolving teaching difficulties. Modifications to the practices recommended were made in light of experience. 3.6 Assessment of the Impact of the Project The Project team collected pupils' work and monitored the responses of pupils systematically. They also went into schools to observe teaching and to gather teachers' perceptions about the scheme. Prior to the completion of the scheme, the team interviewed principals, subject panels and other teachers. Questionnaires were used to gather the opinions of pupils and follow-up meetings were held with the teachers. Although the Project team was aware that the results were influenced by the fact that the schools had been participating in important new educational work (the "Hawthorne Effect"), the results were nevertheless striking. The principals, teachers, parents and pupils found the HKWP quite amazing. Pupils' interest in writing increased dramatically; they said that they liked writing and that they felt they could express their true feelings in print. Staff in the schools felt that the Chinese Language Syllabus for primary schools was being implemented more fully and that the children had made obvious and persistent progress. The success of the pilot study attracted a lot of attention from other primary schools. Many school principals expressed interest in joining the Project. As a result, the Project team and the pilot schools organized a seminar to disseminate their experience about the new teaching method. Seven primary school principals indicated that they would adopt the new teaching method in the coming school year. 3.7 Full-Scale Trials When the scheme was launched in full, the Project team anticipated that different cultures in different schools would result in different levels of acceptance of the proposed innovation. With this in mind, the team planned and executed different trial modes to suit different schools. Some schools allotted a fixed period of time for the trial. Teachers held meetings and planned the implementation of the innovation, the co-ordination of teaching strategies, the use of materials and so on. Some schools employed an approach of switching methods, sometimes using the new methods and sometimes returning to familiar, traditional approaches during the academic year. They incorporated the new approach into the old curriculum for part of the year, but returned to the usual school-based curriculum to preserve curriculum continuity. Some schools applied the scheme very intensively and systematically in the first part of the year, then switched to the original syllabus at a later stage. This mode caused the least disturbance to the school and was easier to implement. Some schools let teachers join the scheme voluntarily without setting any limits on the mode of implementation and the frequency of lessons allocated to the new approach. Among these teachers, some implemented the scheme as a sort of extra-

184

TsE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

curriculum activity in supplementary classes. This mode allowed considerable autonomy for teachers to judge the needs of pupils. Some teachers were more audacious and creative. They redesigned their schoolbased curriculum and produced their own materials. It was clear that these teachers had really grasped the rationale of the new approach. These teachers integrated the scheme into the existing Syllabus so that the scheme fitted the needs of school. This arrangement exerted great demands on teachers, but it was found that the pupils in these schools made significant and the most obvious gains. 3.8 Evaluation The results of the pilot study were very positive. To test the effectiveness of the HKWP in a more systematic and controlled manner, the research team invited seven schools to participate in the main study. The aims were: 1) To gather evidence that would throw light on whether or not the scheme should be recommended to primary schools in Hong Kong. 2) To investigate the impact of the approach on the writing ability of pupils at different ages and ability levels at school. 3) To investigate in depth of the effectiveness of various teaching methods used in the scheme. 4) To compare the HKWP against more traditional approaches of writing teaching. 4.

THE SUBSTANTIVE STUDY

To gather evidence about a wide range of issues, various data collection methods were implemented. These included multiple case studies; studies into the design and effectiveness of various teaching materials; the perceptions of teachers as revealed in structured interviews; and the views of pupils. 4.1 Research Participants In sum, 190 primary school teachers, and approximately 7,100 primary 1 to primary 6 pupils from six schools participated in the study. Due to human resource limitations, only half of the pupils were asked to complete the questionnaire. Two classes of pupils were randomly selected from each grade in each school. As a result, approximately 3,500 pupils completed the questionnaire. 4.2 The Teachers' Structured Interviews To gather teachers' opinions about the Writing Project, teachers were invited to report their views in interviews that followed a structured format. The questions asked were directed at the teachers' perceptions of the reaction of pupils to the HKWP; their feelings and comments on the new teaching methods, the design of teaching materials; and the seminar arrangements.

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

18 5

4.3 Pupils' Questionnaires As there is a considerable gap between the ability of lower and upper form pupils in terms of their ability to comprehend texts, the research team constructed two sets of questionnaires targeting at lower and upper form pupils separately. The Lower Form Pupils' questionnaire looked at pupils' attitudes to writing, their opinions of the HKWP and the peer review arrangement. The Upper Form Pupils' questionnaire asked pupils to compare the HKWP against traditional teaching methods of teaching writing. Pupils were also asked to express opinions about different assessment methods. 4.4 Research Procedures The research lasted for 15 months, starting from 1998 till 1999. Before the commencement of the research period, the research team organized seminars and workshops for the teachers. The seminars and workshops addressed theories, teaching methods and strategies, design of the curriculum and teaching materials, guidelines for implementing the scheme, the arrangement of teaching activities and so on. The teachers were guided to cater the varying abilities, interests and needs of the pupils. They were also instructed the ways to accommodate the new approach and teaching materials into the existing school-based curriculum. During the research period, the Project team regularly sent staff to observe lessons and classroom activities and to gather teachers' views about the impact of the scheme. Assistance and guidance were provided to help overcoming the difficulties that the teachers encountered. Before the end of the research, the Project team delivered questionnaires to the sample schools. The Chinese teachers in these schools then distributed the questionnaires to the pupils to complete during lessons. Lower form pupils were told about the procedures of how to fill in the questionnaire but not about what to fill in. Upper form pupils completed the questionnaire without any explanation from teachers. After the pupils had completed the questionnaire, schools handed in the questionnaire to the Project team for analysis. The time required for completing the questionnaire was around 35 minutes. Pilot work had ensured that the pupils would have no difficulty in completing the questionnaire. 5.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Results of Lower Form Pupils * Questionnaire A total of 112 copies of the questionnaire were collected from lower form pupils. As some pupils had not filled in some of the questions, the answers for these questions were classified as missing data. The seven questions in the lower form pupils' quesfionnaires focused on pupils' attitudes to writing, their comments on the HKWP and the peer review arrangement. Analysis revealed that 69.5% of pupils liked writing and that 73.7% thought that writing was not difficult. Four out of five (80.8%) said they would use the vocabu-

186

TsE, LoH, CHEUNG & KWAN

lary they sought from their teachers in later lessons. Some 82.4% liked reading other pupils' writings and 77.4% said they liked others reading their writings too. The pupils were asked whether they liked being allowed by teachers to use pictures or symbols to indicate vocabulary that they did not know how to write. Approximately half of the subjects (50.3%) indicated that they liked using this method and 49.7% said they disliked this method (see Appendix 1, Table 1). Concerning the difficulties that pupils encountered in writing, 57.5% of the pupils said that the most difficult thing was that they did not know how to write down some vocabulary items. This was followed by the loud noise made by classmates (50.8%), difficulty in separating paragraphs (44.4%) and not knowing what to write (43.5%) (see Appendix 1, Table 2). In addition, some pupils mentioned other difficulties not listed in the questionnaire. These included 'not knowing how to write' and 'being asked by classmates of how to write some of the vocabulary'. These problems were followed by 'dislike for writing', 'dislike for writing too many words' and 'writing was difficult by nature'. In general, most lower form pupils liked writing and considered this aspect of their schoolwork to be not so difficult. The vocabulary supplied on demand by the teacher was considered as useful for future writing. Most pupils liked the peer review, they liked reading other pupils' writing and they were willing to let other pupils to read their writing. The pupils were split evenly over the question of whether teachers should allow them to use a picture or a symbol to indicate vocabulary that they did not know how to write. 5.2 Responses to the Upper Form Pupils' Questionnaire A total of 1,657 copies of the questionnaire were collected from upper form pupils. As some pupils had not filled in some of the questions in the questionnaire, these copies were processed as missing data. Hence, the total number of responses for some questions was smaller than 1,657. The analysis revealed that 63.4% of upper form pupils liked HKWP. Some (58.9%) liked the design of writing topics (see Appendix 5, Table 9). About twothirds (64%) said that they thought that HKWP could allow them to reveal their feelings more (see Appendix 2, Table 3). It also allowed 73.3% to write about their favorite content (see Appendix 2, Table 4). During writing, 72.9% said that they liked teachers to provide them with a writing outline (see Appendix 2, Table 3). However, even if teachers did not provide a writing outline for them, more than half of the upper form pupils (58.2%) believed that they could write an article on their own. Most pupils (74%) mentioned that vocabulary they asked their teachers for during writing would be used in their writing in the future. Two-thirds (67.8%) said that they disliked copying the whole piece once again as correction (see Appendix 2, Table 4). Four out of five (81.7%) said that they liked reading others' writings. More than a half (57.2%) liked letting other pupils to read their writing. Three-quarters of the pupils (76%) believed that they could identify errors while others were reading their work. More than half of the pupils (62.2%) said that they would remind the peers the errors made in their writings (see Appendix 2, Table 4).

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

187

Turning to the assessment and correction method used, 43.2% said that they liked teachers to assign scores and 41.8% said they liked teachers to use seals or stickers (see Appendix 2, Table 5). As for the difficulties they encountered during writing, 54.6% said that the main difficulty was not knowing "what to write", followed by "did not know how to write some of the words" (52.5%), and "did not know how to create paragraph" (41.64%). Some (38.68%) raised the point that they "only knew how to write in Cantonese" and 36.15% said that they "disliked the writing topics" (see Appendix 2, Table 6). In general, upper form pupils liked the HKWP. They liked the writing topics and thought that the HKWP enabled them to write about their favorite topics and express ideas from the heart. They liked teachers to provide them with writing outlines but disliked copying their work again once it had been marked. They liked the peer review system and thought other pupils could identify the bad points in their writing. About half of the group was happier with traditional marking and the rest preferred stickers and seals. The difficulties that pupils encountered during writing were predictable. Left alone, some pupils did not know what to write and they were put off by not knowing certain words. From a syntactic viewpoint, the pupils reported that they did not know how to create paragraphs. This is an area that teachers might focus more on. The pupils were put off when they did not know a word. Even through they were allowed to enter their own symbol for a word they did not know, they felt uncomfortable. The idea is that this would not interrupt the flow of thinking, but this strategy might not be appropriate for primary age pupils. 5.3 Teachers' Structured Interviews To collect teachers' opinions on the HKWP, at least one teacher representative from each grade of all sampled schools was invited to attend a structured interview. Some 57 teachers participated in the interviews. Pupils' Learning of Writing. Teachers were asked to comment on the relative merits of the HKWP and traditional teaching methods. Most of the teachers said that they thought that pupils liked the HKWP more than the traditional teaching method. They said that pupils exhibited greater interest (69.6%), higher confidence (50.9%), higher fluency (41.1%), a wider variety of content (78.6%) and they could write more words (50.9%) using the teaching methods of the HKWP (see Appendix 3, Table 7). Commenting on the assessment methods, most of the teachers said that they found that pupils liked peer review (84.2%) the most. Two-thirds (66.1%) of the teachers said they liked giving seals or stickers and 61.4% saw merit in giving marks (see Appendix 3, Table 8). It is clear that the two approaches are not mutually exclusive. The teachers were interested to find that pupils were able to spot each other's strengths (52.6%) and weaknesses (64.9%) when reading their writings. The implication is that peer review can usefully increase pupils' evaluation and appreciation of writing. Not surprisingly, some 57.14% noted that pupils dislike heavy correction

188

TsE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

(57.14%). Some 70.59% noted that pupils liked the teacher to provide a writing outline (see Appendix 3, Table 9). Teachers' Comments on the Teaching Methodology. The teachers were asked to compare different teaching methods in terms of the writing outcomes from pupils. They were also invited to comment on their workload when different teaching methods were used. Just over a half of the teachers reported that they liked to read (53.6%) and mark (50.9%) children's writing emanating from the HKWP. A majority (61.4%) said that the HKWP helped them to have a better understanding of their pupils. Regarding the teacher workload associated with different teaching methods were similar (new approach: 39.3%; traditional approach: 39.3%) (see Appendix 3, Table 10). A small number said that the need to design new teaching materials (3.5%), prepare lessons (3.5%) and use new assessment methods (1.8%) had increased their workload (see Appendix 3, Table 11). Most of the teachers indicated that the number of sessions allocated to teaching writing under the HKWP (82.5%) and under traditional teaching methods (91.2%) were appropriate (see Appendix 3, Table 12). Teachers' Comments about the Success of the Project. Although teachers' reactions to the project were mixed, they were in general quite positive. About two-thirds (62.5%) favored the idea of continuing the project with only 8.9% opposing the proposal. A similar proportion (63.2%) had found the teaching materials useful. Over half of the group (56.1%) found the seminars about the project useful, but 22.8% challenged this view (see Appendix 3, Table 13). On the other hand, some of the teachers' comments on the Project were rather negative. A small percentage (3.5%) felt that 'the HKWP suits upper form pupils better.' They added that 'lower form pupils do not know how to write in paragraphs and how to use punctuations.' They also said that 'it was difficult to understand the writing of lower form pupils.' Some 1.8% said that 'the effectiveness of the HKWP greatly depends on whether the teaching materials are well designed or not.' Another negative remark (1.8%) was that 'teachers needed to prepare the teaching materials and this increased their workload.' A small number of teachers (1.8%) were critical of the materials provided, saying that 'the instructions for the teaching materials were insufficient'. Most of the teachers said that pupils exhibited a greater interest in writing and they were more confident and fluent in writing about a wider variety of subject matter, and that they produced more writings during the Project. While compared with the traditional teaching method, pupils were considered to have performed better when taught by the new teaching methods. The teachers observed that the pupils liked the peer review strategy and many teachers welcomed the idea of giving stickers for good work. The teachers noticed that pupils seemed to learn and improve their weaknesses by reading others' writing, and when they had their weaknesses pointed out by a classmate. Teachers felt that this helped to enhance the pupils' ability to evaluate their own writing. Some teachers reported that the 'HKWP provided a creative teaching method, it helped to stimulate pupils' creativity' (1.8%), 'pupils

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

189

could express themselves even though they did not know how to write words, this helped to increase their writing ability and interests (1.8%).' Figure 2. Developmental Model of the Language Pedagogical

Reform.

Formation of concepts Recommendations to principals

\ Successful individual trials Promotion in schools, meetings to recruit the support of principals and Chinese subject panels Training of Chinese subject panels

\ Training of all Chinese subject teachers First full-scale implementation Explaining the research to parents

Teachers training

Design of teaching materials

Design of assessment tools

Full-scale trials Assess the impact Teachers' follow-up meetings; questionnaire; principals, teachers' & pupils' interviews; collection of pupils' works

i

Revising the scheme

\ Promotion Seminar

^^""^^^

\

^^^

Book publication

Establish partnership with schools and develop other effective teaching in joint forces

^ithin^^^^^ &

190

TsE, LoH, CHEUNG & KWAN

As what might have been predicted, the teachers welcomed the teaching materials supplied by the Project team. Most of the teachers (56.1%) also appreciated the seminars arranged to familiarize them with the rationale of the innovation (see Appendix 3, Table 13). They said that participating in the seminars and workshops helped them 'to learn from others' experience, so as to improve their own weaknesses' (3.5%) and to 'learn how to stimulate and inspire pupils (1.8%).' However, some thought that the seminars were sometimes 'too theoretical' (1.8%) and that 'no practical suggestions were provided to solve their personal teaching difficulties (1.8%).' 6.

FURTHER PROMOTION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE NEW TEACHING APPROACH

In light of the opinions about the Project expressed by principals, teachers, pupils and parents, the Project team looked carefully at the methodology they had recommended to teachers. They revised and refined procedures and redesigned some teaching materials. They also produced new material based on recommendations from the teachers. The study group also discussed with schools the arrangements for the new academic year, whether they wished to continue with the scheme and, if so, whether they wished to extend the Project to other grades. Now that members of the Project team were aware of how teachers had reacted to the earlier study, they had a clearer idea of the approach to be taken in the next phase of the project. They saw the importance of providing focused and detailed inservice training to schools. They also decided to work with teachers and schools to design a school-based curriculum, new materials and assessment procedures. The study group also witnessed the wisdom of sharing ideas with teachers from other schools and to arrange seminars to promote the new approach and its ideals more widely. The team also realized that the implementation of pedagogical reform is a sophisticated and arduous task. Starting from the initial framing of ideas, negotiations with schools, the translation of ideas into practice and the evaluation of implementation model emerged. The success of an innovation is attributable to the continuous discussions, exchange of views and the co-ordination of communication and links between schools and the Project team. The study group suggests the following model of the language reform process in which they were engaged. 7.

CONCLUSION

The HKWP introduced innovative methods to schools so as to encourage pupils to write in Chinese in ways they found rewarding and fulfilling. After assessing the effectiveness of the Project, the research team reached a number of conclusions.

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

191

7.1 The HKWP helps to Improve Pupils' Writing Based on the teacher interviews, the research team found that most teachers were impressed by the effectiveness of the new teaching approach. The teachers reported that the pupils demonstrated more interest, more confidence and presented their work more imaginatively when being taught in the new style. They also found that pupils wrote more extensively and that the content of their compositions was richer. They said that they liked to read and mark their compositions using the new teaching methods. They also felt that it helped them to gain a better understanding of their pupils. The pupils liked the peer review strategy very much. They noticed their own and their classmates' strengths and weaknesses through reading each other's writings. This helped to enhance their own writing ability and to evaluate their own work. It also taught them neither to make the same mistakes nor to copy the work of others. The teachers themselves said that this arrangement of having pupils assess their own work was very productive. 7.2 The HKWP is Suitable for the Existing Curriculum The HKWP seemed to fit seamlessly into the school setting and the existing timetable and curriculum. The interviews with teachers and principals confirmed the view that the new teaching methods were easily absorbed as part of the existing writing curriculum. Although the sample schools differed in size and style of teaching, they were all able to adopt the new approach quite easily. The teaching materials provided by the Project team were considered relevant and welcome, and many teachers designed their own teaching materials based on the materials supplied by the Project team. Despite the seminars and workshops held prior to the project, a number of teachers who participated did not fully understand the rationale of the approach or master the new teaching methods. They simply used the teaching materials provided by the Project team and did not attempt to design their own materials and lesson activities. Visits to schools yielded the impression that a number of teachers were happy to stick with the tested methods, even if they were traditional and rather outdated. The Project team learned the lesson of the importance of briefing and training teachers fully and of giving support on a regular basis. Many of the teachers who were reluctant to change their teaching style nevertheless agreed that the responses from the pupils were very good. Most of them said that the Writing Project helped a lot in improving pupils' writing ability. The existing school curriculum was broadened and improved and the HKWP did not make heavy demands on teachers in terms of workload. 7.3 The HKWP helps overcoming the Constraints in the Traditional Teaching of Writing The traditional teaching of writing in Hong Kong requires pupils to write perfect sentences and passages on the first attempt. The role of the teacher is that of a 'beau-

192

TSE, LOH, CHEUNG & KWAN

tician' whose task is to make the pupils' writings more perfect. The traditional approach usually ignores the language environment and the teacher is the only person who will read what the pupils have written. As a result, pupils tend to write what they think their teacher wants to read: not more, not less. They know that this will attract high marks. Writing is not an outlet for pupils to express their feelings and thoughts. In fact, many teachers provide an outline, selected sets of vocabulary and key grammatical points. The children offer little from their own and are trained not to do so. This traditional approach focuses on a very limited range of pupil errors, restricts writing content and reduces pupils' interest in writing rapidly. Many participating teachers recognized that the HKWP breaks the constraints of many of these traditional features of writing lessons. More emphasis is placed on the importance of the writing process of each child rather than on a uniform standard for the whole class. Pupils can learn through their own mistakes and risk taking is allowed and actively encouraged. The role of the teachers is still that of a doctor to certain extent. However, under this approach the doctor diagnoses pupils' writing difficulties and prescribes remediation and assistance. The teachers accept the fact that pupils will make mistakes when they attempt to express their own ideas and feelings. In the new approach, pupils will never avoid putting ideas into writing simply because they are afraid of writing wrong words. This does not mean that errors are now left unmarked and that teachers will ignore mistakes. Records need to be kept, a profile must be kept up-to-date for each child and corrections are carried out in an effort to eliminate the persistent errors particular to the individual child. Even pupils of low academic ability are capable of producing noteworthy writing within the HKWP. The HKWP involves pupils in reviewing and assessing their own writings and those of their classmates. This is a very clear break from the tradition of the teacher being the sole assessor of pupils' work. Furthermore, assessment is instructive and not a form of punishment. 7.4 Emphasis on Pupils' Personal Experience and Feelings The traditional method of writing teaching in Hong Kong reflects to an extent the Confiician ideal of having everyone in the group going along in harmony. Individuality within a group is permitted as long as it does not distort the overall cohesion. The ideal writing accomplishment is for all to write similar beautiftil prose that is error-free and perfect. In the traditional approach, the pupils' personal life experiences and feelings are ignored. Pupils are usually asked to write about topics in which they have no interest, no experience and no wish to explore. They rarely enjoy and never experience the joy and pleasure of writing. The writing process is often boring and even painfiil. The HKWP emphasizes the importance of language being an integral feature of human experience and feelings. Teachers encourage pupils to share their experience, feelings and thoughts. Writing topics and tasks are selected as outlets for pupils to gain practices in communicating their ideas. The teachers in the Project noted that, with the HKWP, pupils do not find writing to be boring, uninteresting and as a

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

193

chore. Even pupils with poor writing ability enjoyed the pleasure of writing. When pupils like writing, teachers can ask them to write more. This helps to further increase their writing ability and to shoulder responsibility for their own language development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This chapter arises from a research project supported by the Language Fund of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Thanks are expressed to Dr. Terry Dolan, and the children and staff at the participating primary schools.

194

TSE, LOH, CHEUNG & K W A N

APPENDIX 1: RESULTS OF LOWER FORMS PUPILS' QUESTIONNAIRE Table 1. Analysis of lower forms pupils' response (N = 764): Percentages

Do you like writing sentences or passages? Do you think writing passages is difficult? Do you like to use pictures or symbols to indicate those vocabularies that you do not know how to write? Would you use the vocabularies you asked your teachers for during lessons again? Do you like to read other classmates' writing? Do you like other classmates to read your writing?

Sentences: 30.5 Passages: 69.5 Difficult: 26.3 Not difficult 73.7 Like: 50.3

Dislike 49.7

Yes: 80.8

No: 19.2

Yes: 82.4 Yes: 77.4

No: 17.6 No: 22.6

Table 2. What are the difficulties you encounter in writing? (N = 772): Percentages

Do not know how to write some words 57.5 Classmates make too much noise 50.8 Do not know how to separate paragraphs 44.4 Do not know what to write 43.5

APPENDIX 2: RESULTS OF UPPER FORMS PUPILS' QUESTIONNAIRE

Table 3. Analysis of upper forms pupils' responses (N = 1,544): Percencages

Hkwp

What kinds of writing methods you like most? 63.4 What kinds ofwriting topics you like most? 58.9 Which writing methods let you write what you like? 64

Tradi- No comtional merits 19.6 23.7 20.9

17 17.4 15.1

Table 4. Analysis of upper forms pupils' response on the arrangement of classroom activities (N = 1,548): Percentages

Yes No 1 don't know Do you think you can write what you want by using the writing methods suggested in 73.3 the HKWP? Do you like teachers to provide a writing outline? 72.9 If teachers do not provide writing outline, can you still write a composition on you 58.2 own? Would you use the vocabulary you asked your teachers for during lessons again? 74

12.1

14.6

16.1 13.2

11 28.6

11.6

14.4

195

T H E H O N G K O N G WRITING PROJECT

Yes No I don 7 know Do you like to correct your writing by copying it out again? Do you like to read other classmates' writing? Do you like other classmates to read your writing? When you read classmates' writing, can you find their weaknesses? Did you write your comments about classmates' weaknesses?

19.3 81.7 57.2 76 62.2

67.8 8.9 25 8.9 26.7

12.9 9.5 17.8 15.1 11.1

Table 5. Which way do you like teachers to mark your writing, marks or seals and stickers? (N = 1,531): Percentages

Marks 43.2 Seals or stickers 41.8 No comments 15

Table 6. What are the difficulties you encounter in writing? (N = 1,657):

Do not know what to write Do not know how to write some words Do not know how to separate paragraphs Just know how to write in Cantonese

Percentages

54.6 52.5 41.6 3 8.7

APPENDIX 3: RESULTS OF TEACHERS' STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS Table 7. Analysis of pupils' writing performance

(N = 57):

Whole Language Approach

Which writing method do pupils like most? Which writing method helps to improve pupils' confidence in writing? Which writing method helps to improve pupils' fluency in writing? Which writing method helps to enrich the content of pupils' writing? Which writing method helps to increase the number of words in pupils' writing?

Percentages

Traditional No differmethod ence

69.6 50.9

7.1 27.3

23.2 21.8

41.1

21.4

37.5

78.6

8.9

12.5

50.9

22.8

26.3

196

TsE, L o H ,

CHEUNG &

KWAN

Table 8. Analysis of pupils' responses to the different marking methods (N = 57):

Percentages

Like Dislike I don't know

Do pupils like peer review? 84.2 14 Do pupils like teachers to mark their writing by marks? 61.4 15.8 Do pupils like teachers to mark their writing by seals or stickers? 66.1 7.1

1.8 22.8 26.8

Table 9. Analysis of pupils 'performance in peer review and their comments on correction and the provision of writing outline (N ^ 57): Percentages

Yes No I don 7 know

Can pupils find others' weaknesses in writing? Can pupils find others' strengths in writing? Do pupils like to correct their writing by coping it out again? Do pupils like teachers to provide a writing outline?

52.6 64.9 14.3 70.6

38.6 29.8 57.1 23.5

8.8 5.3 28.6 5.9

Table 10. Analysis of teachers' comments on different writing methods (N = 57):

Whole Language Approach

Percentages

Traditional method

No difference

21.4 21.1

25 28.1

14 39.3

24.6 21.4

Which kind of writing do you like to read the most? 53.6 Which kind of writing do you like to mark most? 50.9 Which kind of writing helps you to understand your pupils best? 61.4 Which kind of writing has the heavier workload? 39.3

Table 11. Analysis of factors affecting teacher workload (N = 57):

Design of teaching materials More preparation work Need to correct pupils' writing in detail Marking methods are difficult to use

3.5 3.5 1.8 1.8

Percentages

THE HONG KONG WRITING PROJECT

197

Table 12. Analysis of teachers' comments on number of writing sessions (N = 57): Percentages

Too many Suitable Too few

No. of Hong Kong Writing Project writing sessions 14 No. of traditional method writing sessions 5.3

82.5 91.2

3.5 3.5

Table 13. Analysis of teachers' comments on the whole project (N =" 57): Percentages

Useful Useless No comments Do you think the teaching materials provided by the research team are useful? Do you think the seminars organized by the research team were useful?

63.2

7

29.8

56.1

22.8

21.1

Support Do not No comsupport ments Do you support the continuation of the Hong Kong Writing Project?

62.5

8.9

28.6

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION IN HONG KONG SECONDARY SCHOOLS Peer checklist at a closer look

MARK SHIU KEE SHUM The University of Hong Kong, China

Abstract. This study investigated the effects of four different methods used to evaluate Chinese compositions of senior secondary students in Hong Kong, with a particular interest in examining whether any one method would result in improving students' attitudes to writing (especially their willingness to revise) and increasing their writing achievements. A 'pre-test/post-test' experimental design was trialed to explore whether there were significant differences between the four evaluation methods used, i.e., detailed evaluation by teacher, evaluation by teacher using symbolic codes, evaluation by peers using a checklist and self-evaluation using a checklist. The subjects were 120 students from three Form Four classes of a government-aided secondary school. They were divided into four groups, each of which had their Chinese writing compositions evaluated by one of the above methods for six months. The results of the trial showed that the students in the 'peer evaluation (checklist)' group performed better in terms of taking the initiative in rewriting, their writing habits and their recall rate of revising. A post-study questionnaire survey of the students found that they generally held a positive attitude toward peer evaluation by checklist. Keywords: Hong Kong, composition evaluation methods, teacher evaluation (detailed), teacher evaluation (symbolic codes), peer evaluation (checklist), self-evaluation (checklist), pre-test effectiveness, posttest effectiveness

1.

INTRODUCTION

Evaluation forms part of the process of teaching composition and is crucial to the enhancement of students' writing capabilities. Many different methods are used by teachers to evaluate student compositions. In the present study four evaluation methods are trialed which may be characterized according to the different levels of initiative to be taken by students, ranging from very passive to very active, namely

200

SHUM

(1) detailed evaluation by teachers (termed as 'teacher evaluation (detailed)' thereafter), (2) evaluation by teachers using symbolic codes (termed as 'teacher evaluation (symbolic codes)' thereafter), (3) peer evaluation by students using checklist after students receiving some training (termed as 'peer evaluation (checklist)' thereafter), and (4) self-evaluation by students using checklist (termed as 'self-evaluation (checklist)' thereafter). Liu (1985) used a figure of speech to describe these four levels of initiative of students as follows: 'The process of conducting detailed evaluation of composition by teachers is similar to that of teaching a child how to walk. The adult would first demonstrate how to walk to the child. The process of teacher evaluation by using symbolic codes and giving the composition back to the students is similar to that of helping the child to walk by leading him the way. For peer evaluation, it is similar to the process of letting the children walk hand in hand. Self-evaluation by students is similar to the situation when the child learned how to walk on his own, as equivalent to the uhimate goal of training.' (Liu, 1985)

In Hong Kong schools methods (1) and (2) are the most popular ones for evaluating Chinese composition, with a teaching design using methods (3) and (4) still under development. The study reported here focused on exploring the effects of the latter two methods, especially peer evaluation using a checklist. Teacher evaluation (detailed) is a traditional composition evaluation method. The teacher evaluates a student's composition seriously and careftiUy, examining all characters, wordings, sentences, punctuation marks and structure of the text. The teacher makes notes at the top and in the margin of each page and also gives overall comments. This evaluation method has a diagnostic effect, with Yu (1959) pointing out that detailed evaluation can foster students' writing ability and Luo (1963) believing that if students can understand a composition which their teacher had evaluated in detail, then the benefits obtained would be greater than those obtained from thoroughly comprehending a given literary text. School principals generally supported this type of evaluation and thought that the more detailed a teacher's corrections were, the more responsible the teacher was (Tse, 1993). However, some scholars have voiced reservations about the effectiveness of detailed evaluation (Murray, 1968; Vogler, 1971; Marzano & Arthur, 1977; Ye, 1978; Wang, 1985). Ye Sheng Tao (1980), a famous language educator, also pointed out that students should be encouraged to play an active role in evaluating their compositions. To make students show more initiative in evaluating their compositions, scholars have put forward a method where the teacher still evaluates but using symbolic codes instead of making detailed comments (Wang, 1957; Yu, 1959; Luo, 1963; Chen, 1967; He, 1979). Teacher evaluation using symbolic codes was first adopted in the 1920s and has been undergoing changes since then (Yu, 1959). In 1975, the Hong Kong Education Department put forward 'the suggestion of using symbolic codes in evaluating composition'. This policy enhanced teachers' confidence in this evaluation method and to a certain extent the policy motivated the use of the approach using symbolic codes. In this approach to marking, the teacher indicates different types of mistakes by writing some specific symbols against the errors in students' compositions. Then the compositions are returned to students for corrections, after which they submit the revised compositions to their teachers for final evalua-

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

201

tion (Luo, 1963). It is widely believed that this approach has a positive effect on students (Luo 1963; Chen, 1967; He, 1979). However, other scholars disagree, for example, Murray (1968). As an alternative, the idea of peer evaluation was put forward by Luo (1963), Murray (1968), Ye (1978), Rijlaarsdam (1983, 1987), and Rijlaarsdam & Couzijn (2000). Using this method, students form small groups or pair up under their teacher's instruction and exchange their compositions with each other for evaluation. Most of the time, students evaluate their classmates' compositions according to the criteria provided by their teacher, usually in the form of an evaluation checklist (see Appendix) (Lamberg, 1980). Students then give feedback to the classmates who wrote the compositions. Peer evaluation can be divided into two phases: In Phase 1 students read and evaluate their classmates' compositions, and in Phase 2 they receive their classmates' feedback and make their own judgment for final rewriting. Experiments have shown that students may benefit from both phases (Sager, 1973; Lamberg, 1980; Carter, 1982). Many scholars hold positive attitudes towards this evaluation method (Moffett, 1968; Bruffee, 1973; Beaven, 1977; Chickering, 1978; Ellman, 1979; Ou, 1981; Zhang, 1981; Yang, 1983; Qian, 1984; Sun, 1983; Gao, 1985; Xiao, 1988). However, some scholars have shown concern and pointed out that there are problems with this method which are yet to be solved (Danis, 1982; Roessler, 1983; Ziv, 1983). The fourth method of evaluation is students evaluating their own compositions. It is in fact the ultimate goal of teaching the students to evaluate compositions. As Beaven (1977), Smeltsor (1978) and Ye (1978) advocate, students have to take an active role in evaluating their own compositions, and teachers have to foster their students' ability to do so. Not much research on students' self-evaluation has been carried out and self-evaluation thus remains an important topic for further research. According to several studies, self-evaluation by students can yield many benefits yet, judging by experimental results, this method has raised suspicion since it represents a relatively controversial teaching design (Sager, 1973; Lamberg, 1974, 1980; Beaven, 1977; Beach, 1979). The study aims to explore the effects of the above four evaluation methods on senior secondary students' willingness to revise their compositions, thus potentially bringing about improvements in their writing, and on their attitudes to writing. The particular focus of the study is on the effects of peer evaluation (checklist) of compositions on Senior Secondary (Form Four to Seven) Chinese students in Hong Kong. According to the theory of cognitive development associated with Piaget (1969), the development of cognition in teenagers aged fifteen and above has them adopt ways of abstract thinking typical of adulthood. Students at this stage generally show more initiative than younger students, and their language ability is higher than younger students' after years of training in reading and writing, and it is therefore believed that they may be able to evaluate their own or their fellow students' compositions, albeit with some training. They will soon graduate and start work, when they will have to write without their teacher's assistance and hence must have the ability to self-evaluate. The question addressed in this study is whether it is appropriate to implement evaluation methods at senior secondary level which involve a

202

SHUM

higher level of student initiative. If any of these methods are applicable to Form Four students, then it can be deduced that they may be applied to Forms Five to Seven students who possess yet greater initiative and stronger language ability. 2.

RESEARCH METHOD

2.1 Sampling The experiment was conducted over a period of six months, involving close observation of the subjects. The students of three Form Four classes of a governmentaided secondary school were chosen as subjects since the focus of the research was senior secondary students. The learning ability of students in this school was close to the median of students of all Hong Kong schools. The normal distribution of most student subjects in the study shows that their learning ability was at the medium level. This representation was estimated to be indicative. 2.2 Design This study is of a pre-test/post-test experimental design. The students' views of those four evaluation methods were explored through post-test questionnaires. The 120 Form Four students were divided into four groups, each group using a different method of evaluation, requiring a different level of student initiative in evaluating compositions. All variables potentially impacting the research were controlled, for example, by ensuring that the four groups had similar language ability. Only one teacher was involved in teaching these students, and the syllabus, reading guidance and writing practices used were the same for all groups. After different evaluation methods had been trialed for six months (the period during which students wrote their compositions was actually five months, plus one month after which they wrote a composition for the retention test, making a six-month period of research), various aspects of the behaviors of the four groups were investigated and compared. These included students' composition results, their attitudes to writing, their rate of remembering their revisions, the sustainability of the effectiveness of the evaluation treatment, the revisions identified when comparing the first draft with the final version of the composition, and so on. 2.3 Experimental Procedures Each of the three classes of Form Four students consisted of about forty students, making a total of 120 subjects. Each student was required to do a pre-test and fill in a questionnaire on their attitudes to writing, the results of which were eventually compared with the same questions in a post-test, thus showing whether and how their attitudes to writing had changed over the course of the study. Each class was divided into four groups randomly with roughly ten students in a group. After stratification of abilities at each level, in each group the numbers of students who possessed strong and poor language ability were similar. Different groups were assigned different composition evaluation methods for the period of the study. The first group

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

203

was given teacher evaluation (detailed), the second teacher evaluation (symbolic codes), the third peer evaluation (checklist), and the fourth self-evaluation (checklist). In the first group the teacher corrected all the mistakes in the composition and then returned it to the students for correction and rewriting. In the second group the teacher used symbolic codes to mark the mistakes in the compositions and then returned them to the students for revision. In the third group two compositions on the same topic but with obvious discrepancies in quality were used as samples for discussions. After discussion, students evaluated their classmates' compositions according to a checklist (see Appendix) and gave feedback to one another. Students then revised their own first draft with reference to their fellow students' feedback but according to their own judgments. The fourth group would self-evaluate their compositions according to a checklist, reflect on their own work and then revise it. During the six-month period of this study each student wrote five compositions and these were evaluated according to the method designated for their group. At the end of the study, students had to take a post-test, similar to the pre-test, and again fill in a questionnaire on their attitudes to writing. The teacher also made copies of the first draft of the students' sixth composition, the last composition at the treatments period, before it was evaluated. The teachers distributed this copy to the students for correction one month after their composition had been evaluated. This served to test students' memory recall rate. Furthermore, each student had to take the composition test again one month after the post-test so that the recall rate of the effectiveness of the evaluation method could be assessed. Statistical analyses were carried out into the changes made to the first draft to produce the final version of the sixth composition with regards to the number of ideas relevant to the topic and the textural structure of the composition. This allowed us to compare the level of initiative shown by the students in each group when revising their compositions. Memory ret(mtion test Comparative analysis between the first draft and the final draft of the 6^*^ composition

(Pre-test) 01

1

(Treatments)

(Retention Test) 03

(Post-test) 02

XI X2 X3 X4 X5 Five months

1

1 One month

Figure L Experimental Procedures.

At the conclusion of the study a follow-up questionnaire to explore the students' views of the various evaluation methods was administered. The questionnaire con-

204

SHUM

sisted of two parts, one for all subjects and one for a sub-group of the sixteen best and the sixteen worst performing students. 2.4 Research Tools The composition results of the pre-test, post-test and retention test of effectiveness of the four groups of students were determined with reference to the assessment criteria of the Chinese composition paper of the Hong Kong School Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE). The assessment was conducted by two experienced teachers of Chinese language. The questionnaire probing the students' attitude to writing was adapted from one that was part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) carried out in the United States, in which a study of the evaluation of compositions was conducted in 1983-1984 on all students in the United States. Those parts which were not relevant to the socio-cultural background of Hong Kong were omitted. The questionnaire explores the students' attitude to writing by focusing on six different aspects: (1) Writing values; (2) enthusiasm in writing; (3) views on feedback; (4) writing strategy; (5) revision strategy, and (6) writing habit. The questionnaire contained sixty questions. A Likert scale was implemented: each question was given a weighting of one to five marks, with higher marks representing better attitudes to writing. Observations were made on four aspects of the recall rate of revising, which included 'mechanical operation', 'use of lexicon', 'language expression' and 'content'. Students' retention of what they did when revising their compositions was calculated following the assessment method in He (1979). Two issues were investigated on the basis of the changes made between the first draft and the final version of the composition by the students. The first issue concerned the number of ideas relevant to the topic in the first draft of the sixth composition as compared with its final version; the second main issue concerned whether there were significant, and reasonable, structural changes made during the process from drafting to revising. Two experienced teachers were responsible for investigating these two issues. 3.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Analysis of Composition Pre- and Post-test Results The first analysis was of the post-test results of the four groups of students, tested via a 2-way ANCOVA. Covariates referred to the adjusted marks obtained by students in the pre-test. (The reliability of the marking done by the two teachers who assessed the composition test papers in this study was found to have a correlation coefficient of .94 (p<0.01).) The statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the adjusted post-test results of the four groups {F = 0.525, df=3, p>0.05). A second analysis was of the four component parts of the post-test results, i.e., 'content', 'wordings and sentences', 'structure' and 'punctuation marks / handwriting'. This analysis also failed to reveal any significant difference between the performances of the different groups. One possible explanation for this is that the experi-

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

205

mental period of six months was too short since the development of writing skills requires long-term nurturing. Having only five evaluations of compositions carried out during the period of the study was possibly not giving the students sufficient practice in evaluating and revising to bring about significant differences in the final versions of compositions between the four groups of students. A third analysis compared the marks obtained by each group of students in their pre- and post-tests by means of a T-test. The analysis showed a significant difference between the pre- and post-test results of the group which was designated teacher evaluation (symbolic codes) (/=3.46, df=30, /?<0.01). A significant difference was also found to obtain between the pre-test and post-test results of the group which used peer evaluation (checklist) (/=3.59, df=2>\, p<0.01). The analyses thus showed that these two groups had made significant progress in their composition results. However, no significant difference was found to obtain between the pre- and post-test results of the groups which used teacher evaluation (detailed) and selfevaluation (checklist), implying an absence of measurable improvements in their composition performance. 3.2 Analysis of Questionnaire regarding Pre- and Post-Test Attitude to Writing Further comparison of the six aspects of attitude to writing investigated in the questionnaire in both pre- and post-tests found significant differences between groups with respect to some of these aspects. First, analysis of the aspect 'enthusiasm in writing' showed that although there was no significant difference between groups (F=1.913, dj=2>, p>0.05), there were significant differences between students with different language ability (F=7.927, 4 ^ 1 , /?<0.01). The analysis showed that students with stronger language ability had greater enthusiasm for writing than the less capable ones. Secondly, analysis of the aspect 'views on feedback' showed a significant difference between groups (F=3.256, df=l>, /?<0.05). Marks were highest for the group which received teacher evaluation (symbolic codes) (M=36.16), followed by the group that received teacher evaluation (detailed) (A/=36.05), followed by the group using self-evaluation (checklist) (M=34.50), with the lowest marks obtained by the group which used peer evaluation (checklist) (M=32.78). These results reflect the researcher's belief that students in general still treasure their teachers' evaluations of their compositions. They believe that evaluation by teacher is a more effective method than evaluation by student, whether peer or self It was obvious that students did not wish to study without the authority of their teacher as they would not accept new evaluation methods, showing strong reservations about peer evaluation and believing that even self-evaluation was more effective than peer evaluation. Another likely reason for peer evaluation (checklist) being given the lowest mark was that the actual process of peer evaluation did not convince students that classmates could provide an evaluation as good as their teachers. In fact, whether students are able to evaluate their classmates' compositions is a question that has concerned many scholars who strongly advocate peer evaluation,

206

SHUM

for example, Bruffee (1973), who said that, 'students can act as little teachers only after training and under supervision.' More composition evaluation practice, a more carefiil design of the evaluation checklist and more teacher guidance when holding discussions after peer evaluation may be able to solve the problem. Thirdly, analysis of the aspect 'revision strategy' showed a significant difference between different groups (F=10.204, df=2>, p<0.01). Marks were highest for the group which used peer checklist evaluation (M=41.87), followed by the group which received teacher evaluation using symbolic codes (M=37.38), followed by the group using self-checklist evaluation (M=36.31), with the lowest mark obtained by the group which received detailed evaluation by their teacher (M=33.79). These results support the views of scholars that peer evaluation has the potential to encourage students to revise. One possible explanation for the low level of initiative in revising shown by students in the group that received detailed evaluation by their teacher is that this method gave ftiU discretion to the teacher with all mistakes having already been corrected by the teacher. As a consequence, initiative in making revisions is really not called for. Fourthly, analysis of the aspect 'writing habit' showed a significant difference between groups (F=5.213, ( ^ 3 , p<0.01). The group using peer checklist evaluation obtained the highest marks (M=28.96), followed by the group which used selfchecklist evaluation (M=25.99), followed by the group which received teacher evaluation using symbolic codes (M=25.36), with the lowest mark obtained by the group using detailed evaluation by their teacher (M=24.1). The mark obtained by the peer checklist evaluation group was significantly higher than that obtained by the other three groups. The third and fourth aspects of students' attitude to writing thus support the possibility of introducing peer checklist evaluation at the senior secondary level. S.3 Analysis of Students' Recall Rate of Revision This analysis aims to answer the question of how much of the changes made in their revision of an evaluated composition students can recall one month after revising. To answer this question, students' composition errors were sorted into four categories: (1) mechanical operation, (2) use of lexicon, (3) language expression and (4) content. The analysis showed that there were indeed significant differences between the recall rates for the first three categories of revision: mechanical operation (F=8.698, <^3, /?<0.01), use of lexicon (F=10.609, df=l>, p<0.01), and language expression (F=11.816,#=3,p<0.01). A shown in Table 1, the group using peer evaluation (checklist) had a higher recall rate of revisions in the error categories 'mechanical operation', 'use of lexicon' and 'language expression' than the other three groups, i.e., students in this group remembered more of their revisions. However, there was no significant difference between the four groups (F=2.183, df=l>, p>0.05) in respect of 'content'. The result suggests that using peer checklist students can remember the corrections on language use better than being evaluated by other methods.

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

207

Table 1. Medians of the Four Groups in the Recall Rate of Revising (* p <0.01)

Error Category

Mechanics Lexicon Language Content

Grand Mean

0.29 0.34 0.31 0.47

Teacher Evaluation (Detailed)

Teacher Evaluation (Symbolic Codes)

0.14 0.13 0.14 0.56

0.26 0.33 0.27 0.56

Peer Evaluation (Checklist)

0.53* 0.64* 0.53* 0.46

Self Evaluation (Checklist)

0.26 0.41 0.30 0.27

3.4 Analysis of Sustainability of the Impact on Students' Writing Ability This analysis sought to answer the question whether any observed effects of a given evaluation method at the end of the six-months experiment are likely to be sustained if the evaluation method is not employed any longer or employed with a break of, say, one month? Statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between groups with regard to any continuing effect on students' writing ability of any given evaluation method employed during the experiment (F=0.340, df=?>, /?>0.05). Analysis of the marks obtained in the categories 'content', 'wordings and sentences', 'structure' and 'punctuation mark/handwriting' also showed no significant differences between groups. These results are consistent with those of the post-test. It could be said that after using different evaluation methods for six months, no significant differences were found to obtain between the groups in terms of their composition results. 3.5 Comparative Analysis of First Draft and Final Version of Students* Compositions This analysis of students' actual behaviors in revising the first draft to arrive at the final version was carried out to understand their situations in rewriting. Two questions were asked: (1) When students turned their first drafts into their final versions, they generally enriched the content by adding relevant ideas. The question is whether different evaluation methods resulted in different student behaviors when revising their compositions. (2) When students revised their first draft to produce their final version, they made important changes to improve its textual structure and the relevance of its ideas. These changes potentially included the addition or deletion of a paragraph, the substitution of an existing paragraph by a new one, the reordering of the sequence of paragraphs, or even adopting a 'total revision operation'. The question is whether there is any obvious causal relationship between different

208

SHUM

evaluation methods and the changes made to the draft compositions. The answers to these two questions are presented in the next two subsections. 3.6 Comparison of Number of Relevant Idea Units in Sixth Student Composition by Different Groups Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant difference between different groups in terms of the number of relevant idea Units (F=5.201, df=l>, p<0.01). The score for the peer checklist evaluation group was higher than those for the other three groups: group which received teacher evaluation (detailed) (7.95); group which received teacher evaluation (symbolic codes) (7.69); group using peer evaluation (8.46); group using self-evaluation (checklist) (8.02). These results generally support the view held by scholars that peer evaluation (checklist) is worthwhile since students can draw on the experience of their fellow students. Students may gain new insights when evaluating other students' compositions, which in turn may inspire them to add new ideas to their own compositions as they prepare their final version. 3.7 Comparison of Changes Between Sixth Composition Draft and Final Version Table 2 shows the number of compositions with or without a significant number of changes made to the final version by each of the four groups. The results of a chisquare test showed that the number of changes made correlated strongly with the different evaluation methods 0^^=11.568, ^ 3 , p < 0 . 0 1 ) . Table 2. Sixth Composition Draft and Final Version with/without Significant Number of Changes per Evaluation Method

Significant Number of Changes in Final Version

Detailed Evaluation by Teachers

Teacher Evaluation using Symbolic Codes

PeerChecklist Evaluation

Self

Yes No Total

4 25 29

1 30 31

11 21 32

8 20 28

Total

Checklist Evaluation

24 96 120

A further test combined the four evaluation methods into two types, namely teachercentered evaluations (detailed evaluation by teachers and teacher evaluation using symbolic codes) vs. student-centered evaluations (peer checklist evaluation and selfchecklist evaluation). The results are presented in Table 3. Table 3. Compositions with/without Significant Number of Changes Between Sixth Composition Draft and Final Version per Teacher-centered vs. Student-centered Evaluation Method

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

Significant Changes in Final Version

Yes No Total

Teachercentered Evaluation

Studentcentered Evaluation

5 55 60

209

Total

19 41 60

24 96 120

Table 3 shows that students in the two student-centered evaluation groups revised a larger number of compositions than those in the teacher-centered evaluation groups. A Chi-square test confirmed that there is a significant correlation between evaluation method and the number of compositions to which a large number of changes had been made between draft and final version (/^=8.802, df=\,p<0.0\). A likely explanation for this result is that evaluation methods that already strongly involve students are more likely to encourage students to revise their compositions. Students in the groups using peer evaluation (checklist) and selfevaluation (checklist) read and commented on one well-written and one poorlywritten composition according to a checklist. Then, after discussions held under their teachers' guidance, students evaluated fellow students' compositions or their own with reference to the checklist and then revised their compositions to produce a final version. Under such circumstances, students learn from the strengths of others and offset their own weaknesses. 3.8 Follow-up Survey A follow-up survey was conducted at the end of the six-month experiment by means of two written questionnaires, one administered to all the students who had taken part in the study, and one to a sub-group of students comprised of those with the best and the poorest post-test results in each evaluation group, a total of sixteen good and sixteen poor students, or thirty-two in all. The questionnaire for the whole group aimed at finding out the students' views of the four evaluation methods. The question simply asked them which of the four evaluation methods was the best. Table 4. Students' Views of the Four Evaluation Methods

Evaluation Methods that Students Believed to be Better Group

Teacher (Detailed)

Teacher (Symbolic

Peer Checklist

Self Checklist

Total

210

SHUM

Codes) Teacher (Detailed) Teacher (Symbolic Codes) Peer Checklist Self-Checklist Total

17 2 10 9 38

1 16 6 4 27

11 11 15 11 48

0 2 1 4 7

29 31 32 28 120

The following conclusions may be drawn from the results shown in Table 4: 1) Considering the students as a single body, the method peer checklist evaluation was the most popular, followed by teacher evaluation (detailed) and teacher evaluation (symbolic codes), while the self-evaluation (checklist) method was the least popular by a large margin. 2) The popularity of the method teacher evaluation (detailed) illustrates that students are still overawed by their teachers' authority, leading the students to believe that teacher evaluation was the most effective evaluation method. 3) The popularity of peer evaluation (checklist) illustrates that students held a positive attitude to this new method, a method which was shown to increase their inclination to revise. 4) Considering the views of the members of a given group concerning the evaluation method they had actually experienced, about 50% of the students in each of the groups using teacher evaluation (detailed), teacher evaluation (symbolic codes) and peer evaluation (checklist) supported the method they had experienced. On the other hand, fewer than 15% of the students in the self-evaluation (checklist) group supported the evaluation method they had experienced in the experiment. The second questionnaire, administered to the sub-group of thirty-two students, aimed at gaining a greater understanding of how these students participated in the evaluation activities within their own group. Comments were categorized according to the method of evaluation of which the students had experienced. The following generalizations are an attempt at capturing the learning psychology obtaining in each group. Teacher evaluation (detailed): (a) A positive attitude prevailed towards the teacher's evaluations, and students believed that this method was the most reliable one and that it was beneficial, (b) Students only made corrections to those parts in their compositions which had been marked by the teacher, (c) Students were afraid of writing compositions in the fear of making mistakes, (d) Students believed that revision was not challenging, (e) Students believed that this method of evaluation only emphasized partial revision but not reflection upon the composition as a whole, (f) Students wanted to try those methods which encouraged them to revise. Teacher evaluation (symbolic codes): (a) This was a more challenging method than the method 'teacher evaluation (detailed)', (b) Students only made corrections to

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

211

those parts in their compositions which had been marked by the teacher and were afraid of correcting other parts, (c) Students sometimes did not understand the teacher's symbolic codes, (d) Students thought that wordings were clearer than symbolic codes in an evaluation, (e) The symbolic codes were thought to limit the parts to be revised by students, (f) Students wanted to try those evaluation methods which encouraged them to revise. Peer evaluation (checklist): (a) The scope for revision was wide and potentially extended to the whole text, (b) There were interactive effects during peer evaluation. (c) After peer evaluation, the marked compositions were for cross-reference and demonstration, (d) Students worried that the writing standard of their peer partner was poorer than their own and hence they would not benefit from their partner's feedback, (e) Sometimes the time allowed for evaluating another student's composition was not sufficient, (f) Some students were not serious, and thus careless, when evaluating another student's composition. Self-evaluation (checklist): (a) Students in general objected to this evaluation method, (b) Students thought they might fail to identity their own mistakes, (c) Students had to spend more time than usual to identify mistakes, (d) The scope for revision was wide and potentially extended to the whole text, (e) Students wanted to try out methods of 'peer evaluation (checklist)' or 'teacher evaluation (symbolic codes)'. 4.

CONCLUSION

At the end of this six-month experiment in evaluation it was found that there was no significant difference between the four evaluation methods in their ability to encourage students to revise and in their impact on students' writing achievements. Nevertheless, some conclusions may be drawn as to which evaluation methods might deliver the greatest benefits. In summary, although students tended to have greater confidence in teachers' evaluations and, conversely, tended to have reservations about their classmates' feedback, peer evaluation (checklist) in fact rated more highly in encouraging students to revise and in improving students' writing habits. In addition, students in the peer evaluation group performed better in terms of their recall of wordings and sentences from their revisions and their eagerness or ability to revise the first draft of their composition to produce their final version. Lastly, although students showed resistance to self-evaluation (checklist) in the post-test questionnaires, they held positive attitudes to peer evaluation (checklist) despite the fact that both methods of evaluation obviously have a high level of student involvement. We may therefore conclude that if teachers wish to raise their students' willingness to revise their compositions, peer evaluation (checklist) is a method that can be highly recommended for Hong Kong schools.

212

SHUM

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are due to the students who participated in the research, I am especially grateful to two experienced Chinese teachers, Mr. Kuen-po Lo and Mr. Kwong-wah Chan, for being the raters to assess the pre-tests and post-tests of students' compositions.

EFFECTS OF FOUR METHODS OF EVALUATION OF CHINESE COMPOSITION

213

APPENDIX: EVALUATION CHECKLIST Reviewer:_ Topic: Author:

Date: Marks: Agree

The beginning of the article can arouse your reading interest.

2) 3)

4) 5)

9)

10)

11) 12) 1 13) 14)

2

4

3

2

1

1

1

A clear standpoint has been established in the introduction. 4 3 2 1 Please draw two lines in the left margin to indicate the topic sentences. Each paragraph contains topic sentences which support the 4 3 2 1 standpoint as stated at the beginning of the article. Explanatory articles should provide sufficient evidence to support one's standpoints. Please draw a 1 sawtooth ( ^ line in the right margin to indicate the convincing evidence in the article. | The evidence stated in the article can convince the readers.

8)

3

Please highlight the sentences illustrating the standpoint within the introduction in brackets.

6) 7)

4

Disagree 1

4

3

2

1

If there is smooth and clear transition, please put an asterisk (*) in between the paragraphs. If not, please put a question mark.

|

4 3 2 1 There is smooth and clear transition in between paragraphs. Please indicate wrong words, wrong spellings, incorrect use of wordings and sentences of unclear 1 meanings in the left margin by using the following symbols: Wrong words (X); Incorrect use of wordings ( ) , Wrong spelling (0); Sentence of unclear meanings (Draw a straight line in the right margin) There are not many wrong words and wrong spellings in the 4 3 2 1 article. (4 marks for 0-1 error; 3 marks for 2-3 errors; so forth and so on) Not much incorrect use of wordings and not many sentences 4 3 2 1 of unclear meanings found in the article. The article is well-organized regarding the process of provid4 3 2 1 ing evidence to support the standpoints. The conclusion of the article is definite and reasonable. Overall speaking, the content of the whole article follows the topic.

4

3

2

1

4

3

2

1

Total: (_) X 2.5 Comments on the composition:

ACADEMIC ESL WRITING IN HONG KONG The impact of a shift in the context of writing upon the composing processes of two advanced ESL writers

ALBERT TAI YUEN WONG

The University of Hong Kong, China

Abstract. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate different aspects of the cognitive process of composing or the social context in which composing occurs. Few studies have, however, investigated the impact of a shift in the context of writing upon the cognitive process of composing and the strategies that writers employ. This chapter illustrates a study of the composing processes of two advanced ESL (English as Second Language) writers and the strategies they adopted when they wrote academic texts in two different contexts: the class setting and the home setting. The writers were asked to think aloud or verbalize all the thoughts that ran through their minds while composing. The composing sessions in the class setting were video-recorded while the composing sessions in the home setting were audio-recorded. The think-aloud protocols were transcribed, coded and analyzed in conjunction with the writing plans, drafts, time logs and process logs that the writers produced. The assignments produced in both contexts were also rated for coherence in text by independent judges. The findings indicated that the writers demonstrated awareness in making adjustments to their composing strategies in light of the shift in the context of writing. They did so through recycling or making adaptations to the strategies they had used previously as well as invoking 'new' strategies to facilitate the process of composing. In addition, the writers demonstrated different levels of strategic awareness in utilizing the resources available to them when they composed in the home setting and produced assignments with different textual qualities. Keywords: cognitive process, shift in social context, writing strategies, class setting, home setting, strategic awareness, rating

1.

INTRODUCTION

Emig's (1971) landmark study of the composing process of grade twelve LI students heralded a number of studies on the cognitive process of composing. Some of these studies focused on LI writers, for instance, Flower and Hayes (1981) and others on L2 writers (Zamel, 1982; Raimes, 1985, 1987; Sasaki, 2000, 2002). This shift,

216

WONG

from product-oriented to process-centered theories of writing was hailed as a paradigm shift by Hairston (1982). A number of researchers, however, expressed concern over the predominant focus upon cognition in the process of writing at the expense of other important elements of writing. For instance. Cooper and Holzman (1985) criticized the cognitive model of composing for ignoring the impact of the context on writing and pointed out that the research methodology overlooks the context in which writing takes place. Cooper (1986: 365) ftirther cautioned that 'the belief on which the cognitive process model of writing is based - that writing is essentially a cognitive process - obscures many aspects of writing that are not peripheral'. Horowitz (1986a: 446) also asserted that the process approach, with its virtually exclusive concern with psycholinguistic, cognitive and emotional factors, has failed to address the many factors out of an individual's control, which would define, shape and ultimately judge a written text. Horowitz further highlighted the importance of the context of composing by pointing out that the format in which a writer expresses his mind owes as much to the constraints of the writing situation as it does to the writer's mental process. Flower (1989: 287) underscored the dialectic relationship between cognition and context by proposing the following principles: • The context cues cognition by determining, directing or prompting the kind of thinking the individual writer will do; • The cognition of the individual writer mediates the context of writing; • The bounded purposes that emerge from this dialectic process are meaningful rhetorical acts. In a similar vein, Berkenkotter (1991) criticized the cognitive versus contextual polarization that has emerged in research on writing as arbitrary and artificial. According to her, research on composition should entertain both cognitive and social perspectives simultaneously and 'foregrounding the individual writer as an active, constructive agent of meaning does not mean to ignore the myriad social and historical factors that permeate the contexts of composing'(ibid: 151).

A number of composition researchers who subscribe to the views expressed by Cooper and Holzman, Horowitz, Flower and Berkenkotter as delineated earlier began to shift their focus of investigation to the context in which composing takes place, for instance, Herrington (1985) and Nelson (1990) in LI context and Kroll (1990), Johns (1991) and Riazi (1997) in the context of L2 writers. Kroll (1990) compared the written products of ESL students at undergraduate level when they composed in different contexts, for example, in class and at home, and concluded that the time allowed for writing at home can contribute to some improvement on the syntactic level and the rhetorical level but the additional time given does not lead to a sufficiently improved essay. To investigate the social-cognitive dimension of composing, Riazi (1997) conducted an investigation of how graduate students acquire domain-specific literacy. His findings indicated that achieving disciplinary literacy in a graduate program with L2 students is fundamentally an interactive social-cognitive process in which

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

217

production of texts requires extensive interactions between the individual's cognitive processes and social or contextual factors through different ways. Among the range of studies discussed in this chapter so far, few have focused on how variations in the context of writing may affect the cognitive process of composing. This study was thus undertaken to investigate the writing processes of two advanced ESL writers, and, whether and how a shift in the context of composing from a class setting to a home setting may affect their cognitive processes of composing as represented by the strategies that the writers employed and the quality of the texts they produced. 2.

BACKGROUND TO THE PRESENT STUDY

2.1 Participants The sample in this study was a group of English major student teachers attending an in-service part-time professional course in education offered by a university in Hong Kong for graduate teachers (teachers with university degrees). Based on data obtained from a survey and semi-structured interviews, two participants, Ada and Beth, (both pseudonyms) were selected from the sample group through typical sampling method, which, according to Wiersma (1995), is used to identify participants that are typical or representative amongst the sample group. Ada had one year experience in teaching English and History at senior secondary forms while Beth had two years experience in teaching English and Economics and Public Affairs at lower secondary forms. Both writers had a degree in English awarded by universities in Hong Kong and both had attained quasi-native-speaker proficiency in English. 2.2 Data Collection and Analyses 2.2.1

Writing Tasks

No writing tasks were specifically designed for this study, all the writing tasks under investigation were assignments that the writers had to complete and submit as part of the course requirements. Nelson (1990) thus emphasized the importance of investigating 'daily cognition' in natural settings. 'Although student writing processes have been widely studied, many of these studies were conducted in settings in which the subjects were asked to write for the occasion of the research project itself As a result, much of what we know about the processes and practices of writers during composing comes from this research setting and not from the everyday contexts in which people normally write' (Nelson, 1990: 364).

The task written in the class setting was an English major methods assignment (appendix la) whereas the task completed in the home setting was a minor methods assignment. Ada wrote a History minor methods assignment (appendix lb) while Beth wrote a Civic Education minor methods assignment (appendix Ic) in accordance with the minor methods subjects that they had elected.

218 2.2.2 ting

WONG Eliciting Data of the Composing Processes taking place in the Class Set-

Each writer attended a separate composing session that took place in a class setting. The writing task was an English methods assignment that required the writers to: • Identify a problem they encountered in teaching grammar • Evaluate the strategies they adopted to address the problem • Reflect on how these strategies could be improved. The writers were given the assignment topic at the beginning of the session but they were informed beforehand to bring along with them to the writing sessions reference materials relevant to the teaching of grammar. The writers were given time at the beginning of the composing sessions to practise composing aloud on a mini-task by describing a difficult lesson in English that they had taught before. Then they were given the following set of instructions on thinking-aloud adapted from Perkins (1981:33-34). Say whatever is on your mind. Don't hold back hunches, guesses, wild ideas, images and intentions. Speak as continuously as possible. Speak audibly. Speak as telegraphically as you please. Please don't worry about complete sentences. Don't over explain or justify. Analyze no more than you would normally do. Don't elaborate past events. Get into the pattern of saying what you are thinking now. You may use English, Cantonese (a spoken Chinese dialect) or mixed code (partly English and partly Cantonese) as you prefer. Two video cameras were set up. One focused upon the writer's full front, the other on the writing hand of the composer to capture her pen movements. 2.2.3 ting

Eliciting Data of the Composing Processes Taking Place in the Home Set-

When composing their minor methods assignments at home, the writers were asked to audio-record their composing process by thinking aloud to a tape-recorder whenever they worked on the assignments at home. This was similar to what Murray did (Berkenkotter, 1983; Smagorinsky, 1989) to capture his own real-time writing that took place in the natural setting of the home. The composing-aloud protocols elicited in this way removed the researcher from immediate contact with the writers and provided valuable data on how writers composed in real time in the natural context of their homes. In addition, the writers were asked to keep process logs and time logs to provide a complete and accurate picture of their composing processes and the strategies they used when they composed in the home setting. Process logs have been used by a number of researchers to trace the composing processes of writers (e.g., Faigley, Cherry, Jolliffe, & Skinner, 1989; Riazi, 1997). The process logs adopted in this

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

219

study required the writers to make entries in the logs at different junctures of their processes of composing in response to the guiding questions (appendix 2), in particular, when they were preparing for the assignment, when they were writing it and when they had finished writing it. Besides, the writers were also asked to keep time logs where they recorded things that they did during preparation and composing, including what they did and when, how and why they did it. The entries in the time log included, for instance, details (when, how and why) of their searches for references, their consultations with their lecturers and their discussions with fellow student-teachers. 2.2.4

Data Analyses

The conventions used in reproducing transcripts of protocols are as follows: • A series of five consecutive dots (...) denotes a noticeable pause and a series of ten consecutive dots ( ) denotes a long pause. • Words that were written down are underlined. • Observed behaviors and comments about what was happening at a particular point in the composing process are put in brackets. Cited below is an excerpt of think-aloud protocol transcribed according to the above conventions. Maybe...modal verbs, Form 3 students, Form 3 students may not... Yeah, I should start with modal verbs because these are modal verbs. Yeah...okay, how to spell? M-o-d-a-l modal, modal verbs...are a difficult...are a difficult thing, difficult area (replacing 'thing' with 'area') for Form 3,1 suppose we focus on Form 3, for Form 3 students.

The development of the coding system was a recursive process. The categories of cognitive composing strategies adopted by Raimes (1985, 1987) to study the composing strategies of L2 college writers, and the categories of social strategies and searching strategies Raizi (1997) employed to investigate the writing context of postgraduate L2 writers were adapted to provide the initial framework of analysis. This framework then went through cycles of revision and fine-tuning as new categories emerged from fresh rounds of data collection and data analysis. The protocols were analyzed in conjunction with the plans and drafts the writers produced and also with the data derived from the entries in the process logs and time logs in the case of composing in the home setting. All protocols were double coded by this researcher to check intra-rater reliability and 15% of the protocols were randomly selected and coded by another rater to ensure inter-rater reliability. The coefficient of intra-rater reliability was 0.89 and the coefficient of inter-rater reliability was 0.81. 2.2.5

Rating of Textual Quality

The assignments produced by the two writers in the class setting and in the home setting were rated holistically for coherence in text. As suggested by Bailey (1998: 187), when rating texts holistically, the raters were supposed to react to the texts as a whole rather than to the individual components of a writing skill or the number of

220

WONG

errors. Two text linguists were asked to rate the texts holistically for textual coherence on the seven facets of coherence in text posited by Bamberg in her four-point Holistic Coherence Rating Scale (1984: 317-319). The seven facets of textual coherence were: (1( Having a topic, (2) staying with the topic, (3) orienting to the reader; (4) having a plan, (5) using cohesive ties, (6) providing closure, and (7) avoiding grammatical or mechanical errors. 2.3 The Research Questions This study addresses two questions. • What impact, if any, does a shift in the context of composing from the class setting to the home setting have on the composing processes of the two writers and the composing strategies that they employed? • Is there a correlation between the composing strategies the two ESL writers employed and the quality of the texts that they produced? 3.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 An Analysis of Task Type through the Application of Horowitz's Taxonomy of Writing Tasks The assignments investigated in this study were analyzed through the application of a taxonomy of writing tasks posited by Horowitz (1986b). Presented in table 1 are the results of the analysis. Table I. An Analysis of Task Type

Categories of tasks identified by Horowitz

Summary of or reaction to a reading Annotated bibliography Report on a specific participatory experience Connection of theory and data Case study Synthesis of multiple sources Research project

English

History

Civic Education

V

V

V

V

V V

In light of the categories suggested by Horowitz, it can be construed that the English assignment falls into two parts. The first part of the assignment conforms to what Horowitz categorized as 'a report on a specified participatory experience' (reporting details of the personal experience of teaching a difficult grammar item) while the

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

221

second part resembles a 'case study' which involves, as defined by Horowitz, 'the use of class learning or theory to attempt to solve a problem' (resolving the problem of teaching a difficult grammar item). The civic education assignment seems to fit into Horowitz's category of 'summary of or reaction to a reading'. It should be noted, however, that students were given explicit advice by the course lecturer that on top of producing a critical summary, they were also expected to relate that summary to the context of Hong Kong in general and to the context of their own experience of organizing civic education at schools in particular. It can thus be argued that while the civic education assignment is predominantly situated in the domain of a 'summary of or reaction to a reading', part of it also lies within the realm of a 'report of a participatory experience'. The history writing task required students to examine the role(s) of project work in the teaching and learning of history in a documented essay and matches Horowitz's category of 'synthesis of multiple sources'. Students were also given overt instruction by their lecturer to relate their discussions to their own experience of running history projects in schools. The history assignment can thus be construed as mainly situated in the domain of 'synthesis of multiple resources' and partly in that of 'report of a participatory experience'. Summing up the above analysis of task type, it can be argued that each of the three assignments is characterized by a distinctive focus of its own. The English assignment has a focus on 'case study', the history assignment on 'summary of or reaction to a reading' and the civic education assignment on 'synthesis of multiple sources'. Parallel to the above focuses, there is, however, a common theme that cuts across the tasks - the focus upon 'participatory experience'. It may be perceived that these assignments not only focus upon the communicative functions that reflect or characterize the cognitive structure(s) specific to individual disciplines but also upon those communicative functions that are valued across disciplines in the teacher education program as a whole. As discussed above, one such cross-disciplinary emphasis appears to be the ability to relate learning, knowledge and theory to one's own teaching experience. 3.2 The Composing Processes of the Writers in the Class Setting In table 2, the composing time was broken down into cognitive sub-processes labeled planning, drafting and reviewing to indicate that these were the composing activities predominant at different junctures of the composing process. Similar to the skilled writers in the investigation conducted by Levy and Ransdell (1995) cited in Ransdell, Lavelle and Levy (2002), the two writers in this study moved frequently back and forth from one composing activity to another throughout the process of writing, and their composing processes thus appeared to be non-linear, recursive and cyclical as in the case of the more proficient writers in Raimes' studies (1987).

222

WONG Table 2. The Writers' Composing Processes in the Class Setting

Ada

Operation

Planning Drafting Reviewing Composing

Beth

Time

%

Time

%

lhr5' 44' 26' 2hrsl5'

48 33 19 100

lhr5' lhr24' 16' 2hrs45'

39 51 10 100

Ada took two hours and quarter to compose a text of 532 words. Close to half of the time was spent on planning, a third on drafting text and a fifth on reviewing the text drafted. She spent four minutes organizing her writing plan orally before putting pen to paper and then took an hour and five minutes to write a detailed plan of 439 words. She spent considerably less time on drafting than Beth (33% against 51% of total composing time) mainly because she did not revise her text a lot while drafting. She preferred to separate revising from drafting, i.e., she refrained from revising text when drafting and tended to leave most of the revisions until she reviewed the whole draft towards the end of the composing session. Reviewing thus took up a relatively large proportion (19%) of Ada's composing time; almost double that of Beth (10%). It is noteworthy that Ada was more prone to making 'major' revisions to her text, i.e., revisions at or above the level of the sentence. Of the total of 68 text revisions that Ada made, 14% were 'major' as opposed to 6% out of a total of 74 revisions in the case of Beth. Beth took two hours and 45 minutes to compose a text of 954 words. Approximately half the time went into drafting, two-fifths into planning and one-tenth into reviewing. She took eight minutes to organize her thoughts orally before she started writing the plan. On the face of it, she spent only 10% of composing time on reviewing and revising the text towards the end of the composing session. It should be noted that she reviewed and revised the text-produced-so-far throughout the process of composing despite the fact that most of her revisions were changes at the level of the word and she was less prone to making 'major' revisions to her text than Ada. 3.3 The Composing Process of the Writers in the Home Setting 3.3.1

Planning the Assignment

Ada started planning three weeks ahead of the due date. She demonstrated systematic use of the social strategy to find out 'what counts' (Doyle, 1983) in the assignment by making a number of consultations. She first went through the relevant course materials related to the assignment, discussed the topic in depth with two

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

223

fellow student-teachers and wrote a brief essay outline afterwards. She next sought advice fi'om the chairperson of the history department of her school and she revised her outline after that. She then had a discussion with another colleague experienced in teaching history and studied carefiilly the history projects that students in her school had done over the recent years before she wrote a detailed essay plan which constituted the framework of the text that she was going to produce. Unlike Ada, Beth began planning only four days before the submission date. She started by reading a chapter on the 'cultural perspective' of civic education and then she discussed the topic with a fellow student teacher. Two days on, she found the topic too difficult to cope with and contemplated shifting to another perspective. She phoned a friend, who was a past participant of the program, for advice. Her friend then advised her to write about the 'educational perspective' instead. After that, Beth started reading a chapter on the 'educational perspective'. Up to this point, Beth had not written any outline or plan. She thus appeared to have spent most of the 'prewriting' time pondering over which perspective to write on rather than actually getting down to the business of outlining and planning the assignment. 3.3.2

Drafting the Assignment

Ada commenced drafting five days before the deadline. She broke her writing process down into a series of episodes or sessions of composing activities ranging from half an hour to three and a half hours in duration with breaks in between. There were altogether eight such composing sessions spread over three days. From the fourth writing episode onwards, Ada stopped using pen and paper and switched to the computer as the writing tool. The final draft was completed two days before the due date. Beth, on the other hand, began to put pen to paper just one day before the due date. She started writing after lunch and continued till midnight. Like Ada, Beth also broke her writing process down into composing episodes interspersed with breaks. There were altogether seven composing episodes: the first two were spent on planning the assignment and the subsequent five on drafting it. The length of these episodes ranged from 35 minutes to two hours with breaks from 20 minutes to one hour in between. The following morning, the day the assignment was due, she drafted the reference list and 'copied' the entire draft on the computer. (Beth had been using pen and paper exclusively prior to this and it was only at this point that she switched to the computer.) 3.4 The Composing Strategies employed by Ada: Home Setting versus Class Setting A comparison of the strategies employed by Ada in the two different settings of composing indicated that there were strategies that she: (1) Recycled in the new (home) setting; (2) adapted for use in the new setting; (3) did not use again in the new setting, and (4) used in the new setting but not in the previous (class) setting.

224 3.4.1

WONG Recycling Strategies

There were strategies that Ada recycled at home. A case in point was the use of the accommodation or compliance strategy. When composing in the class setting, in line with the suggested text length of "around 500 words", Ada wrote 532 words on the English assignment. Similarly, when she wrote in the home setting, she wrote 2187 words on the history assignment, close to the suggested text length of "about 2000 words". It can be seen that when Ada composed, whether in class or at home, she made conscious efforts to keep close to the suggested text length in compliance with the expectations of her course lecturers. This, however, was not the case with Beth. 3.4.2

A dapting Strategies

Apart from recycling strategies, Ada also adapted strategies in response to the contextual shift in composing. One example was the adaptations she made to her text revision strategies. As delineated in sub-section 3.2, when Ada composed in the class setting, she demonstrated the tendency to separate revising from drafting. Conversely, when she wrote in the home setting, Ada revised the text produced throughout the composing process. It is plausible that Ada partitioned revising from drafting only as a strategy to cope with the time constraint of composing in the class setting. When she composed in the context of the home, she preferred to revise her text as soon as she discovered discrepancies between the text produced and the meaning she intended. 3.4.3

Non-Employment of Strategies Previously Used

There were strategies that Ada employed in the class setting but not in the home setting, for example, the resistance strategy. When composing in class, Ada made use of the resistance strategy by writing about how she taught a grammar point that she was well familiar with rather than one that she genuinely found problematic as was required by the assignment. The adoption of this coping strategy enabled Ada to come up with a written product that seemed to have satisfied the task requirement yet without really having gone through the cognitively demanding process of struggling with the writing problem or problems (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987). She, however, did not repeat the same strategy when she composed in the home setting. It is possible that Ada resorted to the resistance strategy only to cope with time and other contextual constraints pertaining to composing in the class setting, a 'survival' strategy, which according to Ada, had served her well to cope with the constraints of school-sponsored writing. This strategy was rendered unnecessary when composing at home where the artificial contextual constraints characteristic of writing in the class setting were removed. 3.4.4

Evoking 'New'Strategies

Apart from recycling and making adaptations to the strategies she had used before, Ada also evoked strategies that she had not used previously. These included, among

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

225

others, the social strategy, the strategy of partitioning the composing process, the signposting strategy and discourse-level text revisions. Social Strategy. Ada made very effective use of the social strategy to consult a number of people in a systematic manner including two fellow course participants, the head of the history department in her school and a colleague well experienced in teaching the subject. She reflected carefully after each of these consultations and incorporated her reflections into an outline which was later developed into a writing plan. Ada found these social interactions usefiil in helping her to relate theories to practice and vice versa. This also demonstrated her ability to take advantage of the dialectic interplay between the cognitive process of composing and the context in which it took place. Partitioning the Composing Process. Ada divided her writing process into composing sessions that spread over several days. This enabled her to break up a lengthy and cognitively demanding process of composing into sub-processes that became relatively more manageable both cognitively and physically. It is interesting to note that on two occasions, Ada was completely bogged down by an 'insurmountable' writing problem and was compelled to end the writing session abruptly. She did not attend to the assignment at all during the break on both these occasions. However, when she resumed writing in the following session, she was able to proceed with amazing ease as if the writing problem had resolved by itself A possible explanation is that Ada might have regained her stamina during the break. It is also possible that the break might have provided her with time to incubate. Though Ada did not consciously attend to the production of text during the break, she might have been engaged in it at a non-conscious level. Anderson (1994) posited the possibility that, with time lag, writers may continue to work with problems posed by the text at a non-conscious level of cognition. Deikman (1980: 265) similarly argued that "the human mind exists in two modalities: the active and the receptive". If so, switching from the active mode (producing text) to the receptive mode (taking a break) may permit the operation of capacities that are non-functional in the active mode. Signposting Strategy. In conjunction with the strategy of partitioning the composing process, Ada adopted the signposting strategy to ensure that this partition did not hamper the flow or tempo of composing. She set up a 'signpost' by writing the initial sentence or the heading of a new paragraph or section before she ended a composing episode. This enabled her to pick up where she had left off with relative ease when she resumed writing in the following composing session. Discourse-Level Text Revision. Ada performed four revision operations related to the re-ordering of text sequence at discourse level. Cited below is one such instance.

226

WONG Ada: 'This is much too long... Just now I talked about project work. Why not put this part in the introduction to explain the background? (Moving the entire paragraph to another section)'

A possible explanation that Ada performed discourse-level revisions in the home setting but not in the class setting could be that these revisions which involved discourse-level re-ordering were facilitated by the use of the computer. This is in line with the observations of Hawisher (1987, 1989) and Rapp (1990) that word processing facilitates the process of writing and revising since writers can insert, delete and substitute text with ease. Schwartz, Fitzpatrick & Huot (1994) and Russell and Hanley (1997) also suggest that the use of computers enables writers to produce texts that are longer and more richly developed. 3.5 Comparing the Strategies employed by Beth: Home Setting versus Class Setting As in the case of Ada, there were strategies that Beth: (1) Recycled, (2) adapted, (3) did not use again, and (4) used in the new setting but not in the previous setting. 3.5.1

Recycling Strategies

There were strategies that Beth recycled in the home setting, for instance, the resistance strategy to consciously ignore the suggested length of the assignment. When she composed in class, she wrote 898 words for the English major assignment, which was 398 words or 80% in excess of the suggested text length of "around 500 words". She consistently resorted to the same strategy when she wrote in the home setting by producing 2162 words for the civic education assignment, which was 1162 words or 116 % in excess of the suggested text length of 1000 words. According to Beth, she ignored the suggested text length because she had a compulsion to exhaust everything that she wanted to say in the assignment. 3.5.2

Adapting Strategies

There were strategies that Beth adopted for use in the home setting. One example was the text revision strategy. When Beth revised text in the home setting, she appeared to have a much more explicit focus on style and audience adaptations. This was borne out by the notable increase in the occurrences of revision operations performed in relation to word choice (diction) and texture (making the text more acceptable to the target readers). The former category more than tripled from 5 to 17 and the latter increased seven fold from 2 to 14. 3.5.3

Non-Employment of Strategies Used Previously

There were strategies that Beth used in the class setting but not in the home setting. One example was the use of the focusing strategy. When composing in class, Beth read the assignment topic carefully and highlighted the key rhetorical specifications in the topic. She, however, did not repeat that when she wrote at home. Beth proba-

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

227

bly no longer found the use of focusing strategy necessary because she was well familiar with the topic before she started writing. 3.5.4

Adopting 'New' Strategies

Similar to Ada, Beth also adopted strategies that she had not used previously in response to the shift in the context of composing. These strategies included, among others, the social strategy and the strategy of partitioning the writing process. Social Strategy. Beth discussed the assignment with a fellow student teacher and rang to seek advice from a past participant of the course. She appeared to be doing so as a survival strategy. Partitioning the Composing Process. Beth, like Ada, also divided her composing process into a series of writing sessions, thus dividing a complex writing task into sub-tasks that were rendered more manageable and less cognitively demanding. It should be noted, however, that her entire process of composing was completed within a single day. Her composing process at home was thus not significantly different from that in class apart from the fact that the former was punctured with short breaks whereas the latter was not. Beth seemed to be not as keen as Ada on exploiting the time available in the home setting to evoke strategies that would facilitate her process of composing. 3.6 The Quality of the Texts produced As noted in sub-section 2.2.5, the assignments produced by the two writers in both settings were rated for coherence in text by two independent readers using a holistic coherence rating scale suggested by Bamberg (1984) with point 4 being the most coherent and point 1 the least. The results of the rating were shown below: Table 3. Coherence Rating Scores

Ada's Class Assignment Beth's Class Assignment Ada's Home Assignment Beth's Home Assignment

Coherence Score (Rater I)

Coherence Score (Rater 2)

Mean Coherence Score

3 3 4 3

3 2 3 2

3 2.5 3.5 2.5

As illustrated in Table 2, Beth received the same mean coherence score of 2.5 for both her class and home assignments. On the other hand, Ada received a higher

228

WONG

mean coherence score of 3.5 for her home assignment as opposed to a mean score of 3 for her class assignment. This implied that Ada was able to produce an assignment of better textual quality when she wrote in the home setting while this was not the case with Beth. One possible explanation is that, compared with Beth, Ada was more aware of the potentials of the resources available to her when composing in the home setting and was more able and/or more ready to make use of these resources to adjust her composing strategies to facilitate her process of composing. 3.7 Strategic Composing Awareness Demonstrated by the Writers When composing in the home setting, both writers recycled or adapted the strategies that they had used before. They also evoked a number of 'new' strategies, i.e., strategies that they had not used previously. It can be observed that both writers demonstrated a tendency and an ability to select, adapt and adopt composing strategies in reaction to the shifts in contextual factors. This tendency/ability to capitalize upon the variations in contextual factors may be characterized as 'strategic composing awareness'. i. 7.1

Reacting to the Shift in Social Contextual Factor

Although both writers made use of the social strategy to interact with their peers, colleagues and friends, Ada's approach was more pro-active and more systematic than that of Beth. Ada started to make use of the social strategy weeks in advance. Her consultations with her peers and colleagues provided her with important inputs for planning her assignment. She reflected carefully in light of these inputs and incorporated her reflections into her writing plan and subsequently into her text. According to Ada, the use of this strategy enabled her to "relate theory to practice and practice to theory". In contrast, despite the fact that Beth also made use of the social strategy, her approach was somewhat ad hoc. She briefly discussed the assignment with a peer and sought advice from a friend. She did not spend very much time on reflecting and planning. It may be said that Beth demonstrated less awareness than Ada in enabling herself to make cognitive gains from the interactions between cognition and context. 5.7.2

Reacting to the Shift in the Contextual Factor of Time

Both writers made adaptations to their composing strategies in response to the shift in the time factor. The relatively flexible time frame characteristic of composing in the home setting provided both writers with more time to focus on style and audience adaptations as borne out by the notable increase in the number of revision operations regarding word choice and texture. Ada, however, appeared to be more capable than Beth of taking advantage of the 'additional' time by starting the process of writing well in advance to benefit from the effective use of the social strategy and by having longer breaks between the writing episodes so as to provide herself with

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

229

time to pause, to be away from composing, to alienate herself from her text and to reformulate her thoughts. 3.7.3

Use of the Computer in the Home Setting

Both writers used the computer when they composed in the home setting. They, however, differed significantly in their capabilities of taking advantage of the technological support made available by the use of computer. Ada drafted the first few paragraphs of her assignment with pen and paper and then switched to the computer as a tool of writing. This enabled her to perform with relative ease a range of revision operations including discourse-level revisions. In contrast, Beth drafted the entire text with pen and paper and then simply 'copied' the final draft on the computer. 4.

CONCLUSION

Both of the writers in this study adjusted their composing strategies in reaction to a shift in the context of composing from the class setting to the home setting. There was, however, a notable difference in the strategic awareness that they demonstrated in capitalizing upon the contextual resources available when composing at home. One writer appeared to show a higher strategic awareness than the other and produced a more coherent text when composing in the home setting by carefiiUy planning, monitoring and regulating her writing process. The findings seem to suggest that provided with adequate time for writing, students might be able to make use of a broader range of strategies to facilitate their cognitive processes of composing. Having said that, it does not suffice simply to provide ample time for students to accomplish their assignments at home. It is perhaps equally important to design and structure assignments in such a way that they would be encouraged to use strategies which would enable them to benefit from the synergy between the cognitive act of composing and the social context in which writing takes place. For instance, lecturers may provide more guidance to students while they are engaged in the process of writing by allowing or encouraging them to submit writing plans and initial drafts of texts and offering them prompt comments and advice on the process of their work. In addition, the possibility of adopting portfolio assessment that is continuous and cumulative in nature in place of the conventional 'one-shot' or 'snap-shot' kind of assessment may be considered. According to Bailey (1998), although portfolios demand a great deal of input and responsibility from the students as well as a tremendous time commitment from the teacher, the potential of portfolios for positive feedback and high efficiency makes them a reliable assessment tool. This chapter has investigated the impact of a shift in the context of composing from the class setting to the home setting upon the composing processes of two ESL writers and the composing strategies they employed. To learn more about the interplay of the cognitive process of composing and the social context, it would be interesting to carry out fiirther investigation into the broader institutional context of com-

230

WONG

posing to explore whether and how variations in the institutional context may impact upon and interact with the cognitive process of composing.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN HONG KONG

231

APPENDIX 1: WRITING TASKS

ENGLISH METHODS ASSIGNMENT Drawing on your own experience, identify a problematic area in the teaching of grammar and explain why this area is so difficult to teach/learn. Give a brief account of the teaching strategies that you employed to address this problem and then evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies. Also suggest, in the light of experience, what alternative approaches you may adopt when you teach the same area again in future, HISTORY METHODS ASSIGNMENT Project work in the teaching and learning of history. CIVIC EDUCATION METHODS ASSIGNMENT Critically review a perspective of citizenship education that you have read. APPENDIX 2: PROCESS LOG PRE-WRITING • • • • •

Do you know much about the assignment topic(s) that you are about to write on? How much do you know? How are you going to get your ideas for this assignment? Have you written a similar type of assignment before? Do you have a target reader or target readers for this assignment? Who? Why do you choose this reader or these readers? DURING-WRITING

• • •

Have your ideas about the assignment topic changed since you started writing the paper? How? Have your assumptions about what your target reader(s) know(s) or believe(s) affected how you are writing the paper? How? Have you made changes (that affect the meaning of the text) in your assignment during or after writing a draft? What are the five most important changes you have made?

232

WONG POST-WRITING

• • • •

In the process of writing this assignment, did you do anything that was different from what you had done when writing the last one? Describe the difference(s). In the process of writing this paper, did you do anything that you have never done before? Describe what you did. Did your perception(s) of the target reader(s) change in the process of writing this assignment? Did you discuss the paper with anyone before or during the writing of the paper? Whom did you talk to? What did you talk about?

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMAN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN

CHEN LI YAO National Central University,

Taiwan

Abstract. Almost all professors in Taiwan sigh and say, 'the Chinese proficiency of university students is gradually deteriorating.' This chapter aims to combine both teaching theory and teaching experiences. There are three parts in this chapter: (a) the current situation concerning freshman Chinese composition instructions; (b) a better quality of Chinese composition writing; (c) generating good student-teacher interaction through teaching composition. It ends with a conclusion stating the joy derived from teaching freshman Chinese composition. This chapter also targets at assisting those people who share the same enthusiasm and dedication, and offering a common platform for mutual sharing throughout the process of elevating the teaching quality of freshman Chinese composition. Keywords: Chinese composition, writing approach, freshmen in Taiwan

1.

INTRODUCTION

A good friend of mine who teaches at middle school once told me, 'in the near future we have worse students to send to the university you work in.' Every year, we hear the same complaint - the students' proficiency of Chinese is going down. It seems that the 'steady deterioration' referred to above has come true. On the other hand, to reduce the students' learning stress, we need to simplify the contents of the teaching materials, and design lively, vivid and interesting lesson plans. The long-term teaching goal of the ancient teachers to 'aim high, or you will fall below the average' becomes less and less attainable, as a result of devoting all energy to preparing for the 'evil' examination system. But do the concepts of 'allowing the students to learn happily' and 'allowing the students to gain insights' contradict with each other?

234 2.

YAO

THE CUPIRENT SITUATION CONCERNING FRESHMAN CHINESE COMPOSITION INSTRUCTION

There are a total of 163 colleges in Taiwan. My own university is one of the seven universities set aside by the Ministry of Education for research purposes. According to my university's regulations, all full time professors in the Chinese Literature Department must teach one freshman Chinese composition class. Professors switch their classes every semester. This means that every professor teaches two different classes in one academic year. Students can then be taught by two different professors. Every Chinese professor is free to arrange the teaching contents and to teach his/her own specialist subjects. Thus, freshmen can learn modern poems in the first semester and Ming and Qing proses in the second semester; or, Qing Dynastic thoughts in the first semester, and an introduction to Chinese literature in the second semester. In addition to the different contents, each professor has his/her own methods of doing academic researches, and uses different teaching styles. Thus, I frequently get the following feedback from the students at the beginning of the second semester, 'The Chinese composition professor let us watch movies last semester. Let's watch movies again this semester!'

Chinese literature is a required course for all freshmen, regardless of their majors, and six credits must be taken during the academic year. These courses are important, and require a lot of effort. Every professor is required to read, amend and correct six compositions written by each student. This is a common source of complaint from the freshmen at the beginning of the second semester. When they first arrive at the university, they do not know how to strive for their 'rights and interests' and when the second semester begins, they feel that they are 'wasting' their time studying Chinese literature. This is heartbreaking and frustrating for the professors. This year, every professor received a photocopy of an anonymous letter, sent by a freshman to the Office of the College of Liberal Arts, which read, 'I hope that when the Chinese professors teach freshman Chinese literature, they will not discriminate against students from other departments, and say, "I am sick of teaching freshman Chinese literature".'

2.1 'The First Composition of my College Life!' I gave the students their first writing assignment for the semester of March, 2003, which was on the topic of 'what I have learnt from study, life, part-time work, making friends, etc' I received an essay entitled 'The First Composition of my College Life', 'Nine months have passed since I took the Joint Unified College Entrance Examination. This is my first time to pick up the pen to write a composition.'

This means this student's Chinese professor of the previous semester did not fulfill the regulation that requires students to write composition. I used the method of giving immediate written feedback to communicate and interact with the student. The essay 'Talking about Learning', from the 'Book of Rites' mentions some successful

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMEN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN 235

teaching methods. One of these methods talks about the importance of 'teaching promptly'. Otherwise, the student will find out the learning to be 'painful and laborious'. Our ancestor, who wrote this book 2000 years ago during the Han dynasty, highlighted the value and importance of giving immediate feedback. I, therefore, combine my teaching theories, methods and experiences into an aggregate whole. 2.2 Teaching approaches 2.2.1

Expand One's Vision, Transcend Time and Space

When Chinese-French writer Gao Xingjian was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 2000, he became the first Chinese person to receive this honor. Upon hearing the news, someone asked me, 'if Gao had not moved to France, would he have become a laureate?' There is no way for us to answer this kind of hypothetical questions. However, to use the word of Gao, from his work 'My Ideas on Creative Writing', 'For me, fleeing to the West was not a terrible thing. On the contrary, it has provided me with even more comparative information. It was overseas where I completed "Soul Mountain" and "Mountain Sea Passage", and I tasted a certain so-called nostalgia... when a person breaks away from his homeland, a kind of distance is created, and one can write more calmly. Chinese culture has melted into my blood, and I no longer need to give myself any other trademark. I can clearly see both the positive and negative aspects of traditional Chinese culture.'

A French biologist, the founding father of microbiology, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) stated, 'Man is a reed that can think'. Like reeds, all people, even the most ordinary ones, are sensitive to their surroundings. Gao, a great scholar, is able to express in his own writings how his surrounding environment has moved him. and use his experiences to embark on great works. Gao Xingjian is a person of 'vivid thought, who treats others in a sincere and detailed way.' In 1987, he lived in Paris as a political refugee, and in the following year, he became a French citizen. In France he had to deal with people, circumstances, environment and behaviors that differ from those of his own culture. After receiving the award, he said, 'In France I have achieved, in 12 years, what I could not have done so in China even if I had three lifetimes!' In the complimentary address given by the Swedish Academy, it cited the following reasons for presenting this award to Gao, 'for his contributions to universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the genres of Chinese novel and drama'. The background of Gao's creative work can be traced back to his B.A. degree in French from the Beijing Foreign Language College, and contacts with the Office of Foreign Affairs, thus having more opportunity than most people to deal with foreign matters. After migrating overseas, he was able to write more freely and abundantly. He was able to expand his vision, creating an artistic miracle. Naturally, not everyone can have the same experiences and opportunities as Gao did - fleeing to Paris, starting a new life in another country, and achieving this kind of

236

YAO

literary success. However, without doubt, the key to Gao's literary creations has been his time spent in France. In the Centre for Teacher Training at my own university, I once met two female students who were studying for the PhD degree in mathematics. These ladies had two things in common: (a) they were both young, pretty, and with fair skin; (b) they had both attended the national university, where they had smoothly obtained their bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics, and then easily progressed to the PhD program. They had never encountered any setbacks in their studies. However, while taking my class on "History of Education Philosophy in the U.S.", they informed me that when the semester ended, they would take a break from their studies. They cited the following reasons: Others think that my studies have gone smoothly, however, I really want to leave, and see the outside world. After being in the same environment for 10 years, I feel suffocated.

How similar this was to my reason for studying overseas. When studying, teaching, and writing in a familiar, safe environment, one gradually starts to feel like one is drinking distilled water on a daily basis, and living in a bacteria free room. Every time I started to write a paper, colleagues would ask, with the best intentions, 'Has someone else already written on this subject? If someone has already written about this subject, it will not be easy to surpass him.'

Why should I have to avoid a subject like the plague, just because someone else has already researched on it? Why is it that modern people are unable to believe that they have the ability to exceed those who have gone ahead of them? In this modern age when it is easy to obtain reference writings of previous ages, they feel that modern people are unable to study as diligently as ancient people. So I was eager to open up another academic window for myself While studying overseas for four years, I was able to discard pleasing others, and to be myself. I could have new experiences, and experience different ways of thinking. I could 'revise my own methods by observing the virtues of others.' In my four years overseas, I was able to achieve what I could not have achieved in a lifetime in Taiwan. Perhaps this is similar to what Gao Xing-jian wrote in the 61^^ verse of his book 'One Man's Bible', 'It is an exaggeration to say that everyone was bom to suffer pain, or that the world is like a desert. We must thank life when we do not encounter disasters. This kind of exclamation is like thanking my lord, but the question is, who is your lord? Fate or chance? You are afraid that the person you must thank is the consciousness of self, or the awareness of one's existence, if you are to be released from your predicament.'

When Gao Xingjian received his award, Dong Qiao, deputy publisher of Hong Kong's Apple Daily, had the opinion that 'while Chinese writers can use traditional themes, and write with a Chinese spirit, their own vision must be broadened, their thoughts must be elevated to the highest level; they cannot be narrow-minded. Furthermore, they must transcend time and space, allowing foreign readers to enter into their works also.' Gao can write novels in Chinese, and plays in French. No matter whether he is using French or Chinese, his creative abilities are equally abundant. It was while he was

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMEN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN 237

overseas that he completed 'Soul Mountain' and 'Mountain Sea Passage'. The famous author Liu Xinwu, a close friend of Gao's since the 1970s, believes that 'it was in Paris where Gao was able to launch his life of creative works. He was able to calmly, simply and truly look at the other side from a distance, and attain great achievements.'

For Gao, fleeing to Paris was an important factor to his writing success. Simply put, studying in America for four years was a sweet, happy time where I could focus my mind. When writing compositions, and doing practical writing, one must focus one's mind, look at the subject from a distance, open and broaden one's vision, and transcend time and space, to see clearly with appropriate subjective attitudes. 2.2.2

Look Everywhere for Information

While downloading materials from the Internet in Taiwan, although I am able to use a proxy server to do quicker downloads, the materials that I have obtained from the Internet are frequently not updated. To introduce American parents to the 'School Choice Programs' for their children, I found a website on a successful model, Minnesota New Country School. I found this website while I was in Taiwan. According to the website information, the school was located in LeSueur. However, when I visited Minnesota later, and obtained materials from their highest educational organization, the Minnesota State Department of Children, Families and Learning, I only then discovered that the school had moved to Henderson in 1998. While in Taiwan, I read a book written by a Taiwanese cultural and educational official who was stationed in the US, which provided information on books with their themes on American education. This book referred to a work written by Peter Cookson and Sonali Shrott, called 'School Choice and Urban Education Reform', which I was eager to read. When I arrived at the University of Minnesota, I found this book on microfiche. Because the university was celebrating the arrival of many new printing machines, I was able to print the whole book free of charge. When I returned to Taiwan, this book possibly became the one and only copy to exist in my homeland. Worth noting is that one of the writers is actually not called Shrott, but Shroff. Also, this book, which is published by the U.S. government, is called 'Urban School Reform', not 'Urban Education Reform'. Before I left Taiwan in the summer of 2001, the Taipei City Government prevented Bei Cheng Junior High School from recruiting new students. This was because Bei Cheng had allowed students to be home schooled. As a result, home schooling once more became a hot topic in Taiwan educational reform. While gathering materials on home schooling, I went to the largest chain bookstore in the U.S., Barnes and Noble. While browsing the magazine section, I was amazed to find that August 27, 2001 American edition of Time Magazine was all about home schooling! My eyes almost popped out with disbelief! It was truly a case of finding something by chance after traveling far and wide in search of it. The Chinese have a saying, 'You can wear out iron shoes in fruitless searching, and yet by a lucky chance you may find what you want without even looking for it.'

238

YAO

I wanted to find a copy of 'Society and Education' by Robert Havighurst and Bernice Neugarten, because it talked about how the socio-economic status of Americans was segregated in three levels, and each of these levels could be further divided into three classes. Furthermore, in analyzing the backgrounds of the members at each level, I was reminded of how the ancient Chinese appraised officials into nine different levels. I searched Amazon.com and the Barnes and Noble website, but because the book was too old, having been published in 1962,1 was unable to find it. However, to my surprise, when I went to the library of the University of Minnesota, I was able to find this book in storage. One can only imagine the look of joy on my face upon finding this book. When I went to the East Asian Library at my alma mater, I photocopied some academic papers that were published in Mainland China, which I planned to take back to Taiwan. A student from Taiwan noticed what I was doing, and laughed, saying, 'you are photocopying a Chinese book for taking back to Taiwan!' I briefly explained, 'when I take this back to Taiwan, may be I will be unable to find another copy throughout the whole of Taiwan!' A few days ago, I received an e-mail from a student from Taiwan, who is currently studying in the U.S. He and I are not acquainted, however, he explained that he was writing his PhD dissertation in the U.S., and had heard of my PhD dissertation 'American Perspectives on Chinese Leadership'. He wanted to read it, and said that if I could send him a copy, he would wire the expenses to my account. I immediately replied that if he used an interlibrary loan, this would be quicker than sending the book from Taiwan. If one wants to find books in America, one just needs to pay a little effort. Given this kind of experience, every time when I go to the U.S. to find first hand materials for my academic papers, I am reminded of the words of Sima Chien (145 or 135 BC), who at the age of 20, embarked on his travels: 'I traveled north via the Yangtze River and Huaihe River at the age of 20, north to the city of Kuaiji to visit the reputed founder of the Xia Dynasty (c. 21^^-16* century B.C.), and the site of Confucius' instruction. (Preface to the "Records of the Historian")'

No one knows how long these travels took. But we can be sure that he had visited many different places. He departed from Changan to Changsha to visit the places where the poet Quyuan had been staying. Quyuan's literacy achievements and tragic experiences aroused the young Sima Chien with both sympathy and admiration, to the point where he shed tears of grief and sorrow. He climbed up the Jiuyi Mountain to investigate the legacy of Shun, a legendary sage king in ancient China. He went by sea to the east, and visited Lushan Mountain. He also went to Kuaiji to research on Yu's magnificent water conservancy projects. In writing Confucius' biography, Sima Chien concluded: 'I read Confucius' books and could imagine what his character was like. Therefore, I wanted to visit his native home. When I saw his place, the teaching materials were still preserved. I extolled, eulogized and praised. I hated to leave there.'

Confucius and Quyuan gave the young man great inspiration. When we read Sima Chien's 'The Hereditary House of Confucius' and 'The Biography of Quyuan' we can see his admiration of Confucius and Quyuan between the lines. Sima Chien investigated the causes of the battle between Chu and Han that took place in 209 B.C.

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMEN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN 239

Chen Guang started a revolt there and led China's first peasant uprising. Sima Chien's record of this uprising is of great assistance in helping us to understand the circumstances involved more clearly, especially as he visited this place in person. Sima Chien experienced at all kinds of beautiful mountain and river scenery, visited many scenic spots and historical sites, collected many historical materials and stories, experienced the everyday lives of ordinary people, and examined social and economic practices. He understood the topographical features of the mountains and rivers, and the produce of many different areas. These experiences not only enriched his life and knowledge, and broadened his horizons, but also shaped his unique prose writing style. He was able to combine both his abundant knowledge and varied experiences in his writing, with highly successful results. Sima Chien lived in 2,000 years ago, and did not enjoy the convenience of modern transportation. His hard work in finding first hand historical materials is extremely admirable. He found joy in his efforts to look everywhere for information. 2.2.3 Accumulate Knowledge as Precious Jewels and Learn the Power of Selecting the Essential The book The Literary Mind and Carving Dragon' discusses the following required elements for writing: 'Accumulate knowledge like storing precious jewels; thoroughly analyze; research everything; fruitfully describe your opinions.' (shensi). It teaches that we must: study hard, and accumulate knowledge as if we are storing precious jewels, this will help us daily; judge and analyze everything, to enrich and increase one's abilities; research everything to get to the root of the matter, and see more clearly; finally, clearly and fruitfully describe our opinions. The priority is to accumulate knowledge like precious jewels. In doing so, one will learn to 'grasp the whole category through grasping a typical example', and be able to gain advantage from both sides. From Plato to Aristotle, many masters have discussed 'knowledge'. Management expert Peter Drucker defines knowledge as 'a new competitive standard for postcapitalist society'. On the other hand, Stanford University economist Paul M. Romer claimed that 'knowledge is the only unlimited resource, the one asset that grows with use (Daveport & Prusak, 1998).' But in an era when new knowledge quickly appears and changes, as IC godfather Morris Chang describes in his autobiography, 'Only 20-40%, or maybe less, of the PhD dissertations, technology textbooks, and the materials studied in schools 30 years ago, are valid for application for the first five years after a person had left school and entered the workforce. One must rely on a thirst for learning, a habit of lifelong learning, and an ability to think independently (Chang, 1998).'

Thus, learning is a lifelong challenge. However, hearing much and seeing much are different from randomly finding much diverse knowledge. When we find and deposit information, we must avoid falling into the 'mists of knowledge'. Information is not knowledge. Having an abundance of information does not guarantee su-

240

YAO

periority of knowledge. It is like cooking: It is not good to omit salt, however, going to the other extreme, and adding too much will ruin the taste. One must add just enough to make the flavor nice. In his work 'Business beyond the Box', John O'Keeffe (1998) gave the example of a long distance flight, where the screen in the cabin shows a flight route map and other information, including the speed, tail wind, altitude, and estimated arrival time. Some of this information is extremely useful, such as the time of arrival, flight time remaining, time at destination, etc. But who wants to know that the temperature outside of the cabin at 35,000 feet above the ground is minus 37°C? On acquiring this piece of information, who will think, 'my goodness! I forgot my coat, so I cannot take a stroll across the aisles'? Why do the airlines provide information about the out-of-cabin temperature? That is because this information is ready-made. Through flight technology, this information is controlled, and easy to provide. However, due to the provision of this useless piece of information, some useful information will be discarded, such as the latest estimated time of arrival. But we all sit in the airplane, tolerating this information bombardment without complaints. According to Theodore Rosak, in his book The Cult Information', knowledge is distinguishingly significant and meaningful. Confucius also believed that knowledge must not be unsystematic. It must have a core and direction. When Confucius' student Tzu-kung believed that his teacher had a lot of knowledge, Confucius said: 'Tzu-kung, you think, I suppose, that I am the one who learns many things and keeps them in memory? Tzu-kung replied, "Yes, but perhaps it is not so?" "No", was the answer, "I seek a unity all pervading".'

Knowledge must have a "unity all pervading", to select what is essential, so as to use and combine it. But if we only emphasize single-mindedness, we will suffocate because our knowledge base will be too narrow. In the book 'Clicking' by Faith Popcorn and Lys Marigold (1996), marketing advisor and trends expert Popcorn describes how on average, she meets with 4,000 people a year. Every month she reads 300-400 national and international periodicals, and every kind of bestseller, watches many movies and plays, listens to all kinds of popular music, and frequently brainstorms. 2.2,4

Appropriately Explain the Profound in Simple Terms

During the last few decades, the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company (3M), has continually invested money to encourage its employees to do research and development, improve old products, and develop new products that are of higher quality. For example. Post-it notes were created to solve a particular problem, namely, to help a church choir members and the pianist turning the pages more quickly when performing. However, having this kind of impulse was not enough, one must also have the prerequisite of 'fine-tuned thinking', to concretely describe the problem that needs to be solved. One must aptly describe the profound impact in simple terms. According to one of my freshman students (aged 18):

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMEN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN 241

'In my student life, I only have a taste of studying. Apart from books, I know nothing, and my interpersonal relationships are not very good either. I don't know how to get along with others and communicate. So while at university, I want to become a completely new person, open up myself to new things, train my social skills, and become more optimistic. Of course, it's easy to put this in writing, but actually realizing it is not so simple!'

Due to the influence of the Internet, young people in Taiwan have become accustomed to using short phrases, or even just icons, to express their feelings. To help the students to describe their opinions and ideas more precisely, they must not only read and study, but also cultivate their writing ability to express themselves. Look at the example of Confucius. He did not only teach by examples, he was able to give examples through verbal instructions: 'If the calf of a brindled cow be red and homed, even if men may not wish to use it, would the spirits of the mountains and rivers put it aside?' (Yung Yie) 'Tsu-kung asked, "What do you say of me?" The Master said, "You are an utensil".' (Kung Yie Chang) 'Ran Qiu said, "It is not that I dislike the Way of the Master, rather the cause is that my strength is insufficient." The Master said, "Those whose strengths are insufficient fall onto the side somewhere along the way. But, in the present case, you draw a limit before you even get started".' (Yung Yie)

Confucius was also good at using contrasts: 'The gentleman understands righteousness, the petty man understands interest.' 'A gentleman has no skill in trifles, but has strength for big tasks: the vulgar are skilled in trifles, but have no strength for big tasks.' 'Confucius said to Tzu-hsia, "You should be a gentleman scholar, not a petty scholar".' (Yung Yie)

In addition, Confucius' instruction has the best example of rhetoric. Below are two examples of parallelism: 'On Tzu Chan the Master said: "In four ways he was a gentleman. His own life was modest; he honored the man whom he served; he was kind in rearing the people; he was just in his calls upon them".' (Kung Yie Chang) 'Knowledge is not equal to devotion. Devotion is not equal to joy.' (Yung Yie) 'What the heart thinks, the tongue speaks.'

Only the pure, kind mind can utter wonderful sayings, and build up others. Words reflect a person's character, knowledge and self-cultivation. In this era which values communications, one needs to read good books and read them well, do good things and do things well, be a good person and bring out the merits of others and build them up. Where water flows, a channel is formed. When conditions are ripe, success will come.

242 3.

YAO

PRODUCING GOOD STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTION THROUGH TEACHING COMPOSITION

Whenever the freshman students notice the immense number of Chinese composition books for reference on their syllabus, and realized how little they have read, they tell me, 'my Chinese composition ability has never been proficient.' I always reply, 'I do not care about your past. I only care about your present and future.' Whenever the freshman Chinese composition students say, 'you understand me better than my advisors.' I give credit to their homework assignments! According to the regulations of my university, freshman Chinese composition classes are worth three credits, and the professors must assign three papers for correction. When I assign this homework to the students, in accordance with the regulations, they often say, 'I have nothing to write about!' or 'What should I write?' I always give them some samples of short articles that I have recently written, and which they can refer to. I also tell the students to stick to the following guidelines: • Realize that there are many materials offered to us for writing. • Before writing, examine the subject comprehensively. Do not 'write a sentence, think a sentence'. • If you are not motivated by the topic, and at a standstill, find a subject that interests and motivates you. The purpose is for you to increase your understanding, and to share with others, rather than to get it done quickly. • You, the students, are the ones paying tuition. According to regulations, I must correct your papers once a month. If you write too little, or hastily, it is your money you are wasting, not mine. Even today, we still recite the 80-character essay written by Wang An-shi (1021-1086AD). The problem is, we do not have his ability. After writing 80 characters, we still have not touched on the subject. • As to the question, 'how much should I write?' if you have much to say, write that much, and if you have little to say, write little. Just go by the principle that you must write your topic clearly and distinctly. • Your composition must be handwritten, rather than typed on a computer. Cherish this last opportunity to write by hand. For a Chinese person, the Chinese characters are easy to read, but hard to write. With the advent of computers, handwritten Chinese has become increasingly sloppy. I ask the students to write by hand, because in that way, I can catch their errors and improve their ability to write characters. In April of 2003, a student turned in the following: 'University life is more relaxed and interesting than I imagined. During the first two months of schooling, the juniors and sophomores frequently introduced me to various clubs. Every professor's teaching style was as fun as expected. I muddled through the first semester and enjoyed the life here. But during the second semester, I met a very interesting professor named Chen Yao. Although she does not have a very striking appearance, looks small and somewhat straightforward, I could tell from her expressions and her written monographs that she has much knowledge, and is very intelligent. I have been to China before. However, when I read her article on "My first visit to Zhejiang", it made me feel as if I had been there myself National Central University truly is a nice environment, and the teaching quality is very good!'

INNOVATIONS FOR TEACHING FRESHMEN CHINESE COMPOSITION IN TAIWAN 243

Some experienced teachers will tell me, "The students' Chinese composition ability is very poor. Their ability has been poor for 12 years, from 1^^ grade until 12**^ grade. You cannot improve it in such a short time." However, I hold on to the teachings of Confucius, who stated, 'although it is an impossible mission, I still want to try.' Many times the students, in writing their assignments, take the initiative to refer to their studies, clubs, part-time jobs, emotional life, and difficulties in their social life or friendships. One student wrote: 'I met a girl on the Internet last semester. We then met face-to-face during winter vacation. I loved her at the first sight, but soon after that she broke up with me. Thus... every time I think of her, my heart hurts for no reason. I have told myself many times, "forget about her", but when I think of these words, am I not still thinking of her? I think much about this, but I haven't even told my closest friends, because I'm afraid that they will laugh at my foolishness. But Professor Yao, ever since you taught our first class, I knew I could trust you. Can you keep this a secret?'

I also had a student who handed in a book, rather than an essay, stating, 'I am writing my freshman Chinese compositions in diary style.' Regarding composition exercises, I always read and correct the contents, opinions, and spelling errors myself I never ask the teaching assistants to correct them for me. 4.

CONCLUSION: THE JOYS OF TEACHING FI^SHMAN CHINESE COMPOSITION

For me, the greatest rewards of teaching freshman Chinese composition include: • Being able to broaden my thinking, and enjoy learning and growing. Sometimes I get feedback from the students, or help in looking into a problem from other angles, or re-experience the joy of learning and growing, and gain new insights. This is a positive experience for me. • I can learn about the latest social trends without leaving my office, and acquire many materials for writing monographs. Although I spend a lot of time in my office, reading freshman Chinese composition allows me to understand young people in Taiwan, and the opinions and values of the e-generation. Although I never stroll on the streets, or attend graduation parties or end-of-semester parties, I am still familiar with what is popular. In my small room, I can learn the latest trends and broaden my thinking. Furthermore, I can continue to publish articles on 'Guidance and Counseling', Teaching Chinese Composition', 'Comparative Education', 'Educational Policies', and 'Education Thought'. However, it is my hope that this article can be of assistance to people who share the same enthusiasm and dedication, and furthermore we can offer each other mutual help as we strive to elevate the teaching quality of freshman Chinese composition. I am reminded of the words of a science professor who said, "to this day, I am still interested in Chinese composition. This is due to the influence of my freshman Chinese composition professor at National Taiwan University." Teaching freshman Chinese composition is truly a heavy responsibility. The responsibility is great, and the influence is far reaching.

244

YAO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Mark S. K. Shum. He gave me this renewed opportunity to take up my pen to write in English and share what I have gained from teaching Chinese. Although I have taught Freshman Chinese at my university in Taiwan for over 20 years, whenever I teach a new class, it still feels like my first debut. I decline all social engagements and courtesy meetings on Sunday afternoons and evenings because I need to conserve strength and store up energy for my teaching in the coming week. I need to prepare and read my teaching materials and reference books. Therefore, my attitudes are similar to people going to offer sacrifices to gods or ancestors. For the same reason, I never eat too much at noon before my class at one in the afternoon. I spend my time in the research room during vacations or on weekends after school. All light and warmth comes into the room from machines: The computer, photocopy, scanner, fax, telephone, air conditioner, heater, etc. I have published my research papers continuously for 30 years. I usually hear these comments: "You study very hard", "When you speak, the audience wakes up from their sleep". But I realize I should appreciate the fact that I have this stable environment that allows me to study, research, publish and teach. Because I was born at a time when the economy had not yet taken off in Taiwan, my schoolmates did not have this opportunity to continue their education. I came from a very ordinary family, and did not have the opportunity to study abroad. But I fulfilled my dream of adolescence, and was able to study abroad when I was 41 years old. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to teach so many young students. This teaching benefits both teachers and students alike.

TEACHING CHINESE COMPOSITION IN SINGAPORE SECONDARY SCHOOL Past, present and future

SEOK HWA SIM Educational

Technology Division, Ministry of Education,

Singapore

Abstract. This essay contemplates to trace the teaching of Chinese composition in Singapore from the 1970s to the present time. The chapter stated the lack of motivation, lack of composition writing skills and lack of knowledge as the greatest hurdles faced by Singaporean secondary school students. It also offered concrete teaching objectives and their corresponding teaching methodologies tailored for each level of secondary school students, in which the competence and skills approach stood out as the teaching principle as advocated by the Singaporean Ministry of Education. Categorizations were laid out in this chapter with regard to the different stages of essay writing and essay writing skills respectively. The author herself also shared her experience of teaching writing online via forums and postings in websites. Her conclusion was positive and optimistic towards the scientific approach of teaching Chinese composition. Keywords: Singapore, teaching objectives, secondary one to five, competence and skills approach, heritage approach, stages of essay writing, stages of abilities, multi-media and Internet teaching

1.

INTRODUCTION

The lack of competency in composition writing among Singapore secondary school Students has been a source of concern amidst academicians and teachers since the 1980s. There were many in-depth discussions and sharing of knowledge and opinions on the methodology of teaching composition writing. Though individual teachers had achieved some results in the course of teaching, the lack of effectiveness in composition writing teaching remains the bugbear of local Chinese teachers. In fact, the low proficiency in composition writing among students is not an isolated experience that is peculiar to a certain country or region. It is a language teaching problem faced by many countries. There were many studies done on the teaching of Chinese composition writing by various education quarters in Mainland China,

246

SIM

Hong Kong and Taiwan. Especially for the Hong Kong education ministry, it had increased resources to embark on an in-depth study on composition writing teaching and compile a reference material, titled "Teaching Plan of Composition Writing for Primary and Secondary Schools" with inputs from academicians with vast experience in teacher-training (Xie & Cen, 2000). These experiences could provide a source of reference to Singapore. However, there are differences in our language education in relation to other regions, thus we cannot directly transfer and apply their effective teaching methods for our benefits. As such, it is essential to understand teaching methods in other regions prior to establishing a composition teaching system that is appropriate locally and could make a breakthrough. 2.

FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS

First, let us look at the 'Chinese Language Syllabus for Secondary Schools' designed by the Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Singapore's Ministry of Education. This syllabus was implemented since 2002 (Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Singapore's Ministry of Education, 2002). The teaching objectives of the composition writing were: to enhance students' abilities to listen, converse, read and write so as to improve their understanding, use and proficiency of the Chinese language; to equip students with self-learning abilities and the ability to write compositions and practical writings of appropriate lengths and language fluency in accordance with requirements. Below are 2 detailed tables on the categories' objectives. Table 1(a). Teaching Objectives in Composition Writing and Accomplishments One and Two Students

of Secondary

Secondary One and Two Skills

Teaching Objective

1. Ability to write stipulated Chinese characters correctly and apply them: 1300 Chinese characters + 700 Chinese characters + 250 Chinese characters + 550 Chinese characters (total 2800) 2. Ability to form sentences using stipulated terms, words and expressions 3. Ability to use frequently-used punctuation marks correctly 4. Ability to use various punctuation marks correctly 5. Equipped with some writing ability; able to write notes, joumals, personal letters

_ . Basic Chinese

Chinese ^ , . , Academic

^,. Chmese Express

„. , Higher Chinese

247

TEACHING WRITING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

Secondary One and Two Skills

4q a

Teaching Objective

Basic Chinese

Write simple notices, announcements, formal letters Write complex notices and formal letters Write simple speeches Write more elaborate speeches Write reading reviews Write essays based on stipulated titles * of narrative, expository nature with at least 250 words * of narrative, expository nature with at least 300 words Gather materials to compile into a simple report Write simple project report Record the essence of a conversation Write simple meeting notes Embark on simple task of creative, innovative nature

Chinese

Chinese Express ^

Higher Chinese

/ /

>/

•'

/

y

/

^

^

. , . Academic

/

/ ^

/

/

/

Table 1(b). Teaching Objectives in Composition Writing and Accomplishments of Secondary Three, Four and Five Students. NB The teaching objective for Secondary Five, Normal (Academic) Stream is the same as Secondary Four, Express Stream Secondary Three, Four and Five Teaching Objective

Skills

1

? (^

2

3

1^

4

Ability to write stipulated Chinese characters correctly and apply them: 1300 Chinese characters +700 Chinese characters (total 2000) +500 Chinese characters (total 2500) +200 Chinese characters (total 2700 +500 Chinese characters (total 3500) Ability to form sentences correctly using stipulated terms, words and expressions Ability to use various punctuation marks correctly Equipped with some writing ability; able to

Basic

Syllabus

Normal

Express

/

^

y^

/

Higher

248

SIM Secondary Three, Four and Five

Skills

Teaching Objective

rewrite, expand, summaries, continue, supplement and replicate short articles write notes, journals, personal letters write simple notices, announcements, formal letters write complex notices and formal letters write simple speeches write more elaborate speeches write reading reviews write essays based on stipulated titles * of narrative, expository nature (at least 200 words) * of narrative, expository, argumentative nature (at least 300 words) * of narrative, expository, argumentative nature (at least 400 words) write simple project report write more complex project report record the essence of a conversation write simple meeting notes embark on simple task of creative, innovative nature embark on more elaborate task of creative, innovative nature

Basic

Syllabus

Normal

Express

Higher

>/ /

^

/

/

/

y^

v"

v"

>/

/ >/

/ ^

^ ^

/ >/"

According to the objectives, students are generally equipped with the above basic abilities after graduating from secondary schools. Let us now look at the general situation where our students learn their composition writing. The teaching methods adopted by the teachers include: • Forming sentences and paragraphs practices; • Categorization based on writing types for progressive practices; from narrative writings and expository articles to argumentative essays; • Categorization based on composition facts for unit exercises (skills pertaining to investigative title, approach, materials selection, personal profile, situational and scenery write-ups, etc.); • Writing weekly journals; • Doing newspaper clippings; • Reading reviews (usually as holiday assignments). Taking assigned composition exercises as an example, students have to write two composition essays in each term; so they would have written between seven and nine essays in four terms annually. In a composition class, a teacher would usually require the students to complete an essay in two periods (approximately 70 minutes). This is to train students to complete the composition essays within a stipulated time

TEACHING WRITING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

249

so as to meet exam requirements. (In the exam, students are required to complete both the composition essay and practical writing within two hours.) Teachers have almost generally accepted "read and write more" as the best answer to students' weak composition writing skills, Chinese is taught singly in Singapore and students have other subjects to cope with, thus not much time is available for composition practices. On the other hand, problems that need to be attended to include teachers' lack of intensive theoretical knowledge, failure to notice students' motives and thinking process in composition writing and their different stages of development in writing abilities. The "Chinese Language Syllabus for Secondary Schools" specified clearly the teaching objectives for students' writing. This is slanted towards competence or skills approach in teaching principles. According to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement study's summary (Xie & Chen, 2000), the competence and skills approach is the mastering of generally accepted and practical essay-writing model that primarily hones students' composition writing skills through extensive reading and writing practices. However, teachers would inevitably assume that "essay-writing " has a correct format to follow. These include skills in correcting/refining words used, styles and different types of literature. Thus the knowledge-based or heritage approach is also incorporated in the teaching of composition writing. Besides, many Chinese teachers' tacit ideal is to improve students' writing articulation, to nurture interest in essay writing; this is geared towards personal growth approach and values in writing approach. This paper did not delve into the psychological aspect of teaching among teachers but pointed out that based on observation and literature gathered, teachers did not frequently adopt a systematic training that focuses on sentence formation structure, students' understanding, grouping, pruning and thoughts. In recent years, most academicians involved in the study of Chinese compositionwriting teaching have directed their focus on categorizing based on essay-writing abilities. For example, Chinese author Lin Kefu had divided essay writing into different stages in 'An Introduction to Basic Essay-Writing Skills' and the fundamental abilities in each stage are further segregated into: Absorption Stage: Ability to observe and gather. Conception Stage: Ability to feel, imagine and explore. Articulation Stage: Ability to compose and usage of language. Refining Stage: Ability to correct and refine. Professor Xie Xijin (1984) from Hong Kong had divided essay-writing skills into the following abilities: (1) Ability to think in the process of essay-writing; (2) Ability in communicating ideas; (3) Ability in articulating (including the ability to express emotions, narrate, describe and convince); (4) Ability to comment and criticize, and (5) Ability to solve essay-writing problems. Singapore lacks these genres of very important studies. Generally, teachers would usually treat composition classes as merely a kind of writing courses; the objective is met as long as essays are completed. But students need a certain amount of imagination, memory power, observation ability, logical thinking and the aptitude to

250

SIM

articulate; all of them are just equally important. In the course of teaching composition writing, can we afford to overlook the teaching of these abilities? Let us first review the development of Chinese composition writing teaching in Singapore. I have compiled the following report based on literature and documents gathered. I believe efforts are made in this aspect by many academicians and teachers, however, not all of them could be exhaustively mentioned. 3.

THE PAST

In the 1998 Annual Presentation Ceremony organized by the Singapore Secondary School Teachers' Association, Minister of State for the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Community Development & Sports, Mr. Chan Soosen had expressed in his speech of hoping to see a revival of the 1970s era where Chinese essay writing and reading were commonplace. It is evident from his hope that reading and essay writing were thriving in Singapore schools during the 70s; and this was closely linked to the social environment at that time. It had a lot to do with the teaching methods adopted by the Chinese teachers who then had a passion for essay writing (DuZhucheng, 1999). During the 70s, there were many Chinese schools that adopted Chinese as the main teaching language medium. The writings selected and compiled for secondary Chinese teaching were beautiful modern Chinese literature and complete ancient literary works, the contents and written language of which were different from the textbooks introduced after the 1980s. In an environment where the Chinese-educated students had a good grasp of the Chinese language coupled with social influences, many secondary school students had a zeal for essay writing. Newspapers Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh even recruited student-journalists for their "Students of Nanyang" and "Youths of Sin Chew". The arenas where a group of youths keen on writing were groomed. Besides newspapers, school newsletter boards were also spots where students could publish their literary works. Generally schools have Chinese Language Societies to encourage students to participate in literature and arts activities. During that time, students wrote one composition fortnightly and would have written more than ten compositions in a year. In addition to that, students had to submit diaries, weekly journals and read journals regularly. In such circumstances, secondary school Chinese teachers rarely had the chance to explain in detail after setting the composition titles. This was because all composition exercises had to be submitted at the end of the two periods. There was insufficient time to think, draft, copy and organize them neatly, let alone explaining the title (Zhou, 1973). However with many parents favoring their children to be educated in English schools, Chinese schools in Singapore vanished rapidly. By the 1980s, not many Chinese schools were left. Apparently English has gradually become a common language among the races and also the national administrative language. The entire education environment began to change. At that time, Chinese language teachers' grouses about students' lack of competency in essay writing started coming up to the surface.

TEACHING WRITING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

251

I grew up in the mid-1980s and witnessed teaching of composition writing as a oneway approach generally. The teacher would first explain the composition title to enable students to have a basic idea of the topic. Sometimes the teacher would even help students divide them into paragraphs; provide composition outlines to keep students from digressing from the topic. Students were then left to think and write on their own. Students were not allowed to converse with each other during composition classes. They could either look up the dictionaries or sought the teacher's help when they were in doubt. The important thing was to submit the completed composition after the class was over. How should composition classes be conducted? Everyone seems to have his own approach and there is a lack of a teaching system that is comprehensive, strict and scientific in nature. Of course different teachers have their own ways of approaching it. Some may follow the beaten track while there are those who are bold and innovative. One teacher, Chen Yafeng once linked the text and the teaching of composition writing together to guide students to put to practice what they have learnt. For example, when she taught the secondary one students a passage called "Whenever the Wind Blows", she would discuss the distinguishing feature of the text with the students after class and would require them to write an composition similar to the text on something that was meaningful and familiar to them; the scope was a meaningful memento and the students were free to devise their own title (Chen, 1987). Another teacher, Liu Senfa frequently extracted four or even five composition passages from the annual stipulated ten compositions and used only one period to give five or more composition titles; subsequently he would discuss the topics given and gave hints using strange imaginations. He would ask the students to complete the composition at home and return to class the next day to tidy up the essay and hand it in after one period's time (Li, 1995). In March 1997, teacher Sim Seokhwa established a "Cyber Chinese Class" website. It was a platform providing resources on the Internet and a space for postings for secondary school students. Though the website may be obsolete by today's standard, it set the precedence for teaching of composition writing on the Internet in Singapore (Sim, 1997). Lastly, from the teaching process, Singapore teachers do not attach importance to explanations after composition classes. Some teachers thought that composition teaching ended when students' compositions are duly marked. The students just looked at the marks attained and the teachers' written comments when their marked composition exercises were returned to them. There was no verbal feedback (Chen, 1995). 4.

THE PRESENT

Today, teachers would generally follow the prescribed order of teaching by providing standard composition content and criteria. For example, explain and examine the topic, guide students in starting, dividing and concluding the essays. Hence, composition classes are conducted in the following way:

252

SIM

Student

±. However, how different is this from the past composition teaching method? When teaching composition, many teachers made students think in a prescribed mode and composition writing becomes a packaged training: personal profile write-ups, narration stories, conditions, expressional articles, etc. As a result, all kinds of composition compilation books in the market become their composition sources. It is often said that students fear writing descriptive and argumentative essays due to their poor language articulations. Hence, some teachers refrain from teaching essays of such nature and encourage students to avoid selecting such topics. 'Some teachers even think that composition classes are no different from learning other language skills where teachers set the topic, students examine and complete the composition in paragraphs revolving around the topic; it is just a lesson in which students' language proficiency is examined.' (Xu Fuji, 2002)

This somewhat reflects the real composition teaching classroom situation. Very often, students are worried most about the amount of words and they would stray from the topic when writing a composition. In the past, whatever the composition topic was, as long as sentences like 'I will be a useful person when I grow up' or 'by doing so I will not disappoint my parents' would certainly score good marks; but this benchmark is still quite valid, it is still quite common to assess students' compositions based on one's moral yardstick. It is difficult to assess different compositions using the same yardstick owing to the vast age differences, varying education backgrounds and teaching experiences among Chinese teachers. Therefore it is necessary to have a more scientific marking system. In this aspect, Liang Rongyuan felt that teachers should formulate a series of marking system for composition exercises based on different special teaching objectives and teaching methods (Liang, year unknown). The following are some results achieved by individual teachers. Between August 2001 and April 2002, there were 19 secondary one students from Nan Hua Secondary, Ghim Moh Secondary, Jin Tai Secondary, River Valley High, Commonwealth Secondary, Clementi Town Secondary, Fuhua Secondary and Tanglin Secondary who participated in the "Learning Program for the Young" organized by the West Zone's Third School Cluster. They first learnt basic research skills under the guidance of Liu Zequan, a postgraduate doctorate student from the National University of Singapore. Subsequently, they were divided into six groups where each group researched on a topic and a paper was to be submitted. The topics chosen by the students included 'Secondary school students patronizing McDonald's', 'Secondary school students using Mobile Phones' and 'Secondary School Students' Attitude towards Language and its Usage' (Friday Weekly, Edition 582, 2002).

TEACHING WRITING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

253

Teacher, Chen Zhirui, always believes in innovative teaching. He shared his experience of teaching composition writing by using news photographs in the 'National Chinese Teaching Seminar 2002'. It was warmly received by the audience. He felt that students with better Chinese proficiency were able to describe their feelings using more difficult terms and expressions while the weaker students expressed themselves by using simple adjectives of one to two words; but there was an improvement in every student's composition (Chen, 2001). Teacher, Wu Shujie, did a test between creative thinking and composition teaching (Wu, 2001). In it she suggested using tables, photographs, pictures and drawings and other materials to train students in grasping the essence of writing. She also used current affairs program and newspaper reports to train students to analyze problems from different perspectives. An interesting concept that synchronizes with text teaching was to let students uncover the vital clues in the plot development of the article and twists in the story that in effect intrigue the students and subsequently let them illustrate their own graphic presentations. Teacher, You Jin, established a "Chinese Writing Training Class" within the school campus where passive and active activities were planned for the students. The "active" part required students to do field interviews outside school premises and to file project reports while the "passive" activity was the usual small essay practices (You, 2001). In addition, most of the composition writing teaching resources found on the Internet were information-related articles; content and skills are not going to provide much help to a student who fears composition writing. Hence, a composition writing website - "Free to Express" was jointly developed by the Educational Technology Division of Ministry of Education and Anglo-Chinese Secondary School (Independent). The website was planned, compiled and supervised by Sim Seokhwa; its primary focus was to nurture interest in composition writing among students in a lively way through multi-media materials, language database and a forum of debateformat. The website was also an interactive learning management system which was able to capture students' progress and results through the data input of student and teacher's particulars (Ministry of Education, Singapore & Anglo-Chinese Secondary School (Independent), 2002). 5.

SINGAPORE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' COMPOSITION AND WRITING PROBLEMS

Why are students' compositions so poor? Teacher, Xing Jizhong, analyzed students' compositions and subsequently grouped the reasons into three categories - lack of knowledge, essay writing techniques and interest (Xing, 1980). He felt that to address students' low standard of composition writing, the followings in the 'Solution' column had to be done.

254

SIM

Table 2. Problems and Solutions in Composition Writing

Problems

Solutions

Lack of Knowledge

(1) Enrich vocabulary, words and phrases; (2) gather composition materials; (3) understand and evaluate writing style; (4) enhance sentence practice and usage; (5) take note of word-forms and their meanings. Teach students to (1) select materials by grasping the essence; (2) organize materials; (3) amend their work. (1) Use encouraging words as comments when marking essays; (2) stimulate students' participation by selecting topics that are favored by them or related to the text; (3) organize at least one composition writing competition in each term; (4) recommend students' works to be published in newspapers and magazines; (5) relate the association between essay writing and life to enhance their interest in writing; (6) recommend students to read books that are of interest to them.

Lack of Composition Skills Lack of interest in essay writing

Teacher, Hu Linsheng, felt that the foUowings are reasons and solutions to students' dislike in classroom composition (Hu, 1981). Table 3. Reasons and Solutions in face of students' resentment to classroom composition

Problems

Solutions

Students: (1) lack of life experience led to essays that are short of interesting content; (2) have limited applicable vocabulary and have problems in articulating and expressing. Teachers: (1) do not give proper guidance; (2) present stale topics that do not arouse students'interest; (3) allow insufficient time.

Teachers should: (1) prompt the students on the requirements and scope of the topic after setting the composition topic; (2) enlight, make necessary explanations and guide students in linking the topic with life experience to inspire them to think and relate; (3) help students draft essay outlines by guiding students individually and in groups; (4) (1) provide some essential vocabulary that is applicable to the assigned topic

Liang Rongji once did a questionnaire survey (1999) pertaining to students' difficulties in composition writing. The results are as follows: Table 4. Statistics on Problems of Composition Writing (N=572)

Subject

1 2 3 4 5

Vocabulary Deficiency Lack of Content Grammar Deficiency Lack of Sections (Blank)

Frequency

Percentage

316 112 82 59 3

55.2 19.6 14.3 10.3 0.5

TEACHING WRITING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

255

There were 572 students from 19 secondary schools and junior colleges who took part in this survey. According to the table above, the most difficult problem participants reported when writing compositions was lack of vocabulary, followed by lack of content. In reality, looking at the current situation, composition was only a part of the Chinese language subject to the students; it was not necessary that the students have comments to make or an idea to convey. The students had complete lack of motive which was indeed an innate deficiency, and our composition teaching is short of concrete aspects like creative plots and the technique of vocabulary refining. Hence it was not surprising that lack of vocabulary is the biggest problem for the students. In summing up the above analysis coupled with my own observation, the reasons that contributed to the Singapore students' weak command of composition writing could be broken down into the following points: (1) Lack of motive in composition writing; (2) Lack of essay writing skills; (3) Lack of knowledge; (4) Insufficient vocabulary; (5) Teachers' oversight on composition teaching and insufficient guidance, and (6) Teachers' lack of holistic plans for teaching composition writing. Students' difficulties in composition writing were reflected in their: (1) Inability to select materials based on the topic; (2) Lack of content and not knowing what to write; (3) Uncertainty of how to write and use pronouns; (4) Inability to develop plot and organize essay; (5) Lack of vocabulary and repetition of words and terms; (6) Use of hackneyed technique, and (7) Employment of incorrect words. 6.

RECOMMENDATIONS

How to make students write a decent piece of composition essay? Wang Yongbing suggested discussing composition-teaching system (2002). Below are his views arranged in a simple table. In fact "writing type" had been used in the teaching of composition for many years in schools. However, students' composition writing proficiency may not be closely linked to writing type. Actually, it is possible for a composition to include a little of all the narrative, argumentative, expository, emotional and descriptive elements. Students could actually use different types of expression in the same essay thereby displaying their different types of writing, Secondary school students do not have many opportunities to express themselves in Chinese Language (spoken and written) except for composition and some schoolwork, which require them to write in Chinese. Therefore, we have to prescribe the right remedy to overcome students' composition writing difficulties and to improve their writing skills. Conclusion drawn from the abovementioned studies suggested that the low proficiency level of students' composition writing stemmed from weak motive for composition writing, lack of foundation training that led to students' lack of these essential abilities. The more pressing need would be to train students to gather and organize materials, encourage independent thinking, creativity, to use their imagination, practise wording and phrasing and to teach them writing skills thus arousing their interest and passion in essay writing.

256

SIM

It is hoped that teachers would use the following little suggestions to improve the quality of composition teaching to supplement the main composition writing classes that are based on writing type. Table 5. Composition-Teaching

Level

System at different Secondary

Levels

Teaching Objectives

Teaching Phases

Teach students to write narrative essays well because narrative-type essays are the most basic, less difficult and easier to express.

Enable students to understand what is narrative essays (definitions, pronouns, content and techniques) Draft the entire year's composition teaching outline for secondary one Improve students' narrative essays through precomposition guidance and post-marking comments Enable students to understand what are descriptive essays (features, types, techniques and differences between descriptive and narrative essays) Draft the entire year's composition teaching outline for secondary two Guide and comment Enable students to under stand what are argumentative essays (argument, grounds of argument, proof) Practice content and method (be clear about topic, establish argument, search and select argument grounds, organize proofs; either using model essays or doing analysis and practice in line with the text teaching) Draft the entire year's composition teaching outline for secondary three Guide and comment

Teach students to write descriptive essays well and also enhance practice on narrative essay writing simultaneously.

Teach students to write argumentative essays well; at the same time enhance practice on narrative and descriptive essay writing.

Enhance practice on selecting narrative, descriptive and argumentative types of essays.

6.1 Writing Motive Students are less than enthusiastic about composition classes due to a lack of 'interest'. Therefore, the crux of the problem is to enhance students' motive for writing. Planning new and refreshing composition topics, making pre-composition guidance more interesting, and including games in the guidance are believed to be helpful in boosting students' interest in essay writing. 6.2 Composition Teaching Sometimes the cause of lack of content in students' compositions is due to their inability to identify the remote relationship between the composition topic and their life experience. Therefore, by drawing life happenings into composition practice

TEACHING WRITING CHINESE IN SINGAPORE

257

where students are guided to discover composition topics in real life can help amplify their satisfaction. Topics should also be more specific and instructional. If we want to train students for certain writing skills, short essays and partial practices are better choices as such writings have very clear objectives and are short in length. The varied content is something concrete that is easier for students to handle. Hence, the training results are more evident. As mentioned earlier, it is possible for a composition to include a little of all the narrative, argumentative, expository, emotional and descriptive elements. Conversely, we can let students practise narrative, descriptive, expository, and argumentative as well as emotional styles of writing revolving a topic. 6.3 Marking of Essays Essay marking is a headache to many Chinese teachers as marking composition essays is a time-consuming task and takes a great deal of effort while students are just concerned about the marks and they may repeat the same mistakes in future. In fact, according to a language practice theory, language ability develops in stages. Students are prone to repeat the mistakes pointed out by the teachers when their knowledge and articulation abilities have not reached a higher level. This will continue until they have surpassed this stage. Perhaps we should boldly do away with marking the entire batch of composition essays but only select a representative composition for focus marking, or organize students into groups where they mark each other's compositions, or to mark his own composition under the teacher's guidance. In short, we should focus on the practical value of marking by doing it with an aim to synchronize with the teaching objectives. One special point to note is that a teacher's outlook on life and values should not affect his judgment on students' compositions. 7.

CONCLUSION

This report attempts to organize the general past and present phenomena of secondary school composition teaching in Singapore with reference to some foreign academicians' researches and experiences. Some suggestions were also made with regard to possible future developments in the hope that it will induce more teachers to call for more discussions in this aspect. At this point of writing, I feel that it is very difficult to teach composition writing. Take composition as an example, the easier topics to teach are "knowledge" and "skills" that are related to composition writing. These skills include "basic skills" like word-formation, forming sentences and using correct punctuation marks. It is more difficult to teach "abilities" like observation, pondering, imagination, creative thinking. There is yet another aspect that cannot be taught at all. That is the writer's "talenf among others. Of course, the ever-changing development in information technology has also brought new opportunities in composition teaching. Developments and applications in multi-media and Internet-teaching will bring new frontiers in terms of teaching mindsets, contents, results, methods and techniques. For example, we can choose to use multi-media to present composition writing instructions and materials, provide

258

SIM

writing tool, and let students submit compositions on-line. Teachers can criticize the essays based on students' special needs from a diagnostic perspective. The students can also watch their essays being marked from their computer terminals at any time. On-line teaching has created a lot of opportunities - it is real-time and space saving. Multi-media contain a lot of useful tools (like the proofreading and editing tools) and are interactive. Therefore, teaching methods in the Internet environment perhaps is a way to solve the writing problems faced by Singapore secondary school students. However, teaching is not just an art, it is also scientific in the sense that it has a theoretical basis. No matter how the environment changes and target students differ, the basic principles still remain. My future direction would be to establish a complete and comprehensive webbased composition-teaching model and system. AUTHOR'S NOTE The author was former educational officer of Ministry of Education of Singapore and is currently a post-graduate student of The University of Hong Kong.

REFERENCES

Anderson, L. (1994). Time and writing: Institutional forces and the shape of writing pedagogy. The Writing Instructor, 14(\), 25-37. Bailey, K.M. (1998). Learning about language assessment: Dilemmas, decisions and directions. Pacific Grove, California: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Bamberg, B. (1984). Assessing coherence: A reanalysis of essays written for the National Council for Educational Progress. Research in the Teaching of English, 18(3), 305-319. Beach, R. (1976). Self-evaluation strategies of extensive revisers and non-revisers. College Composition and Communication, 27, 160-164. Beach, R. (1979). The effects of between-draft teacher evaluation versus self-evaluation in high school students' revising of rough drafts. Research in Teaching English, 13, 111-119. Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M. (1987). The psychology of written composition. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Berkenkotter, C. (1983). Decisions and revisions: The planning strategies of a publishing writer. College Composition and Communication, 34(2), 156-169. Berkenkotten, C. (1991). Paradigm debates, turf wars and the conduct of sociocognitive inquiry in composition. College Composition and Communication, 42(1), 151-169. Board of Studies. (1995). VCE study design: Languages Other Than English - Chinese. Carlton, Victoria: Board of Studies. Bruffee, K. (1973). Collaborative learning: some practical models. College English, 34, 634-643. Cai, Q.F. (1994). Language teaching psychology. Beijing, China: Language Press. Carter, R.D. (1982). By itself peer group revision has no power. Washington D.C.: Annual National Council of Teachers in English Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 226350) Chang, M (1998). Morris Chang's autobiography. Taipei: Commonwealth Publishing Co. Ltd. Chen, J.X. (1967). Research on secondary Chinese teaching. Hong Kong: World Bookstore. Chen, X.N. (1981). Primary composition teaching. Jiangsu, China: Jiangsu People's Press. Chen, Y.F. (1987). Draw materials from proximity - The discussion on linking text and teaching of composition writing, Chinese research (1'^ ed.) (pp.76-77). Singapore: Chinese Research Society. Chen, Y.R. (1995). Verbal comments is a vital component of teaching composition writing, monologue beneath the blackboard - Second National Teachers' Essay Award. Chinese teachers collection 5 (pp. 115-140). Singapore: Singapore Teachers Society. Chen, Y. (1982). Brief on children's psychology in essay writing. Nanyang Education, 101, 12. Chen, Z.R. (2001). National Chinese Teaching Seminar 2002. Lian He Zao Bao [Singapore], 14 Sep., National Edition. Chickering, A. (1978). Education and identity. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Chinese University of Hong Kong. (1999). Teaching Chinese more efficiently. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Christie, F. (1994). On pedagogic discourse: Final report of a research activity funded by the ARC 19902. Institute of Education, the University of Melbourne, Australia. Christie, F. (1997). Curriculum macrogenres as forms of initiation into a culture. In F. Christie & J.R. Martin (Eds.), Genres and institutions: Social process in the workplace and school (pp. 134-160) London: Washington: Cassell. Cooper, M. (1986). The ecology of writing. College English, 48(4), 364-375. Cooper, M.. & Holzman, M. (1985). Reply to Linda Flower and John R. Hayes. College Composition and Communication, 36(1), 97-100. Cooper, L.A. (1990). The role of spatial representation in complex problem solving. New York: New York Publishing.

260

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING REGIONS

Cooper, L.A.. & Shepard, R.N. (1984). Turning something over in the mind. In R. R.Llinas (Ed.) The workings of the brain: development, memory, and perception. (Readings From Scientific American Magazine) (pp. 121-132). New York: W.H. Freeman & Company. Cui, C.R. (1991). The low ebb phenomena in the development of written language in middle schools. Journal of Beijing Normal University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 2. Curriculum Development Council. (1990). Syllabus of the Chinese language of the secondary schools. Curriculum Development Institute, Education Department, Hong Kong. Curriculum Development Council. (1993). Guide to the sixth form curriculum. Curriculum Development Institute, Education Department, Hong Kong. Curriculum Development Council. (1995). Report of visit to Australia. Curriculum Development Institute, Education Department, Hong Kong. [In Chinese] Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Singapore's Ministry of Education (2002). Chinese language syllabus for secondary schools (pp.12 - 13, pp.22 - 23.). Danis, J. (1982). Weaving the web of meaning: An experience in peer response groups. San Francisco, CA: Annual College and Communication Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 214202) Daveport, T. H., & Prusak, L. (1998). Working knowledge: how organizations manage what they know. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. Davies, S. & Guppy, N. (1997). Focus on English-speaking democracies: Globalization and educational reforms in Anglo-American democracies. Comparative Education Review, 41(4), 435-459. Deikman, A. (1980). Bimodal consciousness and the mystic experience. In R. Woods (Ed.), Understanding mysticism (pp.261-266). New York: Image Books. Denham, C , & Lieberman, A. (1980). Time to Learn. Washington DC: National Institute of Education. Ding, J.G. (1999). On generic awareness in Chinese teaching for foreigners once more. Application of Language and Characters, 2, 26-30. Ding, W.D. & Wu, B. (Eds.) (1983), A college handbook of composition. Beijing, China: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Doyle, W. (1983). Academic work. Review of Education Research 53(2), 159-199. Du, Z.C. (1994). New trends in teaching Chinese and the future development of the Chinese language. Chinese Teachers Journal, 2(?, 38 - 45. Education Commission. (1994). Report of the working group on language proficiency. Hong Kong: HKSAR Government. Education Department. (1998). Target oriented curriculum: Chinese language assessment guideline. Hong Kong: HKSAR Government. Ellman, N. (1979). Structuring peer evaluation for greater student independence. In G. Stanford (ed.), Classroom practices in teaching English: How to handle the paper load. (p. 130-132) Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Emig, J. (1971/ The composing process of twelfth graders. National Council of Teachers of English Report 13. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Faigley, L., Cherry, R.D., JoUiffe, D.A. and Skinner, A.M. (1989). Assessing writers' knowledge and process of composing. Norwood, N.J,: Ablex Pub. Corp. Fang, Y. & Fang Y.H. (2002). A Genre-based Teaching Approach for practical English writing. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching, No.l, 33-36. Flower, L. (1989). Cognition, context and theory building. College Composition and Communication, 40, 282-311. Flower, L. & Hayes, J.R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32, 365-387. Fu, K. (1986). History of Chinese foreign languages education. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press. Fullan, M. (1993). Change forces: Probing the depths of educational reform. London: The Falmer Press. Gao, R.H. (1985). My views on Composition Markings. Language Learning, 1, 9-10. Gregory, M. & Malcolm, K. (1981). Generic situation and discourse phase. Toronto: Glendon College, York University. Hairston, M. (1982). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33, 76-88. Halliday, M.A.K, (1994). (2nd Qd.)An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.

REFERENCES

261

Halliday, M.A.K. (2003). Foreword. In M.S.K.Shum (Ed.), Functions of language and the teaching of Chinese (pp.viiii-x). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a socialsemioticperspective. Geelong, Vic., Australia: Deakin University Press. Hawisher, G.E. (1987). The effects of word processing on the revision strategies of college freshman. Research in the Teaching of English, 21, 145-160. Hawisher, G.E. (1989). Research and recommendations for computers and compositions. In G.E. Hawisher & C.L. Selfe (Eds.), Critical perspectives on computers and composition instruction (pp.44-69). New York: Teachers College Press. He, F.M. (1993). CET-4 writing and writing exercises. Foreign Languages World, No.3, 31-33. He, G.J. (2001). On the construct of teachers and textbooks in Teaching Chinese as Foreign Language. Journal ofNanchang College of Education, 3. He, W.G. (1979). Research on secondary Chinese composition teaching methodology. Master Dissertation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Herrington, A. (1985). Writing in academic settings: A study of the contexts for writing in two college chemical engineering courses. Research in the teaching of English, 19(4), 331-361. Hillocks, G. Jr. (1986). Research on written composition. Urbana, IL: Eric Clearhouse on Reading and Communication Skills. Hillocks, G. Jr. (1995). Teaching writing as reflective practice. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. Horowitz, D. (1986a). Process, not product. Less than meets the eye. TESOL Quarterly, 20(2), 141-145. Horowitz, D. (1986b). What professors actually require: Academic skills for the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 445-462. Hu, L.S. (1981). Teaching of composition writing in Chinese as a second language, language teaching (pp.70-77). Singapore: Education Publishing Bureau. Jarvis, P. (1999). Global trends in lifelong learning and the response of the universities. Comparative Education, 35(2), 249-257. Jenkins, M. (Interviewee). (2000). Chinese teaching and learning in Australia. [Cassette Recording], 16 July 2000. Melbourne, Australia. Johns, A.M. (1991). Interpreting an English competency examination: The frustrations of an ESL science student. Written Communication, 8, 379-410. Krashen, S.D. (1991). The Input Hypothesis: An update. Paper presented at the Georgetown Round Table for Languages and Linguistics on April 3, 1991, Washington, D. C. Krashen, S. D. (1992). Fundamentals of language education. Lincolnwood, IL: Laredo Publishing. Kroll, B. (1990). What does time buy? ESL student performance on home versus class compositions. In B. Kroll (Ed.), Second language writing: Research insights for the classroom (pp. 140-154). New York: Cambridge University Press. Lamberg, W.J. (1974). Design and validation of instruction in question-directed, narrative writing, developed through Discrimination Programming. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Michigan. MI. Lamberg, W.J. (1980). Self-provided and peer-provided feedback. College Composition and Communication, 31, 63-69. Leung, Y.B. (1993). The use of dialect in the Pearl River Delta region: A sociolinguistic study. Contemporary China Research Centre, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Levin, B. (1998). An epidemic of education policy: (What) can we learn from each other? Comparative Education, 34(2), Ul-141. Levy, CM. & Ransdell, S.E. (1995). Is writing as difficult as it seems? Memory and Cognition, 23, 767779. Li, B.J. (1999). The method of teaching writing on topics. Journal of Shanghai University, 4. Li, B.J. (2001a). Joyful composition 'class practices, lesson 6'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (2001b). Interesting composition 'classpractices, lesson 2'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (2001c). Creative composition 'research and improvements, lesson 2'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press.

262

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING REGIONS

Li, B.J. (200Id). Interesting composition 'research and improvements, lesson 4'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (200le). Creative composition 'research and improvements, lesson 4'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (200If). Creative composition 'research and improvements, lesson 5 \ Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (200Ig). Interesting composition 'writingpractice II'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (200Ih). Creative composition 'research and improvements, lesson I'. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, B.J. (200li). Creative composition 'research and improvements, lesson 5\ Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press. Li, Yi. (1995) Teaching and learning of primary composition. Beijing, China: Beijing Normal University Press. Liang, R.J. (1999). Composition writing teaching methods in overcoming vocabulary inadequacy, language teaching and tests: Nanyang University Chinese Department collection. Singapore: Raffles Publishing. Liang, R.Y. (year unknown). Examining the marking system of composition exercise from the perspectives of teaching objectives and strengthening effects. Retrieved 13* June, 2003, from Chinese website of National Institute of Education of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University: http://www.arts.nie.edu.sg/clc/teach-share/composition-tg(neoeg).doc Liu, G.Z. (1985). Speaking about self-evaluation. Secondary Language Teaching, 5, 74-75. Liu, S.X. (1988). Interference in Putonghua in dialectual region. I.L.E.J., 4, 48-56. Luo, K.L. (1963). Teaching methodology of secondary Chinese subject (Vol. 1 & 2). Hong Kong: Everybody's Bookstore Limited. Ma, Z.P. (1995). The theory and method of wring teaching in modern China. Chongqing, China: China South-West Normal University Press. Malinowski, B. (1923). The problem of meaning in primitive languages. Supplement 1 in C.K. Ogden & LA. Richards (eds). The meaning of meanings (International Library of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Method). London: Kegan Paul. Malinowski, B. (1935). Coral gardens and their magic, Vol.2. London: Allen & Unwin. Reprinted as The language of magic and gardening (Indiana University Studies in the History and Theory of Linguistics), Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1967. Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Marzano, R.J. & Arthur, S. (1977). Teacher comments on students essays: It doesn't' matter what you say. University of Colorado at Denver. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 147864) Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. (2001). The standards of Chinese teaching. Publishing House of Beijing Teacher-Training College (pp.17). Ministry of Education, Singapore & Anglo-Chinese Secondary School (Independent). (2002). Website: 'Free to express', http://peach.acs.sch.edu.sg/free2express Moffett, J. (1968). Teaching the universe of discourse. New York: Houghton-Mifflin. Murray, D.M. (1968). A writer teaches writing. Boston; Houghton-Mifflin. Murray, D.M. (1982). Learning by teaching: Selected articles on writing and teaching. Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook. National Curriculum Council. (1989a). The National writing project: Writing and learning. Edinburgh: Nelson. National Curriculum Council. (1989b). The National writing project: Audiences for writing. Edinburgh: Nelson. National Curriculum Council. (1989c). The National writing project: Responding to and assessing writing. Edinburgh: Nelson. National Curriculum Council. (1989d). The National writing project - Writing partnerships (I): Home, school and community. Edinburgh: Nelson. National Curriculum Council. (1990a). The National writing project: Perception of writing. Edinburgh: Nelson. National Curriculum Council. (1990b). Ways of looking: Issues from the National writing project. Edinburgh: Nelson.

REFERENCES

263

Nelson, J. (1990). This was an easy assignment: Examining how students interpret academic writing tasks. Research in the Teaching of English, 24(4), 362-396. Ng, F.P. (1996). Discourse analysis of Form One Mathematics class using Chinese as the medium of instruction. Selected Papers of Chinese Language Education, Vol. 3. Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong. [In Chinese] O'Keeffe, John. (1998). Business beyond the box. Sonoma, CA: Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd. Ou, J.W. (1981). Teachers instructed peer-evaluation. Sample Marking. Secondary Language Teaching, 10, 44-45. Ou, Y.K. (2001). Philosophy of humanities and social sciences. Wuhan, China: Wuhan University Press. Pan, X.H. (1997). The History of writing teaching in modern China. Fujian, China: Fujian People's Press. Peng, D.L. (1990). Cognitive psychology. Heilongjiang, China: Heilongjiang Educational Press. Peng, D.L. & Tan, L.H. (1991). Language psychology. Beijing, China: Beijing Normal University Press. Perkins, D.N. (1981). The mind's best work. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Piaget, J. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books. Popcorn, F. & Marigold, L. (1996). Clicking: 16 trends to future fit your life, your work, and your business. New York: HarperCollins. Qian, M.L. (1984). Composition marking should be a training process. Language Learning, 10, 44-45. Raimes, A. (1985). What unskilled ESL students do as they write: A classroom study of composing. TESOL Quarterly, 79(2), 229-258. Raimes, A. (1987). Language proficiency, writing ability, and composing strategies: A study of ESL college student writers. Language Learning, 57(3), 439-468. Ransdell, S., Lavelle, B. & Levy, CM. (2002). The effects of training a good working memory strategy on LI and L2 writing. In S. Ransdell, S. and M. Barbier (Eds.), New Directions for Research in L2 )^n7wg(pp.l33-144). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Rao, Y.L. (1999). Research on the pilot tests of new applied writing theories in teaching. Higher Agriculture Education, 4,39. Rapp, B. (1990). Letter to readers: Computers and the writing process. The Writing Instructor, 10(2), 6567. Riazi, A. (1997). Acquiring disciplinary literacy: A social-cognitive analysis of text production and learning among Iranian graduate students of education. Journal of Second Language Writing, 6(2), 105137. Rijlaarsdam, G. (1987). Effects of peer evaluation on writing performance, writing process, and psychological variables. Atlanta, GA: Annual College Composition and Communication Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 284288) Rijlaarsdam, G. (1983). Audience-oriented writing and peer evaluation. Detroit, MI: Annual College Composition and Communication Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 284287) Rijlaarsdam, G. & Couzijn, M. (2000). What do writers learn from peer comments on argumentative texts? In A. Camps & M. Milian (Eds.), Studies in Writing: Vol. 6. Metalinguistic activity in learning to write (pp. 197-202). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press. Roessler, M. (1983). Focus on feedback. In S. Tchudi (ed.). Writing teachers: What we say about what we do (pp. 158-165). Rochester, MI: Michigan Council of Teachers of English. Russell, M. & Hanley, W. (1997). Testing writing on computers: An experiment comparing student performance on test conducted via computer and via paper-and-pencil. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 5. Available: http//olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v5n3.html. Sager, C. (1973). Improving the quality of writing composition through pupil use rating scale. Philadelphia, PA: Annual National Council of Teachers in English Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 089304) Sasaki, M. (2000). Toward building an empirical model of EFL writing processes: An exploratory study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 9(3), 259-291. Sasaki, M. (2002). Building an empirically-based model of EFL learners' writing process. In S. Ransdell & M. Barbier (Eds.), New directions for research in L2 writing (pp.49-80). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Saussure, F. de. (1959). Course in general linguistics. C. Bally & A. Sechehaye (Eds.). Translated by Wade Baskin. New York: Philosophical Library. School Curriculum Development Committee (1987a). The National Writing Project Occasional Paper One: A writing community. Edinburgh: Nelson.

264

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING REGIONS

School Curriculum Development Committee (1987b). The National Writing Project Occasional Paper Four: Writing and work. Edinburgh: Nelson. School Curriculum Development Committee (1987c). The National Writing Project Occasional Paper Fi\e: Objective for language learning. Edinburgh: Nelson. School Curriculum Development Committee (1987d). The National Writing Project Occasional Paper Six: Writing development the early year. Edinburgh: Nelson. School Curriculum Development Committee (1987e). The National Writing Project Occasional Paper Eight: Ways of looking at children's writing. Edinburgh: Nelson. School Curriculum Development Committee (1987f). About writing. The National Writing Project Newsletter, 7. Edinburgh: Nelson. School Curriculum Development Committee (1988a). About writing. The National Writing Project Newsletter, 8. Edinburgh: Nelson. School Curriculum Development Committee. (1988b). About writing. The National Writing Project Newsletter, 9. Edinburgh: Nelson. Schwartz, H., Fitzpatrick, C. & Huot, B. (1994). The computer medium in writing for discovery. Computers and Composition, 11, 137-149. Shen, Lin. (1998). Reflections on the effects of applied writing teaching. Anhui University of Agriculture Bulletin (Social Sciences Section), 3. Shi, Yuzhi. (forthcoming). The differences between English and Chinese conceptual structure and their influence on passive structure. Shum, M.S.K., Tse, S.K., Yu, C.K. & Ki, W.W. (2002). Analysis of practical writing in schools. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Shum, M.S.K. (2003). The functions of language and the teaching of Chinese: Application of systemic functional linguistics to Chinese language education. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Shum, M.S.K., Tse, S.K., Yu, C.K. & Ki, W.W. (2004). Analysis of practical writing in China mainland Hong Kong: Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co. Shum, M.S.K. (2005). Peer checklist evaluation of Chinese composition: Research and practice. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co. Sim, S.H. (1997). Website: 'Cyber Chinese class' from http://pachomel.pacific.net.sg/~ssh3874/ Sinclair, J. & Coulthard, R.M. (1975). Towards an analysis of discourse. London: Oxford University Press. Smagorinsky, P. (1989). The reliability and validity of protocol analysis. Written Communication, 6(4), 463-479. Smeltsor, M. (1978). A guide to evaluating students' writing. Madison, WI: Wisconsin University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 1782113). Smith, F. (1988). Joining the literacy club. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann. So, M.C. (1988). My opinion in Chinese language education. In P. K. Wong (Ed.), Teaching secondary school Chinese language, (pp. 20-23). Hong Kong Chinese Language Society, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Sun, F.M. (1983). It is a good strategy to distribute copies of compositions for students' discussion. Language Learning, 7, 9-10. Tian, X.L. (1987). Re-improvement of Chinese language in teachers' language competence. Institution of Language Education Journal, 3, 55-62. Tse, S.K. (1990a). Training of language abilities. Curriculum Forum, 1, 7-10. Tse, S.K. (1990b). The theory of writing. In Language use, language teaching and the curriculum. Hong Kong: Institute of Language in Education. Tse, S.K. (1993). Composing process of Chinese and English: Composition of primary school pupils in Hong Kong. Unpublished doctorial dissertation, University of Nottingham, U.K. Tse, S.K. (1993). TTRA: Chinese language. Curriculum Forum, 3, 47-48. Tse, S.K. (1995). Reading and writing: Theories and practice. Hong Kong: Greenfield Enterprise Ltd. Tse, S.K. (2001). Pleasurable learning Chinese writing. Hong Kong: Hong Kong SAR Government. Tse, S.K., Chan, W.S., Ho, W.K., Law, N., Lee, T., Shek, C , Wong, C , & Yu, F.Y. (1995). Chinese language education for the 2P' century: a Hong Kong perspective. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Tse, S.K. & Cheung, S.M. (1991). The writing process in Hong Kong primary students: The translation between Cantonese and written Modern Standard Chinese. Proceedings of the ILE, 6, 194-211.

REFERENCES

265

Tse, S.K., & Cheung, S.M. (1993). A study of difficulties in Chinese composition writing among secondary students. Curriculum Studies, 3, 49-55. Tse, S.K. & Hui, Y.C. (1993). Writing complete text. Primary one or Primary three? New Horizon, 34, 28-33. Tse, S.K., Kwan, C.Y., Wong, K.C. & Zhu, X. (2000). Effective teaching and learning of Chinese language in primary school: A study of effective learning of Chinese characters and advance learning of Chinese writing (Research Report). Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Tse, S.K., & Lam, S.S. (1992). A study of the composing process of primary school pupils and the modes of instruction in teaching Chinese writing in Hong Kong. New Horizons, 33, 72-75. Tse, S.K., Shum, M.S.K., Mao, G.A. & Ki, W.W. (2001). Errors in setting examination questions and the expression of meaning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Tse, S.K., Shum, M.S.K., Ki, W.W. & Yu, C.K. (2004). Research and application on official documents in China mainland. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Tsui, A.B.M. (1994). English conversation. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. U.S. Department of Education (2003). National Writing Project. http://www.writingproject.org/About/index.html, 1st May. Vogler, S.H. (1971). Grading theme: A new approach, a new dimension. English Journal, 60, 10. Wang, A.S. (1992). Thinking psychology. Shanghai, China: East China Normal University Press. Wang, J.H., Xing, M.J. & Wan, J. (1993). Preliminary investigation into computer aided English writing teaching. Foreign Languages World, No. 3, 38-42. Wang, W.L. (1985). Commentary on teaching composition. Chinese Forum, 6, 20-25. Wang, W.X. (1957). Summary of secondary Chinese teaching. Hong Kong: Publishing Bureau. Wang, Y.B. (2002). The success and failure of assigned topics, Chinese language, culture and teaching, Xi Shan educational collection. Singapore: Xi Shan Arts Centre. Wang, Y. (1996). Dual transitional processes of composition writing and composition teaching practice. Journal ofHenan Normal University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 3, 94-96. Watson, D., Burke, C , & Harste, J. (1989). Whole Language: Inquiring voices. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Scholastic. Weaver, C. (1990). Understanding Whole Language. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books Ins. Wiersma, W. (1995). Research methods in education: An introduction. Boston: Simon and Schuster Co. Wong, P.K. (1988). 3 spoken languages and 2 written languages: The problem of Chinese language and Putonghua. In H. M. Li (Ed.), 1987 International Conference Proceedings (pp. 58-62). Hong Kong: Institute of Language of Education, Education Department. Wong, T.K. (1991). Logical errors in the compositions of Secondary 6 students. Zhongguo Yuwen Tongxun, 12, 9-25. Wu, S.J. (2001). Creative thinking and composition teaching, Chinese teacher edition 37. Singapore: Ministry of Education, Course Planning and Development Division, 7-11. Xiao, F.S. (2002). A PPTB approach to L2 writing instruction. Journal of Sichuan International Studies University, No.2, 83-85. Xiao, G.H. (1988). Comprehensive composition marking treatment methodology. Secondary Language Teaching, 10, 36-37. Xie X.J. (1984). Thinking process in writing for high school students. Language Magazine, Edition 12 (pp.41-53). Hong Kong: Chinese Language Academic Society. Xie, X.J. & Cen, W.Z. (2000). Theory of planning in teaching composition writing and Chinese language for secondary school. Guidance and Educational Inspectorate Department, Chinese Section, Hong Kong Education Department, Hong Kong. Xing, J.Z. (1980). Outline of problems in teaching composition writing, education language thoughts (pp.26-33), Singapore: Education Publishing Bureau. Xu, F.J. (2002). The teaching and learning of Chinese creative writing. Lian He Zao Bao [Singapore], 15 Aug., National Edition. Yang, S.L. (1983). Single-effort, double-pay: Commentary on my school's discovery of composition marking. Language Teaching Circular, 7, 38-39. Yang, S.X. (2002). The differences in strategies of the successful writers and unsuccessful writers in English writing. Foreign Languages World, No.3, 57-64.

266

TEACHING WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING REGIONS

Ye, S.T. (1980). Ye Sheng Ta o 's compilation on language education. Beijing, China: Beijing Educational Science Press. You, J. (2002). Chinese writing teaching class. Lian He Zao Bao [Singapore], 28 Jun., National Edition. Yu, C.K. & Li, B.J. (1994). Teaching processes of composition writing on topics. Beijing, China: Language Press. Yu, G.R. (2000). Quality report of the cultural standards of the agricultural high school students in the PRC. Hua Zhong University of Agriculture Bulletin (Social Sciences Section), 2. Yu, G.R. & Peng, G.M. (2002). Practical writing. Beijing, China: Higher Education Press. Yu, S.L. (1959). Chinese teaching methodology. Hong Kong: Friendly Alliance Press. Zhang, L. (1993). Writing in English as non-native language from the point of view of the writing process, Foreign Languages World, No.4, 15-18. Zhang, S.Q. (1981). Attempts to improve composition marking. Secondary Language Teaching, 10,42. Zhao, C.L. & Yang, C.Y. (2002). The principles for cultivating language consciousness in preliminary Chinese teaching for foreigners. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, L Zhao, H.Q. & Fu, Y.F. (1994). Chinese writing. Beijing, China: Beijing Languages Institute. Zhao, L., Xu, Y.J. & Zhu, X. (1994). A training course on practical writing, Yanbian, China: Yanbian University Press. Zhao, L., Xu Y.J. & Zhu, X. (1995). Selected works on writing, Chinese and Culture College, Yanbian University. Zhao, L., Xu, Y.J. & Zhu, X. (2000). College Chinese. Yanbian, China: Yanbian University Press. Zhao, W.H. (1995). CAI-design modelled research on the strategy of image operations and training. Beijing Normal University Doctoral Thesis. Zhou, G.C. (1973). A few problems related to composition teaching, paper on teaching Chinese (pp. 99102). Singapore: Education Publishing Bureau. Zhou, Z.M. (1953). Some problems to teach non-Chinese-native speakers. Chinese Philology, 7. Zhu, J.B. (1979). Elementary training ofprimary composition. Shantao Educational Press. Zhu, J.X. (1997). Design of primary student composition training system. Beijing Normal University Doctoral Thesis. Zhu X.H. (1993). Psychology of Chinese ability development. Hangzhou, China: Hangzhou University Press. Zhu, Z.X. & Lin, CD. (1986). Thinking developmental psychology. Beijing, China: Beijing Normal University Press. Ziv, N.D. (1983). Peer groups in the composition classroom: A case study. Annual College Composition and Communication Conference. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 229799), Detroit, MI.

AUTHOR INDEX

Anderson, L., 225 Arthur, S., 200 Bailey, K.M., 219, 229 Bamberg, B., 220, 227 Beach, R., 201 Beaven, M., 201 Bereiter,C.,2, 112, 113, 115,116, 175,224 Berkenkotter, C , 216, 218 Booth, S., 174 Bruffee,K.,201,206 Cai, Qi-fu., 120 Carter, R.D., 201 Chan, W.S., 212, 241, 250 Chang, M., 239, 241 Chen, J.X., 200, 201 Chen, Wei-zong., 246, 249 Chen, Ya-feng, 251 Chen, Yan-ru., 251 Cheung, S.M., 171, 172 Chickering, A., 201 Christie, F., 10, 11,27 Cooper, L.A., 114, 119 Cooper, M., 216 Coulthard,R.M., 10, 13, 14 Couzijn, M., 201 Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Singapore's Ministry of Education, 246 Danis, J., 201 Daveport, Th. H., 239 Davies, S., 7 Deikman, A., 225 Ding, Wang-dao., 34

Doyle, W., 222 Drucker, P.F., 239 Du, Zhu-cheng., 250 Ellman,N.,201 Emig, J., 215 Faigley, L.,218 Fang, Xin-xin., 43 Fang, Y., 43, 44 Fang, Y. H., 43, 44 Flower, L., 215, 216 Fu,Ke.,31 Fullan, M., 7 Gao,R.H., 111,201,235,236 Goodman, K.S., 2, 175 Graves, R.L., 2 Gregory, M., 11 Guppy, N., 7 Hairston, M., 216 Halliday, M.A.K., 3,10, 24, 26, 27, 154, 162, 163, 169 Hanley, W., 226 Hasan, R., 24 Hawisher, G.E., 226 Hayes, J.R., 215 He, Fang-ming., 41 He, Ganjun., 97 He,W.G.,200,201,204 Herrington, A., 216 Hillocks,G.Jr, 16, 18,24 Holzman, M., 216 Horowitz, D., 216, 220, 221 Hu, Lin-sheng., 51, 146, 147, 254 Hui,Y.C., 111,174

268

WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING COUNTRIES

Ou, Yang-kang., 161 Jarvis, P., 7 Jenkins, M., 9 Johns, A.M., 216 Ki,W.W., 154, 155 Krashen,S.D., 174, 175 Kroll,B.,216 Lam, S.S., 172 Lamberg,W.J.,201 Lavelle, B., 221 Lee,T., 153 Leung, Y.B., 174 Levin, B., 7 Levy, CM., 221 Li,B.J., 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143 Li,Yi.,251 Liang, Rong-ji., 254 Liang, Rong-yuan., 252 Lin, Chong-de., 115, 117, 119, 120, 121,249 Liu, G.Z., 200 Lu, Bi-song., 87 Lui, S.X., 172 Luo,K.L.,200,201 Ma,Z.P., 131 Malcolm, K., 11 Malinowski, B., 23, 24, 26 Marigold, L., 240 Martin, J., 30 Marton, F., 174 Marzano, R.J., 200 Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China., VI, 67, 131, 132,133,143,157,162,234,245, 246,253,258 Moffett, J., 201 Murray, D.M., 200, 201, 218 Nelson, J., 216, 217 Ng,F.P„13 Ou,J.W.,201

Pan, X.H., 142 Peng, Dan-ling., 112 Peng, Guang-mang., 156, 168 Perkins, D.N., 218 Piaget, J., 201 Popcorn, P.M., 240 Prusak, L., 239 Qian,M.L.,201 Qiao, Hui-fang., 236 Qin, Zhao-ji, 49 Raimes,A.,215,219,221 Ransdell, S.E.,221 Rao, Yi-lun., 168 Rapp, B., 226 Riazi, A.,216,218 Rijlaarsdam, G., 201 Roessler, M.,201 Russell, M., 226 Sager, C.,201 Sasaki, M., 215 Saussure, F. de., 162 Scardamalia, M., 175, 224 Schwartz, H., 226 Shek,C., 155 Shen,Lin., 158 Sheng, Yan., 111 Shepard, R.N., 114 Shi, Yuzhi., 97 Shum, M.S.K., 1, 3, 154, 155, 162, 170,244 Sim, Seok-hwa., 2, 245, 251,253 Sinclair, J., 10, 13, 14 Smagorinsky, P., 218 Smeltsor, M.,201 Smith, F., 175 So,M.C., 174 Sun,F.M.,201 Tan, Lihai., 112 Tian,X.L., 172 Tong, S.L., 49

AUTHOR INDEX

Tse, S.K., 154,155, 171, 172,173, 174,177,178,200 Tsui,A.B.M., 13 Vogler, S.H., 200 Wan, J., 42 Wang, An-sheng., 120 Wang, Jing-hui., 42 Wang, W.L., 200 Wang, W.X., 200 Wang, Yong-bing., 255 Wang, Yu., 58 Watson, D., 175 Weaver, C , 175 Wiersma,W.,217 Wong,P.K., 172 Wong, T.K., 174 Wu, Bing., 34 Wu, Shu-jie., 253 Xiao, Fu-shou., 44, 45, 49, 201 Xiao, G.H., 44, 45, 49, 201 Xie, Xi-jin., 246, 249 Xin, MJ., 42 Xing, Ji-zhong., 236, 253 XuYong-ji,2,77

269

Xu, Fu-ji., 252 Yan, Li-zhen., 146 Yang, S.L., 201 Yang, Shu-xian., 44 Ye, ST., 111,200,201 Yu,C.K., 1,3,143, 154,155,156 Yu,G.R., 156 Yu,Guo-rui.,2,3, 155, 158, 168 Yu, S.L., 200 Zamel,V.,215 Zhang, De-lu., 1,40,63 Zhang, De-Lu., 40 Zhang, S.Q., 201 Zhao, Chun-li., 1 Zhao, Li., 2, 77, 119 Zhao, Wei-hua., 114 Zhou, Guo-can., 92, 250 Zhou, You-guang., 92, 250 Zhou, Zu-mo., 88, 92, 250 Zhu, Jing-xi., 113, 114, 116, 119 Zhu, Xia., 2, 77 Zhu, Zhi-xian., 115, 117, 119, 120, 121 Zhu, Zuo-ren., 57 Ziv,N.D.,201

SUBJECT INDEX

Approach(es), 3, 39, 44, 89, 90, 175, 177, 190, 195, 196 Approaches Process-oriented, 39 Beijing, 30, 89, 90, 92, 109, 113, 114, 132,235 Character teaching, 92, 105 China,I,VI,VII, 1,2,3,4,6,7, 8, 12,16,17,29,30,31,32,34,35, 41,45,47,48,49,50,51,52,55, 56,59,61,62,63,65,66,68,87, 90,105,107,109,131,132,133, 134,143,149,150,151,152,153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 160, 171, 172, 175,176,199,215,235,238,239, 242, 245 Chinese composition, 4, 5, 8, 85, 155, 199, 200, 204, 233, 234, 235, 242, 243, 245, 250 Chinese writing, VI, 7, 8, 9, 10, 23, 25,68,70,71,72,75,76,77,78, 82,83,84,85,86,90,96,104, 108, 160, 171, 173, 174, 176, 179, 199 Cognitive, 118 Computer-aided instruction (CAI), 29,42,43,44,115 Creative, 77, 137,235 Cultural, 29, 32, 34, 45, 62, 65, 68, 89, 149, 164 Culture, 8, 39,43,66 Curriculum, 7, 8, 11, 153, 172, 175, 176,177,191,246 Evaluation Self-evaluation, 200, 211

Teacher evaluation, 200, 210, 211 Evaluation(s), 21, 39, 40, 81, 103, 104,142,167,184,199,207,208, 209,210,249 Examination-oriented, 47, 58, 63 Free composition, 99, 101, 106 Games, 135 Grammar, 88, 102,255 Historical perspective, 29 HongKong,!, 1,3,5,6,7,8,9, 11, 12,14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,20,21, 22,23,24,25,26,27,109,132, 149,150,151,152,153,154,155, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 179, 181,182,184,191,192,193,197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204, 212, 215, 217,221,236,246,250,258 Hong Kong writing project, 171 Imagination(s), 61, 119, 120, 144 Imitation, 70, 71,98 Innovation(s), 33, 90 Korean nationals, 65 Learning, 30, 49, 80, 93, 105, 126, 127,139,187,234,237,253 Method of Live Demonstration in Teaching (Joyful Composition) -, 131,132,133 Methodologies, 127 Multimedia, 80, 81,82

272

WRITING IN CHINESE SPEAKING COUNTRIES

National Minority Chinese Proficiency Test System, 65, 76 New-Concept-Composition, 47, 63 Peer, 179, 199, 201, 207, 208, 210 Evaluation, 211 Review, 179 Pinyin teaching, 105, 107 Practical writing(s) -, 80, 111, 156 Primary school, 31, 109, 112 Process, 2, 3, 29, 39, 44, 45, 101, 104,112,177, 178,218,222,225, 227,231 Rating, 219, 220, 227 Reform,7,76, 82, 151, 157, 162, 164,166,167, 189,237 Reform(s), 7, 76, 82, 151, 157, 162, 164,166,167, 189,237 Revision, 40, 103, 164, 204, 206, 225 Revision strategy(ies), 204 Singapore, 2, 3, 5, 6, 132, 245, 246, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 258 Social, 154,225,227,228 Stages, 177, 178 Syllabus, 67, 68, 73, 92, 94, 157, 158, 172,173,176,183,184,246,247, 249

Systemic, 5, 10, 154, 160, 162, 163, 169 Teacher-centred, 209 Teaching Chinese as second language (TCSL), 65, 66, 61, 74, 83, 86 Foreigners Chinese (TFC), 4, 87, 88,89,90,91,92,93,94,104, 107, 108 Method(s), 56, 90, 107 Procedures, 57 Stage(s), 17 University writing, 157 Technology, 170,245,253 Text writing, 96 Theory of Communication, 5, 155 Thinking-processing, 116, 120, 121, 127 Traditional, 80, 178, 191, 194, 195, 196 Writing Strategies, 164 Theory -, 56 Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, 65, 67, 70

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Wai-ming Cheung, Curriculum Officer, Curriculum Development Institute, Education and Manpower Bureau, HKSAR Government, Hong Kong, China. [email protected]. Yu-ping Han, Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Liaocheng University, Shandong, China. [email protected]. Ke-kang He, Professor, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, [email protected] Che-ying Kwan, Lecturer, Department of Chinese, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China. [email protected]. Bai-jian Li, Professor, Department of Chinese, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China, [email protected]. Elizabeth Ka-yee Loh, Project Manager and PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected]. Gert Rijlaarsdam, Professor of Language Education, University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University, the Netherlands. [email protected]. Mark Shiu-kee Shum, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected]. Seok-hwa Sim, MPhil candidate. Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Previously worked as Project Development Specialist at the Educational Technology Division of Ministry of Education, Singapore, [email protected], Shek-kam Tse, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected]. Albert Tai-yuen Wong, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected]. Yong-ji Xu, Associate Professor, School of Chinese Language and Culture, Yanbian University, Jilin, China, [email protected]. Cai-ying Yang, PhD candidate, Shandong University, Qingdao, China, [email protected] Chen-li Yao, Professor, Department of Chinese Literature, National Central University, Taiwan. [email protected]. Guo-rui Yu, Professor, Director of Research Institute of Applied Writing, College of Humanities and Social Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China. [email protected]. Cheng-kun Yu, Professor, Department of Chinese, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. [email protected]. De-lu Zhang, Professor and Dean, Foreign Languages College, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China, [email protected]. Chun-li Zhao, Associate Professor, College of Arts, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China, [email protected]. Li Zhao, Professor, School of Chinese Language and Culture, Yanbian University, Jilin, China, [email protected]. Xia Zhu, Associate Professor, School of Chinese Language and Culture, Yanbian University, Jilin, China, [email protected].

Studies in Writing 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14.

15. 16.

P. Tynjala et al. (eds.): Writing as a Learning Tool. 2001 ISBN HB 0-7923-6877-0; PB 0-7923-6914-9 L. Tolchinsky (ed.): Developmental Aspects in Learning to Write. 2001 ISBN HB 0-7923-6979-3; PB 0-7923-7063-5 D. Alamargot and L. Chanquoy: Through the Models of Writing. 2001 ISBN HB 0-7923-6980-7; PB 0-7923-7159-3 T. Olive and CM. Levy (eds.): Contemporary Tools and Techniques for Studying Writing 2001 ISBN HB 1-4020-0035-9; PB 1-4020-0106-1 S. Ransdell and M-L. Barbier (eds.): New Direction for Research in L2 Writing. 2002 ISBN HB 1-4020-0538-5; PB 1-4020-0539-3 L. Bjork, G. Brauer, L. Rienecker and P. Stray Jorgensen (eds.): Teaching Academic Writing in European Higher Education. 2003 ISBNHB l-4020-1208-X;PB 1-4020-1209-8 L. AUal, L. Chanquoy and P. Largy (eds.): Revision: Cognitive and Instructional Processes. 2004 ISBN HB 1 -4020-7729-7 G. Rijlaarsdam, H. van den Bergh, M. Couzijn (eds.) Effective Learning and Teaching of Writing: A Handbook of Writing in Education. 2004 ISBNHB 1-4020-2724-9; PB 1-4020-2725-7 T. Kostouli (ed.): Writing in Context(s): Textual Practices and Learning Processes in Sociocultural Settings. 2005. ISBN HB 0-378-24237-6; PB 0-378-24238-4 M.S.K. Shum and D.L. Zhang (eds.): Teaching Writing in Chinese Speaking Areas. 2005 ISBN HB 0-387-26392-6

For Volumes 1-6 please contact Amsterdam University Press, at www.aup.nl