The construction of the “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class

Abstract

College English is a compulsory public basic course for non-English majors in Chinese universities, it is also called “Public English” for undergraduates. Since the Ministry of Education of China formulated the College English Curriculum Requirements (hereinafter referred to as the “Curriculum Requirements”) on January 2, 2004, a series of reforms in College English teaching have been carried out by Chinese universities in accordance with the social demands. Based on the theory of constructivism, the present study constructs the second class of College English by learning from the “English creative writing workshops” which has been flourished in European and American universities. After a semester of piloted teaching, it found that the College English creative writing workshop, as the second class, not only is a beneficial supplement to the conventional College English class, but also has a significant effect on improving the English writing ability of non-English majors. In addition, it’s teaching mode is also very effective in cultivating students’ innovative thinking ability, practical ability and autonomous learning ability. The study has certain practical value in promoting the localization of creative writing in local Chinese universities, as well as in cultivating college students’ ability to tell Chinese stories well.

Background information

“The Outline of National Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020)” clearly states that China’s higher education should “focus on improving students’ learning ability, application ability and innovation ability.” This requirement is implemented in the College English Teaching Guide (hereinafter referred to as The Guide) issued by the Ministry of Education in 2020. According to the requirements of The Guide, College English education should provide students with “a basic tool for knowledge innovation, potential exertion and all-round development, and prepare well-rounded students for the challenges and opportunities in the era of globalization” (College Foreign Language Teaching Steering Committee, 2020). Therefore, according to The Guide, the current College English education needs to emphasize the cultivation of students’ comprehensive language application ability, and focuses on the cultivation of students’ practical ability and innovative thinking ability, and it becomes the key in cultivating the global competences of the 21^st century (Robertson Susan L, 2021). Thereupon, college English education has to focus on both the acquisition of knowledge and practice in teaching. This is not only the need to promote the upgrading of College English teaching, but also the need of social development.

The importance of writing in English learning

Writing, as the main symbol of students’ practical ability and application ability, is an important consideration index of teaching. From the perspective of language acquisition, writing has high requirements for students’ vocabulary, sentence pattern and grammar, and also has high requirements for students’ expression ability and logical thinking ability. Also, according to the cognitive theory of language, the productive use of language, including writing, would help learners to test the structure of target sentence and the use of words, and also help learners to internalize and consolidate language points and language skills, thereupon then improved learners’ learning, and better achieved the goal of language acquisition (Swain,1985).

The current situation of Chinese college students’ English writing ability

Chinese college students’ English writing ability is generally low (Song Lingqing, 2020). According to the “ Survey and Analysis of College Students’ English Writing Ability”, students with different levels of English proficiency have different degrees of anxiety about English writing (Song, 2020), and they regard English writing as a difficult task in English learning (Zhao et al., 2010). And in terms of teaching practice in the writing part of CET 4 & 6, the author, as a College English teacher, has read many articles with monotonous content, unreasonable structure and many language errors. Therefore, how to effectively improve their English writing ability has become an extremely urgent problem for Chinese college English educators (Cai Jigang, 2017).

The neglect of English writing teaching in College English education

In order to improve the English writing ability of Chinese university students, the author of the present study has done a lot of researches, and after carefully studied on those researching ariticles, it is found that the low English writing ability of Chinese university students is related to the neglect of English writing in College English education (Yao Lan & Cheng Lini, 2005). For a long time, there have been relatively short of studies on the teaching and investigating of College English writing as a course, which suggests that, the importance of English writing has been overlooked cognitively in the field of College English teaching in Chinese universities. Coincidentally, it has also been overlooked in both teaching practice and content (Zhang Xuemei, 2008).

With the growing recognition of the important role of writing in English learning in the academic community, many scholars have paid close attention to the problem of neglect of English writing teaching in Chinese universities, and have devoted to finding an effective way out. Data shows that, some researchers also have found out the fact that there are serious lack of English writing teaching in the current College English classroom in terms of teaching content, teaching mode and teaching organization. Yang Xi (2014) and Zhang Pengjiu (2020) stated that the teaching contents of most College English class were mainly focused on vocabulary, grammar and sentence pattern, which would help students score high in exams, but led to the problems that students still could not express their true feelings freely and properly in English after a long time of English learning. According to those studies, this kind of teaching has severely influenced the development of students’ comprehensive language application ability.

Also, according to the studies of Zhang Xuemei (2006), Yang Xi (2014) and Zhang Pengjiu (2020), most College English teaching materials only regarded English writing content as an adjunct to the intensive reading teaching content, there were almost no comprehensive, systematic and clear writing materials contained within those textbooks, thus, it was unable for students to learn English writing systematically within their College English textbooks. This phenomenon directly leads to the learners’ lack of systematic learning and practical training in writing. Thus, it is also an urgent need to reform the current teaching content and mode of College English in Chinese universities.

In addition to the neglect of English writing in the teaching content and mode, there are also problems in the College English curriculum system (Xiang Mingyou, 2020). In order to solve this problem, some researchers like Liu Yanmei and Zhu Huimin (2013), proposed to add a specified writing training course to the College English curriculum to improve the low writing ability of Chinese university students, and make up for the lacking of English writing teaching in College English class. However, this kind of solution on adding College English writing course to the existing College English curriculum system is not only currently limited by class hours and teaching contents in local Chinese universities, but also is ineffective in stimulating students’ interest in learning and writing enthusiasm. Therefore, it is not conducive to promotion.

In addition, what needs our special attention is that, there are also some effective writing teaching studies and practices which are worth learning from. For example, the “Length Approach”, which is advocated by Professor Wang Chuming and his team (2005), turns out to be particularly effective in improving the current College English writing teaching. The Approach focuses on “promoting learning through writing”, emphasizes the importance of writing in English learning and the importance of free expression of students’ emotions (Wang, 2005). To a certain extent, it has effectively changed the conventional College English teaching, especially the low efficiency of College English writing teaching, improved the teaching efficiency and students’ writing enthusiasm, and has attracted the attention of many College English teaching researchers. However, the “Length Approach” also emphasizes students’ dominant position in writing, it still focuses on the teacher’s leading role in the classroom teaching, and also, it needs specialized long-term training to achieve its teaching goal, thereupon, it is too time-consuming both for learners and teachers.

In a brief, although there has been greatly improved with the continuous efforts of College English educators, there are still many problems in College English writing teaching. Particularly the lack of incentive measures in the teaching mode of English writing, it is a great defect (Zhao et al., 2010) in College English teaching system. As some scholars put it, the conventional College English writing teaching usually adopts “teaching writing methods—arranging writing tasks—students submitting compositions—teachers’ review and feedback” as the typical writing teaching mode to instruct the writing skills, this kind of teaching procedure only focused on the grammatical problems and writing templates, and showed no interest in preparations before their writing. Therefore, under this kind of teaching mode, there is no incentive way to motivate and cultivate students’ writing interest, for it rarely provided students with the opportunity to use English creatively and express their true feelings freely (Zhao Junfeng, Hao Jing, Gao Yanming, 2010). As a result, the development of creative thinking ability and innovative spirit of students would surely be limited to a certain extent.

Therefore, as a part of the reform of higher education, it is also an urgent need to explore and solve the problem of English writing teaching in the College English education. At the same time, it is also an urgent need to find an effective English writing training course for English learners to improve their English writing ability.

The purpose of the study

The present study examines the current situation of College English writing teaching, and posed three questions:

First, is there a special College English writing course that can break through the limitations of teaching time allocation?

Second, can this writing course also break through the limitations of teaching materials?

Third, does this writing course have incentive measures in teaching English writing?

In order to break through the limitations of curriculum, the present paper aims to construct the second class of College English, which is beyond the College English curriculum, and can be an effective supplement of College English class teaching. And also, this kind of class can break through the limitations of time allocation, teaching materials with an incentive measures to attract students to learn English actively.

In order to improve students’ writing ability, the present paper also carefully studied the English writing training courses both at home and abroad, and found that, “English creative writing workshop” has achieved remarkable results both in cultivating students’ English writing ability, innovative thinking ability and autonomous learning ability, which is worth learning from.

Therefore, based on the constructivist theory, this paper aims to construct “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class. In one hand, it can effectively improve the students’ English writing ability; In another hand, it can provide an effective way to stimulate students’ enthusiasm for learning English, cultivate students’ innovative thinking ability and practical ability, and finally improve their autonomous learning ability.

Briefly, by constructing “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class, it is hoped, while breaking through the limitations of the curriculum, teaching content and teaching organization of College English teaching, it can also provide a personalized, practical oriented English writing training course for college students.

Theoretical basis

As for the applied course for teaching English writing, the present study intends to use Canadian scholar Swain’s “Output Hypothesis” as the cognitive linguistic theoretical basis.

According to Swain (1985), the comprehensible output is an indispensable link in the process of language acquisition. He believes there were three functions of comprehensible output in second language acquisition: first, noticing/trigger function, which promotes second language learners to consciously pay attention to their own language problems; The second is the Hypothesis testing function, which helps learners test and adjust the language structure hypothesis; The third is metalinguistic reflection, which helps learners think about language and enables students to control and internalize language knowledge (Swain, 1985). This suggests that educators of language, particularly educators of foreign language should emphasize on the language output in language learning. Writing, as the main form of language output, should be valued by language teaching, and thereupon, it is imperative to establish a specialized course to train English writing in Chinese College English education.

As for the construction of the second class, the present paper intends to use the constructivist Jean Piaget’s Learning Theory as the theoretical basis.

According to Jean Piaget (1977), learning is the process of constructing internal psychological representation. Instead of “moving” knowledge from the outside world to memory, he believes that learners build new schemata based on existing experience through interaction with the external environment.” He emphasized that the result of learning is not only to guide a specific response to a specific stimulus, but also to reconstruct the cognitive schema in the mind. The factors that determine learning are neither external factors (such as stimuli from physical and social environments) nor internal factors (such as individual physiological maturity), but the interaction between individuals and the environment (Piaget, 1977). This suggests teachers need to keep students’ learning initiative and autonomy, so that they can actively participate in learning activities.

Also, according to Piaget (1977), learning is a process of realizing meaning construction through interpersonal cooperative activities under a certain situation, i.e. social and cultural background, and the construction of a learning environment should contain four major elements such as situation, cooperation, conversation and meaning construction. Therefore, the constructing of the second class follows a student-centered approach in teaching activities, and fully mobilizes students’ learning initiative by using such elements as situation, cooperation and conversation, so as to help students effectively realize the meaning construction of the current knowledge. Also, the second classroom will organize a series of activities to stimulate students’ internal knowledge, and guide students to actively learn English, and creatively use the English knowledge they have learned in their first College English class, so as to express their true feelings in English writing. This helps to maximize students’ creative thinking ability and autonomous learning ability.

A brief introduction to “English creative writing workshop”

English creative writing workshop is an applied course for cultivating students’ English writing ability in European and American universities. It was officially launched at the University of Iowa in the United States in 1930s, since then, it has flourished and booming in major English speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Up till now, it has grown into a specialized field of study and opened by the most influential universities in major English speaking countries. “There are more than 800 creative writing classes in the United States, more than 150 creative writing programs that have awarded Master of Arts degrees, and more than 30 of them are eligible for doctoral degrees.” As Chinese scholar Ge Hongbing and Lei Yong (2017) put it in the paper “A Review of Study on Creative Writing in English Speaking Countries”, he continued, “up to 2006, there have been 140 undergraduate, 70 master’s and 20 doctoral creative writing projects in the UK”; In Australia, the University of Melbourne is the first to offer a variety of creative writing courses, “Wallace Crabbe opened his first creative writing course at the University of Melbourne in 1981,” and “in 1990, the University of Science and Technology of Sydney authorized the first master’s degree in creative writing, which was then extended to the undergraduate program.” To name but a few.

“English creative writing workshop”, as its name puts, is to return to the main body of writing itself, aims at improving the writing ability of students. It mainly adopts the teaching mode of “workshop”, and gives priority to students, through various kinds of activities to stimulate students’ imagination vitality and creative potential in the classroom, and ultimately improves students’ creative thinking ability.

The flourishing of creative writing workshop in native English speaking universities provides further confirmation that it is effective in cultivating students’ writing ability. This has been proved by many scholars of language teaching (Howe, 2016; Forgeard, M., Kaufman, S. B., & Kaufman, J. C., 2009; Krom, C. L., & Williams, S. V., 2011; Nick, E., 2005; Moxley, 1989). For instance, according to Nick (2005), English creative writing workshop is effective in enhancing English writing ability by giving students both a more thorough understanding of literature and alternative but equally valid ways of expressing their feelings; and Moxley (1989) also confirmed that creative writing is very effective in training students’ English writing ability.

In the field of English as a foreign language or a second foreign language teaching and learning, English creative writing workshop also has achieved certain development (Ochoa, J. Q., 2018). There are some educational researches and practical explorations in Ukraine, Pakistan, the Philippines, China and other Asian countries, which are also strong evidences to illustrate the effect of English creative writing workshop in cultivating students’ writing ability. Shirley Geok Lin Lim (2015), a Chinese American female writer who has more than 30 years of writing teaching experience once said: “the research on creative writing in the context of English as a second language or foreign language is first rooted in English language teaching”, so “creative writing has become a practical tool for English language learning”. In another paper titled “Creative Writing in English as a Foreign Language as a Means to Strengthen the Acquisition of English Writing Skills”, its author mentioned that integrating creative writing into language learning “not only promotes students’ development, but also helps students gain a positive motivation to write in English”(Amjad Alsyouf, 2019). While “imaginative”, “unconventional” and “personalized” are the distinctive characteristics of creative writing activities, especially “personalized” writing, it is more in line with the students’ aspirations in expressing their personalized ideas.

The educators of College English in Chinese universities also have recognized the effectiveness of English creative writing workshop in cultivating English writing ability, and introduced its teaching mode into Chinese universities since 1990s. However, at that time, it was mainly applied to the teaching of literary writing classes to English majors (Sui, 2005). Subsequent to Professor Sui Gang of Beijing Second International Studies University’s application of English creative writing workshops for English Majors’ classes to teach poetry writing, the studies on the theories of English creative writing teaching has become increasing popular, and the number of research has been expanded, and the recognition of its effectiveness in teaching English writing has been highly valued in Chinese higher education circles. For instance, Professor Dai Fan (2015) and his team has ever investigated the teaching practice of English creative writing workshop, and confirmed its effectiveness in cultivating students’ writing ability. In a survey conducted by Professor Dai’s team, for example, one student said: “I have made great progress in English writing, and then to English learning.” Another student also mentioned: “We are encouraged to reflect, examine and recall our English knowledge that we have learnt in College English class, it helps me a lot in passing the English examinations.” (Dai, 2017)

Besides, there are also some studies on the application of English creative writing workshop to the teaching of English writing for non-English Majors (Lin, 2012; Wang, 2018). However, these studies lack a certain degree of systematicity, both in depth and breadth. Chinese College English educators, overal, has neglect the helpfulness of English creative writing workshop in cultivating the writing ability of Chinese non-English major learners. But the fact is, College English, as an integral part of higher education, is a compulsory course for all non-English majors. It has more students, wider scope and greater influence in Chinese local universities. Therefore, it is more urgent to study how to better integrate College English with English creative writing workshops, so as to improve non-English majors’ English writing ability.

The second class

Here, the “second class” refers to the general term of “guiding and organizing students to carry out various meaningful and healthy extracurricular activities outside the school teaching plan” (Zhu et al., 1983). The concept of second class was first proposed by a famous Chinese educator Zhu Jiusi in the book Management of Colleges and Universities. Accordingly to this definition, the classroom teaching activities carried out in the specified teaching time according to the teaching plan and syllabus was called the first class, while the teaching activities related to first classroom teaching carried out outside the first classroom teaching was called “the second class”. The differences between the two lies, in terms of teaching content, the second class activities come from, but are not limited to, textbooks; In terms of form, the second class activities are lively and colorful, with a wider range of learning space, and it can be carried out in classrooms or playgrounds, as well as in schools, society and families. Thus, the relation between the two is that, the first class puts forward universal requirements for the cultivation of students and solves common problems (Pan, J. L, 2005), while the second class aims to develop students’ personal skills and solve special and personalized problems (Li, T, & Sun, S. X., 2006). The two teaching activities complement and cooperate with each other perfectly in the process of education.

In order to break through the limitations of College English curriculum system, as well as its teaching content and teaching organization, and establish a personalized English writing training course, the present study, based on the Learning Theory of constructivist Jean Piaget (1896-1980), attempts to construct College English creative writing workshop as the second class. It is hoped that, on the basis of making up for the lack of English writing teaching in the first classroom of College English, it can break through the limitations of College English curriculum, but still, is a teaching activity related to the College English classroom. In terms of teaching content, it originates from and is not limited to the College English textbooks. It does not need examination, but it is an indispensable part of competence education. It has set up a stage for students to train their English writing, which becomes an effective supplement to the College English classroom teaching. It can help students to actively build their comprehensive application ability of English language with the help of their accumulated language knowledge. While, as the second class of college English, it is not limited by the teaching plan and syllabus, which makes it more attractive to students. Compared with classroom teaching, its form is more flexible and its content is more colorful, which makes it can further strengthen the cultivation of students’ practical ability and innovative thinking ability.

It is hoped that, College English creative writing workshop, as the second class of College English, can fully mobilize students’ learning initiative by using such elements as situation, cooperation and conversation, so as to help students effectively realize the meaning construction of the current knowledge, thus it tends to be more effective in improving students’ writing ability and cultivating their innovative thinking ability as well as their autonomous learning ability.

The teaching design

The present study takes one of the local university in Anhui Province as an example to show the actual learning and teaching effect of “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class of College English.

The university is a leading engineering university in Anhui Province, there are more than 32,000 full-time undergraduates and nearly 6000 doctoral and master’s postgraduates who are mainly majoring in science and engineering. Focusing on the fundamental task of cultivating elites and meeting the needs of economic and social development, the University has further deepened the reform of education and teaching, particularly in College English teaching and learning. In 2018, the university has reset the College English curriculum, and redistributed the class hour proportion of the College English course. Since 2018’s freshmen, on the basis of the original graded teaching, the compulsory College English teaching hours have been greatly reduced. Under such situations, College English classroom hours have been limited to have no time for extra English writing training.

However, according to The Guide (2020), the students’ application ability, innovative thinking and autonomous learning ability have been greatly highlighted. In response to these new situation and challenges, the functional department of the university decided to launch a pilot project—College English creative writing workshop as the second class—to help students improve their writing ability and cultivate their innovative thinking ability and autonomous learning ability as well.

This project, which is designed to launch for Grade 2020 non-English majors, is planned to be piloted in four affiliated colleges, including the School of Humanities, School of Economics and Management, School of Medicine, and School of Civil Engineering. Its participants, Grade 2020 non-English majors, have gained a certain understanding of conventional College English classroom teaching content after three semesters of College English learning. And also they have gained a certain level of language foundation which equip them with basic writing skills. Thereupon, they have the basic qualifications and abilities to distinguish the differences between the teaching effectiveness of the second classroom and the teaching effectiveness of the first classroom.

The teaching objective of the project is to train students’ writing ability by learning from the teaching mode of the English creative writing workshops in native English speaking universities. It is designed to have 10 times a semester on weekends, and 2 hours at a time, and every time with different activities to introduce the topics of writing. The following takes just one piece of the teaching design as an example to introduce the main activities of the second class, and explains the influence of different narrative sequences on story writing by showing the film Charlotte’s Worry.

First, analysis of the teaching materials:

Charlotte’s Worry is a very good film. It mainly tells the story of Charlotte who lives an absurd life on the campus. He has changed his fate and finally achieved success by going back to the past. This film presents a comic story of “living in a drunken dream” and expresses many problems worthy of consideration and discussion in real life. Basically, students can be substituted into the story with personal experiences in the campus, so it is easy to get resonance.

Second, the teaching objectives of this time of the class:

1. Students recall their growing troubles and write of a specific thing that bothers them;

2. Encourage students to write with their own words and express their true feelings boldly;

3. Guide students to correctly deal with the difficulties and setbacks encountered in their growth;

4. Expand students’ imaginary space and cultivate their good habit of finding materials in life;

5. teaching objective of competence: cultivate students’ creative writing and appreciation of the art of language;

Third, the teaching process:

1. Before the Film: tell the students to pay attention to the sequence of story telling;

2. After the film: group students and discuss on the importance of the sequence of story telling;

3. Instructing: how to tell a good story;

4. Guide and resolve: difficulties and setbacks in life;

5. Passion writing: express the difficulties and setbacks in life in English in the form of storytelling;

6. Peer-reviewing: cooperate to discuss on how to design the plot of the story to make it more attractive for readers to read; According to Piaget (1977), learning is the process of constructing internal psychological representation. It is easier for students to have emotional resonance by using the films they like to introduce topics. Compared with textbooks, it is easier to attract students’ attention and interest in talking about the topics. After watching films, discussed on the topics that the film showed, during this process, students are encouraged to show their true feelings toward the topic, and also, they are given the opportunity to imagine, comment on each other, think critically, and create on the spot. With the help of the theory of pedagogy, students are driven in various ways to the maximum extent, so as to reduce the excessive dominance of teachers that interferes with students’ deep participation, and squeeze students’ space for personal creation.

In the teaching design, the film’s story scene, lecturer’s instruction and group presentation are divided. For problems that are more knowledgeable and theoretical, and are not easy to find a way out in a short time, the teachers will require students to finish it after class by assigning reading assignments and after-school exercises. Therefore, the College English creative writing workshop as the second class is mainly used to guide students to reflect and participate in the refinement of ideas. Teachers only need to instruct the opinions on the spot, and these opinions were generated in the interaction. Therefore, teachers only play a leading role, and students are the subjects of learning, the protagonists of interaction, and the promoters of the workshop.

Different from the conventional College English class, the “workshop” pays more attention to the interaction between teachers and students, students and students, and even the interaction between teachers and teachers with multiple teachers in the same classroom. These three interactions affect each other and together constitute the dynamic cycle mechanism of creative writing workshop teaching. For example, in the workshop, students can comment on each other, and teachers can also participate in discussions, guide the trend of topics, and set a time limit for each small link. While giving students space and time to express themselves, the teaching design always focuses on the theme of the classroom. Give enough time for each small discussion, hands-on writing and personal understanding link, and let students speak from multiple perspectives around specific topics, creative psychology and other focuses, which enables students to constantly explore their potential and guide them to constantly explore problems under a seemingly simple teaching goal.

After one semester’s trial experiment, the “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class, has received feed-backs on its teaching effect: the effect of the college English creative writing workshops as the second class on cultivating students’ English writing ability as well as their innovative and autonomous learning ability.

Surveys and interviews

In order to fully understand the impact of College English creative writing workshop as the second class on students’ English writing ability and English learning, including the feedback of College English teachers on those students’ learning status after they have participated in the second class activities, the present study also designed a follow-up survey and interviews on the participants of the second class.

In order to gain a more specific and detailed understanding of the impact of the second classroom on students’ English learning, the survey selected 361 participants from the school of civil engineering as the testers. There are two reasons for selecting them as testers: first, these 361 participants are typical college students majoring in science and engineering, which is representative among non-English majors; second, their English learning situation was not optimistic in the first three semesters of actual College English classroom. As a whole, their final exam scores rank relatively low among the 18 colleges in the University: the first semester was ranked 13th, the second semester was ranked 15th, and the third semester was ranked 15th. This is more likely to highlight the effectiveness of English creative writing workshop in cultivating students’ English writing ability and promoting learning through writing.

All the 361 participants of civil engineering students answered the questionnaires anonymously, among which, 208 male students (57.5%) and 153 female students (42.5%) are involved, so the statistics is representative and reliable in reflecting the actual impact of “College English creative workshop” as the second class to their English writing and English learning.

These questionnaires were distributed within the class group put on the internet with multi-order sample; students could answer the questions with their Smartphone. There are 25 questions ranged from the students’ attitudes toward the “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class to the teaching mode of the workshop. Such as, how do you think of the “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class; and how do you behave in “College English creative writing workshop”, and do you like “College English creative writing workshop” and why do you like or dislike “College English creative writing workshop”, etc., were listed.

Feedback of learners

From the data of the survey, it is found that “College English creative writing workshop” is very helpful and effective in improving students’ English writing ability. It has greatly improved students’ writing scores and changed their attitudes toward English learning as a whole.

As for the writing ability, after participating the “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class, the participants’ writing score has been significantly improved. In the fourth semester’s final examination, the average composition score of the students of Grade 2020 of the Civil Engineering College reached 12 points (15 points in total), ranked fourth in the entire university, which is a quite good result compared with the 10.5 points of the whole university. And also, compared with the ranking of composition scores in the first three semesters in the entire university, there has been a significant improvement. (For this part, the research will continue to follow up the impact of the writing workshop on the English writing performance in the following years.)

As for students’ attitudes toward College English creative writing workshop, among the 361 participants, there are 234 students (64.6% of the participants) expressed positive affirmation towards the second class activities in helping improve their English writing ability; and there were 85 participants (23.5% of the participants) said it was “very practical” in practicing English writing, and another 141 participants (39% of the participants) said it was “practical” for them to practice English writing; And there were 226 participants (62.6% of the participants) claimed that they learned more how to use language points properly in the workshops. Furthermore, there are 215 participants (59.6% of the participants) believed that participating in the English writing training in the workshop can help them understand and internalize the English knowledge that they have learned in the conventional College English class.

Regarding of the changes of the attitudes toward English learning, the survey found that the teaching mode of workshop, which breaks through the limitation of teaching content and teaching organization, can also attract students more. For instance, when answering “if the writing style and content are not restricted, would you like to write in English?” As for this question, about 78.95% of the participants gave a positive answer. As one student said: “No restrictions on the theme and content of the article is conducive to stimulating everyone’s imagination. Since you have chosen it, you must be interested in it. Therefore, you are willing to put it into practice and do it well, and the quality of your composition will be improved.”

Besides, the vast majority of participants (44.04% “very like” and 50.97% “quite like”) were very interested in the peer-review system adopted by the “College English creative writing workshop,” and there were 232 partiipants (64.2% of the participants) clearly stated that “peer review” was very helpful to English writing, because they could be exposed to different topics and different types of compositions, and could learn a lot of knowledge from other students that they could not learn in the conventional College English class. For each writing of students is different, students can appreciate different writing styles and contents, syntax, genre and writing skills in the process of revising each other. This not only improves the students’ autonomous learning ability, strengthens their cooperative consciousness, but also stimulates their creative thinking ability and practical ability.

The result of the data shows that “College English creative writing workshop”, as the second class, is very effective in improving students’ writing ability, and it is also very effective in attracting students to learn English.

Feedback of teachers

This study also designed semi-structured interviews on 6 teachers who were specifically in charge of the workshop (not the one who were responsible for teaching College English) and then the 4 teachers who dedicated to teach English of those participated students in the conventional College English classroom. The questions included: How did those participated students perform in the conventional College English class compared with their performance before they had participated in the second class activities? Compared with the students who did not participate in the second class activities in other department, what was the learning status of those participants? Compared with previous performances in the class, were there any changes of their English writing?

The findings of interviews shows that, after attending “College English creative writing workshops”, students’ attitudes toward both English writing and learning tend to be more positive. For example, all the 4 teachers that taught in the conventional College English classroom (100%) believed those students who had participated in the second class had been greatly improved in English learning, and were more willing to actively learn English in class, and acted much more active in memorizing vocabulary and learning English writing skills, as well. Furthermore, compared with the performance before they had participated in the second class, the 6 teachers who were in charge of the workshops said that students were more confident in expressing themselves, and thus, their compositions tended to be more readable. This suggests that, “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class, is effective in both improving students’ writing ability and drawing their passions in English learning.

In addition, according to both teachers of their College English and teachers who are in charege of the workshop, those students who have participated in the second class have displayed more willingness to write in English than previous times. As one of the teacher put it: “After participating in the second classroom activity, students have developed their own understanding of writing, and therefore, they tend to be no longer resisted against the assigned writing tasks, but rather willing to write and express in English. During their writing, they are no longer limited to using writing templates, but are more willing to conceive on their own, and furthermore, their writing contents also tend to be more flexible and open, and their compositions tend to be more organized and logical, and readable. Compared with the previously expressed fear of difficulty in English writing, they have now shown great confidence and interest in English writing.” This suggests that college English creative writing workshop as the second class is also effective in cultivating students’ innovative spirit and creative thinking ability.

Through feedbacks from teachers, it is also found that students trained in the College English creative writing workshop have overcome their fear of difficulty in writing, resulting in more readable compositions, demonstrating the significant effectiveness of the second classroom in cultivating students’ innovative thinking abilities. At the same time, students actively learn corresponding language knowledge in order to better express the content of their compositions, enhancing their awareness of autonomous learning and practical skills.

Discussion on the practical value of the workshops

After analyzing on the feedback both from students and their teachers, it can be concluded that the application of “College English creative writing workshop” as the second class in College English education does have many practical values in the contemporary higher education.

First, College English creative writing workshop as the second class is a beneficial supplement to the conventional College English classroom teaching. On one hand, it can make up for the lack of English writing teaching content in the conventional College English classroom. For its main teaching objective is to train students’ writing ability, in particular, to teach students how to write in English creatively, and to cultivate students’ ability to use the knowledge they have learned in their conventional College English class, and to help students understand what they have learned in their conventional College English class. This is a beneficial supplement to the current neglect of English writing teaching and training in College English classroom teaching. On the other hand, it helps students internalize their learning during the writing process, and leads students to actively learn English in practice, disseminate information through creation, improve ideological understanding, and train their language thinking ability. This is also helpful in better completion of College English teaching tasks and effectiveness.

Second, the teaching mode of the workshop can help cultivate students’ overal comprehensive language application ability. According to Piaget (1977), learners’ knowledge is obtained through the construction of meaning under certain circumstances with the help of others, such as the cooperation, communication and use of necessary information between people. “workshop” adopts the “situation” to introduce topics, which makes students integrate into the team under the “situation” set by the teacher, and actively communicate with their peers by what they have learned in the College English class. In addition, in the workshops, teachers introduce the topics by films or musics to create the “situation” to help students to understand the topics more thoroughly, and then let students to express their feelings in English freely. Through the process of communication in English, it can encourage students to internalize the knowledge of language structure and vocabulary, and pay attention to the appropriateness of grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary, and promote the correct use of the language. Therefore, it is conducive to mobilizing students’ enthusiasm for learning English, improving students’ English language application ability and interest in learning English, and stimulating students’ enthusiasm for creation. And hence, through participating in the College English creative writing workshops, students’ comprehensive ability of using English language can be greatly improved. And it is in this way, workshops not only help students internalize the vocabulary, grammar and structure that they have learned in the conventional College English classroom, but also help them in improving their overall comprehensive language application ability.

Third, the teaching mode of the workshop is also a conducive way in cultivating students’ independent consciousness and innovative spirit. According to Piaget (2018), students are the active constructors of meaning and the subjects of information processing. The “College English creative writing workshop” adopts “situational teaching” and “peer review” system, which emphasized on the importance of students’ own experience in constructing meaning, and their cooperation in learning. The role of teachers in the workshops are helpers and promoters of meaning construction, not imparters and indoctrinators of knowledge, and students in the workshops are the subject of information addition and the active constructor of meaning, they are not the passive receivers of external stimulation and the object of indoctrination like what they used to be in the conventional College English class. Thus, it tended to be easily to overcome the fear of expressing, specifically writing which will correspondingly improve their language application ability. This is helpful in cultivating students’ innovative thinking ability.

Fourth, College English creative writing workshop as the second class highlights the importance of students in the process of writing, which is beneficial for cultivating students’ autonomous learning and innovative spirit. It guides students to actively use the knowledge and understand the meaning of the knowledge they have learned in their College English class. While highlighting the importance of students themselves, students are encouraged to write their true feelings without considering the writing form. Therefore, in the second class, the teaching content is not limited by teaching tasks, teaching materials and teaching time, which makes students relative freedom in the process of learning. For instance, students can choose their favorite theme for writing based on their own interests and hobbies. In a certain sense, this is conducive to students’ free expression by using their knowledge and existing experience, and in the process of free expression, and this is helpful in cultivating students’ independent consciousness and innovative spirit. Besides, set students as the center of all the activities, and all the activities are designed for and participated by students themselves, thus, students’ personality has been fully developed. In these activities, sometimes discussion, sometimes competition, sometimes free speech. Students dare to participate in these activities to express their feelings and views independently. Their self-confidence is virtually established, their sense of cooperation is enhanced, and their harmonious and healthy character is formed. At the same time, their vision has also been expanded.

Fifth, the “peer review” system after writing practice also tends to be more attractive to students, which is beneficial for stimulating students’ learning interest and passion. For it let students and students, students and teachers form a cooperative group to create a freely learning environment. This is very conducive to maximize individual creative potential. Everyone can show their own creative achievements equally in the team, and can also praise or criticize others’ works. It is very effective in helping learners learn a foreign language. The research also confirms that this kind of independent writing reduces the constraints on students’ writing, realizes the harmonious development of personality and ability, and further stimulates the creative potential of individuals, enabling students to form independent innovative consciousness, accurately express their cognition of the world, stimulate creativity, better achieve teaching objectives and improve teaching efficiency.

Finally, College English creative writing workshop as the second class is better in stimulating students’ self-determinative consciousness and independent practical learning ablity. Students must conduct self observation, self-monitoring and self-evaluation in the process of learning, improve their meta-cognitive level and realize self-regulation of learning through reflective activities, so as to promote the formation and development of ideas and better construct learning. However, the cognitive constructivist school represented by John Hurley Flavell (1993) believes that autonomous learning is actually meta-cognitive monitoring learning, which is a process in which students actively adjust their learning strategies and efforts according to their learning abilities and learning tasks (Flavell, 1993). Autonomous learning requires individuals to have a conscious awareness and response to such issues as why to learn, whether to learn, what to learn and how to learn. While the second class activities design rich and colorful writing tasks to meet students’ own needs. It provides students with space to fully express their thoughts in English, which, conversely, will better help students increase their interest in learning English and stimulate their enthusiasm for writing in English, so as to cultivate their autonomous learning ability and innovation consciousness. This is conducive to the development of students’ personalized and innovative thinking, and it is helpful for students to set their own learning goals, choose their own methods, monitor their own process, and evaluate their own learning outcomes under the instruction of their teachers. Students in the second class, have the time of independent study and independent creation. They can enjoy learning through the process of writing. And this is helpful in developing their autonomous learning ability.

All in all, College English creative writing workshop as the second class breaks through the limitations of curriculum, advocates the free expression of personal true feelings, and stimulates individual creative potential, encourages students to form an independent sense of innovation, and then accurately expresses their understanding of the world. Therefore, it not only helps to intensify what students have learned in the classroom, cultivates students’ ability to use their knowledge in practice and improve their language application ability, but also maximizes students’ enthusiasm and creativity, alleviates the intensified classroom atmosphere, better achieve teaching objectives and improve teaching efficiency of College English. Therefore, it is not only a beneficial supplement to College English classroom teaching, but also does many practical values in cultivating students’ innovative spirit and autonomous learning ability.

The conclusion and significance

In short, College English creative writing workshop as the second class is effective in cultivating students’ writing ability, and helpful in making up for the lacking of English writing teaching in the College English curriculum system. And also, it is conductive in cultivating students’ independent consciousness and innovative spirit, and develop their autonomous learning. Thereupon, it is worth popularizing and localizing in Chinese universities.

As for the significance of the present study, there are two points:

First, it is a new perspective to explore an effective organization form of language practice training outside the College English classroom, which makes up for the deficiency of College English classroom teaching and improves students’ practical ability and language application ability, and it is also helpful in quickening the progress of localizing “English Creative Writing” into Chinese universities. This is the practical value of the study.

Second, it further reflects the influence of psychological factors on students’ learning effect, as well as the contribution of constructivism to students’ language acquisition. This is the theoretical value of the study.

Third, it is also an effective way to cultivate Chinese students’ global competence. The current society urgently needs students with global competence (HUANG Jing Ivy, 2022), particularly the global competence of communication. The construction of “college English creative writing workshop” as the second class in local Chinese universities is effective in cultivating students’ English writing ability as well as in cultivating students’ global competence in communication.

Suggestions for further studies on the topic in the future as follows:

First, the scope of application and the degree of promotion of college English creative writing workshop for non-English majors needs to be further studied; Second, the effectiveness of the teaching mode of “workshop” also needs to be further explored; Third, the method and influence of peer reviewed system and the “situational” guide also need to be further improved.

And finally, a further empirical study on the localization of English creative writing workshops in local Chinese universities is also to be expected.