A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING

One of the challenges in ESP classrooms is teaching writing genres, especially to students who come from fields that are taught in L1. This is presumably “not only because different languages seem to have different ways of organizing ideas and structuring arguments but because students’ prior writin...

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Main Authors: Loredana Bercuci, Madalina Chitez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Informascope 2019-10-01
Series:International Online Journal of Education and Teaching
Online Access:http://www.iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/655
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author Loredana Bercuci
Madalina Chitez
author_facet Loredana Bercuci
Madalina Chitez
author_sort Loredana Bercuci
collection DOAJ
description One of the challenges in ESP classrooms is teaching writing genres, especially to students who come from fields that are taught in L1. This is presumably “not only because different languages seem to have different ways of organizing ideas and structuring arguments but because students’ prior writing experiences in the home, school or elsewhere do not prepare them for the literacy expectations of their university or professional workplace” (Hyland, 2013, p. 95). In our study, we analyze 36 argumentative essays written by students of Political Science and International Relations in an English for Social Sciences course taught at the West University of Timisoara in Romania. The essays are written in English and the students’ L1 is Romanian. The aim of the study is to find out to what extent argumentative structures in English are influenced by Romanian academic writing genre norms. For our analysis, we use corpus linguistics methods, looking at frequencies and phraseology patterns as well as prominent rhetoric features related to argumentation. We argue that translations of Romanian structures feature prominently when descriptive moves (description, definition, enumeration) are employed.
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spelling doaj.art-065d53b3d107400c9445853bee12e4ef2023-02-15T16:14:17ZengInformascopeInternational Online Journal of Education and Teaching2148-225X2019-10-0164733747655A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITINGLoredana Bercuci0Madalina ChitezWest University of TimisoaraOne of the challenges in ESP classrooms is teaching writing genres, especially to students who come from fields that are taught in L1. This is presumably “not only because different languages seem to have different ways of organizing ideas and structuring arguments but because students’ prior writing experiences in the home, school or elsewhere do not prepare them for the literacy expectations of their university or professional workplace” (Hyland, 2013, p. 95). In our study, we analyze 36 argumentative essays written by students of Political Science and International Relations in an English for Social Sciences course taught at the West University of Timisoara in Romania. The essays are written in English and the students’ L1 is Romanian. The aim of the study is to find out to what extent argumentative structures in English are influenced by Romanian academic writing genre norms. For our analysis, we use corpus linguistics methods, looking at frequencies and phraseology patterns as well as prominent rhetoric features related to argumentation. We argue that translations of Romanian structures feature prominently when descriptive moves (description, definition, enumeration) are employed.http://www.iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/655
spellingShingle Loredana Bercuci
Madalina Chitez
A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING
International Online Journal of Education and Teaching
title A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING
title_full A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING
title_fullStr A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING
title_full_unstemmed A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING
title_short A CORPUS ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATIVE STRUCTURES IN ESP WRITING
title_sort corpus analysis of argumentative structures in esp writing
url http://www.iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/655
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