earticle

영어

The last two decades have witnessed increasing studies on L2 learners’ argumentative writing quality from different perspectives. However, less attention has been paid to the rhetorical structures of arguments and counterarguments in ESL/EFL argumentative essays. To fill the gap, this study investigates the rhetorical features of argument and counterargument structures in Chinese EFL learners’ argumentative writing and examines the correlation between rhetorical structures and overall writing quality. Sixty-seven argumentative essays were collected in a natural academic English writing classroom at an English medium instruction university in China. Based on Toulmin’s (2003) model, the study qualitatively analyzed the rhetorical characteristics of Claim, Data, Counterargument-Claim, Counterargument-Data, and Rebuttal in the argument and counterargument. Then the relationship between the rhetorical structures and overall essay quality was quantitatively determined. Results indicated that most sampled essays were constructed as a two-sided complete pattern consisting of a complete argument and counterargument. Our study also found a correlation between the rhetorical structures and overall writing quality. The results revealed that the essays constructed with the two-sided complete pattern achieved significantly higher quality than those of the other patterns. These findings shed light on pedagogical implications for learning to write argumentative essays in the Chinese EFL context and how to instruct students to construct the argument and counterargument in L2 writing.

중국어

近年来，基于不同视角的有关于二语学习者议论文写作质量的研究日益增多。然而，对于英语作为第二语言或外语议论文中论点与反论点的修辞结构关注较少。本研究分析了中国英语作为外语（EFL）学习者议论文写作中论点与反论点的修辞结构特征，并检验了修辞结构与议论文写作质量之间的关系。本研究收集了67篇在自然学术英语写作课堂中完成的议论文。基于Toulmin模型（Toulmin, 2003），本研究对议论文中“主张”“论据支持”“反论-主张”“反论-论据支持”和“反驳反论点”的修辞特征进行了定性分析。随后，通过定量分析考察了修辞结构与整体写作质量之间的关系。研究结果表明，大多数样本文章采用了包含完整论点和反论点的双面完整模式结构。此外，本研究发现议论文中的论点和反论结构与整体写作质量之间存在相关性。具体而言，采用双面完整模式构建的文章在写作质量上显著优于其他模式的文章。本研究发现为中国EFL环境下学习议论文写作提供了教学启示，同时也为如何教导学生在英语议论文写作中构建论点和反论点提供了重要参考。