An Analysis Of Argument Structures And Metadiscourse In Chinese EFL Argumentative Writing

Argumentation skills are becoming more and more important for the academic success of ESL/EFL learners in tertiary education.Yet,it has still been a challenge for most of them.Numerous studies have been conducted on argumentative writing,mainly focusing on discourse structure and linguistic features.However,few have investigated the academic features of argumentative writing from the perspectives of argument structures and metadiscourse.Moreover,the research subjects have usually been ESL/EFL undergraduate students.Very few have examined Chinese EFL graduate students,especially non-English majors.The present study aims to investigate how Chinese EFL graduate students develop argumentative discourse by examining argument structures and how they use specific academic language forms to signal organization and stance in the essays.Data was collected from 159 non-English major graduate students in a university in central China,with 81 essays in the high-score group and 66 essays in the low-score group.To ensure the accuracy,coding of the argument structures and metadiscourse was annonated manually.The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively.Quantitative analysis provides an overview of the distribution features of argument structures and metadiscourse.The argument structures and metadiscourse in the high-score and low-score groups were compared.Specific differences were revealed by qualitative analysis.Statistical results were analyzed by SPSS 20.0(Independent-Samples T-test,Correlation analysis,One-way ANOVA analysis).Furthermore,academic use of metadiscourse was examined by comparison with published academic writing corpus(COCAA—Corpus of Contemporary American English,academic sub-corpus).Quantitative and qualitative analysis indicated that most of the students' essays belonged to the four arguing genres(Hortatory Exposition,Analytical Exposition,Hortatory Discussion,Analytical Discussion)with few exceptions.The students showed a preference for exposition genre.Few discussion genre and counterarguments were found in the essays.Moreover,the students in the high-score group were more proficient in the use of some organizational markers.Yet,a tendency to use boosters in expressing stance was identified both in the high-score group and low-score group.In addition,overuse of phrases,informal expressions and inappropriate use of stance markers revealed that most of the students neglected the academic use of metadiscourse.Based on the research findings,pedagogical implications are provided for the instruction of second language writing.More attention can be paid to logical reasoning,analytic and critical thinking skills in EFL writing.The basic argument elements(thesis,argument,claim,data,counterargument,rebuttals)and the four arguing genres can be introduced in the instruction of argumentative writing.At the same time,counterarguments and sufficient evidence should be emphasized as essential parts of argumentative writing.Moreover,academic vocabulary,such as the specific academic language forms to signal organization and stance,can be taught according to different classifications or functions.