Differences in the Use of Appraisal Resources Between L1 and L2 Writers: Focusing on GRADUATION System

This paper identifies several differences between L1 and L2 undergraduate writers, and between high-graded and low-graded essays in the extent and use of GRADUATION resources exploited in argumentative essays. GRADUATION is an appraisal resource pertaining to the scaling of the force of evaluation. The appraisal system is basically concerned with evaluative languages. The theory has been recently formulated from the broader theoretical framework of an interpersonal meaning within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The deployment of GRADUATION by the undergraduate writers is the focus of this paper. Essays written by six ESL students and six Australian-born native English speaking students were collected from an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course run within a university in Australia. The findings reveal that although great grade-based differences were found in the expressions of GRADUATION, differences between L1 and L2 writers were the most significantly salient in that L1 students utilize a variety of GRADUATION resource types much more frequently than L2 students. The differences identified are interpreted in terms of enhancing academic literacy. This is done by highlighting the importance of incorporating interpersonal meaning oriented pedagogy into teaching essay writing. Pedagogic implications for teaching L2 writers will also be discussed with respect to the issue of their lack of academic voice.