Recitation input is one of the most effective ways to learn a language inChina. The recitation process steps with listening, speaking, reading, memorizing andother functions at the same time, which can strongly stimulate the development ofcerebral cortex and brain. It also plays a positive role in the teaching of language. AsLin (1982) once claimed that imitating and reciting was the only right way to learnEnglish. Imitate the whole sentence and practice repeatedly, so that we could blurt outat right time. It was called recitation. It is also proclaimed by Professor and educatorHu (1994) that the habit of language was gradually developed by imitation. To imitate,one must learn to memorize and recite. Otherwise, imitation is impossible. Recitation is a traditional way for Chinese learners to learn, and has always played a positive rolein language education.
There is some misunderstanding about recitation, though. Firstly, recitationis considered rote learning. As a matter of fact, recitation is a memory on the basis ofunderstanding, while rote learning is a mechanical memory, which is easily apt toforget. Therefore, recitation is not identical to rote memorization.
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2.2 English Writing
This section deals with English writing and it consists the definition and psychologyof English writing.
2.2.1 The Definition of English Writing
Li (1994) advocated that writing was an important way to record things, expressemotions and exchange information with written language and proper form.
The purpose of writing is to express the inner feelings of the writer and toexchange the information with others. Writing should be careful with intention,strategy, form, diction, sentence-making, literary style, as well as the accuracy oflanguage used in the text.
Writing ability is affected by many factors, such as language expressionability, imagination ability and thinking ability. Writing reflects the comprehensiveability of a person. In writing class, students often focus on teacher’s explanation byanalyzing various classical articles. Teachers should constantly provide guides for thestudents to acquire writing skills so that the students can write creative articles.What’s more, further practice and imitation is required for the students to exerciseafter class.
2.2.2 Psychology of Writing
From the psychological point of view, writing is not only a process of comprehensiveusage of language, but also a cognitive process. Xu (2008) pointed out that writing asan output activity was the result of the individual and cooperative work of variouscognitive systems in the brain. It was a transmission process of the information ofobjective things from the real world to the brain, and the responses would be sentfrom the brain to organs and tissues. The brain monitoring system, knowledge system,strategy system, and expression system took part in this complex process. The writtenwords were the results of this comprehensive output process.
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