Connecting form with function: Model texts for bilingual learners’ narrative writing

Abstract

The linguistic influence of first language (L1), finding the appropriate words or expressions in the target language, and the lack of genre awareness are the major challenges for second language (L2) writers. For many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in secondary educational settings, narrative writing is an important genre in the English education curriculum. In this paper, we introduce an Expert Narrative Texts Corpus that provides EFL learners whose L1 is Chinese with model texts to address the above challenges in their narrative writing. Three key features of the tool are identified, namely, cross-linguistic comparisons for bilingual writers, model texts by expert writers, and learning to search. Taking these three key features into consideration, this paper also explores the pedagogical values of the corpus, through which bilingual writers can draw upon their L1 language resources, explore appropriate expressions within authentic example sentences, and search for both lexical items and rhetorical patterns.