scholarly journals WRITERS’ VOICE AND ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN STUDENTS’ ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION TEXTS

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 613
Author(s):  
Dian Yuliana ◽  
Isti Siti Saleha Gandana
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
Writer's Voice ◽  
Engagement System

One criterion of a good analytical exposition lies in the writers’ ability to present a clear position and show their voice in their writing. Such quality can be achieved through skillful use of Engagement resources which allow writers to state their voice by aligning or disaligning it with those of others in presenting their case. Involving nine analytical exposition texts written by university students of different proficiency levels, this study explores how the writers’ voice (Hyland, 2008) is constructed through Engagement resources. Drawing on Martin and White’s Engagement system (Martin & White, 2005), the study reveals that, while all of the students are capable of presenting a clear position, students of different proficiency levels indicate different engagement strategies in their writing. Students who are more proficient in English are able to more successfully exploit the resources necessary for constructing a well-argued text and show a stronger sense of authorship. This study is expected to give insights into the use of Engagement resources in developing the writer’s voice in texts written by EFL writer learners in the Indonesian context.

Pre-university Students’ Voice Construction in Argumentative Essays

RELC Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Ling Cheung ◽  
Tze Hui Low
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Appraisal Theory ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Appraisal System ◽  
Writing Teachers ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
University Level ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Writer's Voice

This article examines how writer’s voice is constructed in argumentative essays written at the pre-university level. The study focusses on the student writers’ control over evaluative resources that influence the realization of voice in the high-scoring and low-scoring scripts. Using the APPRAISAL system in Systemic Functional Linguistics, the study shows how voice is construed through APPRAISAL theory in the high-scoring and low-scoring general paper essays, respectively. The differences between the two categories of essays can be seen in the application of ENGAGEMENT, ATTITUDE, and GRADUATION resources. Findings indicated that the high scoring essays used richer ENGAGEMENT and ATTITUDE resources to accomplish more mature and sophisticated argumentative voices. These opportunities to make full use of the APPRAISAL resources were missed by the low-scoring students in their argumentative writing. The findings are pedagogically useful for writing teachers who find the notion of voice too abstract to teach but accept its significance in producing a good essay.

Cantonese particles in Hong Kong students' English e-mails

English Today ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory James
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
University Students ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Standard English ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
Grammatical Accuracy ◽  
Hong Kong Students ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Instant Communication

With the popularisation of the Internet, the use of e-mails and computer-based chats (CBCs) has increased dramatically among university students. An interesting feature of such communication, however, is that a written medium is treated like speech (cf. Maynor, 1994). Conversations turn into notes where grammatical accuracy and conventional formalities take a backseat to instant communication. In the case of on-campus CBCs, informality and a certain disregard of the conventions of standard English are all the more manifest.It is commonly believed in Hong Kong that this general freedom to write ‘bad English’ has encouraged the habit of randomly incorporating Cantonese words into English e-mails. Yet an examination of students' e-mails and icq (‘I Seek You’) communications reveals that far from ‘polluting’ their English by substituting Cantonese words haphazardly for English ones, or by applying Cantonese structures to their English writing, students tend to incorporate certain kinds of Cantonese words systematically into their texts for specific identifiable purposes.

scholarly journals Genres apart: School and university writing

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Hie Ting
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
University Students ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Academic Genres

This study examined the types of writing emphasised in secondary school and university. The specific aspects studied were the genres that students write best, genres frequently written in school, and genres frequently required in written coursework assignments in university. The data on school writing were obtained from questionnaires distributed to 235 students enrolled in English courses in two Malaysian universities whereas the data on university coursework assignments were obtained through interviews with lecturers in the two universities. The results showed that there is a mismatch between types of writing emphasised in school and university. Students frequently write recount and discussion in school but university coursework frequently requires assignments to be written in the form of research articles and explanations. In view of the different emphases in school and university writing, students entering university have difficulty coping with academic discourse. The findings suggest that it is beneficial to sensitise university students to textual conventions of commonly used academic genres at university to speed up their learning of academic discourse.

scholarly journals A STUDY OF ENGLISH ARTICLE USAGE AMONG CROATIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Anna K. Martinović ◽  
Katica M. Balenović
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Study Programme ◽  
Article Usage

The main focus of this study was to analyse article errors in the writing of first year Croatian psychology students studying English as a foreign language as part of their study programme. Article errors among learners with different proficiency levels were also analysed; moreover, errors made by students with different essay grades were compared. The results show that the category with the highest number of errors included the omission of the indefinite article. Furthermore, it was found that proficiency levels were not a significant factor concerning the average number of errors in any of the categories. Moreover, it was also shown that essay grades did not play a significant role in the number of article errors in student writing except in the category of omission of the definite article, which was found among students with lower essay grades.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Form-Focused and Meaning-Focused Instruction Types: A Study on Ishik University Students in Erbil, Iraq

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Bünyamin Celik
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
Post Test

Form-focused and meaning-focused instruction types entered the literature after the 1970s as a reaction to each other. More interestingly, there is a cycle of reactions to each other, which claim to complete the other’s shortcomings. In the middle of long-lasting discussions, this study aims to contribute to the field by making a comparison of the two terms. This research on students was done throughout seven weeks and the results were noted down. At the beginning of the survey, we applied an FCE test as pre-test and another FCE test at the end of the seven-week period as post-test. The underlying idea of such long survey is that we expect that in upper-intermediate level, students are in need of instructions from the teachers because the topics are much more complex than previous levels. During the survey, one group was given meaning -focused instruction and the other group was given form-focused instruction. The achievement of the students was measured both on vocabulary and grammar. At the end of seven weeks, both the grammar/vocabulary quiz results and the FCE results indicated a crucial difference on the development of two groups’ proficiency levels thanks to form-focused instruction.

scholarly journals A Study on Anxiety in Chinese EFL University Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huang Jing ◽  
Zhang Junying
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Summer Camp ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Reflective Journals ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
English Majors ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Anxiety experienced in the course of learning a foreign language is specific and unique (Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre &amp; Gardner, 1989). This paper reports a study on anxiety in Chinese undergraduate non-English majors at three different proficiency levels in a three-week immersion summer camp. By way of survey, interviews, reflective journals and observations, this research seeks to investigate the relationship between anxiety and native-speaking teacher’s teaching and extracurricular activities in an immersion summer camp. Specifically, it tries to explore that (1) whether a considerable number of students at each level felt anxious when speaking to native-speaking teachers and volunteers in and out of classroom in the summer camp setting, (2) whether the more proficient students tend to be less anxious in the summer camp setting, (3) whether the students felt less anxious when they learn English and western cultures not for any examination. Based on the findings, some suggestions for future teaching and research are proposed.<strong></strong></p>

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