In terms of the use of themes,after the teaching experiment,the frequency ofusing simple themes decreases,and the frequency of using multiple themes andclausal themes increases significantly,which is consistent with Zhao’s(2015)findingsthat the participants are able to use all three types of themes more flexibly.Thisindicates that in the continuation task,the participants learn and imitate the linguisticknowledge in the original text,and thus reducing the use of simple themes andincreasing the use of the other two types to make the sentences more complex in thepost-test.In addition,the total number of themes in the post-test is more than that inthe pretest,which indicates that the participants’creativity is somewhat developed andimproved after conducting continuation tasks,and they can write as many sentencesas possible.
In terms of the use of TP patterns,after performing continuation tasks,theparticipants’frequency of using TP patterns increases significantly and they are ableto use several types of patterns more proficiently,which is consistent with Zhao’s(2015)findings that the types of TP patterns used in the participants’writings havebecome richer after the teaching experiment.In the pre-test,the participants use fewerand uneven patterns,making the pre-test essays monotonous and not tight enoughbetween sentences.
Chapter Seven Conclusion
7.1 Research Findings
As an important tool for discourse analysis,TP patterns can effectively promotethe coherence of L2 argumentative writing,and the continuation task has also beenshown to have a significant effect on promoting learning.Based on previous research,this study conducts a 12-week experiment using a writing teaching method combiningthe continuation task with TP patterns to verify the effect of the teaching method onthe coherence of L2 argumentative writing among non-English majors.The researchquestions include the following three:(1)What is the effect of the continuation taskon the use of TP patterns in L2 argumentative writing?(2)What is the effect of theteaching method combining the continuation task and TP patterns on the coherence ofL2 argumentative writing?(3)How should the teaching method be implemented inorder to achieve a better teaching effect?The main findings of this study are asfollows.
(1)The continuation task can improve the use of TP patterns in participants’L2argumentative writing.After the experiment,the participants can use the themes andTP patterns more frequently,in more types,and with more flexibility.Compared tothe pre-test,which contains a large number of simple themes and TP withcontinuation themes,the proportion of using multiple themes and clausal themes hasbeen increased in the post-test.Besides,the post-test also shows an increase in usinglinear TP and TP with continuation rhemes,TP with crossing themes and TP withderived themes.Secondly,it is also evident that the number of sentences in thepost-test is also higher,indicating that the teaching method is effective to improve theparticipants’creativity in writing.It is also found that the participants are more clearabout the structure and organization of argumentative writing.In addition,theirknowledge and understanding of TP patterns and the continuation task are deeper.
(2)The teaching method combining the continuation task and TP patterns iseffective in improving the coherence of L2 argumentative writing.According to theresearch data,it can be found that there are significant differences in the relevantindicators of referential cohesion,LSA and conjunctions.The participants havelearned to focus on the topic in the paragraphs by overlapping nouns.
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