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Discourse Transfer Phenomena as Manifested in the Interlanguage Performance of Four Chinese ESL University-Level Students: An Analytical/Interpretive Investigation of what Chinese Learners Bring to NS-NNS Interaction

Wu, Shu-hua
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019371

Abstract Details

2000, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, EDU Teaching and Learning.
This study explored the extent to which the L2 speech of 4 Chinese ESL university-level students was influenced by their native language discourse patterns in the context of face-to-face interactions in English with 3 adult native speakers of American English. Data collection involved interviews, non-participant observations, and a total of 30 hours of audiotaped recordings of face-to-face interactions between the 4 Chinese participants and the 3 native speakers of American English. Data analysis involved applying the methods of transfer analysis and discourse analysis to analyze the L2 speech of the 4 Chinese participants by relating it to their first language discourse patterns. Data analysis of the 4 Chinese participants’ L2 speech yielded a total of 38 categories of transferred Chinese discourse that were grouped under the 4 modules: organizing propositional information, overusing metadiscourse strategies, manifesting social identity, and performing rituals of face. The study found that discourse transfer influenced and was influenced by the interactional context in which linguistic, cognitive, and social processes were at work during the production of discourse transfer by the 4 Chinese learners. The measures of frequency of use, percentages, and rankings indicated that the 4 Chinese participants varied among themselves as individuals in terms of the quantity and quality of discourse transfer categories produced by each Chinese participant. The study generated three hypotheses to account for the discourse transfer phenomena in the 4 Chinese participants’ L2 speech. First, the modularity hypothesis accounted for the information-processing that took place between, on the one hand, the dynamic interplay between the L1 and the L2 in the learner’s performance, and on the other, the interactive processing of the L2 input that was provided in the interactional context by the English native-speaking interlocutors. Second, the complexity hypothesis accounted for the bidirectional relationship between discourse transfer and the interactional context which involved linguistic, social, and cognitive processes in the production of discourse transfer in an L2 context. Third, the idiosyncracy hypothesis provided theoretical support for the finding that the 4 Chinese participants varied as individuals in terms of the production of discourse transfer. Implications for pedagogy were a series of interventions embedded within a set of communicative activities designed to contribute to language learning in the classroom. The suggested pedagogical framework consisted of providing authentic L2 input, establishing L1-L2 relations, developing strategies for communication and social interaction, and attending to learner idiosyncracy. Recommendations for further research were a classroom-based observational study of an EFL classroom in which the pedagogical framework was implemented, and an experimental study on the effects of “task type,” and “interlocutor familiarity” on the production of discourse transfer among Chinese ESL learners. A list of references and appendices relating to matters of access and entry to the research site are included at the end of the dissertation.
Keiko Samimy (Advisor)
Charles R. Hancock (Committee Member)
Robert Donmoyer (Committee Member)
443 p.
Education

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Citations

  • Wu, S.-H. (2000). Discourse Transfer Phenomena as Manifested in the Interlanguage Performance of Four Chinese ESL University-Level Students: An Analytical/Interpretive Investigation of what Chinese Learners Bring to NS-NNS Interaction [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019371

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wu, Shu-hua. Discourse Transfer Phenomena as Manifested in the Interlanguage Performance of Four Chinese ESL University-Level Students: An Analytical/Interpretive Investigation of what Chinese Learners Bring to NS-NNS Interaction. 2000. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019371.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wu, Shu-hua. "Discourse Transfer Phenomena as Manifested in the Interlanguage Performance of Four Chinese ESL University-Level Students: An Analytical/Interpretive Investigation of what Chinese Learners Bring to NS-NNS Interaction." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392019371

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.