Literature Review Effects of Grammatical Ability on Senior High School Students’ Writing Achievement 報告人：林玫君 (NA2C0004)

Motivation Harmer (2004) pointed out that contrary to speaking ability, which could be naturally fostered in the English-speaking environment, writing ability has to be instructed methodically.

Motivation In terms of English writing, a composition is comprised of various components, such as idea generation, content organization, syntax, vocabulary, semantics, and so forth. Grammar is unquestionably included.

Outline  The role grammar plays in English instruction and acquisition  The importance of writing competence in the EFL education  The impacts of grammar acquisition on writing performance

Role of Grammar Communication 1) Bachman and Palmer (1991) propose grammatical competence, such as semantics, syntax and vocabulary is embedded in communicative competence. 2) As the model Celce-Murcia (1991) demonstrates, to achieve communicative competence, grammar is an indispensable element.

Role of Grammar Communication 3) In 2003 Cuq and Gruca even take the stance that among the four communication skills, grammar overtakes other components of English acquisition. 4) From Teodor’s perspective, to acquire grammar knowledge is a necessity for those who want to successfully communicate in French and in English.

Role of Grammar Instruction 1) Larsen-Freeman is of the opinion that grammar helps learners to “use linguistic forms accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately” (p.280). 2) Traditional explicit instruction is more preferred than communicative approach focusing on functional linguistic usage in situations of communication (Ellis, 2001).

Role of Grammar Instruction Halliday (2002, p.370) also indicates that distinctively human construction derives from grammar; and in the same way, our reflection on this construction is made possible by means of grammar.

Importance of L2 Writing Competence Social Network Fallon and Katz (2011) stressed that English writing had been of significance in these Internet-connected social occasions, such as , text messages and Facebook.

Importance of L2 Writing Competence Documents A large quantity of academic articles are demanded to be published in English, and more and more institutions gradually think highly of the importance of English writing (Leki, 2005).

Importance of L2 Writing Competence Writing Difficulty 1 ) “Writing is probably the hardest part of a language to learn, and studies have found that many people have much difficulty expressing themselves in their native language, let alone a second language! Writing in English can be a tedious, embarrassing, and often quite painful experience for English learners” (Smith, 2001, p.9).

Importance of L2 Writing Competence Writing Difficulty 2) L2 writing is actually a more complicated process than L1 writing. (Yang, 2003) 3) Lin and You (2006) were also in favor of the claim that it is not easy for EFL learners to select appropriate words and correct sentence patterns in writing due to some underlying factors, such as inadequate vocabulary size and limited grammar knowledge.

Importance of L2 Writing Competence Writing Difficulty 4) When it comes to writing anxiety, according to Leki (2005), the EFL learners’ writing can be impeded as a result of their limited language knowledge background.

Impact of Grammar Performance on Writing Performance  As Hudson (2001) contended that promotion of students’ writing ability has to be achieved by diverse grammar curricula.  Some grammar instruction is necessary to be included because it is helpful for writing, especially in the EFL writing context. (Muncie, 2002)

Impact of Grammar Performance on Writing Performance  Wyse (2001) also mentioned that it has been indicated that in writing, grammar plays a significant part.  The impact of vocabulary and grammar on EFL students in academic writing has been acknowledged as well (Coxhead & Byrd, 2007).

Impact of Grammar Performance on Writing Performance Debate: Grammatical ability and writing performance do not show a definite relationship and continuous influence (Bitchener, Young, & Cameron, 2005; Bruton, 2009; Ferris, 2004). In terms of L2 teachers’ feedback, Truscott (1996) took a strong stance that error correction in writing is damaging and should be abandoned.

Conclusion As for EFL Learners With sufficient grammatical knowledge, they can comprehend not only reading texts better but also attempt to imitate the writing styles of literatures, further fostering the learners’ proficiency of composing.

Conclusion In EFL Teachers’ View Grammar acquisition and writing skill should not be taught separately. Instead, it is advised that grammar instruction should be integrated into writing courses, thus enabling students to use grammatical competences in all forms of writing creations.