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Genre effects on alignment and writing quality in the continuation task by Chinese EFL learners

  • Xiao Zhou

    Xiao Zhou, PhD, is a lecturer of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong University of Technology, China. Her research interests include L2 vocabulary learning, interactive alignment and xu-argument based EFL teaching. Her recent publications appear in Language Teaching Research and Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics.

     ORCID logo     und Qi Wang

    Qi Wang, PhD, is professor of applied linguistics at the National Key Research Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China. His research interest is in SLA and L2 writing, particularly in alignment effects in L2 writing on L2 development. His recent publications focus on alignment in the continuation tasks and its facilitating role in L2 learning, structural priming in L1 and L2 discourse, and L2 writing development.

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. Oktober 2024
Applied Linguistics Review
Aus der Zeitschrift Applied Linguistics Review Band 16 Heft 3

Abstract

Previous studies have repeatedly confirmed the robust alignment effect of the continuation task and its great potential to expedite second language writing and learning. The bulk of research in this respect, however, has mainly centred on the narrative genre, leaving the applicability of the task to other genres largely unexplored. This study endeavours to address this issue by comparing the alignment effect and writing performances of the task between the narrative and the expository genre. To this end, a cohort of 40 students from a Chinese university were recruited. They were required to complete two narrative and two expository continuation tasks over eight weeks. Participants’ continuation writings were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively for the purpose of capturing alignment effects. The results reveal that the expository continuation task elicited greater overall alignment, manifested in the greater amount of phrasal alignment, albeit smaller amount of sentential alignment. Irrespective of source text genre, students tacitly converged to the source text at various rhetoric and stylistic dimensions, exhibiting alignment in nuanced and multifaceted manner. Participants’ writing performances were found to be better on the expository task, indexed by greater accuracy and syntactic complexity. The findings suggest that the continuation task can be expanded to expository writing to effectively promote the teaching/learning of non-narrative writing. The implications for both L2 writing theory and pedagogy are discussed.

Keywords: genre; alignment; writing performance; the continuation task
Corresponding author: Qi Wang, Center for Linguistics & Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510420, China, E-mail:

Funding source: China Foreign Language Education Fund

Award Identifier / Grant number: ZGWYJYJJ11A140

Funding source: National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences

Award Identifier / Grant number: 21BYY048

Funding source: Guangdong Philosophy and Social Science Foundation

Award Identifier / Grant number: GD22CWY08

About the authors

Xiao Zhou

Xiao Zhou, PhD, is a lecturer of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong University of Technology, China. Her research interests include L2 vocabulary learning, interactive alignment and xu-argument based EFL teaching. Her recent publications appear in Language Teaching Research and Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics.

Qi Wang

Qi Wang, PhD, is professor of applied linguistics at the National Key Research Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China. His research interest is in SLA and L2 writing, particularly in alignment effects in L2 writing on L2 development. His recent publications focus on alignment in the continuation tasks and its facilitating role in L2 learning, structural priming in L1 and L2 discourse, and L2 writing development.

  1. Research funding: This study is supported by a grant from the National Social Science Fund of China (Grant No.: 21BYY048), a grant from Guangdong Philosophy and Social Science Foundation (Grant No.: GD22CWY08) and a grant from China Foreign Language Education Fund (Grant No.: ZGWYJYJJ11A140).

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Received: 2024-02-24
Accepted: 2024-09-19
Published Online: 2024-10-07
Published in Print: 2025-05-26

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2024-0065
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
genre; alignment; writing performance; the continuation task

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Research Articles
  3. (Im)mobility infrastructure and the production of the linguistic precariat
  4. Imagination and investment: unraveling academic identity in Chinese doctoral candidates’ publishing journeys in U.S. higher education
  5. “As a Muslim…”: on the importance of intercultural responsibility in transnational cultural exchanges
  6. The role of speaker categorization in South Korean attitudes toward North Korean accents
  7. Translanguaging for the construction of instructional immediacy in a Mandarin–Japanese crosslinguistic class
  8. In search of Polish in the multilingual cityscape: analysing the urban spaces of Ealing, London
  9. Precarious privilege: identity (re)construction among international students returning to South Korea
  10. Genre effects on alignment and writing quality in the continuation task by Chinese EFL learners
  11. Study abroad experiences in homestay: where complexity, dynamicity, and individuality stay
  12. Special Issue: Cognitive, Affective and Social Dimensions of Migration; Guest Editors: Fabienne Baider and Sviatlana Karpava
  13. Editorial
  14. Cognitive, affective and social dimensions of migration
  15. Research Articles
  16. On the move: social and linguistic acculturation in a small society
  17. Greek Cypriot and immigrant students’ attitudes and perceptions of acculturation, ethnic identity and self-esteem in the Republic of Cyprus
  18. Russian-speaking immigrants’ adaptation in Canada
  19. First language loss effect on bilingual autobiographical memory: examining memory phenomenology
  20. Interaction of L1 attrition, language attitudes and identity in Lithuanian diaspora
  21. Language teaching in the 21st century: incorporating culturally sustaining pedagogies for social and cognitive justice in education
  22. Conceptualising children’s linguistic rights in formal education in Greece
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