Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research background
In the “General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards” (2017 edition) (hereinafter referred to as “curriculum standards”), clear stratification requirements for English writing have been laid down. As for the compulsory course, the curriculum standards requires students to choose the appropriate text type, vocabulary, grammatical structure and formal or informal language according to the communicative purpose. As regards the optional compulsory course, students are required to consciously choose and use language according to their intentions and audience characteristics; they can design a reasonable discourse structure according to the needs of expression. As for the optional course, the curriculum standards put forward higher requirements. It requires students to express their emotions and thoughts by means of using proper words and sentences, and use euphemisms and vague words as needed.
From the requirements of the curriculum standards, the author finds that these requirements all emphasize the importance of the construction of structure and the logic in writing. How to express one’s views properly is the most important point in writing. However, most students don’t have the awareness of stylistic or text layout, and can’t use vocabulary appropriately. In addition, teachers generally focus on the correct use of words when conducting composition guidance, and pay little attention to students’ writing logic.
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1.2 Research significance
This study tries to apply the new economic principle of speech allocation to senior high school English writing teaching, and has the theoretical and practical significance.
First of all, the application of the new economic principle of speech allocation can enrich the research theories. Through analyzing related studies, the author found that most of the scholars’ research on English writing focused on how to apply a certain teaching method to the teaching of writing. The teaching methods mainly include: genre teaching method, process writing teaching method and so on. Studies based on the pedagogy have been mature and also have achieved many achievements. However, there is less innovative theoretical support for English writing process. This study refers to the latest achievements of writing teaching at home and abroad, combines with the characteristics of writing teaching, and tries to apply the theoretical essence of the new economic principle to English writing teaching. As a theory of an interdisciplinary subject, the new economic principle of speech allocation can enrich the theoretical basis on the studies of English writing teaching, and then motivate more related research.
Secondly, the application of the new economic principle of speech allocation has great significance for teachers’ teaching and research, as well as for students. This study seeks to provide high school English writing teaching mode from the perspective of new economic principle of speech allocation. By applying this principle to English writing teaching, frontline English teachers can better understand the spirit and essence of this principle and implement it in their practical teaching. Teachers can rely on this mode and the practical cases to improve the effectiveness of English writing teaching and then develop students’ English writing skills. Besides, teachers can also have an opportunity to find more research perspectives to enrich their teaching research. More importantly, under the guidance of teachers, this principle can be used by students themselves and applied to their future writing.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Studies on new economic principle of speech allocation at home and abroad
The new economic principle of speech allocation gradually developed on the basis of “economic principle”. The economic concept in linguistics was originally proposed to address redundancy (Xiang Mingyou, 2002). Many scholars at home and abroad have also made a lot of arguments on its connotation.
2.1.1 Studies abroad
In 1949, George Kingsley Zipf, an American scholar, first proposed the concept of “labor-saving principle” and applied it to the study of language. He found that “short words in language are obviously more popular than long words”, and “the length of a word is inversely proportional to its number of occurrences, although the ration is not necessarily strict” (Zipf, 1949). At the same time, he also suggested that “saving effort” was not absolute, and the labor saving in one aspect may lead to laborious efforts on the other hand.
Based on Zipf’s “savings principle”, Martinet (1962) put forward the concept of “economic principle”. He believed that in language communication, the speaker needs to convey his own information and express his own ideas, so as to achieve a certain communicative purpose; besides, he must exert as little mental and physical strength as possible to achieve “the most labor-saving”.
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2.2 Studies on English writing process at home and abroad
Teaching writing has always been a difficult work in English teaching, which is time-consuming and slow in effect. This phenomenon has also attracted the attention of many scholars. Researchers have explored English writing from various levels and achieved fruitful results. This study mainly focuses on the guidance and effect of language allocation in the writing process. Therefore, the author summarizes the research on the writing process at home and abroad.
2.2.1 Studies on English writing process abroad
Wallace Douglas, a professor at Northwestern University in the United States, pointed out that writing was a process. Writing classes should teach the operating methods that constitute each step of the writing process. Therefore, he first proposed the concept of “process writing” in the 1970s. Subsequently, the idea of process writing gradually spread.
In the 1980s, researchers of L2 writing, such as Zamel (1982), proposed that L2 writing should be regarded as a process of meaning discovery rather than focusing on surface errors and linguistic accuracy of finished compositions. Since then, the “process approach” revolution had been launched in L2 writing teaching, and the study of writing process had begun in succession.
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Chapter 3 Theoretical Basis ............................ 12
3.1 The economics of language ................................. 12
3.2 The five criteria of the new economic principle of speech allocation ............... 13
Chapter 4 Research Design ............................... 16
4.1 Research questions ................................. 16
4.2 Research subjects ............................. 16
Chapter 5 Data Analysis and Discussion .............................. 25
5.1 Questionnaire results and discussion...................................... 25
5.1.1 Results and discussion on the changes of students’ interest and confidence in writing......................... 25
Chapter 5 Data Analysis and Discussion
5.1 Questionnaire results and discussion
The questionnaire consists of pre-experiment questionnaire and post-experiment questionnaire. The two questionnaires have the same dimension of statement, totaling 21 questions. The questionnaire is divided into four parts: writing interest and confidence (1-6), students’ anxiety of writing (7-10), difficult points in writing (11-16), writing guidance strategy (17-21). A total of 112 questionnaires were distributed, 110 were returned, 102 were valid, and the effective rate was 91%.
5.1.1 Results and discussion on the changes of students’ interest and confidence in writing
In order to study the changes of students’ writing interest (1-6 questions), the author matched the pre-test data with the post-test data by t-test. The results of the analysis are shown in Table 5-1, 5-2.
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Chapter 6 Conclusion
6.1 Research findings
Based on the new economic principle of speech allocation, this study investigates the application of this principle in senior high school English writing teaching. In the course of the study, through the methods of questionnaire, test and interview, together with the participation of students in daily teaching, this study mainly has two major findings as follows:
(1) The new economic principle of speech allocation has certain operability in English writing teaching. This study applies the five criteria of the new economic principle to students’ writing teaching in the process of implementation, which can run through the whole process of writing. The five criteria of the new economic principle can be used to guide students from the conception before writing, the layout of the writing, and to the choice of words and examples in writing. In addition, the guiding content of this principle is simple, and students can understand it easily and use it wisely. All of these findings prove that the new economic principle can be applied to the teaching of English writing in senior high schools, and it has certain operability.
(2) The new economic principle of speech allocation is effective in high school English writing teaching. The new economic principle can significantly improve students’ writing interest and confidence. Under the guidance of this principle, students can conceive and organize ideas according to the five criteria. At the same time, through collaborative learning, the choice of words and examples can be used to comb the writing ideas, enhance the pleasure of writing, and then stimulate writing interest. Because of the guidance of specific theories and methods, students can be more rational in their writing, and thus enhance their confidence in writing.
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