This study explored rhetorical devices and their effect on forming coherent and cohesive wholes in the writing of 61 EFL students. When analyzing their writing using the five-paragraph essay format, 57% of students deviated from the format, with some resorting to their L1 rhetorical structures (the indirect group) and others employing rhetorical preferences presumed to be deterministically influenced by their L1 (the hybrid group). Only 43% adhered to the format (the direct group). Neither the indirect nor the hybrid groups were inferior to the direct group regarding the length and quality of the writing; the direct group was not necessarily better received than the other two. The indirect group had a discernible (even if not statistically significant) impact on the length and quality of the writing. The indirect and hybrid groups were found to have slightly stronger control over cohesion indices. The two groups challenged the Englishonly orientation of the five-paragraph essay by negotiating rhetorical structures, thereby doing translingual dispositions.

This study investigated how two Korean EFL college students, who were taught the five-paragraph essay in their college writing classes, drew upon rhetorical resources in their writing for learning content (WLC). Using a multiple-case study design, the study examined how the students consciously manipulated all of their rhetorical resources to make meaning and used L2 writing to learn content. It also explored how they differed in their enactment of rhetorical practices and deployment of rhetorical resources in WLC. During their engagement with WLC, they developed rhetorical strategies that reflected the structure of their evolving text rather than the structure of the five-paragraph essay. Their rhetorical choices in WLC have provided invaluable insight into the rhetorical challenges they faced while writing. Overall, they produced texts that better portrayed the multiple nuances inherent in a translingual approach. An implication is that more L2 writing teachers and scholars should pay attention to the rhetorical sensibility promoted by the translingual movement

In this study, using the concept of perezhivanie as an analytical tool, we were trying out new ways to investigate L2 identity taking the peripheral educational context into account. We examined how two graduates from non-academic high schools perceived their peripheral school situation through their perezhivanie, and described how this situation affected the individual trajectories of L2 identity development as well. When two students immersed themselves in marginalized classroom contexts, they have experienced academic stigma in the context of classroom community. Moreover, they all experienced emotional conflicts related to English learning. Besides, they struggled over deficit remedial L2 identity, entailing identity tensions. As they attempted to reconcile the contradictions between themselves and their circumstances, their perezhivanie made their social situation of development differently. Depending on how the contradiction was being emotionally experienced through the prism of each student’s perezhivanie, the same contradiction had different meanings, led to different reactions, and had differing impacts on their L2 identity.

In this study, we propose a link between L2 rhetorical concepts and ELF as a way of the analysis of the development of a single concept, of an EFL college student’s rhetorical knowledge. Using Vygotskian sociocultural theory as analytical lenses, we examine whether L2 rhetoric can be mastered and internalized as a culturally neutral concept, i.e., the formulaic knowledge of L2 writing the student has learned from the NEST through instruction; and how the student’s L1 rhetorical concept and ELF performance together mediate his L2 concept development in his academic writing. The data consist of a student’s personal narratives, text-based interviews and academic writings. Rather than the mastery of a single variety of English, he produced texts that reflect the flexibility and variability inherent in written ELF. From ELF perspectives, this study offers an opportunity of establishing a new normal, in which rhetorical conventions of texts should be viewed as constructs that are dynamic, emergent, and therefore negotiable and adaptable.

We examined the role of L1 writing on L2 writing performance by repeating the same topic twice through L1 writing first and L2 writing later. We designed what we call a ‘L1 + L2 writing task’ and a ‘L2-only writing task’ respectively. In the L1 + L2 writing task, students wrote a text in their L1, and wrote the same topic in L2, by removing the initial L1 essay. We focused on validating which task conditions (± L1 writing) account for the variation in linguistic performance in EFL high-school students’ writing. Our study was conducted with two intact classes (n = 60) assigned to the L2-only, and students from the other two classes (n = 60) assigned to the L1 + L2. The findings indicate that L1 writing may push students to direct their attentional resources toward effective text construction, thereby mitigating a large number of simultaneous demands on attention. We add to empirical knowledge on the effects of L1 writing in task repetition, by exploring how task repetition affected our students’ L2 writing performance.

This study investigated EFL college students’ culture-related templates of written texts along the possibility of inter-cultural transfer. We designed a case study to explore how certain cultural assumptions contribute to EFL students’ rhetorical decisions while writing an argumentative writing. The participants were four EFL college students. Multiple data sources include background questionnaires, argumentative essays, and in-depth retrospective interviews. To analyze rhetorical choices in the participants’ writing, we identified choices of argumentation subtypes, and introduction and conclusion components. We also categorized the location of the writer’s main claim and thesis statement. The interview data were qualitatively analyzed to see what rhetorical resources participants draw from the cultural/educational contexts, and which factors had influenced the participants’ rhetorical strategy. Data analyses indicate that each participant manipulated different rhetorical structures to strengthen the rhetorical impact of their writing. Indeed, the complex constellation of individual participants’ cultural resources was at play in their L2 writing. This study contributes to our understanding of the rhetorical templates of L2 texts as constructs that are always in process, and therefore adaptable and negotiable.

We explored whether task complexity, operationalized by the two types of writing prompts, affects EFL high school students’ narrative writing in terms of syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, fluency, cohesion, and text quality. 32 intermediate EFL students who were randomly assigned to two prompt groups completed a written narrative task based on a series of sixteen pictures. Task complexity was operationalized as a bare versus frame prompt. The results indicate that the task complexity had an impact on lexical sophistication measures. The students in the framed prompt group were able to include more sophisticated vocabulary in their narratives than those in the bare prompt group. The findings are discussed in terms of the Limited Attentional Capacity Model in that the students in the bare prompt group might have prioritized meaning rather than form in order to ease attentional overload. The findings of our study could assist teachers in selecting writing prompts that have the potential to elicit the targeted features of writing performance.

By examining two low-proficiency EFL students’ experiences of reading literature, and of writing about what they have read during a semester-long reading/writing course, we investigate literature’s place in EFL writing classes. We also observe whether using literature in EFL writing classes lead to successful synergies among LW (learning-to-write), WLL (writing-to-learn language), and WLC (writing-tolearn content). We adopt a case study methodology. The participants, Mia and Sun, are first-year students who attend a private university in Seoul. Both students favor the inclusion of literature in the reading-writing classroom. Mia experiences the literature-reading-writing connection mainly as language knowledge, with the strong appreciation for WLL perspective. By comparison, Sun concerns for LW dimensions of writing, together with the WLL perspective. This study provides evidence that literature-reading-writing connection serves as a vehicle not only for a rich reading experience but also for the synergistic learning of writing, content, and language.

Metadiscourse has been recognized as an important aspect of effective persuasive discourse. In this study, we explore how metadiscourse features are deployed by 34 EFL undergraduate students to make their non-discipline persuasive texts effective. We find that students grasp at least some of the metadiscourse resources available to them, but are relatively limited in rhetorical sophistication. In fact, transitions, frame markers, code glosses and hedges were found to be critical elements contributing to student writing quality. The findings also show that both frequency and diversity of frame markers are positive predictors of overall writing quality. We also investigate the linguistic forms of metadiscourse used by the students to project stance in their writing. The students were found to have difficulty handling the range of stance construction they could take, and this was unfortunately couched in single-word modal verbs. Teachers should make the metadiscourse features of persuasive writing explicit to students to assist them in making stronger arguments.

The issue of text appropriation is rarely explored in EFL classrooms where the teachers are native speakers of English. In this study we highlight how the ideology of NESTs influences students’ feedback practices. Two Korean EFL students seemingly welcomed teacher comments into their texts to make their revision process more manageable. By relinquishing their control, they welcome the appropriative behavior the teacher brings as the native English speaker. They believe that appropriating the behavior of the native English-speaking teacher is not only beneficial, but necessary in shaping their English discourse. Nonetheless, the students struggled in the feedback and revision cycles to negotiate between their hegemonic beliefs and the expectations of their native English-speaking teacher. In this sense, EFL students’ writing is always in foreclosure from the native English-speaking teachers, as EFL students are overshadowed by the ideology of NESTs.

The skill of argumentation is problematic for EFL students who are linguistically and rhetorically deficient in expressing academically appropriate forms in English. In fact, many EFL students struggle to write highly elaborate arguments. In this study, we investigated whether EFL students’ skills for argumentation improved after receiving peer feedback. We also investigated which elements of argumentation were related to the quality of argumentative writing. To this end, we used the Toulmin model of argumentation. We collected 34 EFL students’ first drafts and revisions as well as reviewers’ written feedback, and analyzed their drafts and revisions with a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches. We found that peer feedback had a positive effect upon overall writing quality. Peer feedback made meaningful contributions to the development of students’ argumentative strategies they employ. It seems apparent that peer response prompted the students to reflect on whether the logic of their argumentation made sense to the readers.

This study investigates the relationship between a native English-speaking teacher and EFL students in the response-and-revision process. The data consisted of drafts and revisions produced by three students in response to teacher comments and interviews with students. In order to examine how EFL students react to the feedback, teachers’ written feedback on the papers was evaluated by calculating frequency counts on the same types of feedback. We then examined the extent to which students made use of teacher feedback in their revisions. In addition, we supplemented our interpretations by extracting aspects of the students’ views through analysis of the interview data. All three students believe that only native speakers can correct language errors in their writing. Furthermore, the students prefer or indeed demand native English-speaking teachers as writing teachers. In fact, dissimilar student reactions to native English-speaking teacher feedback probably arise from whether and how they positioned themselves as a writer in the EFL writing classroom.

The purpose of this study is to explore L1 use in L2 writing from the perspective of Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory (SCT). We examine whether generating ideas in L1,compared to generating ideas in L2, results in inferior L2 writing. The participants were 42 Korean EFL students. As part of the course requirements, the students were required to hand in 400-word essays on a given topic. Once the writing was completed,they were asked to write down about what language(s) they used to prepare for the assignment and why they used this language or these languages. The data analysis used here stems from two ways in which the data were coded, use of language(s) during idea generation and a global-level essay analysis. This study has shown that more than half of students use their L1 while writing in L2 to some extent. Regarding the effect of L1use on L2 text quality, L1 use does not appear to be negatively related to L2 text quality. This does not confirm the results of earlier research, which suggested that L1use has a detrimental effect on L2 text quality. We argue that the L1 is an already internalized and very effective meditational means that learners will resort to,principally for discovering and shaping meaning and as support in moments of cognitive difficulty.