Georgetown University LogoGeorgetown University Library LogoDigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown University Institutional Repository
    • Georgetown College
    • Department of Linguistics
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Linguistics
    • View Item
    •   DigitalGeorgetown Home
    • Georgetown University Institutional Repository
    • Georgetown College
    • Department of Linguistics
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Linguistics
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Non-native argumentative writing by Vietnamese learners of English : a contrastive study

    Cover for Non-native argumentative writing by Vietnamese learners of English : a contrastive
      study
    View/Open
    View/Open: hoVu.pdf (2.1MB) Bookview

    Creator
    Ho, Vu Le.
    Description
    Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. This contrastive study compared Vietnamese students' argumentative ESL essays with model texts composed by native expert writers in Vietnamese and American English. It identified several key differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of rhetorical features, explaining why the ESL writing deviates noticeably from native English texts. These deviations, supported by both quantitative and qualitative evidence, can be attributed to several factors, including ESL writers' over-dependence on textual links and shared schema to maintain coherence, nonlinearity patterns in argument, tendency of making abrupt switches in topical Themes, dependence on personal opinions instead of objective observations, preference for generic examples over concrete details, and use of overtly assertive language. These factors may cause negative reactions from English readers, who may find that ESL argumentative texts are more disconnected, harder to follow, less persuasive, and less well-supported. Vietnamese students may have difficulties in addressing these problems since they often are a combined effect of lack of proficiency, undesirable side-effects of L2 instruction and unconscious negative L1 transfer.; Observed interactions between rhetorical features indicate that differences between L2 and native writings may not be attributed to a single feature, but rather a combined effect of several features of different meaning types. Hence, although this dissertation confirms the key premise of contrastive research (i.e., L1 background is influential in the manner native speakers write in L2), it gives substantive default for such a claim by pointing to a trinocular analysis, which examines data in terms of all three discourse planes as well as possible interactions between the resources used to express these planes.; This study constitutes a step towards the ultimate need of contrastive studies: a coherent and implementable framework that can be shared among different studies. Developed within the SFL framework, I expand a set of relevant analytical tools, providing specific coding guidelines to not only allow for a more all-round and systematic analysis of the text but also facilitate cross-language comparison. The results demonstrate that the SFL framework can serve as the needed unified theoretical foundation that helps contrastive analysis in L2 writing to eventually achieve a full status as a field.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/553147
    Date Published
    2011
    Subject
    Language, Linguistics; Foreign Language Instruction
    Type
    thesis
    Publisher
    Georgetown University
    Collections
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Linguistics
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Cover for Comparing Native and Non-native Raters of US Federal Government Speaking Tests

      Comparing Native and Non-native Raters of US Federal Government Speaking Tests 

      Brooks, Rachel Lunde (Georgetown University, 2013)
      Previous Language Testing research has largely reported that although many raters' characteristics affect their evaluations of language assessments (Reed & Cohen, 2001), being a native speaker or non-native speaker rater ...
    Related Items in Google Scholar

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2022 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DigitalGeorgetownCommunities & CollectionsCreatorsTitlesBy Creation DateThis CollectionCreatorsTitlesBy Creation Date

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2022 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility