Ambiguity in Chinese College Students’ L2 Tertiary-Level Writing: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

The current study investigated ambiguity errors that characterise the L2 tertiary-level writing of Chinese college students. Data were drawn from 56 authentic English writings from 11 students of different disciplines across 10 different Chinese institutions. A thematic analysis was conducted to examine the ambiguity error patterns at the lexical and syntactic levels. Lexical ambiguities were found to include Chinglish, ambiguous references, and ambiguous abstractions, and syntactic ambiguities were found to consist of misplaced and dangling modifiers. It was also found that lexical ambiguity far exceeded syntactic ambiguity. The results demonstrate Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ limited L2 linguistic competence and struggle with accurate L2 production. This study aims to draw attention to the unpreparedness of Chinese EFL students for tertiary-level L2 writing and to the need for linguistic support in their written L2 output. Given the increasing demand for academic writing, writing with clarity is of great significance for EFL students. Whereas ambiguity resolution in L2 input has received much scholarly attention, limited empirical research has been conducted on ambiguity errors that characterise EFL students’ L2 written output. Therefore, the current study aims to fill this gap by examining the ambiguity patterns that characterise the L2 writing of Chinese college students, thus informing future teaching.