1、1Improving StudentsEFL Writing Ability in Senior High SchoolsNowadays， communication between different nations and cultures increases dramatically. English， as an international language， is becoming more and more important and is used more and more widely in our daily life. As a result， English lear
2、ning fever sweeps through China in those years. Particularly， students in senior high schools are trying every effort to improve their English competence because they know that English is not only a compulsory course in University Entrance Examination but also a tool in future career. At present， no
3、t a few senior high schools have adopted SEFC （Senior English for China） textbook as the teaching material. According to the New English Curriculum Standards for senior high schools， listening， speaking， reading and writing are four basic skills and requirements for the students. Reading and writing
4、 are the most important skills for students in senior high schools. That is to say， EFL writing is vital to our individual development. As a matter of fact， EFL （English as a foreign language） writing has been applied more 2and more in our English study and future career. However， we probably find t
5、hat our EFL writing ability is not so encouraging and satisfactory though we have learned English for several years in primary and middle schools. Many of us still do a very poor job in applying English to express our ideas， thoughts， feelings， etc. in EFL writing. Some may even not able to produce
6、a single correct sentence in EFL writing. We may share a same feeling that we actually have something to write and want to write， but we just cannot express it correctly and appropriately in English. Yet， most of us tend to treat reading and writing separately and unaware to combine writing with rea
7、ding to improve our EFL writing ability. In fact， we read a lot of English materials in our English learning and do a nice job in reading comprehension. To change the poor performance in EFL writing and improve our writing ability， we are highly recommended to integrate writing with reading. Reading
8、-to-writing approach advocates applying what we have learned in the reading materials to write. It can effectively enlarge the amount of vocabulary in the process of reading， provide us ideas and background knowledge for writing， improve our reading speed and quality， broaden our mind and show us ho
9、w to use words， how to arrange 3sentences， how to organize compositions and how to achieve coherence and unity in EFL writing. In this way， we can improve our EFL writing ability effectively and efficiently. Most of us are lack of sufficient EFL writing practice. In English learning， we have realize
10、d the importance of reading and paid much attention to improve our English reading comprehension ability， but we usually tend to ignore the training of English writing. Different from English reading， English writing， as a highly complex productive activity， is an activity that requires much more ti
11、me and energy. So， we usually dont feel like to write unless we are assigned to do so. Moreover， owing to the limitation of time and heavy learning tasks， a good many of us spare little time on English writing and develop no interest in EFL writing. Thus， its hard for us to form a habit of writing i
12、n our English learning. Consequently， we usually feel perplexed and confused when confronting EFL writing and do very poor jobs in our English writing. Thats why we are always afraid of EFL writing and get frustration in English writing. Whats worse， we are afraid of EFL writing due to insufficient
13、practice and we dont like to practice English writing for our fear of EFL writing. This is a vicious circle. 4To illustrate the effectiveness of reading-to-writing approach， we should firstly make clear about what reading is and what writing is. This section attempts to illustrate the nature of read
14、ing and writing.According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English （The fourth edition） ， the term “reading” can mean： “the activity or skill of understanding written words”， “books and other things that you can read” or “your way of understanding a particular statement， situation， event， etc.”
15、 While reading， we not only process the information and store the information in our “database”， but also interpret the reading materials based on our prior knowledge and form our opinions about the reading materials. In reading， we attempt to reconstruct what the writer means as well as to use our
16、own knowledge and experiences to sense and to understand what the reading materials present. From the above， its clear that reading is a process of getting and internalizing information， a cognitive task of interpreting the visual information， relating the received information with the readers own g
17、eneral knowledge， and reconstructing the meaning that the writer had meant to convey.According to Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese 5Dictionary （Extended fourth edition） ， the term “writing” can mean： “activity or occupation of writing （esp. books） ”， “written or printed words”， “style of wri
18、tten material” and “way in which a person forms letters when writing； handwriting”. We write many things， we write for various reasons， and we write in various ways， but few of us have ever thought of what writing really is. In fact， different people have different opinions about writing. Some regar
19、d writing as a matter of putting words in written form； some think that writing is the occupation of creating a text for publication； while some others believe that writing is printed letters for communication； still others conclude that writing is letters or symbols written or imprinted on a surfac
20、e to represent the sounds or words of a language， etc. As mention above， we can conclude that the nature of writing is that writing is a piece of printed words created by a writer to the readers for effective communication. Otherwise， reading and writing can promote each other mutually and they are
21、coexistent activities. To improve EFL writing ability， we must first develop our reading ability and do more English writing practice. Most importantly， we must persist in combining reading with writing in our EFL writing practice. 6Most of the studies about reading-to-writing approach advocate appl
22、ying this approach in classroom English teaching. Commonly， they suggest the teachers to offer the students a piece of reading material and require the students to read the whole material. Then， the students are assigned to write a composition during the class based on their understanding of the rea
23、ding materials.To select of reading materials will have a direct effect on our reading efficiency. So its necessary for us to know how to select good English reading materials. Here are some principles for selecting good English reading materials. In the stage of pre-reading，which serves as the most
24、 important step in reading-to-writing approach， we are expected to do a lot of work for the preparation of EFL writing and we should do so regularly and frequently.we should form a habit of writing a composition about 100 words at least once in a week based on the topics from the reading materials t
25、hat we are interested in. While writing， we should try to use or imitate the information we have noted down from reading， including the structures and organization of the text， word usages， phrases and expressions， sentence patterns， idioms， etc. This is actually a process of learning form reading a
26、nd writing from reading.After finishing writing， we have to read 7our composition carefully by ourselves and compare ours with the reading materials. We should check if there are any mistakes or problems in words， sentences， spellings， structures， etc. Then， we are expected to sincerely request our
27、teachers or peers to evaluate and make comments on our works. At last， we should make clear about the mistakes and correct them in our compositions. Many attempts have been tried to improve the students EFL writing ability in senior high schools， like product approach and process approach， but the e
28、ffectiveness of these approaches are far form satisfactory. Although reading-to-writing approach has been advocated in EFL teaching， the students know little about reading-to-writing approach and unaware of putting this approach into practice. The thesis mainly analyzes the present situation of Engl
29、ish writing in senior high schools， expounds the nature of and the relationship between reading and writing to inform the students that writing can be integrated with reading to maximize what they have obtained from reading materials， discusses the necessity and feasibility of reading-to-writing app
30、roach to demonstrate that this approach is an appropriate means to improve EFL writing ability and puts forward reading-to-writing 8approach in EFL writing practice. To sum up， reading-to-writing approach is not only a means to developing the students quick reaction capacity， critical thinking ability and the awareness of cooperation， but also an effective one to improving their EFL writing ability. （作者单位：137713 内蒙古兴安盟科右前旗第三中学）
