Investigating ELF/ESL students' experiences in constructing their academic written texts seems to be of great significance in EFL/ESL writing syllabus design and teaching. The case study reported in this paper explores the underlying factors which shape students' ways of supporting ideas in academic essays in English. Drawing on Lillis' (2001) framework for exploring student writing, the study examines the writing experiences of students from Vietnam and mainland China at an Australian university. Based on the students' reflection on their different ways of meaning making, this paper argues for the need to challenge the tendency to essentialize cultural rhetoric patterns and their effects upon Chinese and Vietnamese students' writing in English as a foreign or second language. Several implications for teaching EFL/ESL writing have also been drawn from the findings of this study.
History
Journal
Journal of Asia TEFL
Volume
3
Issue
3
Season
Autumn
Pagination
121 - 141
Publisher
Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
Location
Delhi, India
ISSN
1738-3102
Language
eng
Publication classification
C3.1 Non-refereed articles in a professional journal