A Comparative Genre Analysis of Schematic Structures in Public Speeches of Native and Nonnative English Speakers

Chang Wang
2016 Linguistics and Literature Studies  
English speech writing has constituted an increasingly important part of pedagogical contents in the university education of China. As a specific genre, public speeches are diversified in accordance with speakers' specific communicative purposes, which are realized through the application of different schematic structures. It is found that native English speakers and EFL learners in China differ in their persuasive writing in the arrangement of strategic constituents of the speech
more » ... which is made up of moves and steps. Even though the three obligatory moves are predetermined for the structural completeness of the speech writing, steps are of great flexibility and creativity. Since influences from the cultural norms of Chinese are inevitable, a distinction between inductive and deductive ways of reasoning has been recognized. However, the dichotomy between the two patterns of thinking in different cultures has been proven complementary. Thus, it is proposed that developing students' sensitivity and ability in identifying communicative purposes of specific genres, inspiring them to be creative in schematic structures and breaking the prescriptive way of teaching and learning will be of great significance in future public speaking classes.
doi:10.13189/lls.2016.040502 fatcat:lvlb5ntlnreixjcjgn56xoyryi