THE USE OF PQ4R STRATEGY TO IMPROVE ENGLISH WRITING ABILITY OF GRADE-7 MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS IN LOUZHANG VILLAGE, PANLONG DISTRICT, KUNMING, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Abstract

The objectives of this study were 1) to compare the English composition writing abilities between the experimental group using the PQ4R strategy, and the control group using the conventional teaching method and 2) to explore their opinions about the use of the PQ4R strategy in English writing classes. The sample group was 100 grade-7 students at Luozhang Middle School in Panlong District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China, obtained by applying the cluster sampling method. The research instruments were composed of the pre- and posttest, a questionnaire, and an in-depth interview. The data were statistically analyzed by using percentage, mean, standard deviation, and t-test.
The research results revealed that, before the implementation, the mean scores of the experimental and the control groups were 6.43 and 6.45 respectively, which was not statistically significant at the .05 level. After the implementation, the mean scores increased to 7.36 and 6.62, which was statistically significant at the .05 level. Furthermore, the majority in the experimental group showed a positive attitude towards the PQ4R strategy with a high satisfaction level (`X=3.86, SD=0.967). This strategy was found to be more useful and effective than conventional teaching methods in English writing classes, especially the “Read” and “Recite” steps which were found to be the most helpful steps during the writing process.