Estudio contrastivo del género discursivo del ensayo argumentativo: español-inglés

Abstract

Discourse genres can vary from one culture to another (Connor, 2003) andstudies suggest that second language users tend to transfer patternsfrom one language to the other (Upton and Connor, 2001; Woolever, 2001).However, we know relatively little about how the highly valued genre ofthe academic essay is learned. In order to identify generic models usedby Mexican university students in argumentative essays, we analyzed 36exemplar texts produced by 18 students in Spanish and English as asecond language. We analyzed the essay thesis and reiteration usingappraisal theory (Martin and White, 2005; Martin and Rose, 2007) toclassify these segments into the categories open and closed withreference to the language of appraisal used in these textual segments.In appraisal theory, argumentation patterns in which monoglossiclanguage choices predominate close down the possibilities for argument,whereas heteroglossic patterns open up the opportunity for disagreementand, hence, argumentation. This resulted in us being able to assign thecategory of closed or open to the thesis and reiteration. We used thesecategories to characterize five generic structures: 1) closed thesis,reiteration in conclusion; 2) open thesis, closed reiteration; 3) closedthesis, open reiteration; 4) open thesis, no position assumed; 5) closedthesis in conclusion. We found a preference for the generic structure 2,`open thesis, closed reiteration', which occurred in seven of the essaysin Spanish and six in English. Notably, we observed a high degree ofvariability in the patterns used indicating a lack of agreement in thiscommunity with regard to the norm for generic structure.