Justin E. Jernigan, PhD

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Program

Georgia Gwinnett College

jjernigan@ggc.usg.edu

2010 TESOL ConferenceBoston

March 25, 2010

Structural and Rhetorical Patterns in Generation 1.5 EAP Student Writing

Setting• Public 4-year college in the southeastern U.S.,

enrollment: 3361 at last report

• Access Mission

• EAP (English for Academic Purposes) Program

• EAP Program student population (current) approximately 55

• Two levels of instruction, Intermediate and Advanced, in three areas: Structure & Composition, Reading, Oral Communication

Generation 1.5• Generally have acquired English by using it in

natural contexts, in much the same way that native

speakers acquire the language (Foin & Lange,

2005).

• Reid (1997) used the term “ear learners”

• Harklau (2003) urged college faculty working with

Gen 1.5ers to:

– (1) be aware of the students’ prior academic experience,

– (2) promote academic literacy,

– (3) help students develop critical literacy, and

– (4) recognize diverse needs.

Generation 1.5 (cont.)

• The “fluency fallacy”

• Miele (2003) discussed the “three-fold”

dilemma facing many Generation 1.5

students in the college writing classroom:– Ever-increasing percentage of students entering

college in this category

– Deficient academic abilities and substandard

performance, particularly in academic writing (also

Harklau, 2003)

– Effects of performance on college-level work and

self-image

Participants

• 45 Advanced EAP students, representing

16 different L1 backgrounds.

• Average age: approx. 19

• Average time in U.S.: approx. 7 years

• 25 females, 20 males

Research Questions

• What structural and rhetorical elements

occur most frequently in the college

academic writing of advanced-level EAP

learners?

• How do the structural and rhetorical

elements in the college academic writing of

advanced-level EAP learners correlate

within essays to reveal rhetorical patterns?

Intermediate Range Questions

• How do the structural and rhetorical elements

and patterns in the college academic writing of

advanced-level EAP learners compare with the

writing of comparable NS college students?

• How do the structural and rhetorical elements

patterns differ based on L1?

• How do the structural and rhetorical patterns

differ based on writers’ academic writing

proficiency (essay scores)?

Procedure• Two essay samples provided by each

participant. Average essay length:

approx. 450-500 words (suggested

length for final drafts, 500-600 words).

• Data to this point collected over 3-1/2

semesters

• 1-1/2 additional semesters of data

collection planned, including collection

of NS writing samples.

Procedure (cont.)

• 45 (of 90) EAP student essays selected

for inclusion in the present discussion

(one essay per participant)

• Essays coded for 11basic

structural/rhetorical elements.

• Coded results subjected to statistical

analysis (n=45)

Structural and Rhetorical Elements

Selected elements:

• Anacoluthon – an interruption in the grammatical

symmetry of a sentence. Ex: It is very important for

people to get a job that they feel comfortable in and

are happy while they work. (L1 Korean, male, 19)

• Anaphoric ambiguity. A situation in which a

pronoun or determiner has a referent that is not

clear. Ex: During this period, we receive visitor from

outside the country. (L1 Igbo, female, 21) .

Structural & Rhetorical Elements

• Asyndeton. The omission of a conjunction where

one is normally expected. Ex: It is a personal,

people-oriented festival when enmities are forgotten,

families and friends meet. (L1 Hindi, female, 25)

• Comma Splice. The joining of two clauses with

only a comma. Ex: [T]he national election should be

an important event for everybody, the participation

of everybody in vote should help the country to not

being ruled by a tyrant.

(L1 Congolese French, male, 22)

Structural & Rhetorical Elements

• Fragment. A phrase or dependent clause that is

presented as if it were a complete sentence.

Ex: Because they still also have their own business to

take care of. (L1 Vietnamese, male, 18)

• Redundancy – The intentional or unintentional

repetition of one or more elements in a sentence, or

the addition of an unnecessary element. Ex: The

important things were how I felt the fist day after going

to an American college, reason why I chose nursing

and the fees of nursing. (L1 Malayalam, female, 21)

Preliminary Findings• High-frequency structural and rhetorical elements include

subordination of clauses, anaphoric ambiguity (both pronominal and anaphoric-definite), passive construction, and tense shift.

• Expected structural and rhetorical elements that have appeared less frequently than anticipated to this point include reported speech, sentence fragments, and question forms.

• Preliminary identification of patterns:

– Correlation of anacoluthon with ambiguous anaphora

– Correlation of anacoluthon with subordination of clauses

– Correlation of verb tense shift with subordination of clauses

Preliminary Findings (2)

Structural/Rhetorical

Element

Number Sample

Anacoluthon 228 While he is home and waiting for me to get back from school, but sometimes I get the traffic jam (L1 Vietnamese, male, 18)

Anaphoric ambiguity 337 Conclusively, when a person is successful, that means that he or she loves their current job or career (L1 Bosnian, female, 18)

Asyndeton 9 People from different culture, environments can define happiness (L1 Romanian, female, 35)

Preliminary Findings (3)

Structural/Rhetorical

Element

Number Sample

Comma Splice or run-on sentence

116 My mom first makes dough for the pita, it looks kind of like a big round bread. (L1 Bulgarian, male, 18)

Fragment 35 Celebrated on the new moon between Oct 13 and Nov 14 according to the Hindu Calander. (L1 Hindi, female, 25)

Passive construction 220 Make sure to wash the rice with water carefully; if not, people might get poisoned. (L1 Mandarin, male, 18)

Question 4 Can you imagine what the festival is like, and do you want to join them? (L1 Mandarin, male, 19)

Preliminary Findings (4)Structural/Rhetorical

Element

Number Sample

Redundancy 296 When I make spaghetti for my family, they enjoy eating my spaghetti. (L1 Korean, female, 19)

Reported Speech 25 He said that some people used personalbelongings such as books, papers, and so on to strengthen their body territory. (L1 Spanish, female, 18)

Subordination of clause 785 On the other hand, there are three important parts of my life that I want to share (L1 Congolese French, female, 19)

Tense shift 343 My friends and I spend most of our time looking at each other’s dress; we also have new set of friends from different tribes and nationality who came to visit their families in Nigeria. (L1 Igbo, female, 21)

Preliminary Findings (5)

• Structural and Rhetorical Patterns

suggested in the coded data to this point:

Paired sample Correlation Sig.

anacoluthon & anaphora

.668 .049

anacoluthon & subordination

.796 .010

verb tense shift & subordination

.666 .050

Suggested Directions• Coding of remaining EAP student samples

• Continued collection of NS student essays (comparable

population)

• Coding of NS data

• Cross-checking of coding for intra- and inter-rater

reliability

• In-depth comparative analysis of EAP and NS academic

writing (based on coding results)

• Continued identification of correlations among structural

and rhetorical elements – patterns in EAP student writing

Selected References• Burton, G. O. (accessed 2009, 2010). Silva Rhetoricae [web resource]. Brigham

Young University. Last retrieved March 3, 2010 from (rhetoric.byu.edu)

• Foin, A. T., & Lange, E. J. (2005). Error coding effects on revision in Generation 1.5

writing. Proceedings of the CATESOL State Conference, 2005.

• Harklau, L. (2003). Generation 1.5 students and college writing. ERIC Clearinghouse

on Languages and Linguistics. Retrieved July 11, 2007 from www.cal.org/ericcll.

• Nayan, S., & Jusoff, K. (2009). A Study of subject-verb agreement: From novice

writers to expert writers. International Education Studies, 2, 190-194.

• Preiss, J., Gasperin, C., & Briscoe, T. (2004). Can anaphoric definite descriptions be

replaced by pronouns?. In Proceedings of LREC 2004, Lisbon.

• Reid, J. (1997). Which non-native speaker? Differences between international

students and U.S. resident (language minority) students. New Directions for

Teaching and Learning, 70, 17-27

• Rumbaut, R. G., & Ima, K. (1988). The adaptation of Southeast Asian refugee youth:

A comparative study. Final report to the Office of Resettlement. San Diego: San

Diego State University.

THANK YOU !

Questions?Comments?Suggestions?