Summarization and Argumentation in EFL Text-Based Writing

초록

Second language (L2) writing studieshave focused on identifying features of nonnative writings and their relevanceto communicative competence. In contrast, composition studies for native speakershave demonstrated that writing can be an effective tool to facilitate studentlearning across curricula. There is a need, then, to examine how L2 writing can beused for content learning. The present study examines whether and how nonnativewritings is able to demonstrate their learning of course contents, namely, interculturalcommunication, in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Thedata corpus is based on nonnative writings by English majors in an EFL universitycontext during a three-year period (2009-2011). These students were required todo several timed-writings based on preassigned academic texts. This research identifiedthree major types of writings that work to summarize the source text whilepresenting personal arguments. The three types of writings show differences in theway they engage the source text in their summarization and how these differenceseffect the quality of the argumentations that follow.

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