“It is more than true that television reproduces life”: The effect of Greek rhetorical conventions on Greek learners’ academic writing in English

This paper proposes a framework for analysing stance in argumentative essays written by Greek advanced learners of English. The essays are included in the Greek Corpus of Learner English (GRICLE). Their analysis showed that Greek learners point to their attitude mainly by using lexical chunks such as it is true that, it is a fact that, it is obvious that. Using such chunks allows students to defer commitment to the stated proposition, thereby presenting it as a commonly accepted fact. This technique is considered to be culturally induced as it is a typical rhetorical convention commonly followed in L1 writing

Discourse organising nouns in American and Greek university students’ argumentative essays: A contrastive study

This paper investigates how argumentation is constructed through nouns in argumentative essays. Data are drawn from the Greek Corpus of Learner English (GRICLE) and two native corpora (LOCNESS and PELCRA).  The study focuses on illocutionary, language activity and mental process nouns (cf. Francis 1994). Native speakers use more discourse organising nouns than Greek students and incorporate them effectively in their argumentation. These nouns have a clear cohesive function, can be modified by adjectives or a reference can be made to them. Greek students use those nouns mostly to refer to the prompt of the essay and provide agreement or disagreement with the topic

Exploring European Writing Cultures : Country Reports on Genres, Writing Practices and Languages Used in European Higher Education

At European universities, writing is a traditional way of learning, assessment, and independent study, but it is handled in an implicit, tradition-based way that has only recently been contrasted with and supported by a more explicit writing ped-agogy. Still, little systematic knowledge is available about the pedagogical ap-proaches to writing, writing practices, and genres across Europe and much of it is codified in the national languages without correlation to internationally accept-ed terminology and theories. This book explores the writing cultures of Europe, nation by nation, and reports the idiosyncrasies for each respective country. The reports are based on a 17-item topic list used by the authors to collect data be-fore synthesizing the results. Next to writing practices and genres, a high level of emphasis was placed on the structure of educational systems, the languages in use, and the kind of support provided for student writers. Note: This research project has been conducted within the framework of COST Action IS0703 “European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively”, funded by the European Union. We are also thankful to Christiane Donahue, Eliza Kitis, Charles Bazerman, Helmut Gruber, and David Russell for their cooperation and support in this project.Wissenschaftliches Schreiben an europäischen Hochschulen ist eine herkömmliche Form des Lernens, Prüfens und autonomen Studierens, auch wenn es in einer impliziten, eher auf Tradition denn auf bewusster Didaktik beruhenden Weise eingesetzt wird. Wenig auf systematische Weise erhobenes vergleichendes Wissen gibt es bislang über Schreibpraktiken, Genres und schreibdidaktische Ansätze in Europa und das, was an Wissen existiert ist oft in den nationalen Sprachen verfasst, die nicht mit internationalen Terminologien und Theorien der Schreibwissenschaft verbunden sind. Der vorliegende Band untersucht Schreibkulturen in Europa Land für Land und berichtet was jeweils hervorsticht. Die Berichte basieren auf einer 17-Item Themenliste, nach der die Autorenteams Daten über ihr jeweiliges Land sammelten, bevor sie es zu einem Bericht synthetisierten. Neben Schreibpraktiken und Genres werden dabei die Struktur des jeweiligen Bildungssystems, die verwendeten Sprachen und die besondere Schreibdidaktik hervorgehoben. Anmerkung: Das Projekt wurde im Rahmen der COST Aktion IS0703 “European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively” durchgeführt, das von der EU finanziert wird. Wir bedanken uns bei Christiane Donahue, Eliza Kitis, Charles Bazerman, Helmut Gruber und David Russell für ihre Unterstützung und Mitwirkung in diesem Projekt.At European universities, writing is a traditional way of learning, assessment, and independent study, but it is handled in an implicit, tradition-based way that has only recently been contrasted with and supported by a more explicit writing ped-agogy. Still, little systematic knowledge is available about the pedagogical ap-proaches to writing, writing practices, and genres across Europe and much of it is codified in the national languages without correlation to internationally accept-ed terminology and theories. This book explores the writing cultures of Europe, nation by nation, and reports the idiosyncrasies for each respective country. The reports are based on a 17-item topic list used by the authors to collect data be-fore synthesizing the results. Next to writing practices and genres, a high level of emphasis was placed on the structure of educational systems, the languages in use, and the kind of support provided for student writers. Note: This research project has been conducted within the framework of COST Action IS0703 “European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively”, funded by the European Union. We are also thankful to Christiane Donahue, Eliza Kitis, Charles Bazerman, Helmut Gruber, and David Russell for their cooperation and support in this project

Coherence relations in discourse and EFL writing

Rhetorical Structure Theory (henceforth RST), developed by Mann and Thompson (1988), provides a descriptive framework for discourse analysis that points to and describes the relations between text segments according to their functions. This theory explores coherence relations in a hierarchical fashion, proceeding from the larger to the smaller units in texts. In this paper, we apply the basic tenets of RST to a partial analysis of an argumentative text. Since it claims to provide a framework for comprehensive analyses of texts, RST appears to be suitable for EFL discourse comprehension and production because:(i)       Understanding the relations between segments and also their effects on the reader can help students retrieve intended/authorial and implied meanings, as well as ovext or covert ideological complexes. This understanding then becomes particularly useful when students produce argumentative prose.(ii)      This type of analysis can be useful for summarisation purposes as it points to the most essential segments and their interrelations in a text that form its backbone.While not ignoring RST's certain limitations (Bateman and Rondhuis 1997), we conclude our paper by exploring the usefulness of RST for EFL teaching meth­odology in our attempt to sensitise students to text structure

Repetition as a component of argumentation in written discourse

This paper defines argumentation as a distinct genre that: (a) generates ideolo­gical stance and (b) relates to persuasion. It then suggests that writers rely on the rhetorical scheme of repetition of lexical items and structures to put forth ideology. In the rest of the paper, the role of repetition is examined in the ana­lyses of one argumentative and one narrative text. Repetition is shown to be a textual device that acts as an exponent of textuality as well as discursivity. Therefore, the binary function of this component of argumentation needs to be stressed in textual analysis

Argumentative writing: Comprehension and reproduction in foreign language learning

This paper presents a new framework for analysing written summaries of argu­mentative texts. Extending Sperber and Wilson's (1995) notion of explicated and implicated propositions and Halliday's (1994) metafunctions of language (ideational, interpersonal, and textual), I look at various types of propositional meaning: a. encoded propositional meanings, b. non-encoded, explicated pro- positional meanings, and c. non-encoded implicated meanings. As authorial at­titude can be expressed through a proposition and/or lexical choices, the inter­personal component cuts across the ideational and textual levels. Thus aiding students to retrieve intended/authorial and implied meanings as well as overt or covert ideological text parts will contribute to their overall comprehension of challenging texts

Discourse organising nouns in American and Greek university students' argumentative essays: A contrastive study

Abstract: This paper investigates how argumentation is constructed through nouns in argumentative essays. Data are drawn from the Greek Corpus of Learner English (GRICLE) and two native corpora (LOCNESS and PELCRA). The study focuses on illocutionary, language activity and mental process nouns (cf. Francis 1994). Native speakers use more discourse organising nouns than Greek students and incorporate them effectively in their argumentation. These nouns have a clear cohesive function, can be modified by adjectives or a reference can be made to them. Greek students use those nouns mostly to refer to the prompt of the essay and provide agreement or disagreement with the topic