Secondary School Writing Pedagogy of English as A Foreign Language (EFL) in China: Reform, Achievements, and Problems

Abstract

This literature review studies the EFL writing pedagogy in secondary schools in China to answer the following research questions: 1. How is EFL writing teaching practised in secondary schools worldwide? 2. How was and is English writing taught in Chinese schools before and after the Eighth School Curriculum Reform? 3. Has the reform achieved its goal to improve secondary school EFL writing teaching in China? 4. Are there still any problems in current practices of EFL writing teaching in Chinese secondary schools now? Data were collected from a wide range of sources, which include books, papers in domestic and international academic journals, theses of Chinese scholars’, government reports, official websites, ERIC documents, and web pages. By examining, comparing, analysing and synthesizing the data, EFL writing pedagogy in Chinese secondary schools is investigated in the international and historical, social and academic contexts, also, the current practices of EFL writing teaching are studied in detail. The research results show that starting from nearly zero writing teaching before 2000, the secondary school EFL writing in China has achieved great improvement after the Eighth National Curriculum Reform. Although the secondary school students’ writing competence saw progress in the international English tests, various problems still exist in the teaching and learning, and solutions are needed to narrow the gap between policy and practice.