Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Second Language Writing

by Ulla M. Connor

• ISBN13: 9780521441452
• ISBN10: 0521441455
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-01-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This volume explores the field of contrastive rhetoric, the study of how a person's first language and culture influence his or her writing in a second language. It presents a comprehensive view of the research in this field, emphasizing the connections between contrastive rhetoric and the related disciplines of composition studies, cultural anthropology, translation studies, and text linguistics. Connor draws on this research to provide sound advice for dealing with cross-cultural issues in a variety of second language writing contexts. Her goal is to make teachers aware of the many factors influencing their students' attempts to compose effective texts and to help teachers draw on the resources individual learners bring to the writing task. It is a solid reference for researchers and teachers in the field of second language writing.

Table of Contents

PART 1 PRELIMINARIES: EARLY PHASES OF THE FIELD

1 Toward an extended definition of contrastive rhetoric

2 Contrastive rhetoric studies in applied linguistics

3 Historical evaluation of contrastive rhetoric: from Kaplan's 1966 study to diversification in languages, genres, and authors

PART 2 INTERFACES WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES

4 Contrastive rhetoric and the field of rhetoric and composition

5 Contrastive rhetoric and text linguistics

6 Writing as an activity embedded in a culture

7 Contrastive rhetoric and translation studies

8 Genre-specific studies in contrastive rhetoric

PART 3 IMPLICATIONS OF CONTRASTIVE RHETORIC

9 Methods of research in contrastive rhetoric

10 Conclusion: Implications and research directions