A Continuation Method in the Teaching of Academic English Writing for Chinese College Students

The "continuation method" means that people tend to borrow or imitate their interlocutors" language to express ideas or to continue a discourse construction.There were 20 Chinese second-year college students in the study.They were given two tests on academic English writing.In Test 1, the students were required to write a composition of about 200 words according to the given topic.In Test 2, according to the "continuation method", they were required to make a sequel writing of about 200 words in line with the meaning and stylistic features of the given language material.The results showed that most students did better in Test 2. The study probed into the mechanism of "continuation method" in improving the students" academic English writing.