The Problem-Solution Pattern in NNS Argumentation

Abstract

The present study investigates the use of Problem-Solution in student essays to identify whether or not, or to what extent, this text pattern is a source of perceived difference in NNS student essays, in comparison with NS student essays. The study is a follow-up to Tahara (2017), which compared argumentation essays written by NNS students with those by NS students, conducted from the perspective of the use of metadiscursive nouns. They are general and unspecific meaning nouns that can serve as markers of the discourse in some ways by referring to a textual segment in the texts where the nouns occur. Of 33 selected metadiscursive nouns examined in Tahara (2017), this paper reexamines the use of a noun problem in relation to the Problem-Solution pattern. The focus of the noun for the investigation of the use of Problem-Solution is because in the 2017 study (Tahara), problem very often occurred in combination with a Response/Solution-indicating vocabulary in both corpora, as in ‘problem is solved’; ‘consider the problem’; or ‘problem should bedealt with’ (underlinedare vocabulary signaling Response/Solution). Problem-Solution is a well-known English rhetorical pattern, often used in technical academic writing (Flowerdew, 2003), but it seems not to have been taught in the writing of English essays, at least in Japan. In contrast, the text pattern often used in the class is Introduction-Body-Conclusion to prepare for TOEFL/IELTS writing, along with the teaching of the paragraph structure, comprised of a topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentences.