Meristem culture (MC) is a technique for producing virus-free garlic plants with high vigor and productivity. We assessed the changes in the agronomic traits of “Namdo” garlic over several generations after the cultivation of MC-induced bulbils. We examined the plant height, leaf sheath length and diameter, leaf number, bulb weight and diameter, clove number, and bulb size distribution. Compared with that of the control, bulb weights of the first-generation bulbils cultivated for three and two years and the second-generation bulbils cultivated for one year increased by 8.7–27.2, 13.9–30.4, and 36.6–46.9%, respectively. In three and two-year cultivation of the firstgeneration bulbils and one-year cultivation of the second-generation bulbils, the proportions of extra-large-sized bulb weight in meristem-cultured plants were 16.2–38.6, 24.0–35.8, and 27.1–51.1%, respectively, whereas that of the control was 7.6%. Thus, the first-generation bulbils can be cultivated for three years to renew the seed bulbs while maintaining productivity.

In argumentative writing, writers are expected to use hedged expressions and stance devices through specific linguistic expressions to convince their proposition effectively. Yet little research attention has been paid to whether the inclusion of such devices is related to the overall quality of second or foreign language learners’ argumentative writing. In this study, hedges and stance devices that are included in 28 advanced Korean EFL writers’ argumentative writing were analyzed to identify their potential relation to the overall writing quality. Analyses demonstrated that although hedges and stance devices were related to argumentative writing quality in general, the specific linguistic forms that predicted two different aspects of writing quality – formal and content quality – were different. Specifically, hedges played a significant positive role in only content quality of writing, and the specific stance devices that significantly predicted formal quality did not contribute to the content quality, and vice versa. The findings from this study provides important pedagogical implications for EFL writing instruction.