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Second Language Writers' Text

Linguistic and Rhetorical Features

• By Eli Hinkel

• Price: $52.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 392
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 1st January 2002
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-4033-9

About the Book

This comprehensive and detailed analysis of second language writers' text identifies explicitly and quantifiably where their text differs from that of native speakers of English. The book is based on the results of a large-scale study of university-level native-speaker and non-native-speaker essays written in response to six prompts. Specifically, the research investigates the frequencies of uses of 68 linguistic (syntactic and lexical) and rhetorical features in essays written by advanced non-native speakers compared with those in the essays of native speakers enrolled in first-year composition courses. The selection of features for inclusion in this analysis is based on their textual functions and meanings, as identified in earlier research on English language grammar and lexis. Such analysis is valuable because it can inform the teaching of grammar and lexis, as well as discourse, and serve as a basis for second language curriculum and course design; and provide valuable insight for second language pedagogical applications of the study's findings.

Table of Contents

Contents: R.B. Kaplan, Foreword. Preface. Part I: Background: Research in Text and Written Discourse. Writing as Text. Research in Academic and ESL Written Discourse and Text. Written Discourse and Text in Different Rhetorical Traditions. The Goals and Politics of Teaching ESL Writing. The Study of Features of Second Language Text: Essays, the Data, and Methods of Analysis. Part II: Common Linguistic and Rhetorical Features of Academic ESL Text. Nouns, Pronouns, and Nominals and Their Functions and Uses in Text. The Verb Phrase and Deverbals and Their Functions and Uses in Text. Adjectives and Adverbs and Their Functions and Uses in Text. Subordinate Clauses and Their Functions and Uses. Text-Rhetorical Features and Their Functions and Uses. Part III: The Effect of Prompts on ESL Text. The First Three Prompts. The Second Three Prompts. The Differences That the Prompts Make. Part IV: Conclusion. Determining Priorities in Teaching and Curriculum. Epilogue. Appendices: Rank-Order of Median Frequency Rates of Linguistic Features in NS and NNS Texts. Comparisons of Common Linguistic and Rhetorical Features in Academic Essays Across Prompts, by L1 Groups.