Chapter 2
The Writing and Culture Nexus: Writers’ Comparisons of Vietnamese and English
Academic Writing
Phan Le Ha
Introduction
An increasing number of Asian students have enrolled in Australian higher education institutions over the past three decades This on the one hand has contributed to the multicultural academic environment in Australia, but on the other hand has raised the question of cross-cultural adjustment of Asian students who come from different cultural backgrounds Cross-cultural issues, in general, arise when ‘the non-native speaker has to learn to communicate in a specialist community in another language’ (Liddicoat, 1997, p 13) Such issues, as many scholars (e.g., Ballard & Clanchy, 1988, 1991a, 1997; Barrett-Lennard, 1997; Connor & Kaplan, 1987; Felix & Lawson, 1994; Jordan, 1997; Kaplan, 1966; Liddicoat, 1997; Ryan & Viete, 2009; Samuelowicz, 1987; San Miguel, 1996) have noticed, lie mostly in the academic performance of Asian students in Australian tertiary institutions, in which English academic writing appears to be the central issue The reasons for this, according to Felix and Lawson (1994, p 67), are rooted in ‘cultural, psychological, and technical’ factors They also argue that Asian styles are different from those characteristics of many Australian ademic institutions An ‘Asian’ style, proposed by several authors such as Ballard and Clanchy (1984, 1988, 1991a), Barrett-Lennard (1997), Kaplan (1966) and Sowden (2005), is presented as being similarly practised in many Asian countries As these researchers see it, the core problem faced by Asian students studying in an English-speaking country concerns their writing style, which is crucially determined by ‘Asian’ culture
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Voices, Identities, Negotiations, and Conflicts: Writing Academic English Across Cultures Studies in Writing, Volume 22, 23-40
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While being well aware of the limitations and inherent stereotypes embedded in associating culture with writing issues, as pointed out by Liu (2005), Phan Le Ha (2006) and Tran (2006), I do want to argue that culture does play an important role in how one writes It is also important to acknowledge here that the relationship between writing and culture by no means implies that culture is the only and ultimate factor governing one’s writing In the light of this understanding, in this chapter I present the findings of a research study exploring the writing experience of Vietnamese post- graduate students enrolled in universities in Australia and whether they perceive any differences between Vietnamese and English academic writing, and if yes where these differences rest and what causes the differences At the same time, the chapter aims at challenging common assumptions about inferior ‘Asian’ culture evident in Western academia, as clearly shown in Said (1978) and Pennycook (1998) In the same vein, the chapter showcases these students’ critical stance towards what constitutes Vietnamese writing and their awareness of its strengths and weaknesses
Writing across Cultures: The Assumed Superior English/Australian Norms and the Inferior ‘Asian’ Culture
Most people learn a foreign language through their own languages and cultures, which require interaction based on different cultural norms Liddicoat (1997, p 13) argues that ‘language use in a group is a form of cultural behaviour.’ This suggests that language is seen as cultural/social practices Socially valued text types, or genres, therefore, are determined by sociocultural norms This results in the relationship between culture and writing about which Purves (1988, p 178) concludes ‘the ways in which we express thought in writing are very strongly influenced by our experiences with discourse generally and written text specifically and the related conventions that govern each of these within our own social and cultural contexts’ In addition, ‘actual discourse is determined by socially constituted orders of discourse, sets of conventions associated with social institutions’, as Fairclough (1989, p 17) contends Also, Farrell (1994) alludes to the fact that whether elements of a text are considered to be important in an argument is determined by culture
The aforementioned literature indicates that writing across cultures is very much influenced by a particular culture of a writer’s first language Members of a particular culture, as a result, tend to produce texts in the light of their own cultural visions through which they are taught to understand the universe However, some authors,
such as Ballard and Clanchy (1997), Kaplan (1966) and Barrett-Lennard (1997), have
taken for granted the so-called Asian writing style, which implies that Asian students write in the same way, one that irritates English readers These authors suggest (though not explicitly) a superior—inferior relationship between their way and the Asian way For example, Ballard and Clanchy (1997, p 12) conclude that teaching strategies and learning styles in Asia are dominantly reproductive with the aim as being a ‘simple (unreconstructed) transfer of knowledge and skills’ Meanwhile, the authors see the Australian way with its aim as encouraging ‘development of
The Writing and Culture Nexus 25
and] critical intelligence’ This conclusion may be true at the superficial speculative [ : \ | Hay De UE at pert hóa but is misleading and inherently problematic, resulting in convenient blame on
i s the taken-for-granted ce for Asian s s’ ‘bad’ ‘Asian’ culture and heritage as the taken-for-granted cause for Asian rea ;
ademic performance (for more details, see Grimshaw, 2007; Marlina,
and ‘poor’ ac
2007; Phan Le Ha, 2009)
English Academic Writing versus Vietnamese Academic Writing
] draw on the culturally situated notions of ‘literate’ forms and culturally situated
notions of ‘relevance’ presented by Farrell (1997a, 1997b, p 142) to discuss English and Vietnamese academic writing As this chapter refers to Vietnamese postgraduate students studying in Australia, an English-speaking country, what arama English academic writing there will be used as the criteria to which Vietnamese academic writing is compared This does not at all suggest that EHEIISO NGHSITTG writing is superior I fully acknowledge Kubota and Lehner’ s (2004) criticism of the tendency to treat English rhetoric as the de facto superior in relation to other
languages and rhetorical traditions
Culturally Situated Notions of ‘Literate’ Forms
Farrell (1997a, 1997b, p 142) argues that ‘school literacy in most English-speaking countries is a highly specialised discourse’ and ‘Is objective, analytical and sequential’ Thus, in this sense, essays must be ‘sequential or organised ina linear and co-ordinated way that contributes to the reader's perception of symmetry, order and logical thinking In academic writing style in Australian universities, candidates are required to show the ability of critical thinking, questioning, discussing a analysing (Ballard & Clanchy, 1997; T aylor, 2009) To support this, San Miguel (1996, p 39) states that ‘the Western education system values critical evaluation and
analysis of knowledge’ ¬ -
The rhetorical organisation in English follows strictly the criterion of a very ‘English way’ of presenting things that is ‘going directly to the point or being lunes in its development This value is clearly required in essay performance at a tertiary level The features and specifications of the notions of ‘literate forms in English academic writing differ somewhat from those in various Asian practices ‘Literate forms in Asian academic writings enjoy their own sense of ‘literateness’ characterised by their cultures, which Kaplan (1966) has stereotyped as an approach by
indirection Also, Burns (1991) contends that Asian thought is more likely to view
things as a whole, the argument structure is circular, and points made are not
necessarily connected to the central issue s
I would like to explore ‘literate’ forms in English academic writing, then compare them with those in Vietnamese, to see the real values underlying each culture in the
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patterns [rhetorical patterns] will be considered to be “linear” although the lines try
to achieve different things’ What is considered ‘linear’ or relevant in the rhetorical
pattern in Vietnamese writing, as a matter of fact, may be seen as ‘digressive’ in
English The perceived ‘digression’ of Vietnamese indicates that a writer has a broad
and comprehensive view of the topic which allows or motivates him/her to integrate a
variety of ideas, issues and/or emotional feelings into the text
As far as an essay organisation is concerned, both English and Vietnamese essays
share these three components: introduction, body and conclusion, What makes the
differences between these two writing styles is what is to be included in each component Introductions and conclusions seem to cause most ambiguities (my own observation from many texts written by native-English and native-Vietnamese speakers)
The introduction in English writing is like a funnel, which means “very wide at the top, increasingly narrow in the middle, and very small at the neck or bottom’ (Oshima & Hogue, 1991, p 79) Also, the way an English introductory paragraph is written should be very direct and immediate, as Ballard and Clanchy (1991b, p 30) pinpoint, so that the introduction ‘will set out the key issues to be discussed, maybe define a key term or set limits to the proposed discussion, and indicate the position the writer intends to take on the issues in question’ By contrast, the introduction in Vietnamese writing is often long and provides a great deal of information Basically, it introduces the essay topic with related information supporting the topic context, such as the historical background to the generation of ideas in the field or to the author about whom the essay writes Even anecdotes and stories are suitable introductions The introduction also briefly addresses the essay framework that is to be developed next Very importantly, it attracts readers’ attention towards the issues already raised and soon to be explored in the essay body (Nguyen & Nguyen, 1998) What makes it attractive include the use of persuasive language and sometimes flowing epic style With this feature in the introduction, essays written by Vietnamese students are often misread by Australian lecturers as lengthy and redundant In turn, Vietnamese readers may perceive English essays as ‘abrupt’ or ‘too straightforward’ The ‘standard’ conclusion in English writing often restates what has been discussed in the body Information such as suggestions, contributions or recommendations may form another part In Vietnamese writing, the conclusion often plays a very important role in an essay The writer is required to summarise or paraphrase the main ideas discussed in the body At the same time, the writer can make his/her personal comments and/or judgements on the issues of the essay with the view to generating follow-up studies The writer is advised to make the conclusion as strong, impressive and rich as possible to let the main issues be long remembered (Nguyen & Nguyen, 1998) Owing to the differences, Vietnamese students may be confused about how to write a conclusion in English Even when they are familiar with the techniques of including an introduction and conclusion, they still may not be certain about what is to be included in them (Felix & Lawson, 1994) They may combine the so-called standard English conclusion and their own comments in strong terms as well as recommendations to form the conclusion for the essay This may be much longer than is expected by an Australian English reader
The Writing and Culture Nexus 27
4inearity’ in English requires a writer to be responsible for mủ her ` bject to encoding ambiguities made by the writer In "ơ word Đ, koa sibility of the writer is to make everything clear for the audience and 7 make N nu his/her writing causes no strain for the audience as well Hinds (1978, a a 5 ‘English as a “writer-responsible” language, since the person primarily py file for effective communication is the writer’ (cited in Kroll, 1990) In Be seco writing, in contrast, the responsibility of the audience is assumed The ` ‹ interpret the message underlying the text Consequently, the same text ae coded in various dimensions and different raters may give different results
ha LIÊN feature of ‘linearity’ is that in English concrete and accurate words are ee i whereas in Vietnamese, sometimes abstract, vague and even ‘controversial’ The
who often 0
i recommended, ‘bs |
cious words are preferred in order to create a ‘Sophisticate — and ‘poetic’ text Thus, English academic styles, compared a " na ma may have less richness, elegance and auditory delicacy, which generate interest
iosity i audience / -
Se most popular characteristics of the Vietnamese language is wi Tu 7 symbolism, which encourages Vietnamese people to use asyminclie kệ: in a4 volume Symbolism in Vietnamese lies in the tendency to caer one symmetrical and harmonious structures (Tran, 1998) Another papi We ir ` feature of the Vietnamese language, both spoken and Written, is the expressive sty (Tran, 1998), and this also influences how one writes in Vietnamese -
The rhetorical pattern in English follows the principle of pigetig, the most important points first’, meanwhile in Vietnamese writing a series of ao points tend to be placed first to build up to the most important one appearing is Noticeably, published English academic essays often guide the audience - what is going to be focused on by including such phrases as ‘I will explore Fal i next part’ or ‘the following part will discuss X’ Vietnamese writing 7 ¬ ng familiar with this Instead, emotional feelings, personalised observations, or aap and subjective assumptions seem to be dominant and a text is developed in fe os of these determiners with few explicit signposts Thus, a ‘logical mind (Parte ¥ 1997a, 1997b) in Vietnamese may consider the English approach to lack creativity Culturally Situated Notions of ‘Relevance’ ons about both
Relevance, as Farrell (1997a, 1997b, p 68) contends, refers to deci
‘whether something is relevant and how it is relevant’ Also, relevance is seen as ‘central in establishing meaning’ In English, what counts as relevance includes the correct identification of ‘key words’ and the correct interpretation of instructional words Successful writers are those who can encode correctly what the task requires
them to do, whether to write a comparison, an evaluation, an instruction, or a
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paragraphs include a topic sentence and supporting ideas This feature may facilitate readers to summarise the main idea of any reading passage and contribute to ‘linearity’,
However, Moore (1998) argues that student writers often find writing task
topics and requirements ambiguous Their confusion may lead to substituting one genre for another For example, instead of performing an evaluation (how valid/important/relevant is X), they fulfil a recommendation (what can be done
about X) or a description (what X is like) The ambiguity of the notion ‘relevance’, explained above, is often ignored by many academics when marking their students’ work because they may simply consider an essay topic and its requirements ‘normal’,
The culturally situated Vietnamese notions of ‘relevance’ partly share those of English These include the role played by ‘key words’ and ‘instructional words’, whether a task requires the analysis of an economic issue or evaluation of a policy released by the government However, ‘relevance’ in Vietnamese writing does not seem to be strictly demanded as in English If a writer is able to lead the audience to what he/she intends to say by employing creative, complicated, beautiful but occasionally ‘irrelevant’ (off the topic) and figurative words and structures, the audience tends to still be patient and willing to follow the whole text Perhaps this is due to the general pride held among Vietnamese linguists and part of the population in the richness and beauty of the Vietnamese language and the multilayeredness of meanings embodied in every word This sense of beauty also refers to the musical sound of the language and the pleasure sophisticated words and structures may bring to the reader To some extent, readers not only look for something purely academic and formal, they tend to appreciate a piece of writing that sounds nice to their ears, touches their hearts, or pleases the sense of romance popular in Vietnamese poetry and literature, too But this does not necess: rily mean that Vietnamese writing has no rules for ‘relevance’,
In the light of what I have discussed, it is clear that what ‘literateness’ and ‘relevance’ mean can be far different between English and Vietnamese academic writing What is important is how to draw on these differences to value different writing practices and to see difference as not a deficit The next section reports the findings obtained from four Vietnamese postgraduate students enrolled in two Australian universities about their writing experience in both English and Vietnamese and the differences between these two writing styles
The Study
ied out the study with four Vietnamese postgraduates from two Australian universities Two were studying for a Master of Education (TESOL) degree and two were taking a Master of Business Administration course One participant was female and three were males, aged from 26 to 30 They had all done their first degrees in universities in Vietnam The two Education postgraduate students had studied
The Writing and Culture Nexus 29
f the major subject at univer: ity They were lecturers of English at a
ne ly Vietnam The two postgraduate Business students had studied ` h the fais in their first degrees They had had several years of work
Re icc all of them had been in Australia for about one-and-a-half years by the
Bas st dy was conducted They all started their courses when they arrived in Ng i GAIL these students had taken courses in academic writing in English with Beri aking lecturers before they commenced their coursework in Australia _ - of essay writing in English are hence likely to have been shaped by ine Be cs as well as by the feedback from assessment of ‘completed ne Phi lecturers They were all familiar with writing essays in their courses in Australia
Their essays were from 2,000 to 5,000 words long - "mm
In-depth interviews were used to collect data I selected these silt che 7 for the following reasons First, these students were very =a a ; + -
attested by their IELTS entry scores of 7 and 7.5, so they, I ssumed, wou i 7
on explaining their English problems (c.g., grammar, proficiency), 1 a — be more likely to discuss cultural differences between Enalish ane i one academic writing which this study aimed to identify Second, their discip ines ra ms much written work, which could contribute to the study by giving ae examples of performing in English writing by er h rose nee proficiency is not a problem The last reason is that the disciplines ° mài ic ne ' Business embody in themselves cultural norms regulated by social structures ° different authorities and various implementing guidelines Because ie posta on uate students had already studied and written in these disciplines in Vietnamese, the discourse of these disciplines is somewhat familiar " a
For the purposes of preserving their anonymity, the participants ee pseudonyms The two male Education postgraduates were Minh and Huy The male MBA postgraduate was Thanh, and the female MBA postgraduate was Hoa ation of Discourse
Structure of an Essay — Orgar
The data referring to the organisation of discourse fell into three subcategories
argument development, and coherence, cohesion and
namely, general shape, essay ence, ¬
signposting The first two categories were generated on the basis of the eee while the last arose from the data For each category, the data are discussec separately with reference to Vietnamese and English writing
General ‘Shape’
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A Vietnamese essay The participants all reported that Vietnamese writing has an ‘indirect’ or ‘circular’ approach, and each of them gave his or her own description of and explanation for it Minh said Vietnamese writing has something like ‘clumsiness’, is very ‘indirect and circular’ He explained that this was due to the personality of Oriental people, whom he saw as not straightforward, very tactful and indirect They often refer to things implicitly, say things around one topic and gradually conclude Huy described Vietnamese writing as ‘free’, ‘not controlled by any rules’ and ‘indirect’, The reasons he gave were that there are no common standards to write an essay at Vietnamese universities Also, Vietnamese culture, education system and expectations from teachers influence the way students write essays, he said, although he did not tell explicitly how these factors influence writing
In further conversations, Minh described a Vietnamese essay as ‘a forest where anyone finds it so easy to get lost’ Nevertheless, Vietnamese people still find their way ‘ouU since it is they who have created their own writing styles, he added
Thanh reported that Vietnamese writing ‘just lets you explore by yourself’ It ‘implies something, and does not tell readers exactly what the problem is’ He also commented on how a conclusion is written in general and how he wrote in written exams in his first degree He revealed this by giving examples from his writing
When you see my Vietnamese introduction, you'll see that it doesn’t tell you clearly what the topic is I write from a distance toward the topic After four or five paragraphs, I may tell the topic or even not tell it explicitly Readers have to read between the lines what I’m arguing through my writing I write in a circular way | don’t remember exactly what was included in the introduction but I’m sure that I wrote very indirectly and circularly about anything concerning the topic Conclusions often include recommendations or personal feelings, suggest follow-up activities or propose new ideas but these recom- mendations or suggestions are only superficially touched, not comprehensively argued
Hoa described the way she wrote ess
demonstrate 1ys in Vietnamese and gave examples to
I didn’t have a clear indication between a topic sentence and supporting sentences If I just say something like “I'll write about this or that” in Vietnamese writing, then my writing is too straightforward It’s said that Vietnamese writing is more circular and English writing is more straightforward But my writing in both languages is not much different For example when I write introductions in both English and Vietnamese, I often introduce a general context, then focus more on the topic Sometimes I suggest something new in a Vietnamese essay
She explained that she wrote essays as she did in Vietnam because she was not taught how to write an essay at university, She just applied what she had learnt at
The Writing and Culture Nexus 31
school to the way she wrote an essay She wrote according to her writing habits She
also added that students in Vietnam in general are not taught how to write academic essays
An English essay An English essay, as perceived by all the participants, has the qualities of being ‘direct, straightforward, and clear’ In Huy and Hoa’s opinions, this is because English writing has standards for essays Huy added that the thought- patterns of English people might be more direct and clearer, so their writing is direct and clear Please note that the notion of thought-pattern being synonymous with written discourse pattern may have been picked up by this participant in his courses on English writing during his undergraduate study and in the English for Academic Purposes program prior to his study in Australia
Thanh gave a detailed description of English essays
When reading an English introduction, you know exactly what is going to be written about It is very direct, not circular, and points clearly what is to be focused on next Conclusions contain only what has been written in the body If the writer wants to raise more ideas, another part such as recommendations or suggestions is formed The recommendations or suggestions part is rich and well-discussed
The findings have indicated that both Vietnamese and English essays follow the same organisation: introduction-body-conclusion But this organisation is developed differently in these two writing styles
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The participants did not spell out that it is the ‘responsibility of readers’ but the
information given by them shows this in such observations as, for example, ‘readers
have to read between the lines what I’m arguing’
The experience in Vietnamese writing communicated by one participant supports the view that in Vietnamese writing, long and rather circular introductions are popular Conclusions often include something new and different from what has been discussed in the body This ‘something’ may include recommendations, suggestions, new ideas or follow-up activities, and these are only superficially ‘touched’ on, not thoroughly argued This Vietnamese way to write introductions and conclusions is different from that of English which is known as so direct and strict that writers need to pinpoint exactly what is to be focused on in introductions and must not add new ideas in conclusions However, one participant argued that her writing in both languages was very similar, by which she meant that her style was very straight- forward However straightforward her Vietnamese, she still wrote conclusions in the same way as many Vietnamese people do, that is she sometimes suggested new ideas She explained that this was because she was not taught how to write in her Vietnamese university She wrote according to her writing habits But she never did it in English writing because she was well aware of the rules for academic writing
The data suggest that Vietnamese writing tends to place emphasis on conclusions as the explicit part of an essay and as the part that permits extension of knowledge, whilst English writing places emphasis on the introduction as the explicit part, which ‘makes a clear way for readers to follow the whole text’, as one of the participants observed Moreover, it is obvious that all the participants recognised the explicit and practical patterns of English writing which assisted them in easily comprehending English texts This suggests that the explicitness expected in English academic writing
is well recognised and appreciated as it appears to be helpful for students yay Argument Development
A Vietnamese essay Both Minh and Huy reported that ‘students write in whatever way they like’ For Minh students’ writing does not show clear coherence and cohesion; they can jump from one paragraph to another freely without giving full information in one paragraph According to Huy ‘you write as you think, you can start a new paragraph if you like even when you have not finished an argument’ Hoa shared her experience in writing Vietnamese essays, reporting that she did not have a clear indication in her writing of what was a topic sentence and what were supporting sentences She wrote according to her writing habits Minh, Huy and Hoa claimed there are no clear criteria for academic essays in Vietnamese universities, so students write the way they like
An English essay Minh, Huy and Hoa all agreed that an English e topic is developed in a number of paragraphs in which parts of the topic are directly treated and linked to one other Each paragraph develops an argument with a topic sentence
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and supporting sentences Minh and Hoa also reported that an essay outline is needed before writing, and students follow the outline to write essays According to them, there are clear-cut rules for English essays at universities, so students just have to follow the rules to write The participants’ observation on the one hand corresponds well to many of the guides on how to write good English essays, for example, Taylor (2009), but on the other hand demonstrates a limited view on English academic writing that assumes that it is heavily and can be ‘straightfor- wardly’ and effectively governed by rules, the view that Taylor (2009) also seems to both imply and contest in his writing guidebook
The data given by the participants suggest that Vietnamese students can write Vietnamese essays in whatever way they like They can jump from one paragraph to another without finishing an argument They reported there is no clear link between topic sentences and supporting ideas This is completely different from an English essay, which they saw as being developed in a number of paragraphs based on an outline Then, each paragraph develops one idea, which is shown clearly by a topic sentence and supporting sentences The reason why Vietnamese students write in their own way is that they are not taught how to write at universities Thus, they have to find different ways to write in different situations, as voiced by one participant They have to ‘struggle’ to find a best way and are never sure which way is better because they have no standards to follow
It is obvious from the findings that what the participants call English ‘clarity’ comes from explicitness, and this is contrasted with the circuitous, flowing and tenuous connectedness of Vietnamese writing Moreover, ‘analysis’, defined as selecting ideas for discussion for and against with evidence in English writing, is contrasted with accepting ‘wisdom’ in Vietnamese writing Also, Vietnamese writing could see knowledge as a gift to all, not always as property This stands in contrast to the English rules for use and acknowledgement of others’ ideas
Cohesion, Coherence, and Signposting
A Vietnamese essay According to the participants, clear signposts such as firstly, secondly, finally, etc., are less used in Vietnamese writing
Discourse markers are less used (Minh)
Signposts are not often used Even if one is aware of the necessity to use signposts, these signposts only link superficially but not within the writing itself because these signposts may not reflect coherence and cohesion of one’s writing This is different from English writing (Huy) Further clarification of this question with Minh and Huy indicated that ‘coherence’ in Vietnamese writing is not very necessary By contrast, ‘cohesion’ is more important Writers can develop an essay in any way, whether ‘circular’, ‘indirect’, ‘flowery’ or even ‘moody’, but cohesion is still required by Vietnamese
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writing since what is important is the ‘flow’ Huy noticed that the use and repetition
of ‘key words’ are not familiar in a Vietnamese essay while these are customary in English writing Hence, when writing Vietnamese, he was not aware of the so-called key words or did not know that these exist, but in writing in English he was very familiar with the technique of using key words and key word repetition, which helps make writing coherent and cohesive
Thanh indicated that if a writer mentions something in paragraph A in Vietnamese writing, he or she has to find a way, even if ‘ridiculous’ to link it to paragraph B, then his/her writing has a ‘flow’ For example, something is mentioned in one paragraph and at the end of the paragraph, some sentences are written to act as a bridge to the next paragraph These sentences generate new ideas and signal to readers these new ideas that will be discussed next On further clarification with the researcher, Thanh added he could see that Vietnamese writing is digressive, but it always has a ‘flow’, which implicitly gives an essay the cohesion it needs to satisfy readers
For Hoa, she always wrote linking sentences between paragraphs She could not be excessively straightforward in Vietnamese writing although she wrote very directly If she wanted to signpost readers with clear markers, such as first, second, third, she still had to write ‘bridging’ sentences, such as ‘Although it is it ° Hoa said if she was too straightforward in Vietnamese writing, then readers may feel bored or dissatisfied with her writing They may feel her writing is incoherent or lacks cohesion She concluded it is impossible to perfectly compare ‘cohesion’ and ‘coherence’ in Vietnamese and English writing since these qualities are interpreted in Vietnamese ways and terms In Vietnamese writing, she also felt that Vietnamese people prefer writing long sentences to refer back to previous ideas rather than using such referents as ‘this’ or ‘that’, which are very popular in English
An English essay All the participants reported that English writing is very clear with its signposts Minh observed discourse markers are used to make things ‘clear’ for readers Cohesion and coherence in English are ‘very clear’ Signposts are often used in English writing as reported by Huy According to Thanh, English writing is ‘very clear’ with signposts such as ‘firstly’, ‘secondly’, ‘then’, ‘eventually’ It indicates ‘clearly’ what is to be focused next by using such phrases as ‘I'll explore in the next part or ‘The next part will focus on ’ ‘Clarity’ in this discussion by the participants appeared to mean being ‘explicit’
Minh also added that relevance in English writing is also gained through synonyms and antonyms In addition, referents such as ‘this’ or ‘that’ are frequently used in English writing, which are not often liked by Vietnamese writers
All the participants supported the literature indicating that signposts or discourse markers in English writing are very clear, ‘visible’ and frequently used, whereas in Vietnamese writing these tend to be implicit, ‘invisible’ and less used Readers have to identify what is implied to them but are not clearly told The participants emphasised the importance of ‘bridging’ or ‘linking’ sentences between paragraphs in Vietnamese writing The signposts themselves do not seem to give coherence and cohesion to an essay without ‘bridging’ sentences even when these sentences are ‘ridiculous’ This is
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because linking sentences give a ‘flow’ to one’s writing and please Vietnamese readers’ taste, the taste for tactfulness and indirectness that has been discussed in the literature showing that its writers have sophisticated ways of understanding and interpreting knowledge SỐ
The findings also reflected that Vietnamese writing values ‘flow’ while English
writing expects directness, and more focused ‘relevance’ with continual reference back to the same main points In other words, coherence in Vietnamese writing relates to ‘flow’ rather than ‘relevance’ in English In Vietnamese writing, coherence and cohesion seem to be unrelated in the eyes of the participants, whilst in English, they are interrelated and interdependent (relevance comes through strategies for coherence) It is not that Vietnamese writing has no coherence but coherence may indeed come from the way in which readers read Also, relevance is the way parts of the discussion hold together Vietnamese writing is often ‘digressive’ in Australian terms (even in Vietnamese terms, but this is valued), but it still holds together through the strategies to create ‘flow’ and always comes to the point in the end, as confidently stated by all the participants in further conversations with the researcher
Styles
A Vietnamese essay Vietnamese writing has the quality of a ‘flowery’ style with beautiful words used, as reported by all the participants However, different participants gave different ideas about this According to Minh, Vietnamese writing prefers a flowery style and Vietnamese people tend to use beautiful, poetic, and flowery words to express things He offered the reason for this preference as being that the education system is heavily academic and theoretical Although Huy said that Vietnamese people prefer poetic and beautiful words, he felt that this depended on different people and that it was not true for everybody
Thanh also reported that Vietnamese writing is more flowery with frequent use of poetic and beautiful words but this was not always true for him, Sometimes he wrote in a ‘sophisticated, polished, and flowery’ manner but sometimes very simply It depended on his mood He stated that he felt good to read a flowery Vietnamese piece of writing Maybe Vietnamese people value ‘polished’ and ‘vague’ words because ‘the more polished, the more superior’, But this style is rather the literary
style, he said
Hoa, like Huy, said that flowery style depends on the individual She felt Vietnamese writing has both flowery and straightforward writers Discussing her own writing style, she stated she did not use beautiful words in either language She wrote very straightforwardly without beautiful words She tended to use simple and clear words She did not make her writing flowery or ‘flying’
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and simple words are used, but he also commented on the tendency to use beautiful words for expressions when writing in English by his students in Vietnam
Thanh described the way he wrote in English He tended to write very simply because he preferred simplicity and he did not have complicated words to use He also had to make everything clear for lecturers, otherwise ‘they may cross out’ his writing
Hoa claimed that not all English people write straightforwardly or lack a flowery style For her, English writing has both flowery and straightforward writers, They also use ‘symbolic, polished, and poetic’ words Her writing in English was very similar to her writing in Vietnamese, which she said meant that she did not use beautiful language However, she reported some of her friends liked to use polished and ‘rare’ words in English They wrote long sentences in a rather circular manner It was so difficult to understand, she felt In her opinion, it was more necessary to write ‘correctly’ and ‘understandably’ than ‘beautifully’, On further iscussion with her about what she meant by ‘correctly’, she contended that ‘correctness’ should be understood in terms of grammar, styles and rules of English academic writing, which everyone should follow when writing English
The participants all agreed that Vietnamese writing prefers a ‘flowery’ style with beautiful and poetic words One participant explained that the education system is heavily academic and theoretical, not as practical as that in Australia But two participants concluded the perception of what constitutes simple or flowery depends on different individuals Both Vietnamese and English have straightforward language and flowery writers One participant, Thanh, claimed that his style depended on his mood — sometimes he produced very sophisticated, ‘polished’, and flowery work but sometimes very simple He also added it felt good to read flowery Vietnamese writing, He guessed that ‘polished’ and ‘vague’ words may be valued in Vietnam because ‘the more polished the more superior’, That strongly supports the contention that Vietnamese people tend to like something which sounds nice to them But Thanh also stated that this was rather a literary style than an academic style
All the participants saw English essays as being simply and directly written with everything ‘clear’ and explicit for readers But one participant commented that English students also use ‘symbolic’, ‘polished’ and ‘poetic’ words in their writing This has raised a question regarding to what extent essays are allowed to be ‘flowery’
within academic norms that Phan Le Ha (2009) and Viete and Phan Le Ha (2007)
have explored and discussed This may also vary between the discourses associated with different disciplines, as pointed out by one of the participants who saw that her discourse was ‘not poetic’, so the way she wrote was very straightforward; she linked this with her disciplinary requirements in Business studies
Criteria for Good Vietnamese Academic Writing to be Assessed by Lecturers
Minh and Huy studied for their first degree in English-medium in Vietnam, so they did not have to write Vietnamese essays Thus, they did not give any information
The Writing and Culture Nexus 37
on Thanh and Hoa described in detail what criteria they thought ght employ when assessing students’ writing papers
about this questi fecturers m!
I don’t think lecturers base [their judgments] on any common " to assess our writing papers They may prefer logical and DHEDE wi iting with good coherence and cohesion For example, if you ae
something in paragraph A, you have to find any way; even vid tai ous’
to link it to paragraph B, then your writing has a ‘flow’ If your lecture can read the ‘flow’, your writing is highly valued ASO, tecture © ten prefer flowery writing in papers, which sound ‘telling’ Bay e in Vietnam, when marking writing papers, lecturers do an deep analysis of a writing (it’s extremely hard for students to eae the level of deep analysis) but they look at how students: " li Normally, lecturers are the ones who decide whether you = it T wrong based on their perceptions of right and wrong, hone ach your lecturer tells you 10 things, for example, and you repeat exac i these 10 things, you'll get full marks If you repeat 9 out of 10, xọu : get 9 Or if a textbook tells you something and you repeat it in your writing paper, then you'll get good marks (Thanh)
Personally, I think that a good essay doesn’t always have to be SEN informative but what it needs is cohesive and coherent development Moreover, if a marker is fond of the flowery style appearing In ae Ã
sentences, and your essay is that style, then your essay Is given a gooc
mark It’s always the best if your introduction and conclusion a interesting even if the body is rather boring Still your / gets a a mark After long pages, it’s better to read a good conclusion tat concludes all the main ideas and helps readers memorise what's been read so far (Hoa)
It appears that, from the personal experience of these two pte ee Vietnamese universities seem to value the ‘flow’ in writing, which helps ma can _ coherent and cohesive They also tend to value flowery peng we me ea content representing the course focus, and a conclusion that clearly ‘remind
reader of the main ideas covered
at Trierec writing in this case is work that receives good ae _ interview data have supported the hypothesis that a ‘flowery style is prefer Đà kêu valued in Vietnamese writing since lecturers may often be instante in rc writing, which appears in the ‘telling’ of an argument and in linking pean ni same time, it is clear that interesting conclusions in Vietnamese essays are ' y ing long pages of essay development i ‘tant since they refresh readers after follow
important since they refres ae
It also seems that the appearance of an essay is sometimes more ca tae
content, especially when the participants explained that it is extreme a ha a
: 1 © een ae ave e
Trang 9
38 Phan Le Ha
The information given by the participants suggests that English essays set rules for style and for what counts as an adequate ‘argument’ By contrast, Vietnamese writing has no strict standards for style, but content is somewhat driven by sociocultural practices
Conclusion
To conclude, the study has demonstrated that writing is indeed a social practice and much influenced by culture and social norms, as argued by Liddicoat (1997), Purves (1988) and Farrell (1997a, 1997b) Although other factors such as educational backgrounds, individual preferences and teachers’ expectations influence how one writes, cultural and social norms play a certain role in shaping how one develops one’s writing, expresses ideas and perceives coherence and cohesion All these are evident in how the Vietnamese students participating in this study perceived and explained the differences between Vietnamese and English academic writing, regardless of whether they had to write Vietnamese essays in their first degrees or not However, acknowledging the role of culture and social norms in shaping one’s writing does not at all suggest that culture is to blame when one tends to have difficulties in writing After all, cultural differences should be seen as difference not deficit and need to be respected and studied
The study has also identified some cross-cultural issues embedded in academic writing experienced by Vietnamese students enrolled in Australian institutions These issues could result from students’ familiarity with valued practices in their mother tongue and the knowledge they have gained from their prior education in the home country Their valued practices and prior knowledge need to be recognised and acknowledged as contributing to their writing as a whole and enriching their English writing rather than ‘polluting’ it Importantly, students themselves need to be aware of the values associated with their writing practices and be encouraged to make full use of their prior knowledge and ways of doing in performing in English, given the internationalising status of the English language itself
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Chapter 3
Chinese Postgraduate Students Learning to Write in English: Toward an Understanding
of L2 Academic Writing
Meihui Wang
Prologue
In this chapter, first I would like to reflect briefly on my own English writing experiences both in China and in Australia, in the hope that it may facilitate a thorough and holistic understanding of L2 postgraduate students’ experiences of and attitudes toward writing in English, At the time of the study, I was a Chinese postgraduate student specializing in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the Faculty of Education in an Australian University Before coming to Australia, I had spent my whole life in China Mandarin is my mother tongue I began to learn English at the age of 12 as a junior middle school student Since my time in junior middle school, I have had much writing experience in both English and Chinese
As a motivated English writer, I have accumulated a number of helpful strategies to improve my English writing capability, such as reading extensively, keeping writing entries in journals, and so forth However, I am not sa sfied with the past education in terms of English writing I have gained in China Most writing practices were oriented toward preparing us for the College Entrance Examination We were expected to write following rigid templates and rarely had opportunities to write freely and creatively Therefore, I was fairly excited to pursue further study in Australia after I finished my undergraduate study in China Deviating from those ingrained templates and rigid sets of rules, I was allowed to make the best of my imagination and creativity when I was involved in my overseas study in Australia
Voices, Identities, Negotiations, and Conflicts: Writing Academic English Across Cultures Studies in Writing, Volume 22, 41-58
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Is: 1572-6304/doi: 10.1108/S1572-6304(2011)0000022006