A Discourse Analysis Approach to EFL College Student Writing: Comparison of Taiwanese and Japanese Students’ written discourse

Abstract

In this paper, the researcher used theories of discourse
analysis and English as a lingua franca to compare writing pieces
written by Taiwanese and Japanese college students. The same
writing tasks, which required students to choose from a list of
Einstein’s quotes and reflect on the quote, were assigned to the
two groups of students to fulfill. One piece of writing was chosen
for discourse analysis and for comparison. The researcher
concluded that social languages do operate in college students’
writing. Students reflected their cultural background, gender,
field of study, and ideology in their writing. Finally, the
researcher recommended that, while assessing students’ writing,
writing teachers take all the social and ideological factors into
consideration.