ESL Learners and Writing Styles (Research Proposal Sample)

Research Proposal: ESL Learners and Writing Styles
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Background
There are instances when non native English speakers make mistakes in academic writing because of interference of their first languages. There is a challenge for non- native English speakers when writing because they are expected to provide high quality writing free from errors just like native English speakers (Miller & Endo, 2004). However, past research on rhetoric shows that this varies from culture to culture. Arab speakers from the Middle East as well as Spanish speakers from South America experience writing problems while writing in American English because of cultural interpretation. In particular, ESL learners from the Middle East have to learn how to use a new writing script. The first language does interfere with acquisition of a second language especially when learners are not well conversant in writing with the second language (Fernsten, 2008).
Rationale for the study
Learners using English as a second language need to be competent and proficient in the language as this makes it to easier to complete courses in American institutions. There are both cultural and language problems for non native English speakers. The mot common problem is struggling with a new language, and those not competent in English are likely to feel anxious, and this could lead to low motivation for learning (Miller & Endo, 2004). Through better integrated leaning environments, it is possible for immigrant learners to use English in academic writing better, as there is less cognitive lead when they have better grasp of English. Consequently, understanding the different writing styles employed by Arabic speaking learners from the Middle East and Spanish speaking South American learners is crucial to identifying the most effective teaching strategies.
ESL learners from the Middle East
One of the common features of writing among Middle East ESL students is that they tend to use parallelism as well as repetition. On the other hand, American students tend to rely more on a linear pattern while writing. One of the reasons for this is that Middle East students tend to be influenced by classical Arabic, which is steeped in oral tradition, and the writing tends to be more reflective. At the same time, they are more likely to use apposition and subordination, while also emphasizing on parallelism as well asymmetry across clauses (Grabe & Kaplan, 1997). The Arabic- English contrast provides information to analyse how Arabic speakers write in English, since rhetoric writing is also influenced by native languages.
Even though, the oral feature of Arabic texts is common, it is not the only option that has influenced the way Arabic speaking students write in English. For instance, there is an ‘aural’ mode of writing which is common in Arabic writing indicating shared cultural ties. This typically results to overemphasis and repetition of syntactic structure. At the same time, the Arabic speakers may rely on a more ‘visual’ mode of writing that is non interactive and distant (Grabe & Kaplan, 1997). Essentially, Americans tend to write more formally and they are direct, and Arabic speakers are more likely to use the visual mode of writing given that there is emphasis on organization. In other words, Arabic writers can choose either of the two writing styles, and the aural mode is more preferred because of cultural reasons, but when writing in English they tend to prefer the visual mode.
Arabic texts typically write using long sentences, with subordinates and coordinates used often to connect the sentences. The compound sentences can stand on there own as they tend to contain one or more independent clauses. Even when writing in English, Arabic speakers tend to also use these long sentences. On the other hand, native speakers of English also use long sentences, but they rely less often on conjunctions. In most cases, they tend to write short simple sentences (Grabe & Kaplan, 1997). Hence, since Arabic speakers tend to use long sentences, it is possible to use more short sentences compared to writing by Americans, highlighting the preferences for coordinating conjunctions among Arabic speakers and this influences the writing style.
There are no significant differences on text progression between Arabic and English published texts. Nonetheless, Arabic speakers writing in English tend to use many topics and subtopics with less elaboration. This is characterised with more unsupported claims and generalised ideas, in comparison to writings by Americans. This may at times result to pseudo- sequential progression (Hinkel, 2002). Among English speakers in America, there is a tendency to rely on rigid and hierarchical topic progression is writing. Given that writings in Arabic tend to be more fluid in topic progression it is less hierarchical, students tend to use parallel constructions which make their English writing to appear as though they lack progression. This is simply characteristic of Arabic wring where progression in topic development relies more on conjunctions and parallelism (Hinkel, 2002).
The role of rhetorical persuasion strategies in influencing writing styles cannot be ignored, as they are cultural aspects to writing. ESL learners from the Middle East tend to use persuasive devices frequently, even when they are inappropriate for academic writing this includes the use of paraphrases, amplifiers and emphatics, which may appear more times in the same text (Hinkel, 2002). Equally, the use of analogies, repetition and restatements is a technique employed in interviews to emphasize the viewpoints of Middle East students. This shows that discourse construction cannot be separated from the historical, cultural and environment, aspects as these features determine what is valued in writing (Hinkel, 2002).
The group oriented culture is dominant in the Middle East, and at times Arabic speaking ESL learners may use possessive pronouns like ‘our’ and ‘us’ more than is necessary. Even though, the writing may be correct, too much emphasis on group orientation even when there is a need to reflect shows that the group orientation approach can be inappropriate. On the other hand, American English speakers tend to differentiate between group roles and individual roles more often, and are less likely to rely on the group orientation approach even when emphasising on their viewpoints.
Since writers typically want to convey messages and provide information, thirty rely on different devices to achieve this. However, American English writers tend to be more direct as they seek to ensure that clarity of the text as there is a heaver burden to the writer. On the other hand, Arab ESL learners focus more on reader responsibility on interpretation of a text, as the reader is assumed to be vigilant when reading text. English writing places greater reasonability of providing information to the writer as a way to avoid misleading the readers (Hinkel, 2002). Learners from the Middle East have greater tolerance for ambiguity even when there is no clear direction on discourse. As such, the reader ought to interpret the implicit messages and determine how they are related to the text as a whole.
ESL learners from the South America
Even though, there are differences between Spanish speaking ESL learners and American English writing styles, there are similarities that make it easier for Spanish students to learn English better than Arabic speaking students. Since Spanish and English rely on the Roman alphabet, there is a phonemic and phonological background. It is also easier to transfer knowledge to English, because the two languages share the same basic structures. Nonetheless, phonological and phonemic differences may interfere with meaning, and this could also affect the way South American ESL learners spell words. Consequently, there is a need to understand these differences as this enhances writing, as well as strategies for speaking in English.
ESL learners from South America typically speak Spanish, and they tend to have more elaborated writing whether in English or Spanish. This is reflected through use of coordination and subordination between clauses, where there are used more frequently when compared with American English writers. At the same time, there is a tendency to use longer sentences and more coordinate clauses among South American ESL learners. This would likely be because they rely on loose coordination patterns when writing, and this approach results to less frequent use of simple sentences. ESL learners from diverse social, economic backgrounds as well as countries in South America exhibit the more elaborated style preference regardless of their background.
English writing emphasizes on using a different style that also relies more on reduced sentences in comparison to Spanish. In contrast, South America ESL writers rely less on use of organizational words. Latin American Spanish writers use more additive clauses even when writing in English just like in their Spanish writing which is flowery and poetic (Mejía, 2005). At the same time, the longer sentences are likely to be accompanied with comma splice in comparison to American English writing style. The elaborate writing style is also associated with a more abstract informational approach among South American Spanish speakers (Mejía, 2005). Besides writing longer sentences, Spanish speaking South Americans are more likely to focus on different topical subjects in each paragraph.
ESL Spanish learners, typically use more discourse markers than English speakers and writers in writing. At t...