TEFL Teachers’ Conceptions of Writing: A Case of China

Abstract

In teaching writing in English as a foreign language (EFL) context, a little information is known about teachers’ knowledge base of writing. The current study, therefore, used the case of Chinese context to explore how TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) teachers understand writing and what impacts their conceptions. A questionnaire containing the natures, functions, and development of writing, and text features of good writing were developed to collect data online; items had 5-point Likert scales. 490 (female 76.3%) participants were engaged in the sample. Respondents generally identify linguistic, cultural and cognitive natures of writing, but many question its social nature, and a few are in trouble with recognizing the multifaceted concepts of writing. Participants highlight writing functions related to the self and self-expression but fail to note those targeting the addressees. The majority accede to the facilitation of other language skills and writing instruction to the development of writing, but lay the greatest stress on the transfer effects of reading. When evaluating texts, they do not seem to focus on linguistic features more relevant to foreign language learning (e.g. vocabulary, grammar). Demographic components (gender, teaching experience, school level, class size, and frequency of writing instruction) do not influence their conceptions systematically. These findings may be of interest for in-service teacher trainers.

Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching Chinese Descriptive Composition With Interactive Spherical Video-Based Virtual Reality

“…Teachers with constructivist-orientated conceptions tend to cultivate students’ rhetorical style and voice ( Lipson et al, 2000 ; McCarthey and Mkhize, 2013 ). Teachers’ conceptions can also form a spectrum and can be placed into a hierarchy ranging from superficial to sophisticated, teacher-focused to student-focused, skill-oriented to meaning-oriented, and product-focused to process-focused (e.g., Boulton-Lewis et al, 2001 ; Kong, 2018 ; Wang and Matsumura, 2019 ).…”

“…Literacy has always been a key competency and one of the key intellectual infrastructural elements that students need to develop (Earnshaw, 2007;Bazerman, 2009;MacArthur et al, 2016). Among the four language skills that constitute literacy, writing is recognized not only as a means of communication but also a means to improve reading skill, comprehension, and critical thinking (How and Larkin, 2013;Teng, 2016;Kong, 2018;Wang and Matsumura, 2019). Many language educators consider writing as the pinnacle of language education (Earnshaw, 2007;Bazerman, 2009;MacArthur et al, 2016).…”

“…This study leverages on the interactive spherical video-based virtual reality (ISV-VR) technology to transform the writing pedagogy for descriptive writing. As teachers are the key agents in all education reform (Jong, 2019); and studies showed that teachers' conceptions of writing instruction play a role in how they implement writing programs within their classrooms (Lin, 2016;Kong, 2018;Wang and Matsumura, 2019); this study aims to explore how teachers conceive and hence enact descriptive writing pedagogy employing the affordances of ISV-VR technology. This study contributes to the current literature by describing a range of conceptions of teaching that may empower or limit teachers' use of virtual reality (VR) technology for the teaching of composition writing.…”

Promoting deep writing with immersive technologies: An SVVR‐supported Chinese composition writing approach for primary schools

“…Of the four language skills that constitute literacy, writing is recognized not only as a means of communication but also as a means to improve reading, comprehension and critical thinking (Kong, 2018; Teng, 2016; Wang & Matsumura, 2019). Research has proven that writing is an important part of the primary school curriculum, although most students are usually apprehensive about engaging in writing activities, and learning how to write remains an area of low interest and engagement for many students (Clark, 2005).…”

“…Of the four language skills that constitute literacy, writing is recognized not only as a means of communication but also as a means to improve reading, comprehension and critical thinking (Kong, 2018;Teng, 2016;Wang & Matsumura, 2019). Research has proven that writing behavioural engagement from medium to high, as well as the development of deep writing skills.…”