Implications and Recommendations

These findings have implications for second language writing teaching in the U.S. and China, and second language writing research. Firstly, in terms of the implications for second language writing teaching in U.S., these findings can provide second language writing teachers in U.S. universities with a picture of the writing instruction experience and writing background that Chinese students bring to writing classrooms. To be more specific, by knowing what writing competence Chinese students have achieved and in what aspects they are not prepared for university writing courses, writing teachers can better anticipate their difficulties and challenges, understand their practices, and address their needs in writing classes. Specific implications and recommendations for second language writing teaching are provided below from the perspectives of explaining rubrics, discussing rhetoric, guiding students in using source texts and doing documentation, adjusting schedules, clarifying assignment sheets, teaching peer-review strategies, dealing with plagiarizing, and implementing process writing.

Explaining rubrics: Writing teachers should not assume that all students know what a good piece of writing is like. Chinese teachers place considerable emphasis on grammar, spelling, organization, and handwriting, and this may cause Chinese students to think those are the most important elements of a good piece of writing, but do not

understand the importance of quoting experts and other sources, originality and

imagination, critical thinking, and logic because these criteria were rarely and even never emphasized by their teachers. Without a clear knowledge of what makes a good piece of writing, it is difficult for students to produce one. Therefore, writing teachers may consider talking about the rubric openly with the students before assigning a writing

project so that Chinese students can know what they are expected to produce to facilitate their success.

Discussing rhetoric: Rhetoric in English is a difficult concept for most Chinese students since they never learned about rhetoric before coming to university writing courses. Therefore, teachers may want to spend more time talking about rhetoric, and it would be better if teachers could ask students to discuss intercultural rhetorical

differences to enhance their understanding.

Guiding students in using source texts and doing documentation: Chinese students may also be challenged in using source texts, documenting, and formatting following MLA and APA styles. Writing instructors, instead of sending students’ the link to MLA or APA style guidelines on Purdue Online Writing Lab, may want to devote more time teaching how to use source texts and doing documentation in assigning research papers and literature reviews. Never exposed to using source texts and doing documentation, it is difficult for students to learn how to do APA and MLA formatting following the instructions on the website on their own.

Adjusting schedule: The schedule for university writing courses usually allows a fairly short time between assigning a writing assignment and the due date for the first draft. Take first year composition courses for international students at Purdue University, for example: students receive a writing assignment one day, and are usually required to turn in the first draft the next day. Therefore, students only have 24 hours to craft a first draft. This, to students who are used to writing long essays, may not be an issue; however, for Chinese students who were used to writing no more than 300 words, this is fairly challenging. Therefore, writing instructors, in making course schedules, may consider

giving more time for Chinese students to plan and draft. Another recommendation is not to grade the rough drafts; instead, to give students more time in producing a good final draft.

Clarifying assignment sheets: Some genres, although common in U.S. writing courses, are completely new to Chinese students, e.g., literature reviews, critiques, comparison and contrast essays, and annotated bibliographies. Therefore, writing instructors, when asking students to do such types of writing, may need to spend more time explaining assignment sheets and planning with students to make sure they understand what those types of writing are and how they can write them well.

Teaching peer-review strategies: Writing teachers, before asking students to do peer-review, may need to teach students the strategies for giving feedback on their peers’ work to increase the effectiveness of the peer-review activity for the whole class.

Dealing with plagiarizing: Due to the influence of previous writing instruction, Chinese students may not have a clear idea of what plagiarism is and do not think using model essays is plagiarizing, and thus plagiarize unintentionally. Therefore, it is essential that writing instructors spend time lecturing on what is, what constitutes, and how to avoid plagiarism. Moreover, when students were found plagiarizing, teachers may want to investigate the reasons behind the action of plagiarizing, be it laziness or ignorance, before accusing them of plagiarizing and taking serious punishment actions.

Implementing process writing: Since most Chinese students were not exposed to process writing, they may struggle with this approach, and may not know how to produce the best work in the process. Writing instructors can teach students the skills of planning,

drafting, revising, and editing to help them succeed in writing classrooms where process writing is adopted.

On top of these implications and recommendations for U.S. writing teachers, the findings also imply that English writing teaching in Chinese high schools should be less test-oriented. Although writing instruction in Chinese high schools does not necessarily aim to improve students’ writing in order to prepare students for U.S. university writing courses since those students constitutes only a small portion of the whole student

population, improving students’ writing ability instead of teaching to raise scores on the NMET should be the objective of English writing teaching, according to the English Language Curriculum for Senior Secondary Schools. High-stakes tests in China have influenced teachers’ instructional priorities and exerted a negative washback effect on English writing instruction in Chinese high schools. Despite the intention of and effort made in the English Language Curriculum for Senior Secondary Schools and the writing section in the NMET to promote the development of language-use ability, in reality, English teachers still teach to raise scores. Offering an independent writing course should be the most direct and effective way in improving students’ writing ability, but it is the most difficult solution, too, considering the difficulty and budget in recruiting writing teachers, the heavy workload of grading, and the difficulty in implementing

communicative pedagogies and process writing in large classes. Therefore, the reform of the high stakes tests may help minimize the negative washback effect on English writing teaching. Other feasible ways may include increasing the weighting of the writing section in the total score of the NMET, changing the form of the prompt from guided writing to

more free writing, and using writing portfolios for the evaluation of writing ability instead of a one-shot writing test.

In addition to these implications for second language writing teaching, this dissertation also contributes to the field of second language writing and contrastive rhetoric in terms of providing writing instruction in a context that is different from U.S. and less researched—English writing instruction in high schools in China. The context where English writing teaching takes place influences the way writing is taught. The investigation of writing teaching in this context adds the educational context of writing instruction to the body of contrastive rhetoric studies. Moreover, the investigation of PST in English writing in cram schools sheds light on the field of second language writing by painting a picture of second language writing instruction and PST, which is usually hidden to second language writing teachers and researchers. Similarly, the investigation of students’ experience with online writing and using online resources also add to the research of out-of-school writing, a situation in China which has been rarely reported.