The Use of Paraphrases in L2 Summary Writing: a Comparison Study

1. The Use of Paraphrases in L2 Summary Writing: a Comparison Study Shanshan Zhu

2. INTRODUCTION: RESEARCH AREA • L2 Summary Writing • “attempted paraphrase” “A writer selects a specific excerpt of a source text and makes at least one attempt to change the language of the selected excerpt”. • Paraphrasing strategies Near copy, Minimal revision, Moderate revision, Substantial revision

3. AIM/JUSTIFICATION • Many studies have been conducted to examine the inappropriateness in the use of source texts. Some factors that affect the source text copy have been found. • Few studies use the construct “attempted paraphrase” to examine the use of paraphrases in writing. And also few studies investigate how non-native speakers’ language proficiency will influence the use of paraphrase.

4. REFERENCES Chandrasoma, R. (2004). Beyond Plagiarism: Transgressive and Nontransgressive Intertextuality. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 3(3), 171-193. Jia, Y. (2008). On Plagiarism and Chinese ESL/ EFL Learners: Negotiating Academic writing in the Western Context. CELEA Journal, 31(3), 100-108. Keck, C. (2006). The Use of Paraphrase in Summary Writing: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Writers. Journal of Second Language Writing, 15(4), 261-278. Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and Original: Plagiarism and Patchwriting in Academic Second-Language Writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(4), 317-345. Shi, L. (2004). Textual Borrowing in Second Language Writing. Written Communication, 21(2), 171-200.

5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS • Is the use of paraphrase by non-native speakers different than that by the native English speakers while writing summary? • Will the language proficiency affect non-native speakers’ use of paraphrase and paraphrasing strategies? How the language proficiency influence the difference in the use of paraphrases between advanced learners and intermediate learners?

6. METHODOLOGY Participants: About 15 students at OU will be recruited in this study. 5 will be native English speakers, 5 will be intermediate learners of English, and 5 will be advanced learners of English.

7. METHODOLOGY • MATERIALS/INSTRUMENTS: About 1000 words reading text will be used.

8. METHODOLOGY PROCEDURE: • According to the TOEFL scores of the participants, non-native speakers will be divided into two groups, intermediate learners and advanced learners. • Participants including native speakers and non-native speakers will do a 45 minutes summary task containing text reading and summary writing. • The paraphrases in the summaries will be indentified. • The statistics will be analyzed.

9. METHODOLOGY DATA & ANALYSIS • The data will contain the frequency of the use of paraphrases (4 type of paraphrasing strategies) in the summaries. • A quantitative analysis, with simple statistics, will be used

10. ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The sample size is small. The time constraint (45 minutes) for the summary writing may affect the results.

11. EXPECTED FINDINGS • Non-native speakers may use fewer moderate and substantial revisions than native speakers in summary writing.