Adversative versus concessive while-clauses in native and learner English texts: A corpus-based systemic functional description

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Modal Operators ◽  
Language Writing

Abstract Despite the commonly reported underuse of linking adverbials of contrast and concession (such as yet, nevertheless) by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in writing, relatively little is known about the use of structural conjunctions in this regard. The present work uses a corpus approach to investigate the use of while, a polysemous conjunction of contrast and concession, in the writing of Chinese EFL learners as compared with their British native-speaker counterparts. The analysis of while-clauses is informed by clause-complexing and textual descriptions of clause in Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2013). Preference for initial concessive while-clauses by native-speaker students was found, in sharp contrast to the dominant use of final adversative while-clauses by Chinese EFL learners. Analysis of the native-speaker data revealed that initial concessive while-clause is characterized by equivalence or relatedness of topical themes of while-clause and its main clause, confirming the discourse-organizing function of thematic hypotactic clauses. In addition, the pattern of non-human subjects and low-value modal operators (e.g. While this … may …) associated dominantly and exclusively with initial concessive while-clauses in the native corpus serves further evidence of distinctive features of concessive while-clauses. This study adds to a growing body of literature on the SFL approach to second language writing and is among the first to combine corpus-based methodologies and SFL theoretical framework to analyze logico-semantic relations. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications for teaching adversative and concessive while-clauses to EFL learners.

scholarly journals The Impact of Translation Strategies on Second Language Writing

Fachsprache ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Carine Graff
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Lexical Choice ◽  
Skopos Theory ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
The Impact

This paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of translation strategies as informed by Translation Studies in the foreign language (FL) classroom. The current study aims to map how translation, as perceived in Translation Studies, can be beneficial for students’ writing skills in the FL classroom. It focuses on undergraduate students in three French Composition classes: a control class in fall 2014, a second control class in fall 2015, and an experimental class in spring 2016, and explores how the students’ writing in the latter class improved after being exposed to translation strategies, such as explicitation, amplification, modulation, and approaches, such as Skopos theory. To determine whether translation strategies enable students to improve naturalness in L2 writing, their compositions and summaries were error coded using Kobayashi/Rinnert’s (1992) method of awkward form and wrong lexical choice, McCarthy’s collocation search, and Owen’s (1988) native speaker input. Statistical analyses were also performed. Results show that translation strategies are a useful tool to help students understand the foreign language and write more naturally.

scholarly journals Reading and writing

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-219
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Second Language ◽  
British Journal ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Writing

03–496 Basil, C. (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) and Reyes, S. Acquisition of literacy skills by children with severe disability. Child Language Teaching and Therapy (London, UK), 19, 1 (2003), 27–48.03–497 Bimmell, Peter (Universiteit van Amsterdam, Holland). Strategisch lesen lernen in der Fremdsprache. [Learning to read strategically in a foreign language.] Zeitschrift für Fremdsprachenforschung (Berlin, Germany), 13, 1 (2002), 113–141.03–498 Casanave, C. P. (Teachers College Columbia, Japan); Email: [email protected]). Multiple uses of Applied Linguistics literature in a multidisciplinary graduate EAP class. ELT Journal, 57, 1 (2003), 43–50.03–499 Cheng, Yuh-show (National Taiwan Normal U.). Factors associated with foreign language writing anxiety. Foreign Language Annals (New York, USA), 33, 5 (2002), 647–656.03–500 Cotterall, S. (Email: [email protected]) and Cohen, R. (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand). Scaffolding for second language writers: producing an academic essay. ELT Journal, 57, 2 (2003), 158–166.03–501 de Serres, Linda (U. of Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada). Stratégies de lecture en français L1 et en anglais L2 chez des universitaires diplômés: aspects quantitatifs. [Reading strategies in graduate university students with L1 French and L2 English: quantitative aspects.] The Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6, 1 (2003), 31–51.03–502 Droop, Mienke and Verhoeven, Ludo (U. of Nijmegen, NL). Language proficiency and reading ability in first- and second-language learners. Reading Research Quarterly (Newark, USA), 38, 1 (2003), 78–103.03–503 Gillon, Gail T. (U. of Canterbury, New Zealand; Email: [email protected]). Follow-up study investigating the benefits of phonological awareness intervention for children with spoken language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (London, UK), 37, 4 (2002), 381–400.03–504 Gu, Peter Yongqi (Nanyang Technological University). Fine Brush and Freehand: The Vocabulary-Learning Art of Two Successful Chinese EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly, 37, 1 (2003), 73–104.03–505 Kamhi-Stein, Lía D. (California State University, USA). Reading in Two Languages: How Attitudes Toward Home Language and Beliefs About Reading Affect the Behaviors of “Underprepared” L2 College Readers. TESOL Quarterly, 37, 1 (2003), 35–71.03–506 Mahfoudhi, Abdessatar (U. Ottawa, Canada). Writing processes of EFL students in argumentative essays: a case study. ITL Review of Applied Linguistics (Leuven, Belgium), 139–140 (2003), 153–190.03–507 Martin, Michelle E. and Byrne, Brian (U. of New England, NSW, Australia). Teaching children to recognise rhyme does not directly promote phonemic awareness. British Journal of Educational Psychology (Leicester, UK), 72 (2002), 561–572.03–508 Miller, Carol (U. of Birmingham, UK; Email: [email protected]), Lacey, Penny and Layton, Lyn. Including children with special educational needs in the Literacy Hour: a continuing challenge. British Journal of Special Education (Oxford, UK), 30, 1 (2003), 13–20.03–509 Schoonen, R. (U. of Amsterdam, NL), Gelderen, A.v., Glopper, K.d., Hulstijn, J., Simis, A., Snellings, P. and Stevenson, M. First Language and Second Language Writing: The Role of Linguistic Knowledge, Speed of Processing, and Metacognitive Knowledge. Language Learning (Clevdon, UK), 53, 1 (2003), 165–202.03–510 Suh, Jae-Suk (Keimyung U.). Effectiveness of CALL writing instruction: The voices of Korean EFL learners. Foreign Language Annals (New York, USA), 35, 6 (2002), 669–679.03–511 Taylor, M. E. (University of the West Indies, Jamaica). Using collateral material to improve writing performance. ELT Journal, 57, 2 (2003), 149–157.03–512 Wall, Kate (U. of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Email: [email protected]). Pupils with special needs and the National Literacy Strategy: an analysis of the literature. Support for Learning (Oxford, UK), 18, 1 (2003), 35–41.03–513 Wenyu Wang (Nanjing U., China; Email: [email protected]) and Qiufang Wen. L1 use in the L2 composing process: An exploratory study of 16 Chinese EFL writers. Journal of Second Language Writing (Orlando, FL, USA), 11 (2002), 225–246.

scholarly journals News from the pragmatics classroom: Contrasting the inductive and the deductive approach in the teaching of pragmatic competence

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-561
Author(s):  
Karen Glaser
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Pragmatic Skills

Abstract While the role of pragmatic skills in a foreign or second language has been receiving increased attention both from a research and a language teaching perspective, there is still a lamentable scarcity of systematic empirical studies into the effectiveness of instructional methods in the teaching of pragmatics. Addressing this research gap, this article reports about a quasi-experimental study into possible differences between an explicit-inductive and an explicit-deductive instructional approach in the teaching of pragmatic skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), more specifically the teaching of offer refusals to 49 advanced adult EFL learners in Germany. The instruction consisted of three 90-minute lessons, which were spread out over the duration of a 15-week academic semester and designed according to the deductive principle and the inductive principle, respectively. While the deductive group was provided with metapragmatic rules directly at the beginning of the instruction, the inductive group only encountered such rules after engaging in language use and guided discovery. Production data was elicited by means of DCTs and role play in a pretest-posttest format. Effectiveness of instruction was operationalized by means of two indicators: Indicator 1 measured the increased usage of the strategies taught in class, while indicator 2 measured the approximation to a native speaker target. The results indicate that the gains in the inductive group surpassed those in the deductive group, suggesting that when situated within the explicit framework, inductive instruction is more effective in the teaching of pragmatic skills.

language teaching

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. i-i
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
The Many ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Teaching Professional ◽  
Oriented Research

In this issue of Language Teaching we offer two articles, very different in nature and each of significance to the language teaching professional. In the first article Teresa O'Brien provides a comprehensive and critical overview of research into second language writing, examining both the processes and products of writing in detail and offering a pedagogically oriented research agenda for the future. The second article is a survey of resources: Alfonso Rizo Rodriguez focuses on lexicographical tools for advanced EFL learners, and explains the characteristics of the many products currently available. We continue to offer a broad range of abstracts, carefully selected from the increasing number of journals published in our field.

Reading and writing

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-66
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
British Educational Research Journal

04–64Andrews, Richard (U. of York, UK). Where next in research on ICT and literacies?English in Education (Sheffield, UK), 37, 3 (2003), 28–41.04–65Beard, Roger (Leeds U., UK; Email: [email protected]). Not the whole story of the national literacy strategy: a response to Dominic Wyse. British Educational Research Journal (London, UK), 29, 6 (2003), 917–928.04–66Bournot-Trites, M. and Seror, J. (University of British Columbia, Canada; Email: [email protected]). Students' and teachers' perceptions about strategies which promote proficiency in second language writing. Revue Canadienne de Linguistique Appliquée/Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics (Ottawa, Canada), 6, 2 (2003), 129–157.04–67Gardner, Dee (Brigham Young University, USA). Vocabulary input through extensive reading: a comparison of words found in children's narrative and expository reading materials. Applied Linguistics (Oxford, UK), 25, 1 (2004), 1–37.04–68Hu, Jim (U. College of the Cariboo, Canada). Thinking languages in L2 writing: research findings and pedagogical implications. TESL Canada Journal/Revue du TESL Canada (Burnaby, Canada), 21, 1 (2003), 39–63.04–69Jarvis, Scott (Ohio University, USA; Email: [email protected]), Grant, Leslie, Bikowski, Dawn and Ferris, Dana. Exploring multiple profiles of highly rated learner compositions. Journal of Second Language Writing (New York, USA), 12, 4 (2003), 377–403.04–70Mihwa Chung, Teresa and Nation, Paul (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ). Technical vocabulary in specialised texts. Reading in a Foreign Language (Hawai'i, USA), 15, 2 (2003), 103–116.04–71Ndiaye, M. and Vandeventer Faltin, A. (University of Geneva, Switzerland; Email: [email protected]). A spell checker tailored to language learners. Computer Assisted Language Learning (Lisse, The Netherlands), 16, 2–3 (2003), 213–232.04–72Pecorari, Diane (Stockholm University, Sweden; Email: [email protected]). Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing (New York, USA), 12, 4 (2003), 317–345.04–73Ridgway, Tony (Queen's U., UK). Literacy and foreign language reading. Reading in a Foreign Language (Hawai'i, USA), 15, 2 (2003), 117–129.04–74Shi, L., Wang, W. and Wen, Q. (University of British Columbia, Canada; Email: [email protected]). Teaching experience and evaluation of second-language students' writing. Revue Canadienne de Linguistic Appliquée/Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics (Ottawa, Canada), 6, 2 (2003), 219–236.04–75Stuart, Morag (U. of London; Email: [email protected]). Getting ready for reading: a follow-up study of inner city second language learners at the end of Key Stage 1. British Journal of Educational Psychology (Leicester, UK), 74 (2004), 15–36.04–76Stuart, Morag (U. of London, UK; Email: [email protected]), Dixon, Maureen, Masterson, Jackie and Gray, Bob. Children's early reading vocabulary: description and word frequency lists. British Journal of Educational Psychology (Leicester, UK), 73 (2003), 585–598.04–77Takagaki, Toshiyuki.The revision patterns and intentions in L1 and L2 by Japanese writers: a case study. TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL du Canada (Burnaby, Canada), 21, 1 (2003), 22–38.04–78Van de Poel, K. and Swanepoel, P. (Centre for Language and Speech, University of Antwerp, Belgium; Email: [email protected]). Theoretical and methodological pluralism in designing effective lexical support for CALL. Computer Assisted Language Learning (Lisse, The Netherlands), 16, 2–3 (2003), 173–211.04–79Wang, Lurong (University of Toronto, Canada; Email: [email protected]). Switching to first language among writers with differing second-language proficiency. Journal of Second Language Writing (New York, USA), 12, 4 (2003), 347–375.04–80Warner, Lionel (Newlands Girls' School, Maidenhead, UK). Wider reading. English in Education (Sheffield, UK), 37, 3 (2003), 13–18.04–81Williams, Mary (Brunel U., UK). The importance of metacognition in the literacy development of young gifted and talented children. Gifted Education International (Bicester, UK), 17, 3 (2003).04–82Wyse, Dominic (Liverpool John Moores U., UK; Email: [email protected]). The national literacy strategy: a critical review of empirical evidence. British Educational Research Journal (London, UK), 29, 6 (2003), 903–916.

scholarly journals Effect of the Comparative Continuation on L2 Writing Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Jia-ling Han
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Input Text ◽  
Reading Materials ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Writing Task

This study is a follow-up study of the continuation task, aiming to investigate the long-term alignment effects of the comparative continuation on L2 writing performance. The research lasted for a period of 16 weeks and employed a pretest-treatment-posttest research design. Two comparable groups of fifty-five Chinese undergraduate EFL learners participated. Both groups were assigned the same writing tasks i.e. writing an argument essay of the same topic within 30 minutes. One group was given an input text with comparative ideas before writing, while another group did not have any reading materials. After 8-week treatment, both groups received a posttest, in which the data were compared and analyzed with those of pretest. Results showed that (i) the comparative continuation task resulted in greater improvement in EFL learners’ writing performance than topic-writing task. (ii) the comparative continuation task was superior to the topic-writing task in incurring less meaning-based errors, but there was no difference in form-based errors between the two groups. The results can provide some enlightenment for teaching and research of foreign language writing.

scholarly journals Exploring syntactic complexity and its relationship with writing quality in EFL argumentative essays

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
Farzaneh Shadloo ◽  
Hesamoddin Shahriari Ahmadi ◽  
Behzad Ghonsooly
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Development Scheme ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract To predict syntactic complexity in second/foreign language writing, some studies have advocated the use of T-unit and clausal subordination measures while others have argued for the use of phrase-based measures. This study seeks to identify syntactic features that can be regarded as discriminators among different levels of writing quality. For this purpose, a corpus of argumentative essays by EFL learners was compiled and then the essays were rated and placed into three groups of high-rated, mid-rated, and low-rated essays. The corpus was then coded and analysed for both phrasal and clausal features. The phrasal features were manually coded based on the development scheme hypothesized by Biber, Gray and Poonpon (2011) for academic writing, and the clausal features were analysed using the online L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer developed by Lu (2010). A separate ANOVA test was used to compare the three groups of essays for each of the phrasal and clausal features. The findings of the current study demonstrated that subordination and dependent clauses were not good indicators of different writing qualities in our corpus. Also, the pattern of noun phrase complexity predicted by Biber et al. (2011) was not observed across argumentative essays from three different levels of writing quality.

scholarly journals An Examination of Relative Clauses in Argumentative Essays Written by EFL Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-97
Author(s):  
Hesamoddin Shahriari ◽  
Farzaneh Shadloo ◽  
Ahmad Ansarifar
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Nonnative Speakers Of English ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Syntactic complexity has received a great deal of attention in the literature on second language writing. Relative clauses, which function as a kind of noun phrase post-modifier, are among those structures that are believed to increase the complexity of academic prose. This grammatical structure can pose difficulties for EFL writers even at higher levels of proficiency, and it is therefore important to determine the frequency and accuracy with which relative clauses are used by L2 learners; understanding learners’ strengths and weaknesses in using these structures can inform the process of their instruction in the writing classroom. This paper reports on a corpus-based comparison of relative clauses in a number of argumentative essays written by native and nonnative speakers of English. To this end, 30 argumentative essays were randomly selected from the Persian sub-corpus of the ICLE and the essays were analyzed with respect to the relative clauses found in them. The results were then compared to a comparable corpus of essays by native speakers. Different dimensions regarding the structure of relative clauses were investigated. The type of relative clause (restrictive/non-restrictive), the relativizer (adverbial/pronoun), the gap (subject/non-subject), and head nouns (both animate and non-animate) in our two sets of data were manually identified and coded. The Findings revealed that Iranian EFL writers tend to use a greater number of relative clauses compared to their native-speaker counterparts.

scholarly journals The effect of online gamification on EFL learners’ writing anxiety levels: a process-based approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
Fatih Yavuz ◽  
Emrah Ozdemir ◽  
Ozgur Celik
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Response Scale ◽  
Writing Anxiety ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
Game Elements ◽  
Scale Data

Writing is one of the most difficult and neglected skills for EFL learners. Gamification, the use of game elements to increase user experience and interest in non-game content, can be used to deal with writing anxiety which is considered as a hindering affective factor in successful language learning. Within this scope, this study aims to investigate the effect of the online gamification tool ‘Edmodo’ on EFL learners’ writing anxiety levels. The experimental design, one of the quantitative methods, was preferred. Data were collected through a background questionnaire and the Second Language Writing Anxiety Scale, involving 22 items scored on a five-point Likert response scale. Data were analysed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. The results showed that the students who completed the activities and who were graded through Edmodo had significantly lower anxiety levels than the students using the traditional pen and paper. Keywords: Gamification, foreign language, writing, anxiety.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SCHOLARSHIP IN SECOND LANGUAGE WRITING: 1993–1997. Tony Silva, Colleen Brice, and Melinda Reichelt. Westport, CT: Ablex, 1999. Pp. xii + 209. $73.95 cloth, $39.50 paper.

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-440
Author(s):  
Charlene G. Polio
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Annotated Bibliography ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Alphabetical Order ◽  
Language Writing

This annotated bibliography is a list of 676 journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, and ERIC documents related to the teaching and learning of second and foreign language writing. The list is a compilation of bibliographies published in the Journal of Second Language Writing during the years 1993–1997, with entries dating from 1991 to 1997. After a brief introduction, which includes the databases that were searched and the periodicals that were examined, the bibliography presents the entries in alphabetical order by author. Following an author index is a 23-page subject index to the entries.

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