學測指考英文佳作分析:文法句型之使用 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系博士班博士論文. 指導教授:尤雪瑛教授 Advisor: Prof. Hsueh-ying Yu. 學測指考英文佳作分析: 文法句型之使用. 政治大. An Analysis of Sentence Structures in JCEE Advanced Writers’. 立English Compositions. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生:張曉鵑撰 Name: Hsiao-chuan Chang. 中華民國 108 年 1 月 January, 2019. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(2) AN ANALYSIS OF SENTENCE STRUCTURES IN JCEE ADCANCED WRITERS’ ENGLISH COMPOSITIONS. A Dissertation Presented to Department of English. 政治大. National Chengchi University. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. n. v i n CPartial In h e nFulfillment i U h c g of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. By Hsiao-chuan Chang January, 2019. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to give my greatest gratitude to my advisor, Prof. Hsueh-ying Yu, who has mentored me through the fifteen years’ study and patiently guided me for professional and personal growth. In addition to making me more strong-mined and mature, Prof. Yu led me to the field of academic study: how to analyze research problems and to present ideas logically and insightfully on my countless drafts. Under the very guidance of Prof. Yu, I have learned how to conduct. 政治大 Particularly, I would like to give credit to CEEC, which generously provided the 立. research and successfully completed my dissertation.. sample articles for my research data. Also, I want to extend great thanks to Mr. Nick. ‧ 國. 學. Chen and Mr. Chris Harmon for their dedicated congeniality in participating data. ‧. analysis. Meanwhile, many thanks go into my foreign colleagues, Mr. Daniel White,. sit. y. Nat. Mr. Jeffery M. Travis, and Ms. Moira Knott. As native speakers, they constantly kept. io. this challenging task in life with perseverance and vitality.. al. er. giving me the advice of the English language. With their help, I was able to complete. n. v i n Finally, my deepest thanksC go to my family, especially h e n g c h i U my husband, who has. supported me all the way and took care of our children, Bryan and Pauline while I was occupied with my study. My warmest thanks are also dedicated to my mother and my two brothers. Lastly, I would like to give my deepest appreciation to my dearest father, who had passed away during my sixth year of doctoral study. I believe it is his blessing in heaven that makes me go through all the difficulties on the way. My achievement in the completion of the doctoral program should be accredited to all of them. This long journey, full of challenges and frustrations, has strengthened my mind and reassured my choice as an English teacher. I am confident to resume my career in teaching. Thank you all, who have made my life fulfilled and enlightened. iii. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………...iii Chinese Abstract………………………………………………………………………ix English Abstract……………………………………………………………………….x Chapter 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………. 1 Background………………………………………………………………1 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………….. 3. 政治大 Research Questions………………………………………………………6 立. Statement of the Purpose...……………………………………………….5. Significance of the Study………………………………………………...7. ‧ 國. 學. Organization of the Dissertation…………………………………………8 Literature Review…………………………………………………………10. ‧. sit. y. Nat. The Nature of Writing…………………………………………………..11 The Qualities of Good Writing………………………………………….12. io. er. 2.. Unity and Coherence in Writing………………………………… ..13. al. n. v i n CGrammar Vocabulary and h e n gincWriting……………………………...15 hi U Vocabulary in Writing…………………………………………15. Grammar in Writing……………………………………….......17 L2 Writing Assessment………………………………………………...24 The Shift from Indirect Writing Tests to Direct Writing Tests….24 Specifications in Direct Writing Tests…………………………..25 The Direct Writing Test in Taiwan: JCEE………………………27 L2 Writing Instruction…………………………………………………28 Approaches to L2 Writing Instruction…………………………..28 The Importance of Grammar in EFL Writing Instruction………30 iv. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(5) Current Writing Instruction in Taiwan………………………………...32 3. Methodology………………………………………………………………..35 Data Collection………………………………………………………...35 The Data………………………………………………………...35 Writing Tasks……………………………………………………36 The Writing Tasks on GSATs……………………………...37 The Writing Tasks on DRTs...……………………………...38 Analysts…………………………………………………………39. 政治大 Frameworks……………………………………………………..40 立. Process of Data Analysis……………………………………………..40. 學. Quantitative Analysis…………………...…………………45 Qualitative Analysis...……………………………………..47. ‧. ‧ 國. Analysis Process………………………………………………...45. sit. y. Nat. 4. Results Analysis and Discussion……..……………………………………..49. io. er. The Five Types of Sentence………………………………………….49 The Subclasses in the Five Types of Sentence………………...51. al. n. v i n C h of Complex Sentences……........................51 The Subclasses engchi U The Adverbial-clause Subclass…………………..…..54. The Noun-clause Subclass………..………………….57 The Relative-clause Subclass…………………..…….61 Others………………………………………………...65 The Incorrect Sentences in Complex Sentences….......66 Summary of Complex Sentences…….........................67 The Subclasses of Simple Sentences……............................68 The S+V+O Subclass…………...……………………69 The S+V+SP Subclass………………………………..71 v. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(6) The S+V+O+OP Subclass…………………………....72 The S+V Subclass...………………………………….73 The S+V+IO+DO Subclass...………...........................75 The Incorrect Sentences in Simple Sentences………..76 Summary of Simple Sentences…….............................77 The Compound-complex Sentences.....................................77 Compound-complex Sentences with Three or more than Three Conjunctions…………………………………..78. 政治大立and One Subordinator………………………………...80 Compound-complex Sentences with One Coordinator. Compound-complex Sentences with Marked Sentences. ‧ 國. 學. ………………………………………………………..82. ‧. The Incorrect Sentences in Compound-complex. Summary of Compound-complex Sentences...………85. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Sentences……...……………………………………...83. The Subclasses of Compound Sentences.............................85. n. al. v i n Ch And-structure Compound Sentences…........................87 engchi U. But-structure Compound Sentences……………...…..88. So-, or-, yet-, and for-structure Compound Sentences.89 Others………………………………………………...90 The Incorrect Sentences in Compound Sentences…...91 Summary of Compound Sentences…………………..92 The Subclasses of Marked Sentences...................................93 The Participial-structure Subclass………………...….94 The Inversion-structure Subclass………………...…..97 There be…Subclass…………...……..……………...100 vi. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(7) Other Marked Sentences: Exclamations, the more…, the more…, and Clefts.……………...……………....…..101 The Incorrect Sentences in Marked Sentences…..….102 Summary of Marked Sentences…...………………...103 Pedagogical Implications……………………………………………104 Summary of the Chapter…………………………………………….108 5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………110 Answers to Research Questions………………………………….....110. 政治大 Limitations of the Study…………………………………………….116 立 Pedagogical Implications…………………………………………...114. Directions for Future Research……………………………………..117. ‧ 國. 學. Appendix A. The Rubric and Details of Each Scoring Aspect in GSAT & DRT. The Rubric and Details of Each Scoring Aspect in GSAT & DRT. sit. y. Nat. Appendix B. ‧. before Academic Year 107…………………………………….120. Six Writing Tasks on GSATs from 2012 to 2017……………...122. al. v i n Six WritingC Tasks on DRTs from 2012 h e n g c h i U to 2017……………….125 n. Appendix D. io. Appendix C. er. since Academic Year 107……………………………………...121. References……………………………………………………………………..127 Vita…………………………………………………………………………….136. vii. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(8) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Coordinating Conjunctions and Their Meanings………………………….21 Table 2.2 Patterns of Complex sentences: Types of Adverbial, Relative, and Noun Clauses…………………………………………………………………….22 Table 2.3 Five Types of Marked Sentences………………………………………......24 Table 3.1 Sentences Types Analyzed in the Study…………………………………...42 Table 3.2 The Subclasses of Each Sentence Type………………………………........44 Table 4.1 The Raw Number, Percentage, and the Rank of Sentence Type Frequency.50. 政治大 Subclasses in Complex Sentences……………………………………........52 立. Table 4.2 The Raw Number, Percentage, and the Rank of Frequency of the. ‧ 國. 學. Table 4.3 The Less-frequent Subordinating Coordinators in the Samples…………...56 Table 4.4 The Verbs Before Object-slot Embedded Statements……………………...59. ‧. Table 4.5 The Raw Number, Percentage, and the Rank of Frequency of the. sit. y. Nat. Subclasses in Simple Sentences…………………………………………...68. io. er. Table 4.6 List of The Intransitive Verbs in the S+V Structure……………………….74. al. v i n C h Sentences………………………………….78 Types in Compound-complex engchi U n. Table 4.7 The Raw Number, Percentage, and the Rank of Frequency of the. Table 4.8 The Raw Number, Percentage, and the Rank of Frequency of the Subclasses in Compound Sentences………………………………………86 Table 4.9 The Raw Number of Some Coordinators and Subordinators with the Similar Functions…………………………………………………………………..90 Table 4.10 The Raw Number, Percentage, and Rank of Frequency of the Subclasses in Marked Sentences……………………………………………………..93. viii. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(9) 國立政治大學英國語文學系博士班博士論文摘要論文名稱: 學測指考英文佳作分析:文法句型之使用指導教授: 尤雪瑛. 教授. 研究生: 張曉鵑論文摘要內容: 臺灣高中生為大學入學所準備的學測與指考中，英文作文是英文科非選擇題的題型之一。以大考中心公佈之英文作文評分標準為例(滿分 20 分)，一篇優秀的作文，須包含四個層面:內容(5 分)、組織(5 分)、文法和句構(5 分)、字彙及拼音 (5 分)。然而，近幾年大考中心考後研究報告指出，多數的學生皆未能達到其預定的 12 分合格標準，零分者也非常多。以 107 年為例，學測有 14132 位考生零. 政治大. 分；指考有 5525 位。此現象引起教育學者及高中教師對英文教學的深切省思：如何在授課進度緊湊且多以文法教學為導向的教育現場中有效進行作文教學？在學測指考作文題目的引導下，內容、架構都有被提示，但文法和單字運用就憑作者實力而有所不同。這份研究是以近 6 年內(101-106 學年度)學測指考公佈之 166 篇英文佳作為研究範本，旨在研究英文作文高分者文章中文法句型之使. 立. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. 用。本研究欲得知這些高分群學生文法句型的運用上為何？在五大句型中，那些句型運用居多？那些較少？有關於句型的錯誤為何？希望藉此研究給予具體的. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 英文作文之教法。研究結果顯示，佳作中針對五大句型的使用頻率如下：複句(complex sentences)最多，簡單句(simple sentences)居二，複合句(compound-complex. n. sentences)第三，合句(compound sentences)第四，特殊句型(marked sentences)最少。不管何種句型，高分者會運用副詞系統及不定詞去延展句意；此外，篇章結構的修辭語法(rhetorical functions)也常見於佳作中。關於文法句型的錯誤，在複句及合句中，有錯誤的連接詞使用，或者遺漏連接詞等現象。簡單句則以動詞主動、被動錯誤使用，主詞動詞無一致性錯誤為主。複合句常因要連接過多訊息而. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 使句型結構過於複雜，造成語意模糊，影響讀者解讀之情況。特殊句型因為結構特別，高中課本特別注重，所以錯誤較少，錯誤如分詞構句前後主詞不一、分裂句中的錯誤人稱代名詞使用等。此外，標點符號錯誤使用亦在各句型中被發現。研究結果建議，高中英語教師在教作文時可以鼓勵學生適時加入副詞系統及不定詞豐富句意；此外，長久以來寫長句及複雜句才能得高分的迷思應破除，教導用篇章結構的修辭語使句型多元延展才是更有效的教學。佳作中少量的特殊句型建議教師應教導學生適時適當的使用特殊句型，並且不列為教學重點。冀望能對高中英文作文現場有所幫助。關鍵字: 英文文法句型、英文寫作教學、學測指考英文佳作、英文篇章結構教學。 ix. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(10) ABSTRACT In Taiwan, English has always been the first concern in foreign language learning. High school students’ writing abilities are evaluated in the Joint College Entrance Exam (JCEE), the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT) and the Department Required Test (DRT). However, the evidence shows that student writers do not reach the expected standard (12 points out of 20) on the tests. Take the paragraph-writing task on GSAT and DRT in Academic Year 107 for example. A total of 14132 test takers received a zero point score on GSAT and 5525 examiners on DRT. JCEE. 政治大 components: content (5 points 立out of 20), organization (5 points out of 20), grammar. evaluates students’ compositions in a comprehensive way covering four major. ‧ 國. 學. and syntactic structure (5 points out of 20), and vocabulary and spelling (5 points out of 20). The two linguistic traits—grammar and vocabulary—are the focus of teaching. ‧. in high school and, without the two components as a scaffold in writing, it is difficult. sit. y. Nat. for writers to organize and express their ideas accurately and fluently in a logical way.. n. al. er. io. The study will narrow down the scope to grammar and syntactic structure, particularly. i n U. v. in terms of sentence structures, and examine how they work in the higher achievers’. Ch. engchi. compositions. The purpose is to learn what linguistic characteristics of sentence structures are considered keys to higher quality. This study investigates the sentence structures in 166 writing samples of the advanced writers displayed by the College Entrance Examination Center. The five sentence types and their subclasses are investigated: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences, and marked sentences. Quantitatively, their frequencies, including raw numbers, percentages, and ranks are calculated. Qualitatively, their characteristics and incorrect sentences with mistakes related to sentence structures are examined. The calculation shows that complex x. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(11) sentences were most-frequently used (1131 cases, accounting for 37.18% of the total), simple ranked second (937, 30.80%), compound-complex third (432, 14.20%), compound fourth (363,11.93%), and marked sentences are the least-frequently used (179, 5.89%). Overall, sentence-expanding strategies of using the adverbial system and infinitive structures occurred frequently. The complex sentences in the samples have a discourse function: The thoughtful arrangements of background and foreground information are common. Grammatical errors like the misuse of subordinators or omission of the marker that happen occasionally. The simple. 政治大 expanding strategies. A few grammatical errors relating to verb forms are found in the 立 sentences are long and diversified because the advanced writers often use sentence. simple sentences. Compound-complex sentences were long and structurally. ‧ 國. 學. complicated. The samples show a wide range of combinations of coordinators and. ‧. subordinators in use. Grammatical errors, such as the omission of that and run-on. sit. y. Nat. sentences, are found in the samples. Compound sentences with clauses linked by and. io. er. or but are the two most frequent structures, while the others are in the minority. Few ungrammatical sentences are found, including run-on sentences and sentences with a. al. n. v i n C hsentences, participials lack of equivalence. Among marked and inversions, engchi U. particularly negative inversions, are used most frequently. The other marked structures occur infrequently. A few errors are found among the marked sentences, such as dangling-modifiers, the misuse of relative pronouns in it-clefts, and mechanic punctuation problems. At last, some pedagogical implications of teaching writing were proposed, including reminders of encouraging sentence-expanding strategies and rhetorical function of sentence structures and the caution of using compound-complex and marked sentences. Key words: sentence structures, teaching writing, good composition samples by GSAT and DRT Test Takers, teaching discourse functions xi. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(12) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. Background. Among the four skills of language, both speaking and writing demonstrate a learner’s productive ability of the target language. Speaking represents one’s immediate language output, with fluency being more emphasized; writing shows. 政治大. one’s ability to organize ideas in the target language, with coherence and accuracy being required.. 立. In modern literate societies, the need for writing is much more extensive, since. ‧ 國. 學. most people practice some form of writing each day, such as notes, letters, or reports.. ‧. Communicating functions like identifying, calling to action, satisfying requirements,. sit. y. Nat. introspecting, or creating can all be fulfilled by writing (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996). In. io. er. the field of academics, one’s writing skill is even seen as crucial since it may be the medium of displaying research results or educational implications. Given its. al. n. v i n paramount importance, languageClearners’ writing ability h e n g c h i U has always been given due. attention: learners are expected to be able to compose sentences, paragraphs, or essays in accordance with their proficiency levels. In Taiwan, English has always been the first concern in foreign language learning. Most students start learning English in the 3rd grade of elementary school. At this stage, teachers focus more on listening and speaking skills. The training of reading and writing is limited to short-paragraph reading and simple-sentence writing. Different from the basic level, English learners in junior high school start to learn complicated sentence patterns and are asked to memorize more vocabulary (about 1000 words). At this stage, learners gradually practice writing sentences and even 1. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(13) 2. short paragraphs. Despite this fact, writing, at this stage, is not a skill focus. Whether in the Basic Competence Test (BCT) from 2001 to 2013 or in Comprehensive Assessment Program (CAP) since 2014, multiple choice questions have been the central means of evaluation. This makes reading skill a big focus and writing a minor consideration. In senior high, although sentence patterns and vocabulary are still paid great attention, students start to compose essays, and their writing abilities, both in the form of sentence translation (8 points) and paragraph or essay (20 points), are evaluated in high-stakes Joint College Entrance Exam (JCEE).. 政治大 out of one hundred dedicated to writing assessment, may result in a lack of emphasis 立 However, the low valuation of writing in JCEE, with only twenty-eight points. on writing instruction in Taiwan. Since writing accounts for less than one third of. ‧ 國. 學. evaluation, English curriculums at senior high school still focus more on grammar and. ‧. reading. Writing instruction is only sporadically provided, and the design of writing. sit. y. Nat. programs is neglected. One study on writing instruction in Taiwanese high school. io. er. points out that in most cases, students only receive writing training in the last year of high school, and the focus is on grammatical structure and controlled writing (Chang,. al. n. v i n 2007). The teaching orientation C is rooted in the Audio-lingual h e n g c h i U Method (ALM), which considers language structures the foundation of writing ability (Chang, 2007; Reid, 1993). Holding this belief, teachers tend to intensively guide students to produce. compositions by imitating rhetorical patterns (Silva, 1990). Due to the sentence-level focus and grammar-based training, the writing qualities of high school students still fall way short of the standards set by JCEE that evaluates students’ compositions in a comprehensive way covering five major components1 before Academic Year 107: content (5 points out of 20), organization (5 points out of 20), grammar and syntactic. 1. The following reference materials related to JCEE writing tasks were all retrieved from the website of CEEC: http://www.ceec.edu.tw/. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(14) 3. structure (4 points out of 20), vocabulary and spelling (4 points out of 20), and mechanics (2 points out of 20) (See Appendix A)2.. Statement of the Problem. From the reports on the scores of students’ writing tasks in JCEE every year, both in the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT) and the Department Required Test (DRT), student writers do not reach the expected standard. Take the task of paragraph. 政治大 the College Entrance Examination Center (CEEC), a total of 10620 test takers 立. writing on GSAT and DRT in Academic Years 106 and 107 for example. According to. received a zero point score on GSAT in Academic Year 106, and 14132 test takers in. ‧ 國. 學. Academic Year 107. In the DRT, a total of 3842 examiners received a zero point score. ‧. in Academic Year 106, and 5525 examiners in Academic Year 107. Meanwhile, the. sit. y. Nat. survey of CEEC pointed out that the average grade on GSAT and DRT writing tests in. io. er. the recent years was about 8 points out of twenty (e.g., 8.04 points in Academic Year 106, 7.42 points in Academic Year 107), which is under the passing grade of 12 points. al. n. v i n Chang, an experienced professorCwho has graded JCEE h e n g c h i Ucompositions for many years, even claimed that, every year, many test takers just give up writing the section of. composition writing by leaving it blank, without making any effort (Chang, 2006). To solve this problem and further make writers perform satisfactorily in high-stake writing tests, educators, researchers, and even CEEC itself have kept examining the test takers’ compositions during these years. It is found that grading points were mainly deducted for the lack of grammar and vocabulary control (Yang, 2. The grading scale was revised in Academic Year 107. After Academic Year 107, four grading components were applied: content (5 points out of 20), organization (5 points out of 20), grammar and syntactic structure (5 points out of 20), and vocabulary and spelling (5 points out of 20), with the component of mechanics ruled out and compiled into the components of grammar and vocabulary. More will be elaborated in the next chapter.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(15) 4. 2008). In terms of grammar, the test takers’ sentence patterns in essay writing are problematic. With close examination of incorrect sentences, improper tense aspects, interlingual errors (e.g., Chinese-English sentences), incomplete sentence structures, and subject-verb agreement problems are commonly found (Chang, 2006). Meanwhile, use of inappropriate sentences is another concern related to the deduction of points. It is inclusive of a great number of long and complicated sentences (e.g. inversions) and sentence combining with inappropriate use of conjunctions. In addition to grammar forms, the lack of control over vocabulary, wrong collocations,. 政治大. and overuse of complicated vocabulary, such as low-frequency but longer words, are also reasons for low grades.. 立. As discussed, the two linguistic traits—grammar and vocabulary—are. ‧ 國. 學. the critical components of good-quality writing. Students should be equipped with the. ‧. ability to accurately compose different types of sentence (e.g. simple sentences or. sit. y. Nat. complex sentences), and to accurately use lexical words (e.g. their parts of speech or. io. er. collocations). However, there is often a misconception that writers are expected to write long and complicated sentences to show their grammatical competence for. al. n. v i n C 1996). higher grades (Grabe and Kaplan, the length and complexity of U h e nIngfact, i h c. sentences do not guarantee writing quality. An appropriate use of sentence types may yield a better result. In addition to lexical knowledge, writers’ word choice is also considered a strong indicator of good writing. Long (2001) pointed out that a lack of vocabulary is thought of as the major factor affecting the quality of L2 (Second Language) writing. Writers’ lexical use reveals whether they have mastered the meanings and grammatical features of the language, and are able to apply such knowledge to writing. Meanwhile, research has shown lexical errors impede readers’ comprehension and lead to readers’ misunderstanding of the content (Ellis, 1994). Undoubtedly, without these two grounding components as a scaffold in writing,. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(16) 5. it is difficult for writers to organize and express their ideas accurately and fluently in a logical way (Grabe and Kaplan,1996); Hence content and organization are continually lacking in most high school students’ writing (Yang, 2008). All the facts reveal that the long-time training on linguistic aspects of writing in Taiwanese high school does not produce a satisfactory outcome, and there is still a lot of room for improvement regarding students’ writing.. Statement of the Purpose. 政治大 Given the fact that high school students in Taiwan are required to write an essay 立. for college entrance examinations, and that the current writing instruction does not. ‧ 國. 學. effectively achieve this goal, there is a need to explore effective writing practice that. ‧. can enhance students’ writing skills. The answers to the characteristics of. sit. y. Nat. good-quality writing will contribute to the understanding of what students lack and. io. classroom.. al. er. need, and how teachers can incorporate significant writing elements into the. n. v i n C hto provide writing U Since 2009, CEEC has started samples of the advanced writers engchi. on GSATs and DRTs and hopes to give high school students sample articles of good quality to follow. According to CEEC, overall, these recommended articles are the ones that have good content with sufficient details and a good organization with coherence and unity. Generally, their language use and sentences are grammatically correct; the range of word choice is appropriate for the texts; mechanics, including spelling and punctuation, are effective and well-mastered. In other words, these writing samples all fulfill the requirement for the criteria of grading compositions.. In order to give clear guidelines to students and provide pedagogical implications, this study hence aims to investigate the qualities of these outstanding writing samples.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(17) 6. According to the criteria, the writing quality is decided by content, organization, grammar and syntactic structure, vocabulary and spelling, and mechanics (before Academic Year 107). This study, however, would focus on analyzing the grammar and syntactic structure of the samples, particularly in terms of sentence structures. With a detailed look at these works, we could clearly see what linguistic characteristics of sentence structures are considered keys to higher quality. We can see how these characteristics are used by the advanced writers. For example, what kind of sentence structures do the advanced writers frequently use in essay writing? Do the advanced. 政治大 purpose of this study, thus, is to examine how the sentence types are used in 立. writers use many simple sentences? Or, do they use more complicated structures? The. DRTs, which are provided by JCEE after the exams.. 學 ‧. ‧ 國. high-quality compositions written by some advanced writers from both GSATs and. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Research Questions. To respond to the question of how the advanced writers of GSATs and DRTs use. al. n. v i n C hthe following twoUmajor research questions are sentence structures in essay writing, engchi addressed:. 1. What are the frequencies of use of the five types of sentence (simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences, and marked sentences) in the advanced writers’ compositions? 2. What are the characteristics of information representation demonstrated in the five types of sentence constructed by the advanced writers? Are the five sentence types used correctly? If not, are there any incorrect sentences related to sentence structures?. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(18) 7. Significance of the Study. Through sample analysis, the study will be of much benefit not only to EFL writers, high school English teachers, but also to the course-design researchers for the 108 Curriculum Guidelines3. First, the findings of the study show EFL writers the characteristics of sentences in each type written by the advanced writers. In the past, high school students might only have the chance to read a series of model articles released by publishers, either written by native speakers or by curriculum designers.. 政治大 whose writing is considered good quality. Second, the English textbooks in Taiwanese 立 Through the study, students can see the ways of sentence construction by their peers,. high schools spare few sections for the skill of writing4, and the phenomenon results. ‧ 國. 學. in less attention being paid to writing instruction. Since writing instruction is only. ‧. sporadically provided and mostly done in the last academic year, the findings of the. sit. y. Nat. study could offer high school English teachers an outline of composition teaching,. io. er. which enables them to teach more effectively and efficiently. Finally, in order to fulfill the requirements of the 108 Curriculum Guidelines, schools will provide students with. al. n. v i n C hstudy can give the U elective courses. The results of the course-design researchers some engchi guidelines for developing composition courses. We aim to make contributions to the. improvement of current English writing instruction and make Taiwanese senior high school students better writers.. 3. The 108 Curriculum Guidelines are a new national curriculum policy applied to senior high schools since Academic Year 108. The English curriculum is designed with the following goals: to encourage students’ independent learning of English, to develop students’ four English skills, and to involve students in different English tasks. In order to make students approach the goal, there is a need for high school teachers to provide various English courses of different language skills. 4 For the writing section of English textbooks, more will be elaborated in Chapter 2.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(19) 8. Organization of the Dissertation. The structure of the dissertation is as follows: In Chapter 2, five major topics are included in the literature review. First, the nature of writing is briefly introduced in general since knowing why to write and how to write is crucial for writers. The second part discusses the important linguistic characteristics of good-quality writing work. It first aims at unity and coherence, and then focus on vocabulary and grammar in writing. Next, the L2 writing assessment is discussed in terms of the notions of. 政治大 direct writing examinations in Taiwan, are introduced as well. The role of the 立. indirect and direct writing tests in section three. GSAT and DRT, the high-stakes. component of grammar in writing assessment is also evaluated. The fourth section. ‧ 國. 學. presents approaches to L2 writing instruction, showing what writing teachers do in. ‧. class to help students write well. In addition, the importance of grammar in EFL. y. sit. io. er. examined.. Nat. writing is examined. In the fifth part, current writing instruction in Taiwan is. The study methodology is portrayed in Chapter 3. It includes two parts: data. al. n. v i n Canalysis. collection and the process of data on data collection brings out h e n gThecsection hi U. how sample articles were collected and then introduces the writing tasks used in the. samples. Following this, the process of analysis including analysis framework and the explanation of the sentence type analysis is explained. Chapter 4 presents the results and discussion of the sample analysis. It first reports the quantitative analysis of the five sentence types in the advanced writers’ compositions, including the frequencies of each type and the frequencies of their subcategories. Next, the qualitative analysis is carried out. It describes the characteristics of the sentence structures used by the advanced writers: how the writers use the five types of sentences, including correct and incorrect sentences. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(20) 9. related to sentence structures. The last part brings out some pedagogical implications according to the findings of the present study. Chapter 5 concludes the study by summarizing the research findings in relation to the two research questions. Some pedagogical suggestions for connecting grammar and essay writing instructions are made as a contribution to EFL writing in Taiwanese high school. Next, the limitations of the study are discussed. The last part recommends directions for further research, in hopes of helping student writers to learn more about writing correctly.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(21) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. This study will examine the sentence types in advanced writers’ compositions and how they affect the quality of writing. Five major topics are included in the literature review. To begin with, the nature of writing will be briefly introduced in general since there is an essential need for writers to know why they write and how they write. In. 政治大 good-quality writing work, which will be discussed in the second part. It will first aim 立 order to write well, learners also need to know important characteristics of a. at unity and coherence, and then focus on vocabulary and grammar in writing. Next,. ‧ 國. 學. we would like to have a look at how students’ writing is evaluated. The L2 writing. ‧. assessment will be discussed in terms of the notions of indirect and direct writing tests. sit. y. Nat. in section three. A high-stakes direct writing examination in Taiwan, the JECC, will. io. er. be introduced in this section as well. Meanwhile, the role of the grammar component in the writing section will be highlighted. The fourth section will present approaches. al. n. v i n to L2 (second language) writingC instruction, showing what h e n g c h i U writing teachers do in class to help students write well. In addition, the importance of grammar in EFL writing instruction will be discussed. The fifth part reviews current writing instruction in Taiwan. It includes the approach adopted in classrooms, the textbook writing presentation, and implications of how to improve teaching of writing on teaching site. All these elements would build the foundation for the theoretical framework of the current research.. 10. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(22) 11. The Nature of Writing. Writing to communicate is one of the most essential purposes of writing. The social nature of writing expects that writers and readers can interact with each other through written context (Fishman, Lunsford & McGregor, 2005). Different from the speaker who has an immediate and intimate feedback loop, while writing, the writer has more considerations. The writer must first anticipate feedback from the absent reader. It will determine his or her rhetorical choices because different social groups. 政治大 precisely guide readers, the writer has to make the information more structurally 立. may construct meaning differently (Bruffee, 1986; Reid, 1993). In order to more. extended and thus construct appropriate coherent discourse (Kaplan, 1987).. ‧ 國. 學. Since the writer’s idea development results in a piece of written text, the writing. ‧. process has become crucial and requires some essential stages (Murray, 1980;. sit. y. Nat. Shaughnessy, 1977). In the process of writing, planning and composing are two. io. er. essential stages. Planning, which includes gathering and organizing information, goes first in the writing process. It is a complex information-transfer action. As Emig (1971). al. n. v i n pointed out, writing is nonlinearC and involves continual h e n g c h i Uattempts to accurately express. writers’ thoughts (Emig, 1971). To hope to give the intended audience more. comprehensive messages, writers need to weigh pieces of information and juxtapose them with various rhetorical options and constraints (Bereiter and Scardamalia, 1987). Composing, which requires writers’ cognitive load and language proficiency, is also crucial in the writing process (Friedlander, 1990; Reid, 1993). It refers to combining structural sentence units into a larger unified, cohesive and coherent discourse. During this stage, writers go through repeated drafting, revising, and finally editing. Composing allows a piece of writing to convey surface discourse that belies an underlying organized logic which is greater than the sum of meanings in individual. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(23) 12. sentences (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996). In order to reach the goal, writers’ linguistic knowledge—vocabulary and grammar—are required. The lexicon provides the basic meaning, and the syntax component represents propositions in text construction. The syntax component involves the ordering of the words and phrases within the sentence, types of clause constructions, and ways of clausal combinations (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996; McCarthy, 1991). In conclusion, to convey clear meanings to readers, writers need to know how to plan and compose a piece of writing work. It is also indispensable for them to have. 政治大 written text. Only through mastery of this process, can writers produce high quality 立. the grammar competence to combine structural sentences into a cohesive and coherent. components and then discuss the qualities of good writing.. er. io. sit. y. ‧. Nat. The Qualities of Good Writing. 學. ‧ 國. work. The next section of this literature review will first point out the writing. In general, in a written text, lexicon and syntax are basic concrete linguistic. al. n. v i n forms while unity and coherenceCare on an abstract textual h e n g c h i U level. Unity and coherence of discourse are the result of the writer’s lexical choice and syntactic construction. A well-formed written text should include the writer’s good control of vocabulary, grammar, unity, and coherence, which is achieved by the first two linguistic forms. All these must be learned, practiced and transmitted in writing classrooms (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996; Johns, 1986). Since writing teachers have an obligation to teach them comprehensively, the following will examine the quality of good writing in details.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(24) 13. Unity and Coherence in Writing. Unity is the textual quality of oneness, a single thought, in a paragraph or an essay (Nordquist, 2016). When all the words and sentences are related to a single point, a united essay is constructed. During the process of idea development, writers present the theme in a topic sentence, followed by supporting sentences. They provide a number of details to explain the main idea. The theme-rheme/topic-comment structure makes all information centered and brings topic continuity in a text (Givon,. 政治大 one or two concluding sentences at the end of the text. In that way, readers can easily 立 1993). Furthermore, the thesis statement in the topic sentence is paraphrased again in. connect messages, unify texts, and have a clear idea of what is proposed by writers. ‧ 國. 學. (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996; Widdowson, 1978). Hence, the quality of unity has been. ‧. accepted as an indispensable component in writing.. sit. y. Nat. Another writing quality at the text level is coherence, the logical connection or. io. er. consistency of a text. To be more specific, coherence is defined as an effect of a set of relevant propositions which relate to each other in the structuring of a text (Mann and. al. n. v i n Cpropositions Thompson, 1988). Because these the same discourse theme, the h e n g cshare hi U information structure in the text may guide readers to construct the preferred interpretation intended by the writer (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996). In that case, coherence is a semantic property of discourse and reader-based, resulting in the readers’ interpretation of each individual sentence and of the whole text (Davies, 2000). On the sentence level, coherence is directly reflected by cohesion, which is responsible for the construction of a unified and complete message through the. sentences in the discourse (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). That is, cohesion is the sentence level element of writing that signals the relationship between sentences and. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(25) 14. clauses, and binds a text through shared meaning or intent (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996). Cohesive devices include reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical relationships of repetition, inclusion, synonym/antonym, and collocation (Halliday and Hasan, 1976, 1989; Hoey, 1991). These cohesive resources uphold a network logically presenting the textual information in a discourse (Grabe and Kaplan, 1996). The following text segment illustrates some cohesive devices.. Barber (Samuel) managed to reverse the process; his last movement, a driving moto perpetuo, fully realizes the traditional function of a concerto as a showpiece. It seethes and stomps with unrelenting fury, and it ends in a satisfying climax.. 立. 政治大. (Goldberg 1985: IV.1). ‧ 國. 學. In the text, the use of his and it is pronominal cohesion across clauses. The. ‧. conjunction and is also used to combine sentences. Two forms of lexical cohesion,. sit. y. Nat. inclusion and collocation, also occur in the text. The three words Barber, concerto,. io. er. and movement show inclusive relations: concertos are one music form composed by Barber; and movements are a basic part of concertos. Lexical collocation is also found:. al. n. v i n Cdriving, process collocates with actions of perpetuo, seethes, stomps¸ U h e n moto i h gc. unrelenting fury, and ends. These operations provide means to link the surface. structure and facilitate the flow of information. Thus, the category types of cohesion have become common teaching subjects in writing classes. The flow of information, as noted, is therefore reliant on cohesion of sentences in a text working toward the logical coherence of a unit of writing. It brings unity to the discourse and makes the text more readable. From these perspectives, appropriate lexical choice, syntactic construction, and the combination of them contribute to the unity and coherence of discourse.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(26) 15. Vocabulary and Grammar in Writing. Since unity and coherence are essential in good writing, linguistic forms, through which unity and coherence are established, play an important role in writing quality. Researchers and educators claim that acquiring proficiency in writing requires knowledge of lexis and grammar structure (Cope and Kalantzis, 2000). Celce-Murcia (1991) also emphasized the importance of language proficiency in L2 writing: L2 writers are ultimately evaluated on the basis of their control of language in text. 政治大 between vocabulary usage, sentence structure, and writing quality. 立. construction. This section will review what researchers have found about the relation. Vocabulary in Writing. ‧ 國. 學. One essential linguistic feature in writing is writers’ lexical use. Researchers. ‧. often claim that there is a positive relationship between lexical diversity/variation, the. sit. y. Nat. holistic quality of written discourses, and language proficiency (Cope & Kalantzism,. io. al. er. 2012; Coxhead, 2000; Nation, 2008; Yu, 2010). Vocabulary not only provides the. v i n C h 1996; Schmitt, 2000). unifies discourse (Grabe and Kaplan, e n g c h i U First, it contributes to n. meaning of syntactic structures but also broadly signals pragmatic interpretations and. establishing text cohesion. Halliday and Hasan (1976) stated that a considerable aspect of text cohesion comes from lexis, which is called “lexical cohesion.” It is a spider-like web of semantic relationships between the words used in the text. For example, in order to avoid repetition, language users may use synonyms, antonyms or hyponyms to substitute key words for others. Take the following sentences as an example.. Landlords usually require a renter to sign a very complicated contract called a lease. It stipulates the length of time the person must stay in the apartment and the. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(27) 16. amount of the rent he or she must pay. (Arnaudet & Barrett,1990, p.34) Here the applications of the proform, it, and the content word, contract, a hyponym of lease, avoid the continuous repetition of lease, which is considered inelegant in language usage. Meanwhile, this further improves the naturalness of the text. Moreover, the way vocabulary is used can facilitate the maintenance and manipulation of meaning in forms of topic control (Schmitt,2000). This results in “lexical chains,” which are threads of lexis enabling people to maintain a topic in discourse (McCarthy, 1990).. 政治大. In addition to the cohesive effects of vocabulary in discourse, vocabulary can be. 立. manipulated to create a stylistic effect or tone change (Schmitt, 2000). For example,. ‧ 國. 學. using words with strong connotations is one way to create certain moods in text. A sentence with the verb complain may elicit a more negative feeling in readers. The. ‧. sentence ‘The residents complained about the situation’ expresses the residents’. y. Nat. io. sit. dissatisfaction. However, if the verb is replaced with explain, readers may interpret. n. al. er. the subject’s neutrality—they merely tried to make the situation clear or easy to. i n U. v. understand by giving information about it. By using words accurately, writers can. Ch. engchi. more easily bring to readers an appropriate atmosphere, without redundant sentence descriptions. The evidence all shows that vocabulary is the dominant element of discourse (Schmitt, 2000). Writers’ lexical variety also contributes to good writing quality, it thus becomes a determining factor in achieving higher grades. Engber (1995) once compared measures of lexical richness with teachers’ ratings of composition quality. He concluded that the number of content word lemmas was closely related to the grade. Llach (2007) found that lexical richness was considered a writing quality predictor and assessment criterion of written compositions. He further pointed out that the. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(28) 17. presence of spelling errors did not play a critical role in the quality of the composition. It is suggested that students should take risks using partly known words and make creative use of vocabulary. Similarly, in Grobe’s study (1981), what teachers perceived as good narrative writing is closely associated with vocabulary diversity. This suggests that schools should concentrate on improving students’ use of productive vocabulary in producing language forms to convey meaning (Corson, 1995; Harley and King, 1989; Meara, 1990). Grammar in Writing. 政治大 series of grammatical sentences: the sentences must interlock, with each building on 立 As Bardovi-Harlig (1987) mentioned, a well-formed coherent text is not just a. ‧ 國. 學. the preceding ones and, at the same time, advancing discourse. Therefore, how sentences fit together to form a whole, undoubtedly, becomes crucial in writing.. ‧. The sentence construction itself is a matter of information arrangement within a. sit. y. Nat. sentence or across sentences. Knowing how to construct sentences requires the ability. io. al. er. to sort out different kinds of information (Givon, 1993). One consideration in. v i n and new information (Grabe andCKaplan, Given/previously known information h e n1996). gchi U n. sentence arranging is the relationship between given or previously known information. is the information that is assumed to be known to the addressee. It might be common knowledge, the extralinguistic context, or previously established context (Crystal, 1985). On the other hand, when one piece of information hasn’t been addressed before, its status is new and is called new information. Generally speaking, the organization of given information before new makes texts more readable. The following example demonstrates how the information status affects the structure sequence.. Most people realize that wolves have to kill deer, moose, caribou, elk and other. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(29) 18. large animals to survive. The predators live in family groups called packs, usually containing 6-12 members, and it takes a lot of meat to feed them…. (Grabe and Kaplan 1996: 50) In the first sentence, an indefinite general noun phrase, most people, is put in the beginning, indicating that new information is going to follow. Meanwhile, wolves, is placed at the beginning of the embedded noun clause as the subject. Once wolves is introduced, it is considered given information. In the second sentence, the subject predators refers back to wolves as a piece of given information. The term packs then is introduced as new information. In that way, readers can easily interpret packs and. 政治大. learn how wolves survive in the wild. The example shows that placing information in. 立. the right order helps information comprehension.. ‧ 國. 學. The weighing of the information also determines sentence structure. Weighed information is termed foreground information, which usually represents major ideas.. ‧. Because of its importance, the structure is bigger in size. On the contrary, background. y. Nat. io. sit. information relates fewer important messages and is thus assigned smaller structure. n. al. er. (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Sinclair et al., 1990; Yu, 2001).. i n U. v. From these points of views, the way writers construct sentences is decided by the. Ch. engchi. status of information. Writers might use different sentence types to show their own priority of information. In addition to simple sentences, which can stand alone by themselves, writers need to appropriately combine sentences to sort out different kinds of information (Givon, 1993). Sometimes missing or misleading sentence connections might lead to coherence breaks, the lack of the thread of the argument, and cause cohesion problems (Liu & Branie, 2005). A writer’s ability in combining sentences, therefore, is crucial for a reader’s understanding. In a written text, layers of information need to be organized and integrated in a logical way for readers to follow the development of ideas, and the employment of. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(30) 19. sentence combining contributes to this development. A simple definition of sentence-combining is a range of practical techniques for joining together simple sentences or embedding clauses. This joins related sentences into a longer sentence. The structure of sentences hence becomes expanded but more coherent within a unit (Andrew et al. 2006; Grabe, 1996). Researchers have conducted studies to explore the effect of sentence-combining skills on writing quality. For example, O’Hare (1973) pointed out that subjects who were taught a range of sentence combining techniques performed better than those. 政治大 addition, Saddler and Graham (2005) further indicated that sentence-combining 立. without sentence combining practice in narrative and descriptive composition. In. instruction could improve basic writing skills, and thus had a crucial influence on. ‧ 國. 學. improving writing quality, not only in the first draft but also in subsequent revisions.. ‧. Myhill (2008) reported that most good writers use connectors appropriately to. sit. y. Nat. combine sentences, such as compound and complex ones. Moreover, in the studies of. io. er. writing assessment, evidence has shown that good control over the sentence structures indeed guarantees higher writing scores (Grobe, 1981). Similar results were also. al. n. v i n found in Hunt and O’Donnell’s C (1970), Combs’ (1977), h e n g c h i Uand Hinkel’s (2003) studies: Sentence-combining practice improved not only accuracy but also writing quality.. They believed that the combination work is important to achieve message integration, which results in sentence complexity, diversity, and eventually maturity in writing. Since the importance of sentence combining to good writing is recognized, categories of sentence patterns will be introduced as follows. Traditionally, three sentence patterns are defined: simple, compound, and complex sentences. In addition to the three types of sentence patterns, compound-complex sentences are another type of sentence patterns frequently used (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999; Master, 1996; Sinclair et al. 1990).. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(31) 20. A simple sentence contains at least one subject and one verb. It is an independent clause because it is complete in itself and can stand alone. In English, there are five basic simple sentence patterns: Subject+verb Subject+verb+object Subject+verb+indirect object+direct object Subject+verb+subject predicate Subject+verb+object+object predicate Among them, the subject-verb relationship is the basic requirements. When the action. 政治大. of verb asks for the receiver, the object is needed. The direct object directly receives. 立. the action of verb. Indirect objects indicate the recipient or the beneficiary of an. ‧ 國. 學. object rather than the receiver of the action. In some cases, the predicate, either an adjective or a noun, is placed at the end of the sentence to give more information. ‧. about the subject or the object (Givon, 2001). Simple sentences are usually short,. Nat. sit. y. clear, and easy to understand (Master, 1996).. n. al. er. io. On the other hand, sentences having more than one clause are called compound. i n U. v. sentences, complex sentences, or compound-complex sentences. A compound. Ch. engchi. sentence consists of two or more clauses, connected by a coordinating conjunction. In the mind of the writer, the information in each clause is understood to have equal weight and importance (Master, 1996). Table 2.1 summarizes frequently-used coordinating conjunctions and their meanings.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(32) 21. Table 2.1 Coordinating Conjunctions and Their Meanings Coordinating conjunctions. Meanings. and. plus. but. in contrast. yet. but at the same time. so. therefore. for. because. or. one or the other of two alternatives is true. nor. conjoins two negative sentences, both of which are true. (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p.472) 政治大 When two clauses within a sentence are not equal in weight and importance, it is 立. ‧ 國. 學. called a complex sentence. The information in the subordinate clause is usually known to the reader already whereas the information in the main clause is relatively. ‧. new (Master, 1996). Complex sentences include three types: noun-clause complex. sit. y. Nat. sentences, relative-clause sentences, and adverb-clause sentences. The first and. io. al. er. second types have a dependent clause included with an independent clause. The. v i n nouns, the subject or the object.C They the subordinating coordinators such h ebegin n gwith chi U n. dependent clause is either a noun clause or a relative clause. Noun clauses function as. as that, what, when, why, where, when, and how. Relative clauses are to give further information about someone or something in a sentence. Relative pronouns—mainly who, whom, whose, which, and that—are applied to combine clauses. They are the clause markers of relative clauses and can take the place of modifying a subject, an object, or even of an adjective. Because relative clauses have a similar function to adjectives, they are sometimes called adjective clauses (Sinclair et al. 1990). Adverb clauses contain a main clause associated with one or more subordinate clauses. In this case, subordinating conjunctions, such as because and when, are used to join clauses.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(33) 22. They are the clause markers of adverbial clauses. Adverbial clauses are employed to offer different circumstantial semantic relations which are needed for the main clauses (Matthiessen and Thompson, 1988; Quintero, 2002). The second type of complex sentence Table 2.2 summarizes patterns of complex sentences. Table 2.2 Patterns of Complex Sentences: Types of Adverbial, Relative, and Noun clauses Functions. Types of clauses. Subordinating conjunctions. Time clauses. Adverbial. when, before. Conditional clauses. Adverbial. Purpose clauses. Adverbial. Reason clauses. Adverbial. Result clauses. Adverbial. so that. Concessive clauses. Adverbial. although, while. Place clauses. Adverbial. where, wherever. Clauses of manner. Adverbial. as, like, the way. Relative clauses. Adjective. who, whom, whose, which, that. io. sit. y. who, why, what, where, how, when, whether, if, that. al. er. ‧ 國. ‧. Noun. 學. Nat. Noun clauses. 立. 政 in治 order to, so that 大 because, since if, unless. (Sinclair, et al.,1990, p.343). n. v i n Cmore Sentences containing two or clauses and one or more h eindependent ngchi U. dependent clauses are called compound-complex sentences. Writers may use both coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in one sentence to organize messages. The employment of the two constructions together integrates layers of information in a more complex way, but with richer meaning (Givon, 1993; Tyler, 1994). It is suggested that compound-complex sentences expand the sentence structures in a discourse and is one feature that characterizes advanced writing when they are composed skillfully (Greenbaum and Quirk, 1990; Hinkel, 2003). By using different techniques to combine sentences together, writers can show. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(34) 23. their priority of information, making the ideas more interconnected and allowing texts to flow more smoothly. As writers’ control of sentence construction plays a significant role in writing quality, the present study will put focus on how high school English learners construct sentences and how they use cohesive devices, coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, to combine sentences. What’s more, marked sentences are another particular type of sentence worthy of exploring when it comes to sentence construction. Different from traditional sentence construction as discussed above, marked sentences are rarely seen and structurally,. 政治大 thematize an event or action (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999). Appropriate 立 they are exceptions from typical sentences. They are functionally used to specify or. ‧ 國. 學. employments of marked sentences make information delivered more effectively. However, because of their distinctiveness, they are learned on a case by case basis. ‧. (Barvodi-Harlig, 1987).. sit. y. Nat. Among marked sentences, participials, clefts, inversions, exclamations, and the. n. al. er. io. pattern “the more…, the more….” and “there be…” are found in high proportions in. i n U. v. high school English textbooks in Taiwan (Chang and Li, 2007). Since the purpose of. Ch. engchi. the study is to explore the sentence types of EFL high school students in Taiwan, we would like to know how they use these marked sentences. Table 2.3 summarizes the six types of marked sentences5.. 5. The detailed discussion about linguistic forms of the six types of marked sentences would be given in Chapter 4.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(35) 24. Table 2.3 Five Types of Marked Sentences Types. Example sentence. Thematization part. Participial. Running for the train, John slipped on a banana skin and sprained his ankle.. Running for the train…. Cleft. It was the train that John wanted to catch.. …the train…. Inversion. On the ground was a banana skin.. On the ground…. Exclamation. What a bad day!. …a bad day. The more…, the more... The more you pay, the more you’ll gain.. The more you pay…. …on the table 治政 In the present study five sentence types in total will 大be examined: (1) simple 立 sentences, (2) compound sentences, (3) complex sentences, (4) compound-complex There is a book on the table.. 學. ‧ 國. There be…. sentences, and (5) marked sentences.. ‧. al. y er. io. sit. Nat. L2 Writing Assessment. n. The Shift from Indirect Writing Tests to Direct Writing Tests. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Indirect writing tests had once played a big part in L2 writing assessment. They had writers do multiple choice, sentence combining, or translation items testing writers’ knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. The ability to respond to such items had been considered related to the control of grammar in writing. Yet since writing not only requires grammar mastery and vocabulary use but also asks for coherence and unity, indirect writing tests began to be more closely scrutinized (Hughes, 1989). Obviously, the only solution was to implement direct writing tests, which asses test takers’ abilities to write representative tasks in restricted settings with limited time. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(36) 25. and for specific purposes (Hughes, 1989). Meanwhile, different aspects of writing are evaluated through different writing tasks. That is, the elements of content in a writing task, including functions, types, lengths or addressees of texts, topics, and style, may vary with different assessments in different contexts. In 1986 the TOEFL program first introduced the Test of Written English (TWE) as a separately reported direct test of writing. From then on, direct writing tests took over from indirect ones (Hamp-Lyons, 1990; Hughes, 1989).. 政治大. Specifications in Direct Writing Tests. 立. Specifications in a direct writing test play a crucial role because they present the. ‧ 國. 學. graders detailed criteria, levels of performance and scoring procedures to follow.. ‧. Despite the fact that direct writing tests could straightforwardly assess writers’ writing. sit. y. Nat. performances, many educators have objected to it over the years because of the. io. er. scoring procedure: human evaluators are used and the possibility of human error and subjectivity exists (Hughes, 1989). This shortcoming has caused test developers to. al. n. v i n C h levels of performance. make more efforts to work on criteria It addresses the required engchi U. level(s) of performance for different degrees of success set by test developers (Hughes, 1989). In order to achieve objectivity, lots of techniques are used at this stage of grading. Different from those of receptive skills, the description of the criteria level in a writing task is much more complex, for more aspects should be considered, such as purpose, and language. For example, instead of a simple statement like “mastery”, Educational Testing Service (ETS) specifies the following degree of writing skill in Score 5 on TOFEL iBT6: 6. The specifications of Score 5 on TOEFL iBT actually examine writing skill through four aspects: “purpose” to the first specification, “appropriateness” to the second, “idea development” to the third, and “language” to the fourth.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.

(37) 26. ˙effectively addresses the topic and task ˙is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriate explanations, exemplifications, and/or details ˙displays unity, progression, and coherence ˙displays consistent facility in the use of language, demonstrating syntactic variety, appropriate word choice, and idiomaticity, though it may have minor lexical or grammatical errors For scoring approaches, holistic scoring and analytic scoring are two methods that can be adopted. Holistic scoring means that the scorer assigns a single score to a piece of writing based on an overall impression; while analytic scoring requires a. 政治大 combination of the separate立 scores. The following are the representatives of the two. separate score for each of a number of aspects of a task and a final score, which is the. ‧ 國. 學. scoring methods. First, the writing tasks of TOEFL iBT are with holistic scoring: the scale ranges from the score of 0 (demonstrating incompetence in writing) to 5. ‧. (demonstrating clear competence in writing on both the rhetorical and syntactic. sit. y. Nat. levels). The other is the ESL Composition Profile (Jacobs et al., 1981), the best. n. al. er. io. well-known analytic scoring procedure for ESL writing. It uses a scale to judge five. i n U. v. different traits, including content (30 points out of 100), organization (20), vocabulary. Ch. engchi. (20), language use (25), and mechanics (5). With these features stated, the test graders may have specific directions and rubrics to follow while grading. To sum up, the discussions above all showed the significance of grammar in writing assessment, either in indirect writing tests or direct writing tests. In indirect assessment, writers’ grammar skills were believed to reflect their writing ability. In direct assessment, in addition to content and organization, grammar is still a crucial criterion. For example, on TOEFL iBT writing tasks “syntactic competence” and in the ESL Composition Profile “language use”). The fact shows that grammar or syntactic performance play a crucial role in writing quality.. DOI:10.6814/DIS.NCCU.ENG.001.2019.A09.