Analyzing discourse competence in argumentative essays

This study investigates discourse competence in second language (L2) argumentative essays. Discourse competence has long been treated holistically in most rating rubrics in large-scale, high-stakes, writing tests. To investigate the detailed sub-constructs of discourse competence in second language (L2) writings, this study analyzed 120 argumentative essays of different proficiency levels on an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) placement test at a Midwest university in the United States with an adapted fine-grained discourse competence rating scale from Wang and Xie’s study (2022). The study found that among the nine discourse features, F1 Topic/Focus, F4 Body paragraphs, and F6 Theme-rheme development had strong and significant correlations with the EPT placement levels, and the F7 Connective complexity, F8 Connective accuracy, and F9 Complexity of hedges and boosters had very weak and insignificant correlations with the placement levels. The findings of the study presented the nature of discourse competence across proficiency levels and provided practical implications for ESL academic writing curriculum development.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching of English Sec Lang

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Lien, Yu-Wen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Yan, Xun
• Tywoniw, Rurik

• Discourse Competence
• Academic Writing
• Second Language Writing
• Writing Assessment

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Yu-Wen Lien

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125612

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125612