Toward an understanding of writing in a second language: Evidence and its implications from L2 writers of Chinese.

摘要

This study addressed the accomplishment of using second language rhetorical strategies in writing. The purpose of the study was two-fold: to investigate the argumentative writing of adult learners of Chinese as a second language (L2), specifically English-speaking American university students who are currently enrolled in US college Chinese programs, and to explore factors in their L2 learning contexts and cultural backgrounds that may influence the development of their L2 rhetorical strategies.;To achieve this purpose, 60 Taiwanese students from National Taiwan University and 52 American students from Harvard's, Wellesley's, and Middlebury's Chinese programs were recruited. All students were asked to write a Chinese essay on an assigned topic and complete a Chinese cloze test. In addition, American students were asked to write an English essay, and to complete a Chinese newspaper and magazine familiarity checklist and a written questionnaire. Data were analyzed to answer the following three research questions: (1) Is L2 writing in Chinese by American students different from L1 writing in Chinese by Chinese students on measures of linguistic features and features reflecting the use of rhetorical strategies? (2) Do Individual American students display a similar rhetorical style in their L1 and L2 writings? (3) To what extent do second language proficiency, exposure to Chinese periodicals, exposure to formal Mandarin instruction, exposure to Chinese as a home language and/or culture, and residency in Chinese-speaking countries influence the development of Chinese learners' L2 linguistic features and rhetorical strategies?;The Data suggest that L2 Chinese writing was significantly different from L1 Chinese writing on five of the eight selected rhetorical features. American students tended to display similar rhetorical strategies related to argument focus, solution specificity, type of problem discussion, and use of citations in both L1 and L2 writings. For bilingual American students, the reading checklist score was the best predictor of their Chinese rhetorical score. For monolingual American students, residence abroad in Chinese-speaking countries was found to be directly related to their Chinese rhetorical score. For all American students, the clozed test score was found to be the best predictor of the number of grammar and word-choice errors in their L2 writing, and residence abroad was also directly related to the number of grammar and word-choice errors. Findings from this study have implications for CFL (Chinese as a foreign language) as well as ESL research and writing pedagogy.