Analyzes the extensive use of personal examples and stories in the academic essays of students who are nonnative speakers of English. Draws on a large database of college examination essays to compare the use of personal examples in essays written by native and nonnative speakers. Finds nonnative students not only use examples more often than…

A group of university students consisting of native speakers of Chinese (n=63), Japanese (n=33), Korean (n=21), Indonesian (n=20), and Arabic (n=13) with relatively extensive exposure to the American university environment and a control group of 20 native English-speakers were asked to rank the social appropriateness of 104 conversation topics.…

Investigates what can be learned about second language (L2) speech acts using English language multiple choice (MC) instruments and discourse completion tests (DCTs). The study focuses on the primary language (L1) responses of native speakers and the L2 responses given by speakers of Chinese to MC questionnaires and DCTs dealing with the…

This study investigated whether 199 advanced nonnative speakers of English attending Ohio State University judged the appropriateness of speech acts of giving thanks in ways similar to those of native speakers. The results showed that speakers of Chinese, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Arabic ranked expressions of thanks differently…

This study investigated cultural differences in attitudes toward the speech act of giving thanks, particularly between native speakers and non-native speakers with extensive exposure to the second language culture. Subjects were 199 advanced speakers of English as a Second Language, enrolled at the college level in the United States. Their native…