A Structure Analysis of English Argumentative Writings Written by Chinese and Korean EFL Learners

Abstract

This study employed Kamimura and Oi (1996)'s classification of the organizational patterns of the argumentative essay structure: Thesis Statement (TS), Background Information (BI), Reservation (R), Hesitation (H), Rational Appeals (RA), Affective Appeals (AA) and Conclusion (C). 178 essays, 84 written by Chinese EFL learners, 84 written by Korean EFL learners, and 10 written by English native speakers, were coded and analyzed via NVivo. The results show that Chinese and Korean EFL learners prefer the direct deductive expressions in their English argumentative writings, which is different from Kaplan's (1966) findings. No significant difference exists in the essay structure among Chinese and Korean EFL writers' writing and the English native speakers' writings. The only difference lies in the contents of the rational and affective appeals, which are still strongly influenced by the cultural and social background. The results indicate that Chinese and Korean EFL writers, especially most of the university students are able to handle the structure of English argumentative writings with plenty of writing practice and teachers' instruction.

Rhetorical pattern of the Indonesian EFL undergraduate students’ writings

“…These studies found that students preferred the deductive pattern in organizing their essays, either in English or their national language. The results also agree with the study by Zheng (2013) on Chinese and Korean EFL students, where the students also preferred the deductive pattern despite their cultural and social background influencing the writing contents. Therefore, it can be concluded that for essay writing, students were learning to use the deductive pattern as the pattern taught in writing subjects.…”

“…It is also implied that Korean students would be able to rewrite the information in a linear rhetorical style only shortly after receiving it, implying that they could recall the original pattern of the information but only for a short time. Zheng (2013), on the other hand, studied the writings of Chinese and Korean EFL students and discovered that the students used a deductive or linear pattern in stating their position in an argumentative essay. Zheng admits that the writing content was influenced by the students' culture and social background.…”

Untangling Students’ Problems in Writing Argumentative: SFL perspective and fishbone strategy

“…Most importantly, the presence of issue is often elaborated by background of information. It is about the introduction of the background which is related to the issue, not the opinions of the writer [4]. In some case, however, thesis actually provides opinion of the writer which is a preposition or preview taken by the writer before proceeding to the argument.…”

“…(3) you can shop online, (4) order food online, (5) and find how to do things in internet. (6) In addition to that social media can also raise money for charity.…”

“…Since then. More and more countries adhere to the implementation of GBA in language teaching, such as China and Korea [4]. However, it should be noted that in Australia, English is the first language.…”