Writing:AValidandExpressiveFormtoreflect【Abstract】Asamainlanguageskilllikelistening,speakingorreading,writingisavalidandexpressiveformtoreflecthowwellastudentofEnglish,especiallyastudentwholearnsEnglishasaforeignlanguage(EFL),hasmasteredthatlanguage.Thispaperwillexplorethenatureofwritingascomparedwiththeotherthreebasiclanguageskills,particularlyspeaking,discussthepurposeofteachingwritingintheEFLcontext,andintroducerequirementsofEFLwritingforChinesecollegestudents.【Keywords】writing;languageability;EFLwritingrequirements1.Natureofwriting:comparedwithspeakingItiswidelyrecognizedthattherearefourmainmodesinwhichalanguageisused.Thefourmodes,generallyreferredtoasthefourbasiclanguageskillsinlanguageteaching,arelistening,speaking,readingandwriting.Ofthem,readingandlisteningarecalledthepassiveorreceptiveskillsandspeakingandwriting,theactiveorproductiveskills.Itgoeswithoutsayingthatthedemonstrationoflanguageabilityreliesmoreontheactiveorproductiveskillslikespeakingandwriting.Asforthetwoactiveorproductiveskills,speakingisofcourseprimarytolanguagesincehumanbeingsspeakbeforetheylearntowrite.Itdoesnotmean,however,thatspeakingreflectsoneslanguageabilitybetterthanwriting.Infact,manypeople,especiallyteachers,thinkotherwise.Wecanunderstandwhywritingisatleastanequally,ifnotmore,validandexpressivemeanstodisplayoneslanguageabilitybyansweringthequestionofwhatisthenatureofwriting.AsR.Neufeldsaid,“ItWritingisthoughttransformedintoavisualform.Inotherwords,writingisavisualexpressionofideas.Writingistheprocessoftakinganideafrominsideofonesheadandputtingitinacodesothatitcanbesharedwithothers”(Neufeld:4).So,writingcoversspeakinginthatitismorethanspeakingbypentosomeonenotpresent.Inotherwords,thenatureofwritingistwo-fold:theexpressionofideasbymeansofawritten“code”thatcallsformorecarefulandmoreexactdemonstrationofthemasteryofvocabulary,grammarandevenphoneticknowledgeofthelanguageinwhichoneiswriting.Anotherreasonthatwritingisamorevalidandmoreexpressiveformtodisplayoneslanguageabilityisthatwritingcanrelyonnothingotherthanpurelanguageitselftoexpressonesmeanings.Speaking,ontheotherhand,cantakeadvantageofthespeakersfacialexpressions,gesturesand,mostofall,tonesforcommunication.Empiricalfactsalsoshowthecloserelationshipbetweenwritingskillandlanguageability(YangHuizhong&C.Weir:148),andthatiswhymanyimportanttestsadoptwritingasameansofjudginglearners.TakeCETforexample.Ifthescoreforthewritingpartis0,thenacandidatewillfailnomatterhowhighhistotalscoreis.Nosuchpenaltyexistsforotherpartslikelisteningorreading.2.PurposeofteachingwritingintheEFLcontextConsiderableliteraturehasbeenproducedconcerningthepurposeofEFLwriting.OneofthemostconcisebutcomprehensivediscussionsisgivenbyJeremyHarmerinhisbookHowtoTeachEnglish.AccordingtoHarmer,thereasonsforteachingwritingtocollegestudentsofEnglishasaforeignlanguagearenotonlythatwritingisabasiclanguageskillbutalsothatwritingcan1)reinforceacquiredlanguageability,2)developlanguageabilityfurther,3)helptolearnstyle,andfinally4)serveasanauthenticmeansofcommunication.(Harmer:79)ReinforcementofacquiredlanguageabilityHarmerputs“Reinforcementofacquiredlanguageability”firstbecausehebelievesthatpeoplecanacquiretheirmothertonguesinapurelyoral/auralway,butstudentsofaforeignlanguageincollegetendtorelymoreonthewrittenformtohaveasoundcommandofthelanguage.Mostcollegestudentssaythattheybenefitmorefromseeingthelanguagewrittendownbythemselvesaswellasbyothers.Thevisualdemonstrationoflanguageconstructionisinvaluableforbothunderstandinghowitallfitstogetherandasanaidtocommittingthenewlanguagetomemory.Studentsoftenfinditusefultowritesentencesusingnewlanguageshortlyaftertheyhavestudiedit.(Harmer:79)FurtherlanguagedevelopmentItseems,thoughHarmerhimselfcannotbeforsure,thattheactualprocessofwriting(ratherliketheprocessofspeaking)helpsustolearnaswegoalong.Thementalactivitythatwehavetogothroughinordertoconstructproperwrittentextsisallpartoftheongoinglearningexperience.ForcollegestudentsofEnglishasaforeignlanguage,writingisanespeciallyeffectivewayoffurtherdevelopingtheirlanguageabilitysinceitissuchanactive(comparedwithreading,whichisreceptive)anddirect(comparedwithmultiplechoiceexercises,whichareindirect)formoflanguag