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Editor
Paul Wickens
ICELS,
Oxford Brookes University,
Gipsy Lane,
Oxford,
OX3 0BP
Email: paulwickens@brookes.ac.uk
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are used on this site
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| The
East Asian Learner
An Academic Journal for
Teachers and Researchers |
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Volume 1, No. 1, May 2004
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Introduction
In this article I reflect on what adult Chinese learners of
English may bring with them to the learning of academic writing
in English. By Chinese, I am referring to speakers of Modern
Standard Chinese (MSC - traditionally known as Mandarin) from
the People’s Republic of China. By academic writing, I
mean the writing of argumentative texts.
The article comprises three sections. The first considers
selected linguistic features of Chinese syntax and discourse
and describes a fundamental principle of information sequencing
in MSC. The second section reviews the culturally influenced
issues of Chinese writing styles, Chinese attitudes to the
acknowledgement of sources and plagiarism, and the Chinese
attachment to models. The third section summarises the pedagogical
advice given to Chinese university students learning to write
in Chinese. Throughout the article I consider the implications
of these factors for the teaching of writing.
My aim here is to try and provide an overall background that
will be of use to those involved in the teaching of English
academic writing to Chinese. I am grateful to the editor for
this opportunity to try and bring together some of my writings
on Chinese. By its very nature, however, I am conscious that
this review represents a summary. Further references are given
for those who are interested in particular topics.
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