2. Literature Review

This chapter first talks about the importance of English writing. Then it introduces the differences between spoken English and written English. Nowadays, spoken English phenomenon appears in Chinese EFL learners’ writings, so I’ll present spoken English phenomenon in Chinese EFL writing and rational for present study.

2.1 The Importance of English Writing

After the Second World War, the global economy is developing rapidly, and the technology is advancing day by day. External trades are more frequent than ever before. Therefore, English, as a universal language, gains a high status. There are more and more people in the world being able to speak English. Most of the international broadcastings use English; more and more publications are published in English; on international occasions, the use of English is regarded as common. It is an undeniable reality that English plays a very important role in the world.

 With the development of our country’s economy, the international status of our country has risen. English, the tool of diplomacy, is an important means to exploit overseas markets. So we must size up the situation to realize English’s importance. As a result, it seems particularly important and necessary to learn English.

How do people transmit the latest information in this information age? I think writing is the important means to transmit information. For example, the experts and professors usually write something before giving lectures; the journalists also need to write a report; the leaders and presidents usually ask their secretaries to take notes while they are attending meetings. All these show the status and importance of writing. At the same time, scholars pay more attentions to writing than ever before. Colleges in our country also attach importance to teaching English writing, and some of them even have writing lessons. Moreover, in English tests, writing occupies an important place. If we college students do not have English writing ability, we can’t be able to meet the needs of our work well in the future. 源:自;751'-论.文,网·www.751com.cn/

English teaching aims to teach four main skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among the four language skills, speaking and writing are categorized as the productive skills. All the people learn to speak a language spontaneously. But unlike speaking, writing is not a natural activity. Writing is more of an inpidual effort than speaking (Xu 78). Meanwhile, it is not easy to write a composition which is completely correct, because that is related to vocabulary, grammar and so on. When the students write compositions, their command of English can be consolidated. Thus, writing can also practice their other skills.

For the teachers, why do they have to teach students to write? Writing used to be neglected. But now, the teachers realize that writing should occupy an equally important place with the other skills. From the students’ writing, the teachers can see how the students learn English vocabulary, sentences structures and so on. Then they can do self-reflection on their teaching. After that, they can improve teaching methods in order to help the students have a good command of English. Here are other reasons teachers should teach writing:

In the classroom, writing may be used as one of a number of techniques to help add variety and interest to the lesson (Xu 79).