See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/257290763

The Impact of Native Culture on Foreign Language Writing

Conference Paper · May 2013

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3265.6960

CITATIONS READS

0 3,028

1 author:

Mokhtar Hamadouche
Larbi Ben M'hidi University, Oum El Bouaghi - Algeria
6 PUBLICATIONS 16 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Mokhtar Hamadouche on 15 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Current Trends in Foreign Language
Teaching and Learning:

Flexibility - Creativity – Innovation

13th and 14thMay , 2013:
University of Batna, Algeria
The Impact of the Native Culture
on Foreign Language Writing

Mokhtar Hamadouche
University of Constantine I
 Questions
1. What are students’ problems in writing?

2. How can target language writing be influenced by

native culture?

3. What are the Arabic-English rhetorical differences?

4. What is Intercultural Rhetoric?

5. How can Intercultural Rhetoric help students

overcome their difficulties in writing?
What are students’ problems in writing?
• Grammar (subject-verb agreement, verb tense and form,
articles use, etc.)
• Vocabulary (word choice, appropriateness, etc.).
• Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.).
• Choice and organization of ideas.
• Paragraph/essay structure.

In addition to:
• The influence of the native culture.
How can native culture influence foreign
language writing?
 Culture-influence
Hypothesis
Logic and rhetoric are interdependent and culture specific

 Different cultures impose different perspectives of the

world, and
 Different languages have different rhetorical patterns

The use of L1 rhetorical features in FL

composition results in awkward pieces of writing
What are the Arabic-English rhetorical
differences?
 Writing Beyond
Sentence Level

Arabic English

Collectiveness & Individualism &

in-group self-reliant
orientation orientation
Use of religious
expressions,
Logical
religious argument
argument
& constant
reference to God

Repetition at Economy of
different levels expression

Circularity of Linearity of
organization organization
What is Inreculrural Rhetoric?
 Contrastive Rhetoric (Intercultural Rhetoric):

 It is an area of research in second language acquisition that studies

discourse differences between different languages and cultures as reflected

in the writing of second/foreign language students.

 The premise of contrastive rhetoric is that:

1. Each language and culture have unique rhetorical conventions.

2.When ESL/EFL students write in English, some of their first language

rhetorical conventions appear in their target language writing.
Research on contrastive rhetoric began more than forty years ago with
Robert Kaplan’s (1966) seminal article. He analyzed the English essays of
500 international students and found out that:

Each language has a paragraph development unique to itself

Figure 1: Rhetorical Patterns of Different Languages. (Kaplan, 1966)

Years after Kaplan’s (1966) original work in the field, the scope of
contrastive rhetoric has expanded to include more issues than students
writing:

 Many EAP situations such as academic research articles and research

reports;

 ESP/EOP. For instance, business and journalism;

 Literary writing; and

 Translation.
How can Intercultural Rhetoric help students
overcome their difficulties in writing?
Students’ failure in the appropriate use of TL rhetorical styles is
attributed to their unawareness of cross-culture differences.

Awareness raising is, therefore, the most essential contrastive

rhetoric tool for helping non-native students overcome their
difficulties in TL writing through a three-steps process:

1. Teaching students to appreciate their native language rhetorical

traditions;

2. Elucidating the cross-cultural differences; and

3. Helping them to make the transition to TL organizational

conventions.
 Conclusions
1. First culture/language influence on TL writing doesn’t only occur
at the levels of grammar, syntax and vocabulary; but also at the level
of rhetorical conventions and stylistic patterns.

2. Arabic and English are different in certain aspects and this

difference affects negatively students’ English writing.

3. Contrastive rhetoric has been proved to be effective in helping

students overcome their difficulties in writing.

4. Cross-culture writing differences should be integrated in the

language classroom.
 References
• Abu Rass, R. (2011). Cultural transfer as an obstacle for writing well in English:
The Case of Arabic speakers writing in English. English Language Teaching, 4(2),
206-212.
• Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of second-language
writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Connor, U. (2002). New directions in contrastive rhetoric. TESOL Quarterly, 36(4),
493-510.
• Connor, U. (2004). Intercultural rhetoric research: Beyond texts. Journal of English
for Academic Purposes, 3(4), 291-304.
• Davies, R. J. (2004). Written discourse across cultures I: Towards an integrated
approach to EL2 composition pedagogy. Ehime University Memoirs 36 (2), 77-100.
• Kaplan, R. B. (1966). Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education.
Language Learning, 16, 1–20.
• Smith, M. W. (2005). Students as contrastive rhetoricians: Examining ESL student
perceptions of L1 and L2 rhetorical conventions. Arizona Working Papers in SLAT,
12, 79-98.
 Thank You

View publication stats