It has already been affirmed that power and control embedded in questions varies according to question type (Luchjenbroers 1999, Rigney 1999 etc). The paper ranges question types according to their degree of control and observes that those with high degree of control lost their power and control through the process of interpreting. It is further…

To effectively teach university lecturers or students to write a good research article (RA) abstract for publication in international journals, instructors need to know the present characteristics of abstracts written published in such journals. This study examines the discourse structure and linguistic features of RA abstracts written in English…

The current study analyzes discourse style differences between western and Japanese interlocutors in a group consensus-building task discussion. Four discussants (American male, Japanese male, German female and Japanese female) first created a ranking of 5 life values and then participated in a group discussion to arrive at a common group ranking.…

This study explores how low- and intermediate-level English learners manage face threats in MSN conversations. The effects of the addressee's status are also studied. Forty English learners, who were further divided into beginner and intermediate groups according to their English proficiency, participated in this study. Based on six offensive…

Studies of "transfronterizos" have highlighted the potential ways in which these students might draw on their linguistic, cultural, or knowledge capital on both sides of the border. However, because "transfronterizos" may cross borders to participate in institutional contexts, such as schooling, they can find themselves in the…

In order to fill in the research gap related to the theory and practice of critical literacy in Taiwan, this article describes an English Conversation activity offered during the 2005 spring semester at a university in southern Taiwan. The article uses a critical instructional model to analyze students' team dialogues as responses to a…

This paper examines the effectiveness of routinizing lexical phrases to a group of second language learners. A group of proficiency class students were drilled or routinized with semi-fixed and fixed phrases which are commonly used in problem-solving group discussion. Basic frequency counts and interview were carried out to see improvement in…

This study provides a theory-driven account of community building in a bilingual telecollaborative chat setting. A symmetrical arrangement of 70 L1 English learners of Spanish and L1 Spanish learners of English engaged in weekly Internet chat sessions in small groups. The learning metaphors of community and participation serve as the theoretical…

Over the years, substantial shifts in theory, belief, and practice have occurred in the teaching of language, specifically vocabulary, grammar, or their combination in lexicogrammatical features of a language as part of the writing class or curriculum (Paltridge, 2004; Reid, 1993, 2006). Much of the instruction in L2 writing for adult learners who…

Highlights the concept of discourse communities, which are used in applied linguistics to analyze written communication. Discusses how the concept developed. (Author/VWL)

Used a genre-based research methodology to determine the rhetorical organization of the introductions and endings of English language essays and to identify correlations between linguistic features and the functions they perform. Findings indicate that essay introductions and conclusions exhibit clearly identifiable generic discourse and…

Applies communication accommodation theory (CAT) to a study of the utility of selected discourse indices of adaptability that compared conversations involving native speaker-native speaker and native speaker-nonnative speaker dyads. Subjects were 132 student volunteers from a large midwestern university. Results are analyzed in terms of their…

One of the major issues in intercultural discourse studies is the variation of discourse patterns across cultures. It has been reported that there appears to be a Western preference for a deductive pattern and a Chinese preference for an inductive pattern in discourse. However, it has also been pointed out that there is nothing inherently Chinese…