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1、Writing:AValidandExpressiveFormtoreflect【Abstract】Asamainlanguageskilllikelistening,speakingorreading,writingisavalidandexpressiveformtoreflecthowwellastudentofEnglish,especiallyastudentwholearnsEnglishasaforeignlanguage(EFL),hasmasteredthatlanguage.Thispaperwillexplorethenatureofwritingascomparedwi
2、ththeotherthreebasiclanguageskills,particularlyspeaking,discussthepurposeofteachingwritingintheEFLcontext,andintroducerequirementsofEFLwritingforChinesecollegestudents.【Keywords】writing;languageability;EFLwritingrequirements1.Natureofwriting:comparedwithspeakingItiswidelyrecognizedthattherearefourma
3、inmodesinwhichalanguageisused.Thefourmodes,generallyreferredtoasthefourbasiclanguageskillsinlanguageteaching,arelistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Ofthem,readingandlisteningarecalledthepassiveorreceptiveskillsandspeakingandwriting,theactiveorproductiveskills.Itgoeswithoutsayingthatthedemonstration
4、oflanguageabilityreliesmoreontheactiveorproductiveskillslikespeakingandwriting.Asforthetwoactiveorproductiveskills,speakingisofcourseprimarytolanguagesincehumanbeingsspeakbeforetheylearntowrite.Itdoesnotmean,however,thatspeakingreflectsoneslanguageabilitybetterthanwriting.Infact,manypeople,especiall
5、yteachers,thinkotherwise.Wecanunderstandwhywritingisatleastanequally,ifnotmore,validandexpressivemeanstodisplayoneslanguageabilitybyansweringthequestionofwhatisthenatureofwriting.AsR.Neufeldsaid,“ItWritingisthoughttransformedintoavisualform.Inotherwords,writingisavisualexpressionofideas.Writingisthe
6、processoftakinganideafrominsideofonesheadandputtingitinacodesothatitcanbesharedwithothers”(Neufeld:4).So,writingcoversspeakinginthatitismorethanspeakingbypentosomeonenotpresent.Inotherwords,thenatureofwritingistwo-fold:theexpressionofideasbymeansofawritten“code”thatcallsformorecarefulandmoreexactdem
7、onstrationofthemasteryofvocabulary,grammarandevenphoneticknowledgeofthelanguageinwhichoneiswriting.Anotherreasonthatwritingisamorevalidandmoreexpressiveformtodisplayoneslanguageabilityisthatwritingcanrelyonnothingotherthanpurelanguageitselftoexpressonesmeanings.Speaking,ontheotherhand,cantakeadvanta
8、geofthespeakersfacialexpressions,gesturesand,mostofall,tonesforcommunication.Empiricalfactsalsoshowthecloserelationshipbetweenwritingskillandlanguageability(YangHuizhong&C.Weir:148),andthatiswhymanyimportanttestsadoptwritingasameansofjudginglearners.TakeCETforexample.Ifthescoreforthewritingpartis0,t
9、henacandidatewillfailnomatterhowhighhistotalscoreis.Nosuchpenaltyexistsforotherpartslikelisteningorreading.2.PurposeofteachingwritingintheEFLcontextConsiderableliteraturehasbeenproducedconcerningthepurposeofEFLwriting.OneofthemostconcisebutcomprehensivediscussionsisgivenbyJeremyHarmerinhisbookHowtoT
10、eachEnglish.AccordingtoHarmer,thereasonsforteachingwritingtocollegestudentsofEnglishasaforeignlanguagearenotonlythatwritingisabasiclanguageskillbutalsothatwritingcan1)reinforceacquiredlanguageability,2)developlanguageabilityfurther,3)helptolearnstyle,andfinally4)serveasanauthenticmeansofcommunicatio
11、n.(Harmer:79)ReinforcementofacquiredlanguageabilityHarmerputs“Reinforcementofacquiredlanguageability”firstbecausehebelievesthatpeoplecanacquiretheirmothertonguesinapurelyoral/auralway,butstudentsofaforeignlanguageincollegetendtorelymoreonthewrittenformtohaveasoundcommandofthelanguage.Mostcollegestud
12、entssaythattheybenefitmorefromseeingthelanguagewrittendownbythemselvesaswellasbyothers.Thevisualdemonstrationoflanguageconstructionisinvaluableforbothunderstandinghowitallfitstogetherandasanaidtocommittingthenewlanguagetomemory.Studentsoftenfinditusefultowritesentencesusingnewlanguageshortlyafterthe
13、yhavestudiedit.(Harmer:79)FurtherlanguagedevelopmentItseems,thoughHarmerhimselfcannotbeforsure,thattheactualprocessofwriting(ratherliketheprocessofspeaking)helpsustolearnaswegoalong.Thementalactivitythatwehavetogothroughinordertoconstructproperwrittentextsisallpartoftheongoinglearningexperience.ForcollegestudentsofEnglishasaforeignlanguage,writingisanespeciallyeffectivewayoffurtherdevelopingtheirlanguageabilitysinceitissuchanactive(comparedwithreading,whichisreceptive)anddirect(comparedwithmultiplechoiceexercises,whichareindirect)formoflanguag
