How Chinese Beginning Writers Learn English Writing: A Survey of Writing Strategies

Abstract

Research on learning strategies is an important means of understanding how learners learn and improving teachers’ ability to help students. With a self-made questionnaire, this study carried out an analysis of learning strategies used to learn English writing of Chinese senior middle school students for the purpose of understanding how EFL learners learn English writing in a Chinese context and discovering their weakness in learning English writing. The results show that 1) subjects are medium-frequency strategy users of English writing, 2) the most frequently used strategies are affective strategies, memorization strategies, monitoring strategies and checking strategies, and 3) the least frequently used strategies are reviewing strategies, social strategies and planning strategies. This study suggests that following measures should be taken for the improvement of the teaching of English writing in Chinese senior middle schools: 1) teachers should help students form a correct idea of the nature of writing process, 2) teachers need to cultivate students’ positive affect towards English writing and 3) teachers should promote learners’ consciousness of using learning strategies.