Although much is known about the benefits of providing creative writing courses to English learners, little research is available on Chinese ethnolinguistic minority learners’ creative writing in formal education. In...Although much is known about the benefits of providing creative writing courses to English learners, little research is available on Chinese ethnolinguistic minority learners’ creative writing in formal education. In response, this ethnographic study explored three ethnolinguistic minority learners’ engagement with a three-month elective English creative writing course at a Chinese university. Data(drafts, interviews, and reflection) were analyzed to reveal the three learners’ investment in creative writing and its impact. It was found that creative writing helped the learners to develop more confident writer identities, that they became more proficient in writing, and that their language proficiency also grew. The study suggests creative writing can serve as identity texts,which reflect back on their emergent creative writer identity, and can be a beneficial pedagogical option for ethnolinguistic minority learners.展开更多
This paper's goal is to help accounting academics better navigate the editorial review process to increase the likelihood of a manuscript's publication. The authors draw on their years of experience as active schola...This paper's goal is to help accounting academics better navigate the editorial review process to increase the likelihood of a manuscript's publication. The authors draw on their years of experience as active scholars, reviewers, and editors of academic journals to provide practical insights on manuscript preparation, submission, and revision. Specific topics include (1) selecting an appropriate journal, (2) choosing an appropriate strategy to address a research question, (3) organizing a paper's structure including the abstract, motivation section, literature review, implications and conclusions, (4) writing style and (5) revising a manuscript.展开更多
This paper introduces process writing approach, and theories of learner motivation and learner autonomy. A fieldwork experiment is conducted on the comparison of on-line learning and traditional face-to-face learning ...This paper introduces process writing approach, and theories of learner motivation and learner autonomy. A fieldwork experiment is conducted on the comparison of on-line learning and traditional face-to-face learning to find out whether on-line learning can improve learners' writing ability and learners motivation in EFL writing. The results show that on-line learning with its distinctive advantages where process writing approach can be carried out relatively easily can arouse learners' intrinsic motivation and enhance learner autonomy, thus improving learners' writing ability significantly.展开更多
In a case study investigating Chinese EFL university majors' perceptions of a portfolio-based writing assessment (PBWA) project, English majors were sampled to find out whether the portfolio method made them more i...In a case study investigating Chinese EFL university majors' perceptions of a portfolio-based writing assessment (PBWA) project, English majors were sampled to find out whether the portfolio method made them more interested in writing and/or improved their writing process and writing strategies. Four sophomores were chosen from among an experimental group at a local university in China. Analysis of data from student journals, interviews and reflective essays showed that taking part in portfolio writing empowered them to take charge of their own learning and motivated them to write better. The students welcomed PBWA as a fairer assessment tool than timed, one-shot essay tests. They held more interest in English writing, improved their writing strategies and shifted their attention from products of writing to process of writing and, thus, preferred scores from PBWA as a more satisfactory indicator of their writing ability.展开更多
This paper reports a study into the use of amplifiers and amplifier collocations in the doctoral dissertations of Chinese EFL learners. A sample corpus of doctoral dissertations by Chinese doctoral students and a cont...This paper reports a study into the use of amplifiers and amplifier collocations in the doctoral dissertations of Chinese EFL learners. A sample corpus of doctoral dissertations by Chinese doctoral students and a control corpus of doctoral dissertations by native speaker doctoral students were compiled and used for the analyses. Results showed that the overall number of amplifiers used by the Chinese students and the native speaker students were comparable. However, the Chinese learners overused totally, very and really and underused entirely and highly in their writing. Moreover, the Chinese learners tended to use more amplifier collocations than their native speaker counterparts. In particular, they tended to use clearly much more frequently to intensify the reporting verbs and to use the amplifiers to intensify the meaning of general adjectives in their writing. It was also found that many amplifier collocations used by the Chinese learners were congruent collocations. The findings may indicate a non-native style within Chinese learners' writing. We argue that Chinese learners overuse amplifiers and amplifier collocations in order to focus the reader's attention as well as to enhance the meaning of general adjectives. Meanwhile, the Chinese learners' mother tongue exerts a clear influence on their use of amplifiers and amplifier collocations. Pedagogical implications are also discussed within the paper.展开更多
This paper reports on an inquiry into the construction of stance in finite reporting that-clauses. The data were drawn from two corpora of academic papers from a journal in the discipline of Applied Linguistics writte...This paper reports on an inquiry into the construction of stance in finite reporting that-clauses. The data were drawn from two corpora of academic papers from a journal in the discipline of Applied Linguistics written by different language users: native speakers of English and Chinese writers using English as L2. By drawing on Sindair's distinction between "averral" and "attribution," as well as Martin and White's notion of extra-vocalization, this paper sets up a framework for analyzing the sources in reporting clauses in order to examine how the writers construe their stances as visible, hedged or concealed. The study found that for self-sourced reports, the L2 writers are inclined to avoid direct self-mention which shows the greatest writer visibility, but instead use hidden averral with internal attribution. As for other-sourced reports, L2 writers prefer reporting verbs which are strong in the strength of attitude to make a much more definite and stronger claim, while native writers tactically use the moderate verbs and boosting expressions to construct more flexible stances. These discrepancies are likely to result from the disciplinary characteristics which are both community-based and context-situated.展开更多
Enlightened by Politzer's (1972) assertion that 'language materials must be presented in spoken form before they are introduced in written form'(Els et al. 1984:256), the author of this paper holds that sp...Enlightened by Politzer's (1972) assertion that 'language materials must be presented in spoken form before they are introduced in written form'(Els et al. 1984:256), the author of this paper holds that speaking is likely to be in the juxtaposition of reading in its contribution to better English writing. Course investigation of learners needs reveals their strong wish to improve English writing and classroom atmosphere. 113 sophomores were involved in a series of classroom activities forming the preparing stage for English writing. The variety of activities offers a large platform for the participants to share opinions and exchange information. The investigations of learners' attitudes carried out during the program towards each activity show their preferences concerning majors. [HJ][WTH3]展开更多
文摘Although much is known about the benefits of providing creative writing courses to English learners, little research is available on Chinese ethnolinguistic minority learners’ creative writing in formal education. In response, this ethnographic study explored three ethnolinguistic minority learners’ engagement with a three-month elective English creative writing course at a Chinese university. Data(drafts, interviews, and reflection) were analyzed to reveal the three learners’ investment in creative writing and its impact. It was found that creative writing helped the learners to develop more confident writer identities, that they became more proficient in writing, and that their language proficiency also grew. The study suggests creative writing can serve as identity texts,which reflect back on their emergent creative writer identity, and can be a beneficial pedagogical option for ethnolinguistic minority learners.
文摘This paper's goal is to help accounting academics better navigate the editorial review process to increase the likelihood of a manuscript's publication. The authors draw on their years of experience as active scholars, reviewers, and editors of academic journals to provide practical insights on manuscript preparation, submission, and revision. Specific topics include (1) selecting an appropriate journal, (2) choosing an appropriate strategy to address a research question, (3) organizing a paper's structure including the abstract, motivation section, literature review, implications and conclusions, (4) writing style and (5) revising a manuscript.
文摘This paper introduces process writing approach, and theories of learner motivation and learner autonomy. A fieldwork experiment is conducted on the comparison of on-line learning and traditional face-to-face learning to find out whether on-line learning can improve learners' writing ability and learners motivation in EFL writing. The results show that on-line learning with its distinctive advantages where process writing approach can be carried out relatively easily can arouse learners' intrinsic motivation and enhance learner autonomy, thus improving learners' writing ability significantly.
基金part achievements of the project "Reform of Reading-to-writing courses of English Major" supported by Guangdong Province Higher Educational Reform Essential Project(2013)the education reform project of Southern Medical University
文摘In a case study investigating Chinese EFL university majors' perceptions of a portfolio-based writing assessment (PBWA) project, English majors were sampled to find out whether the portfolio method made them more interested in writing and/or improved their writing process and writing strategies. Four sophomores were chosen from among an experimental group at a local university in China. Analysis of data from student journals, interviews and reflective essays showed that taking part in portfolio writing empowered them to take charge of their own learning and motivated them to write better. The students welcomed PBWA as a fairer assessment tool than timed, one-shot essay tests. They held more interest in English writing, improved their writing strategies and shifted their attention from products of writing to process of writing and, thus, preferred scores from PBWA as a more satisfactory indicator of their writing ability.
文摘This paper reports a study into the use of amplifiers and amplifier collocations in the doctoral dissertations of Chinese EFL learners. A sample corpus of doctoral dissertations by Chinese doctoral students and a control corpus of doctoral dissertations by native speaker doctoral students were compiled and used for the analyses. Results showed that the overall number of amplifiers used by the Chinese students and the native speaker students were comparable. However, the Chinese learners overused totally, very and really and underused entirely and highly in their writing. Moreover, the Chinese learners tended to use more amplifier collocations than their native speaker counterparts. In particular, they tended to use clearly much more frequently to intensify the reporting verbs and to use the amplifiers to intensify the meaning of general adjectives in their writing. It was also found that many amplifier collocations used by the Chinese learners were congruent collocations. The findings may indicate a non-native style within Chinese learners' writing. We argue that Chinese learners overuse amplifiers and amplifier collocations in order to focus the reader's attention as well as to enhance the meaning of general adjectives. Meanwhile, the Chinese learners' mother tongue exerts a clear influence on their use of amplifiers and amplifier collocations. Pedagogical implications are also discussed within the paper.
基金funded by the Humanities and Social Sciences Planning Project of China's Ministry of Education(No.12YJA740050)the provincial(Ji Lin)Philosophy and Social Sciences Foundation Project in China(No.2013BS99)
文摘This paper reports on an inquiry into the construction of stance in finite reporting that-clauses. The data were drawn from two corpora of academic papers from a journal in the discipline of Applied Linguistics written by different language users: native speakers of English and Chinese writers using English as L2. By drawing on Sindair's distinction between "averral" and "attribution," as well as Martin and White's notion of extra-vocalization, this paper sets up a framework for analyzing the sources in reporting clauses in order to examine how the writers construe their stances as visible, hedged or concealed. The study found that for self-sourced reports, the L2 writers are inclined to avoid direct self-mention which shows the greatest writer visibility, but instead use hidden averral with internal attribution. As for other-sourced reports, L2 writers prefer reporting verbs which are strong in the strength of attitude to make a much more definite and stronger claim, while native writers tactically use the moderate verbs and boosting expressions to construct more flexible stances. These discrepancies are likely to result from the disciplinary characteristics which are both community-based and context-situated.
文摘Enlightened by Politzer's (1972) assertion that 'language materials must be presented in spoken form before they are introduced in written form'(Els et al. 1984:256), the author of this paper holds that speaking is likely to be in the juxtaposition of reading in its contribution to better English writing. Course investigation of learners needs reveals their strong wish to improve English writing and classroom atmosphere. 113 sophomores were involved in a series of classroom activities forming the preparing stage for English writing. The variety of activities offers a large platform for the participants to share opinions and exchange information. The investigations of learners' attitudes carried out during the program towards each activity show their preferences concerning majors. [HJ][WTH3]