A Study Of Citation Competence And Its Individual Impact Factors In L2 Academic Writing

Citation, as a typical feature of academic writing, is a rhetorical practice of source use in academic writing. Previous research in the field of L2 writing shows that, the acquisition of citation competence is difficult for novice writers. In order to explore the reason, the questions that what citation features can reflect citation competence and what impact factors can influence the development of citation competence need to be firstly answered. Accordingly, based on the combination of systemic functional linguistics, dialogue theory, appraisal theory and intertextuality theory, this study proposed two theoretical frameworks:the construct framework of citation competence and the conceptual model of impact factors on citation competence. Then, structural equation model is employed to testify the above two frameworks so that the individual impact factors of citation competence and their interrelationship can be examined, which is beneficial for the better comprehension of citation competence acquisition.This study attempts to answer the following 4 questions:1) What citation features do the participants present in the four indicators:writer stance, intertextual strategies, citation typology and citation function? Is there difference between high-rated thesis and low-rated thesis? 2) To what extent do the four indicators reflect the latent variable "citation competence"? 3) How many individual impact factors can influence citation competence? What kind of interrelationship among these factors? 4) How do the factors have effects on the development of citation competence? g;.This study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The qualitative design is used as supplementaries of the result of quantitative design. The study focused on novice academic writers of English majors as participants. By purposive non-probability sampling, the study finally selected 115 third-year English majors from 4 intact classes in a major normal university attached to the Ministry of Education. There are 5 data sources:a questionnaire about the cognition of source use; academic reading test; academic writing test; textual analysis; semi-structured interview. In terms of academic writing test, it is a classroom-based academic reading-to-writing task. Participants were required to write an opinion task entitled "time management" by using the given 6 reading sources. Data analysis is completed by Structural Equation Model (AMOS V.21) and qualitative data analysis software (NVivo V.8.0).By parameter estimation and modification of the conceptual models, the study constructed 4 final models. The major findings are:1) "The measurement model of citation competence construct" shows that there are 4 indicators: expression of writer stance; application of intertextual strategies; selection of citation typology and implementation of citation function. On writer stance, all participants expressed acknowledge most, followed by contest, endorse and distance. On intertextual strategies, all participants applied direct quotation most, followed by generalizing, copying, near paraphrasing, direct translation and absolute paraphrasing. On citation typology, all participants used non-integral citation most, followed by verb controlling integral citation, naming integral citation. On citation function, all participants implemented exemplification most, followed by source, association and comparison, attribution, summarizing and application. In addition, there is significant difference of acknowledge stance, absolute paraphrasing strategy, direct translation strategy, exemplification function and attribution function between high-rated thesis and low-rated thesis. The above results are also testified by the interview part of the study.2) "The prediction model of citation competence on academic writing quality" reveals that the loading of the above 4 indicators ranges from.31 to.69. Although the 4 indicators contribute to the latent variable "citation competence" to different extent, all of them can effectively interpret citation competence. The result suggests that the construct framework of citation competence has a desirable construct validity.3) "The relationship model of individual impact factors " shows that among the 4 individual impact factors(motivation of citation; cognitive proficiency of source use; academic reading proficiency and academic writing proficiency), cognitive proficiency of source use has a significant role in promoting academic reading and writing; and academic reading proficiency is also helpful for the development of academic writing.4) "The causal model of individual impact factors on citation competence" shows the impact path of the individual impact factors on citation competence. Cognitive proficiency of source use has both a direct influence and indirect influence via academic reading proficiency and academic writing proficiency on citation competence. Academic reading proficiency has both a direct influence and indirect influence via academic writing proficiency on citation competence. Academic writing proficiency has a direct influence on citation competence. Motivation of citation has both a direct influence and indirect influence via academic writing proficiency on citation competence. With regard to the direct effect, academic reading proficiency influences citation competence most and reaches the significant level, while motivation of citation least. With regard to the indirect effect, cognitive proficiency of source use influences citation competence most, while motivation of citation least. Accordingly, there are 3 major individual impact factors:cognitive proficiency of source use; academic reading proficiency and academic writing proficiency. In addition, the interview result reveals that academic reading strategy can also have an effect on citation competence.The theoretical contribution of the study contains two points which are also the major innovations.1) The study first establishes the framework of citation competence construct, which can be used as both theoretical for the research of evaluation of citation competence.2) The study first constructs "the causal model of of individual impact factors on citation competence" by a structural equation modeling approach. The model clarifies the different roles of the individual impact factors on citation competence, and identifies the major impact factors, which reveals the acquisition process and features of citation competence. Furthermore, the results of the study can be used as theoretical reference of the acquisition study of citation competence based on classroom reading-to-writing tasks and guiding principles of L2 academic writing instruction.