Supporting Vietnamese Efl University Students'' Development Of Argumentative Writing Through Systemic Functional Linguistics-Based Genre Pedagogy

University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+ University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2021 Supporting Vietnamese EFL university students’ development of argumentative writing through Systemic Functional Linguistics-based genre pedagogy Thanh Liem Dinh Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1 University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong For further information contact the UOW Library: research-pubs@uow.edu.au Supporting Vietnamese EFL university students’ development of argumentative writing through Systemic Functional Linguistics-based genre pedagogy Dinh Thanh Liem Bachelor of Arts, University of Danang Master of Applied Linguistics (TESOL studies), University of Queensland A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Education Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities University of Wollongong 2021 DECLARATION I certify that the present thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Wollongong, does not include without any acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university I also certify that this thesis has been written by me Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged Signature of Student: Dinh Thanh Liem ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge the organisations who provided sponsorship, and the individuals who gave encouragement, inspiration and constant guidance for the completion of the present thesis Without their support, this thesis would not have reached the status of submission My special thanks first go to the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and University of Wollongong (UOW) for granting a jointly research scholarship which covers a full-time annual stipend and tuition fees My sincere thanks are then extended to my two respected supervisors: Associate Professor Honglin Chen and Doctor Erika Matruglio I owe a debt of gratitude to Honglin for her continued, careful and clear supervision, timely thought-provoking feedback, inspiration and invaluable insights Honglin is the first teacher who introduced me to the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) research community in Sydney and encouraged me to audit SFL-based courses for developing knowledge of the field She has provided useful writing mentoring during the supervisory meetings and apprenticed me into academic writing conventions She has always developed in me an increasing level of confidence in my capacity She is the best teacher, mentor and supervisor that I have ever met in my life I also owe a debt of gratitude to Erika for her continuous encouragement, and immediate, detailed constructive feedback and knowledge Erika has always created a very positive mentoring experience and provided needed support at every step of my candidature I highly appreciate the clarity in her feedback on multiple drafts of my writing I also value the knowledge, insights and explanations about SFL concepts that Erika brings to discussion A word of thanks is then sent to Dr Meeta Chatterjee for being a co-supervisor in my first year of candidature Meeta has always been my favourite teacher who contributed a significant part in shaping my research proposal I am thankful to her for sharing useful resources and providing helpful comments on drafts of the proposal My thanks are also sent to Ms Catriona Taylor and Dr Bradley Smith for proofreading and editing iii I would like to thank James Martin, Peter White, David Rose, Sally Humphrey, Shoshana Dreyfus and Pauline Jones for teaching me about the architecture of SFL and genre-based pedagogy I would also like to thank all members of the IDEAS research group in the Faculty of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (UOW) for broadening my understanding of SFL and all PhD mates, including Annette Turney, Ika Damayanti, Lilian Ariztimuno, Carolina Badillo, Nguyen Tien Ngo and many others for sharing ups and downs in the academic world and beyond Finally, I would like to deliver my special thanks to my extended family members – my dad, mum, brothers and sister for sending care and love from overseas via video calls; and to my nuclear family members – my wife, son and daughter for always being by my side and sharing with me in every aspect of life iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents DECLARATION II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III TABLE OF CONTENTS V LIST OF FIGURES IX LIST OF TABLES X ABSTRACT XII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.0 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING IN EFL CONTEXTS 1.2 ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING INSTRUCTIONS IN VIETNAMESE TERTIARY CONTEXTS 1.3 OVERVIEW OF THE THEORETICAL LENS 1.4 AIM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 12 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 15 1.6 THESIS ORGANISATION 17 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 20 2.0 INTRODUCTION 20 2.1 APPROACHES TO CONCEPTUALISING ARGUMENTATION 21 2.1.1 An Aristotelian approach to argument 21 2.1.2 A Toulmin approach to argument 22 2.1.3 An SFL approach to argument 24 2.2 KEY COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT 26 2.2.1 Effective organisation of structural elements of arguments as an important indicator of a quality text 26 2.2.2 Evaluation as a key element in argument 30 2.3 KEY CHALLENGES IN CONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING 36 2.3.1 Insufficient awareness of writing purposes and audiences 37 2.3.2 Difficulty in constructing generic structures 38 2.3.3 Lack of competency in using the language of evaluation 40 2.4 GENRE-BASED PEDAGOGIC APPROACHES 42 2.4.1 Rhetorical Genre Studies 42 2.4.2 English for Specific Purposes (ESP) 43 2.4.3 The SFL genre tradition 44 2.4.4 Implicit versus explicit genre-based writing instruction 45 2.4.5 SFL genre-based explicit writing instruction 46 2.4.6 Research on the development of linguistic resources in argumentative writing from an SFL perspective 49 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS 53 3.0 INTRODUCTION 53 3.1 WRITING DEVELOPMENT FROM A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS PERSPECTIVE 54 v 3.1.1 Genre and writing development 56 3.1.2 Register and writing development 60 3.1.3 Metafunction 62 3.1.4 Stratification and realisation 63 3.1.5 Instantiation 66 3.2 SFL CONCEPTUAL TOOLS FOR EXPLORING WRITING CHANGES 68 3.2.1 SFL theory of genre 68 3.2.2 Periodicity 72 3.2.3 APPRAISAL system 74 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 79 4.0 INTRODUCTION 79 4.1 THE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PARADIGM 79 4.2 CONTEXT 81 4.3 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT WRITERS IN AN EFL CONTEXT 82 4.4 DATA COLLECTION 83 4.4.1 Stage I: Analysis of the literature and the research context 84 4.4.2 Stage II: Design of the intervention program 85 4.4.3 Stage III: Implementation and Evaluation of the intervention 92 4.4.4 Data sources 93 4.5 DATA ANALYSIS 95 4.5.1 Argumentative genre analysis 96 4.5.2 Periodicity analysis 99 4.5.3 Appraisal analysis 101 4.5.4 Interview data analysis 113 4.6 ETHICAL ISSUES 115 4.7 CONCLUSION 116 CHAPTER 5: TEXTUAL STRUCTURES OF STUDENT ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING 117 5.0 INTRODUCTION 117 5.1 VARIED STRUCTURES IN THE PRE-INTERVENTION TEXTS 118 5.1.1 Varied structures in the high achieving pre-intervention texts 119 5.1.2 Varied structures in the low achieving pre-intervention texts 121 5.2 ARGUMENT GENRES APPROXIMATED IN THE MID- AND POST-INTERVENTION TEXTS 127 5.3 MISSING EVIDENCE IN THE PRE-INTERVENTION TEXTS 133 5.4 EMERGING ELABORATION STRATEGIES IN THE MID- AND POST-INTERVENTION TEXTS 136 5.4.1 Adding evidence as a persuasive device 136 5.4.2 Adding analysis 138 5.4.3 Adding concession 139 5.5 THE TEXTUAL ORGANISATION OF INFORMATION IN THE STUDENT TEXTS 141 5.5.1 High achieving pre-intervention texts 142 5.5.2 Low achieving pre-intervention texts 144 5.5.3 Using macroTheme to predict content in the mid- and post-intervention texts 155 5.5.4 Predicting hyperThemes through macroTheme 156 5.5.5 Greater use of hyperNew 158 5.6 THE PARTICIPANTS’ VIEWS ON THE INTERVENTION PROGRAM 160 5.6.1 The impact of the intervention on genre knowledge 161 5.6.2 The positive aspects of the intervention 164 CHAPTER 6: THE PROFILE OF ATTITUDES IN STUDENT ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING 169 vi 6.0 INTRODUCTION 169 6.1 INSCRIBED ATTITUDE 169 6.1.1 A more to less personalised expression of emotions 170 6.1.2 Development of more delicate evaluative resources 172 6.1.3 Wide to narrow distribution of AFFECT resources 174 6.1.4 Shift towards nominalised AFFECT 175 6.1.5 Preferences for resources of JUDGEMENT 177 6.1.6 A less to more effective use of evaluative resources beyond the level of clauses 179 6.2 GRADUATION 187 6.2.1 Similar patterns of GRADUATION 188 6.2.2 Developing control over the pattern of GRADUATION resources and APPRECIATION 190 6.2.3 Growing repertoire of intensification resources 191 6.3 TYPES OF INVOKED ATTITUDE 193 6.4 THE INTERPLAY OF INSCRIBED AND INVOKED ATTITUDE 201 CHAPTER 7: ENGAGING WITH OTHER VOICES IN STUDENT ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING 205 7.0 INTRODUCTION 205 7.1 FROM A SINGLE-VOICED TO MULTIPLE-VOICED ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT 206 7.1.1 Single-voiced pre-writing 207 7.1.2 Using attribution to create multiple-voiced post-intervention writing 210 7.2 FROM LIMITED INEFFECTIVE TO WIDER-RANGING, EFFECTIVE USES OF ENGAGEMENT RESOURCES BEYOND THE LEVEL OF CLAUSES 224 7.2.1 Limited effectiveness in pre-intervention texts 224 7.2.2 Greater effectiveness in post-intervention texts 226 CHAPTER 8: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 229 8.0 INTRODUCTION 229 8.1 IMPACT OF SCAFFOLDED, SFL-BASED GENRE APPROACH ON ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING DEVELOPMENT 230 8.1.1 Changes in generic structures 230 8.1.2 Changes in the organisation of ideas 232 8.1.3 Changes in evaluative language use 232 8.2 PARTICIPANTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE SFL-BASED GENRE WRITING INTERVENTION 235 8.3 KEY FEATURES OF EFFECTIVE ARGUMENTATION 238 8.3.1 The role of genre staging and evidence in argumentation 238 8.3.2 The role of field knowledge about writing topics 240 8.3.3 The role of evaluative meanings 241 8.4 A LINGUISTIC CONCEPTION OF ABILITY TO ARGUE IN ENGLISH 243 8.5 IMPROVING KEY CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING SKILLS IN VSTEP 246 8.5.1 Current descriptors of Band 10 rubric 247 8.5.2 Proposed descriptors of Band 10 rubric 248 8.6 IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY 250 8.7 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 251 8.8 LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE STUDIES 254 REFERENCES .256 APPENDICES .275 APPENDIX – GENRE ANALYSIS 275 APPENDIX – PERIODICITY ANALYSIS 296 APPENDIX – INSCRIBED ATTITUDE ANALYSIS 315 vii APPENDIX – INSCRIBED ATTITUDE ANALYSIS WITH GRADUATION + INVOCATIONS 331 APPENDIX – ANALYSIS OF ENGAGEMENT RESOURCES 347 APPENDIX – INTERVIEW DATA ANALYSIS 363 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 3.1 STRATAL HIERARCHY OF REALISATION - STRATA OF LANGUAGE IN SOCIAL CONTEXT AFTER MARTIN AND ROSE (2008) 65 FIGURE 3.2 THE CLINE OF INSTANTIATION RELATING SYSTEM TO INSTANCE 67 FIGURE 3.3 LAYERING OF THEME AND NEWS IN DISCOURSE (MARTIN & ROSE, 2007B, P 186) 73 FIGURE 3.4 THE APPRAISAL SYSTEM FROM MARTIN AND WHITE (2005, P 38) 76 FIGURE 4.1 THREE STAGES OF DATA COLLECTION 83 FIGURE 4.2 THE INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL OF THE INTERVENTION, AFTER ROTHERY (1994) AND ROSE AND MARTIN (2012) 86 FIGURE 4.3 SYSTEM NETWORK OF RESOURCES IN GRADUATION FROM MARTIN AND WHITE (2005) AND HOOD (2004A) 107 FIGURE 4.4 THREE MAIN MECHANISMS IN WHICH AN EVALUATIVE MEANING IS SIGNALLED, AFTER MARTIN AND WHITE (2005) 109 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE 3.1 GENRES AND GENRE FAMILIES IN EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS (ROSE, 2012) 70 TABLE 3.2 A SYSTEM OF ARGUMENT GENRES (MARTIN & ROSE, 2008) 71 TABLE 4.1 THE TOTAL NUMBER OF WORDS IN EACH SET 93 TABLE 4.2 THREE TASK PROMPTS GIVEN AT THREE POINTS IN TIME: PRE-, MID- AND POST INTERVENTION 94 TABLE 4.3 GENERIC STRUCTURES IN STUDENT ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS (COFFIN, 2004) 97 TABLE 4.4 EXAMPLES OF LINGUISTIC REALISATIONS IN THE ISSUE STAGE 98 TABLE 4.5 EXAMPLES OF LINGUISTIC REALISATIONS IN THE COUNTER-ARGUMENT STAGE 98 TABLE 4.6 SUB-CATEGORIES OF AFFECT AND EXAMPLES OF EACH SUB-CATEGORY FROM THE DATA 103 TABLE 4.7 SUB-CATEGORIES OF JUDGEMENT AND EXAMPLES OF EACH SUB-CATEGORY FROM THE DATA 104 TABLE 4.8 SUB-CATEGORIES AND SAMPLE INSTANTIATIONS OF APPRECIATION 106 TABLE 4.9 AN EXAMPLE OF THE DATA AND CODES 114 TABLE 4.10 AN EXAMPLE OF THE MERGING OF CODES INTO A THEME 114 TABLE 4.11 AN EXAMPLE OF THEMES AND RESPECTIVE DEFINITIONS 115 TABLE 5.1 AN EXAMPLE OF THE MACRO STRUCTURE OF ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION 120 TABLE 5.2 AN EXAMPLE OF THE MACRO STRUCTURE OF ANALYTICAL DISCUSSION 121 TABLE 5.3 AN EXAMPLE OF THE STRUCTURE OF AN INCOMPLETE HORTATORY DISCUSSION 122 TABLE 5.4 AN EXAMPLE OF THE STRUCTURE OF AN UNIDENTIFIABLE GENRE 123 TABLE 5.5 AN EXAMPLE OF AN INEFFECTIVE TEXTUAL ORGANISATION 124 TABLE 5.6 AN EXAMPLE OF ARGUMENTS WITH LIMITED ELABORATIONS 125 TABLE 5.7 AN EXAMPLE OF ARGUMENTS WITHOUT ELABORATIONS 126 TABLE 5.8 FROM ANALYTICAL DISCUSSION TO ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION 128 TABLE 5.9 FROM INCOMPLETE HORTATORY DISCUSSION TO ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION 129 TABLE 5.10 PROGRESSION TOWARDS CLEARER RHETORICAL PURPOSE 130 TABLE 5.11 PROGRESSION TOWARDS EFFECTIVE TEXTUAL ORGANISATION 131 TABLE 5.12 PROGRESSION TOWARDS ELABORATED ARGUMENTS 132 TABLE 5.13 AN EXAMPLE OF LACK OF EVIDENCE IN THE LOW ACHIEVING TEXTS 134 TABLE 5.14 AN EXAMPLE OF LACK OF EVIDENCE IN THE HIGH ACHIEVING TEXTS 135 TABLE 5.15 ADDING EVIDENCE 137 TABLE 5.16 ADDING ANALYSIS 139 TABLE 5.17 ADDING CONCESSION 140 TABLE 5.18 AN EXAMPLE OF PERIODICITY IN THE HIGH-PERFORMING TEXTS 143 TABLE 5.19 INCOHERENT CONNECTION BETWEEN IDEAS 144 TABLE 5.20 AN EXAMPLE OF THE INEFFECTIVE PREDICTIVE FUNCTION OF MACROTHEME 145 TABLE 5.21 AN EXAMPLE OF MISMATCH BETWEEN MACROTHEME AND HYPERTHEME 147 TABLE 5.22 AN EXAMPLE OF INEFFECTIVE PREDICTIVE FUNCTION OF HYPERTHEME 149 TABLE 5.23 AN EXAMPLE OF MISSING MACROTHEME 151 TABLE 5.24 AN EXAMPLE OF MISSING HYPERTHEMES 152 TABLE 5.25 AN EXAMPLE OF MISSING HYPERNEWS 154 TABLE 5.26 AN EXAMPLE OF THE SUCCESSFUL USE OF THEMES IN THE POST-INTERVENTION TEXTS 155 TABLE 5.27 AN EXAMPLE OF PREDICTING HYPERTHEMES THROUGH MACROTHEME 157 TABLE 5.28 AN EXAMPLE OF GREATER USE OF HYPERNEW 159 TABLE 5.29 AN EXAMPLE OF CONCLUSION IN THE POST-INTERVENTION TEXTS 160 TABLE 6.1 TOTAL INSTANCES OF APPRECIATION ACROSS THE DATA SET 170 TABLE 6.2 GENERALISED APPRECIATION VERSUS DELICATE VALUATION ACROSS THE DATA SET 173 TABLE 6.3 KINDS OF JUDGEMENT AND THEIR TOTAL INSTANCES ACROSS THE DATA SET 178 TABLE 6.4 TOTAL INSTANCES OF EXPLICIT ATTITUDE AND GRADUATION IN TEXTS CONSTRUCTED AT DIFFERENT TIMES 188 x TABLE 6.5 TYPES AND TOTAL NUMBER OF ATTITUDINAL INVOCATIONS IN THE CORPUS 194 TABLE 6.6 RATIO OF INSCRIBED TO INVOKED ATTITUDE 198 TABLE 6.7 TOTAL INSTANCES OF INVOKED JUDGEMENT 199 TABLE 6.8 TYPES OF AND TOTAL NUMBER OF IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT INSTANCES OF ATTITUDE 202 TABLE 7.1 THE RATIO OF ENTERTAIN TO ATTRIBUTE RESOURCES PER 1000 WORDS ACROSS THE DATA SET 207 TABLE 7.2 DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES OF ATTRIBUTION AT A MORE DELICATE LEVEL IN PRE-INTERVENTION TEXTS 212 TABLE 7.3 DISTANCING RESOURCES IN STUDENT TEXTS CONSTRUCTED AT DIFFERENT POINTS IN TIME 213 TABLE 8.1 FUNCTIONAL STAGES AND PHASES OF EXPOSITION DEMONSTRATED THE PRE- AND POST-INTERVENTION TEXTS 239 TABLE 8.2 THE GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BAND 10 IN THE CURRENT SCORING RUBRIC 250 TABLE 8.3 THE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF BAND 10 IN THE PROPOSED SCORING RUBRIC 250 xi ABSTRACT Argumentative writing is necessary for academic success at tertiary level in both Anglophone and EFL contexts Being able to argue in English in academic ways, however, presents significant challenges for EFL students, particularly those with low English proficiency levels Many EFL students have little experience with written academic argument genres and rhetorical writing styles in English, and insufficient understanding of the value of ‘objective’ evaluative writing Despite the challenges faced by EFL students in learning to argue in English, to date little research has focused on tracing EFL university-level students’ argumentative writing development, particularly their changes in discourse-semantic evaluative meaning-making resources, through a theoretically-informed literacy intervention The research reported in this thesis examines the impact of a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL)-informed genre writing intervention (Halliday, 1978; Martin & Rose, 2008) on the improvement of argumentative writing produced by Vietnamese EFL tertiary students under timed, exam-based conditions The present study evaluates the potential of the SFL-based genre writing intervention through comprehensive, detailed linguistic analyses of argumentative texts produced by Vietnamese EFL tertiary students, and through a thematic analysis of the students’ perceptions of the intervention’s potential This study draws on SFL genre, APPRAISAL system and periodicity for exploring changes in argumentative writing SFL provides conceptual understanding of writing development and analytical systems for the analysis of texts Data consist of 33 texts constructed at pre-, mid- and post-intervention intervals which are qualitatively analysed The SFL linguistic analysis provides insights into writing development as a result of the intervention This study also undertakes a thematic analysis of interview data collected after the students attended the intervention This analysis sheds light on the perceptions of the students towards the effectiveness of the intervention on writing improvement Informed by SFL analytical tools and systems, analyses reveal development in the ability of Vietnamese tertiary students to argue in English after they completed the intervention From the genre perspective, development is evidenced in a greater ability to approximate the prototypical structure of the focus genre modelled in the intervention From the periodicity perspective, development is demonstrated in their increased ability to xii articulate thesis statements and arguments elaborated with justifications and evidence From the APPRAISAL perspective, analysis shows the progression towards less personalised expression of emotions and greater use of resources of attribution to construct warranted multi-voiced arguments Analysis also reveals a better capacity to construct an effective pattern of evaluation beyond the level of clauses and clause complexes In addition, the thematic analysis of interview data indicates the impact of the intervention on the students’ genre knowledge and their positive attitudes towards the effectiveness of the intervention on writing improvement This study has made an original contribution to the domain of EFL academic writing The study lends empirical support for the application of SFL-based genre pedagogy, supplemented with discourse-semantic APPRAISAL features, to the development of EFL students’ ability to argue in English It confirms the potential value of this pedagogy in fostering growth in the capacity of students to use evaluative resources effectively for argumentative writing improvement The study has valuable pedagogical implications of the EFL curriculum content and pedagogy for the instruction of EFL argumentative writing xiii .. .Supporting Vietnamese EFL university students’ development of argumentative writing through Systemic Functional Linguistics-based genre pedagogy Dinh Thanh Liem Bachelor of Arts, University of. .. impact of a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL)-informed genre writing intervention (Halliday, 1978; Martin & Rose, 2008) on the improvement of argumentative writing produced by Vietnamese EFL. .. the potential of the SFL-based genre writing intervention through comprehensive, detailed linguistic analyses of argumentative texts produced by Vietnamese EFL tertiary students, and through a thematic