Frequency Effects On Textual Borrowing In An L2 Reading-to-Write Task

This thesis investigates the frequency effects on textual borrowing in L2 students'reading-to-write tasks.Previous research on frequency and textual borrowing relationship revealed that task repetition resulted in better performance on students'source use practices.The present study aims to further explore the frequency effects on the amount,the types and the functions of textual borrowing by students with different proficiency levels.Twenty-seven English majors and twenty-five non-English majors were involved in this study.They were asked to write an argumentative essay after reading two source texts with opposing opinions.The reading-to-write tasks were repeated three times without any changes in reading texts or writing topic.Quantitative and qualitative analyses of students' texts yielded the following major findings:First,frequency had an effect on the amount of borrowed words used by students,with a significant increase at the second writing time.With respect to the types of textual borrowing,the most frequently used strategy was copy,followed by modification,transformation and reformulation throughout the trials.As writing task repeated,modification and reformulation gained a significant increase at the second time.In terms of the functions of textual borrowing,it was found that most of the borrowed units were used to serve as claim and data.Very few students used counterargument,rebuttal and background.Besides,as writing frequency increased,the cases of data increased dramatically at the second time.Second,frequency produced different effects on the textual borrowing practices by students with different proficiency levels.On the one hand,low achievers made significantly more use of borrowed words than high achievers at each time of writing.As for the types of textual borrowing,more use of modification,reformulation and transformation were made by high achievers,while copy was frequently employed by low achievers.In the case of the functions of textual borrowing,high achievers made significantly more use of counterargument,rebuttal and background than low achievers at the second writing time,while the function of data were dramatically employed by low achievers.On the other hand,frequency significantly influenced the amount of borrowed words for low achievers,with an increase seen at the second time,but no effect was found for high achievers.As for the types of textual borrowing,frequency effects were observed only among high achievers.For them,the cases of modification and reformulation increased dramatically,while the cases of copy dropped significantly at the second writing time.With respect to the functions of textual borrowing,frequency had a marginal effect on the use of data within high achievers,with a decrease at the third writing time;while within low achievers,a significant difference was found on the use of data,with an increase at the second writing time.This study has both theoretical and pedagogical implications.Theoretically,it adds to our understanding of frequency effects on textual borrowing in an argumentative writing task.Pedagogically,it raises teachers' awareness of the importance of frequency and textual borrowing practices and provides empirical evidence for teachers to integrate this method into their teaching.