An Experimental Study of Interactive and Cooperative English Writing Strategy under Network Environment

Abstract

The college English writing strategy and the students’ performance in English writing are two problems puzzling the foreign language researching and teaching staff in China. The paper aims to find some effective strategies to unravel this obsession. According to the successful practice of Experiencing English Writing Platform in Tsinghua University, and based on a series of theories of the Mediated Learning Experience, the Constructivism, and the structure creation, the author proposes the interactive and cooperative writing strategy under network environment. This writing strategy revolutionizes the traditional teaching pattern mainly recurring to blackboard and teacher’s unitary evaluation; it takes advantage of self-study platform, QQ group software, and E-mail system to realize scripless, instant and interactive writing training and evaluation. The main purpose of the strategy is, on one hand, to reduce the teachers’ workload in making comment and correction, helping them focus on the writing content and process rather than language form and product; on the other hand, to promote the students’ self-evaluation and mutual-evaluation system, and thus enhance their abilities in individual and critical thinking. The practice of this innovative writing strategy obtains its desired results: 80 subjects in this study improve their abilities in expressing their ideas in correct and logical way and organizing their content in rational and attracting skill; they have grown to cultivate proper and efficient English writing habits with the assistance of interaction and cooperation atmosphere. After repeated reflection and further exploration, this writing strategy is bound to be improved from different perspectives.