Despite the existing extensive research on stance markers such as hedges, boosters, and self-mention in academic writing, few studies, however, examined the co-occurrence of these stance markers to help authors project their identities in writing. In this study, we examine how self-mention with boosters and hedges are used by writers of different…

Whether L1 (first language) rhetorical transfer affects L2 (second language) writing remains a controversial issue. Based on Hyland's move theory, this article focuses on the moves and the quality of wrap-up sentences in essay conclusions, exploring the impact of L1 rhetorical transfer. One hundred eighty-four expository essays written by Chinese…

English writing instruction is an important part in college English pedagogy. Traditional way of teaching English writing lays much emphasis on word, grammar and sentence rather than the level of discourse. Under the traditional way, the students have difficulties to yield well-organized and coherent compositions. Theme Theory provides a…

The author calls for scholars of rhetoric and composition to become familiar with the cosmology, language, educational attitudes, speech genres, and intellectual debates of a specific culture other than their own. For a case study, she turns to Chinese history and focuses on exchanges between three models of rhetoric: Confucian, Daoist, and…

Based on LSA's (Latent Semantic Analysis) measuring textual coherence and Halliday and Hasan's cohesive concepts and their categorization of cohesive devices, this paper analyzes coherent relatedness and cohesive devices of 100 Chinese students' English writings. The results indicate that (1) LSA is proved to be an objective and appropriate method…

Scholars have consistently claimed that rhetorical patterns are culturally bound, and indirectness is a defining characteristic of Chinese writing. Through examining how the rhetorical mechanism of directness and indirectness is presented in 29 English business communication textbooks published in China, we explore how English business…

The author responds to the essays in this special issue by noting that they emphasize the importance of careful, complex comparisons between Western and Chinese rhetorical traditions.

Examining two particular texts and applying modifications of Western feminist concepts, the author argues that early twentieth-century Chinese women's writing contains feminist thoughts and textual strategies far more complex and nuanced than conventional wisdom has led one to expect. (Contains 6 notes.)

Focuses on how people from different cultures organize and sequence texts in different ways and how students write essays in a second language that follow the rhetorical patterns of their native language. The article describes the types of essays Chinese students must write for the university entrance exam in their home country. (10 references)…

Investigated the persuasiveness of anecdotal and data-summary messages. The messages were read by most subjects (n=106) in less than 30 minutes. Short-term changes in intention and attitude resulted from the anecdotal message, whereas changes to individual beliefs were more long lasting. The data-summary messages produced no short-term or…