Intercultural Rhetoric Research on Chinese-English Persuasive Writing

The investigation was conducted in response to Connor's (1996) call for more cross-cultural studies on second language writing. Compelled by the notion of intercultural rhetoric (Connor, 2004), which allows researchers to find the differences between rhetorical conventions between/among languages from a cross-cultural point of view, the author aims to identify different perceptions of good persuasive writing in two languages (Chinese and English) and to explore how culture shapes individual writers' ideology. To achieve these two goals, she reviewed relevant research studies conducted by intercultural rhetoricians. The synthesis of those studies led to the finding of four major differences: 1) writer responsible versus reader responsible, 2) individual orientation versus group orientation, 3) appeal to rationality versus appeal to emotion, and 4) textual originality versus textual ＂borrowing＂. These differences appear attributable to the cultural values of each language. The different rhetoric conventions between English and Chinese persuasive writing have resulted in Chinese writers' confusion and English educators' frustration. At the end of the paper, the author provides some suggestions relevant to persuasive writing to EFL/ESL Chinese writers, EFL/ESL English educators, and the researchers who intend to further explore this domain.

關鍵字

intercultural rhetoric ； English as a foreign/second language ； persuasive writing

並列摘要

寫作與文化密不可分（Connor, 1996），從跨文化的角度可發掘不同文化之間修辭慣例的差異。基於此論述，本研究聚焦於英文及中文，作者檢視這兩種語言在論說文修辭慣例上存有哪些差異，並深入探究文化如何造成這些差異。在回顧並整合跨文化修辭學家所進行的相關研究之後，作者發現以下四個顯著差異：（1）作者扛責－讀者扛責，（2）個人取向－群體取向，（3）理性訴求－感性訴求，以及（4）文本原創－文本「借用」。這些差異皆能在英文、中文各自所形塑的意識形態中獲得合理的解釋。鑑於這些差異往往導致華人書寫英文論說文時感到困惑，以及英文寫作教師批閱華人學生作業時感到挫折，作者在論文的最後，對學習英文寫作之華裔學生，教授英文寫作之教師，以及有意在跨文化修辭領域進行更多探索的研究人員提供一些建議。

並列關鍵字

跨文化修辭；英語為外國／第二語言；論說文寫作

參考文獻

Bliss, A. (2001). Rhetorical structures for multilingual and multicultural students. In C. G. Panetta (Ed.), Contrastive rhetoric revisited and redefined (pp. 15-30). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Google Scholar

Bloch, J. (2001). Plagiarism and the ESL student: From printed to electronic texts. In D. Belcher & A. Hirvela (Eds.), Linking literacies: Perspectives on L2 reading-writing connections (pp. 209-228). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.