Improvements in workplace, working posture, and discomfort need to be justified in terms of improvements in performance. Previously, a visual inspection task has been investigated. The objective of the current study was to demonstrate the interactions between workplace, work duration, discomfort, working posture, as well as performance in a 2-h typing task. Three levels of keyboard heights were used to change working posture (e.g. joint angles and postural shifts), and thus presumably discomfort (e.g. rating of perceived discomfort and body part discomfort), and performance (e.g. typing speed, error rate and error correction rate). The results indicated that the hypothesized posture-comfort-performance interrelationships were partially supported. Keyboard height had effects on working posture adopted. As in previous studies, the rate of postural shift was a good indication of discomfort in a VDT task. Discomfort and postural shift rate had adverse effects on performance (e.g. error rate). However, these effects on error rate may not be strong.

The present study compared the rhetorical strategies for argumentative writing in Chinese and English composition textbooks. The textbooks were selected based on four criteria. The results of the study revealed that there are similarities and differences in Chinese and English argumentative writing. Both Chinese and English agree upon the function of the argumentative writing, encourage writers to voice their personal opinions, adopt a similar macrostructure for argumentative writing, recommend placing the thesis statement in the introduction, share similar strategies for writing the introduction and the conclusion, and share several strategies to support the argumentation. In addition, they both recommend deductive and inductive reasoning, emphasize emotional appeals, and stress the necessity of addressing the opposing views. However, English textbooks suggest using Toulmin's reasoning system and avoiding logical fallacies, addressing ethos and the needs of different types of audience, and assessing the audience's values, whereas Chinese textbooks highly value appealing to history and moral issues, and using proverbs, set phrases, and analogy. Possible reasons for the similarities and differences in the rhetorical elements are provided. Results provide insights that are of practical use for both the L2 English composition instructor and the Chinese L2 English writer.