Argumentative L2 text in context: An exploratory study in Australia and Hong Kong Grace H. Y. Wong RESEARCH REPORTS General Editor: Gregory James VOLUME FIVE Argumentative L2 text in context: An exploratory study in Australia and Hong Kong Grace H. Y. Wong LANGUAGE CENTRE Hong Kong University of Science and Technology This report is a shortened, edited version of the author’s thesis, ‘Argumentative L2 text in context: An exploratory study in Australia and Hong Kong’ for which she was awarded the degree of PhD at Macquarie University, Sydney, 2002. Language Centre Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Copyright © November 2003. All rights reserved. ISBN 962-7607-22-3 Postal Address: Language Centre, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, CHINA Telephone: (852) 2358 7880 Facsimile: (852) 2335 0249 Contents Editorial Foreword ix Acknowledgements xi Synopsis xiii Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Language learning in context: Australia and Hong Kong 3 Second language competence 3 Competence versus performance 3 Defining language proficiency 3 Contexts of developing second language competence 6 The place of SLC and the socio-cultural factors it presents 6 Personal/psychological factors 9 ESL versus EFL language learning 9 Learning English in Hong Kong 10 Learning English as an International student in Australia 11 Background of international students in Australian universities 11 Problems faced by international students 11 English proficiency 11 Relationships 13 Implications for the present study 14 Chapter Three: Teaching and assessing academic writing 15 Students’ academic writing needs 15 Research on students’ academic writing 16 Contrasts between good writing and poor writing 16 Rhetorical functions identified in students’ academic writing 16 Recurrent rhetorical functions in good essays 16 Problematic rhetorical functions 17 Academic conventions 17 Referencing 17 Critical attitudes toward published work 18 Cultural differences in discourse patterns 18 Assessing academic writing 19 Reliability of holistic rating 19 Validity of holistic rating 19 Extrinsic factors 20 Content/subject matter 20 Grammatical accuracy 20 Organisation 21 Questions and issues 22 Chapter Four: The structure of argumentative text and the study of 23 rhetorical relations The structure of argumentative text 23 Global structure 23 Local structures 25 Segmentation of text 28 Using the sentence as the unit of segmentation 28 Using the T-unit as the unit of segmentation 28 Using the proposition as the unit of segmentation 29 Using the F-unit as the unit of segmentation 30 The hierarchical integration of argument and the study of rhetorical relations 31 Rhetorical Structure Theory Analysis 33 Functional Role Analysis 34 Communicative Function Analysis 36 Synthesis of previous approaches of studying rhetorical relations 37 Categorisation of rhetorical functions 37 Previously used categorisation systems of rhetorical functions 37 Categorisation system for this investigation: Rhetorical Function Analysis 40 Categorisation at the lower levels 43 Categorisation at the upper levels 44 Chapter Five: Research design and methods for analysis 45 Data collection 45 Research questions 45 Rhetorical Function Analysis (RFA): Method for investigating the hierarchical integration of argument (Research Questions 1 and 3) 47 Segmentation of text 47 Categorisation of rhetorical functions 47 Graphic representation of Rhetorical Function Analysis 47 Summary of the findings of Rhetorical Function Analysis 51 Validation of Rhetorical Function Analysis 56 Grammatical Accuracy Analysis (GAA): Method for investigating syntactic accuracy (Research Questions 2 and 4) 56 Previously used methods for studying grammatical accuracy in student writing 56 Categorisation system for this investigation: Grammatical Accuracy Analysis 57 Validation of Grammatical Accuracy Analysis 59 Hypotheses of the present investigation 60 Chapter Six: Results and discussion: Rhetorical Function Analysis 61 Introduction 61 Hypothesis 3 61 The hypothesis 61 Results 62 vi Integration of rhetorical relations at Functional Unit/Simple Sentence/Complex Sentence Level into rhetorical relations at Propositional Segment Level 62 Integration of rhetorical relations at Propositional Segment Level into rhetorical relations at Paragraph Level 62 Integration of rhetorical relations at Paragraph Level into rhetorical relations at Macrostructure Level 63 Discussion 64 The most frequently occurring relations in the high-rated essays 64 The most frequently occurring relations in the low-rated essays 65 Sequences of three rhetorical functions 67 Match with the Argumentative Response Structure 67 Adherence to academic conventions 69 Hypothesis 1 71 The hypothesis 71 Results 72 Integration of rhetorical relations at Functional Unit/Simple Sentence/Complex Sentence Level into rhetorical relations at Propositional Segment Level 72 Integration of rhetorical relations at Propositional Segment Level into rhetorical relations at Paragraph Level 72 Integration of rhetorical relations at Paragraph Level into rhetorical relations at Macrostructure Level 73 Discussion 74 The most frequently occurring relations and macrostructures identified in the Australian and Hong Kong essay groups 74 Language environment for the Australian subjects 75 Chapter Seven: Results and discussion: Grammatical Accuracy 77 Analysis Introduction 77 Hypothesis 4 77 The hypothesis 77 Results 77 Discussion: Similarities and differences in error types between the high-rated and low-rated essays 78 Hypothesis 2 81 The hypothesis 81 Results 81 Discussion 82 Similarities in error types between the Australian and Hong Kong essays 82 Differences in error types between the Australian and Hong Kong essays 83 Plagiarism in the Hong Kong low-rated essays 85 Further implications of Grammatical Accuracy Analysis 86 Conclusion 86 vii Chapter Eight: Conclusion 89 Synthesis of findings 89 Comparison between Rhetorical Function Analysis and Grammatical Accuracy Analysis 90 Implications for teaching 91 Reactive measures 91 Proactive measures: Towards a model for the teaching of local and global coherence 91 References 95 Appendix 1: Taxonomy of Rhetorical Function Analysis 105 Rhetorical Functions at the Lower Levels 105 Rhetorical Functions at Paragraph Level 109 Rhetorical Functions at Macrostructure Level 111 Appendix 2: HKH4 – Text and Rhetorical Function Analysis 115 Appendix 3: Taxonomy of Grammatical Accuracy Analysis 121 Appendix 4: Frequency of rhetorical functions identified at the lower and upper levels of Australian/Hong Kong high-/low-rated essays 123 Appendix 5: Frequency of grammatical errors identified in Australian/ Hong Kong high-/low-rated essays 131 Appendix 6: Comparison of frequencies and relative rankings of error types: High-rated essays versus low-rated essays/Australian essays versus Hong Kong essays 135 viii Editorial Foreword Readable writing must not only be clear in what it communicates, but must also satisfy the demands of the discipline. While academics have an intuitive knowledge of what consti- tutes good academic prose, this knowledge is seldom articulated explicitly and much less often brought to the attention of students. Students are usually only instructed in general terms, if at all, as to the requirements of their written work. These instructions usually ex- tend to advice on the required content of macrostructural components such as the follow- ing which might be required in an experimental report: Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion. They may require that the arguments be logical and consistent but rarely do they elaborate on how these instructions are to be carried out or advise on what kinds of sentences can carry what sort of information or on the ordering of items of information. (Kalder et al. 1996:1) A key concept in the understanding of intersentential relations is that of rhetorical func- tion. In this Report, Grace Wong uses Rhetorical Function Analysis as a tool to construct a ‘rhetorical map’ of a text to provide a diagrammatic network of the hierarchies of rela- tionships, and thus show its patterns of coherence and cohesion. With data from the writing of Hong Kong students in Hong Kong and in Australia, she shows that the latter group, after three years away from their home environment, “were able to produce longer essays, with more accurate tense forms and idiomatic ex- pressions …. [T]heir increased exposure to English has helped them to advance along the path of approximation toward the target language”. Wong points out, however, that many fossilised errors remain, and that the Hong Kong students in Australia still have difficul- ties in structuring their writing. As an exploratory step towards a longitudinal study of the interlingual acquisition of rhetorical functions, Wong’s Report provides valuable groundwork for further research of importance in language pedagogy. Reference Kaldor, S., Herriman, M. & Rochecouste, J. 1996. The academic teacher and the student writer: Raising textual awareness across disciplines. Different Approaches: Theory and Practice in Higher Education. Proceedings HERDSA Conference 1996. Perth, 8–12 July. [On-line] Available at: www.herdsa.org.au/confs/1996/kaldor.html ix x Acknowledgements I would like to extend my thanks to my supervisor, Associate Professor Pam Peters, for her guidance in helping me situate my research not only in the educational context, but also in wider contexts – social, cultural and psychological