The Effect of Manipulating Intercultural Rhetoric Data on Rhetorical Transfer

Abstract

The dissertation reports a study that escalates two main assumptions, each advancing the utility of L1 use in L2 writing pedagogy: First, that translation and L2 writing are analogous activities and, second, that avoidance of negative rhetorical transfer demands student writers understanding when existing L1 competences enhance or impede the L2 composition practice. This prompted the hypothesis that, for L1 composing competences to be exploited, Arabicspeaking EFL writers need instructions on (1) L1-based transfer errors, (2) contrasts in the textual mechanisms between Arabic and English, (3) contrasts in the cultural practices underpinning distinct rhetorical preferences, and (4) techniques for establishing textual translation equivalence.To test the hypothesis, a treatment was designed and manipulated on an experimental group. The effect was gauged, statistically, through a comparing the frequencies of transfer features in a post-test with three baselines and, qualitatively, via analysis of elicited interview and introspective data from participants. A class discussion method was implemented to cater for while-experiment data, and teachers‘ feedback on the treatment designed was elicited. Results lent support to the hypothesis in a number of ways: The decrease in the use of the targeted features in the experimental group‘s post-treatment test as compared to three baselines of performance; the causativeness of the treatment variable; the emphasis of course impact on participants as grounded in interview data; and the allegiance teachers expressed to the treatment. Applications of the study are categorized along the four components known to construe the language teaching enterprise. Suggestions for further research are made with varying relatedness to the present work.