| Author(s) | Abdulrahman Aljamhoor |
| Affiliation | I Assistant Professor, Language and Translation Department, Imam Mohammed Bin Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | A Cross-CulturalAnalysis of Written Discourse |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Languages & Translation. Volume 13, No 1. (2001/1421) |
| Abstract | This paper identifies a range of problems, which confront Arabic-speaking learners of English in writing. One of these problems is that learners differ widely in how much they share in Ll discourse/rhetorical features, whatever they are. Also, learners who have studied English may well use western discourse features in their Ll as well as in English, their L2. The findings of this paper suggest that many discourse features are relatively easily learned and, even, back-transfer into a learner's Ll. Many individuals from both language groups showed control over features for creating coherence, especially Arabic with the use of discourse markers, and English-like topic to topic relatioI1~hips. Moreover, the data present~ some pedagogical recommendatioI1~. Many discourse-organizing features are shared across languages and cultures or seem to be relatively easily learned. Moreover, rather than focusing all discourse-instructional energies on global features, however, more effort should probably be spent on local topical development techniques, often based on comparative syntactic studies rather than some of the amateur anthropologizing about oral and literate cultures that has occupied much of the literature. A number of recommendations are made to remedy the situation. |
