An Empirical Study Of Chinese Efl Learners' Oral Communication Strategies

In recent years, the notion of interaction in writing has become an increasingly attractive area of research (Thompson & Thetela,1995; Thompson,1997; Myers,1999; Hyland,2000, 2004,2005a,2005b; Al-Sharief,2001; Thompson; 2001; Hoey,1988,2001). Most researches in this field have largely concentrated on the construction of writer identity in academic writing (Tang & John,1999; Ivanic & Camps,2001; Hyland,2002a; Ouyang & Tang,2006; Han,2009). However, the study on the ways in which writers use language to construct the reader's role is a relatively unexplored area in writing, especially in L2 students' writing.To fill the gap, the present thesis explores reader engagement in Chinese college students'EFL argumentative essays. Engagement in the present study is defined as a bundle of rhetorical strategies that writers use to recognize the presence of their readers so as to bring them explicitly into their texts. This study is based on an analysis of 320 English argumentative essays which are selected from WECCL (Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners), one of the sub-corpora in SWECCL (Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners). Adopting Hyland's (2005b) framework of engagement, the present paper investigates both quantitatively and qualitatively the engagement devices reader pronouns, directives, questions, shared knowledge markers and personal asides that appear in Chinese college students'English argumentative compositions. The quantitative analysis is conducted to provide the data for the interpretation of the occurrences of the engagement devices in the students'essays. The results are then analyzed qualitatively in terms of semantic references and discourse functions to explore how student writers engage readers in their writing.Through the analysis, it is found that the engagement devices used frequently by Chinese college students in their EFL argumentative writings are reader pronouns, directives, questions and shared knowledge markers, of which reader pronouns rank number one, followed by directives, shared knowledge markers and questions. These engagement devices are found to perform different rhetorical functions in students' EFL argumentative writing.As far as reader pronouns are concerned, the study reveals that Chinese college students are likely to use inclusive we to perform the discourse function of assuming shared knowledge, beliefs and experiences, and stating views and constructing the reader's role as opinion holders. With respect to the discourse functions of you, the study reveals that Chinese college students are likely to use inclusive you to perform the discourse function of assuming shared knowledge, goals and beliefs and they use exclusive you to perform the discourse function of proposing viewpoints and suggestions, and indicating necessity.As to directives, as a kind of engagement strategy, directives perform two discourse functions in students' essays:to instruct the readers to take action in the real world and to direct readers to understand things in a way determined by the writer. With respect to shared knowledge markers, they perform the discourse function of presenting the writer's views as common knowledge familiar to and shared by everyone, thus involving readers into the ongoing text. As an important engagement device in Chinese college students' argumentative writing, questions performs the discourse function of arousing readers' interest and encouraging readers to explore an issue with the writer as participants, thus bringing readers into the text.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 serves as the introduction of the whole thesis. It discusses the research background, research purpose, research questions as well as the research methodology of the present paper. Chapter 2 presents a brief review of the previous studies on reader identity or reader engagement. It is divided into three parts:the first is concerned with written discourse interaction, the second is about previous studies on reader engagement and the third focuses on argumentative writing as a genre. Chapter 3 gives an account of the theoretical framework. The author firstly gives an overview of interaction in writing, and then presents the theoretical framework of the present study. Chapter 4 provides quantitative and qualitative analysis of engagement devices frequently used in Chinese college students' EFL argumentative essays in terms of semantic references and discourse functions. Chapter 5 concludes by stating its major findings, pedagogical implications, limitations and some suggestions for further research.