Presentation Schedule
Genre Effects on Academic Writing: A Study of ESL Undergraduates in Hong Kong (95362)
Session Chair: Catherine Shee-hei Wong
Sunday, 13 July 2025 16:05
Session: Session 4
Room: UCL Torrington, G09 (Ground Floor)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
This study investigates how genre influences academic writing outcomes among Chinese-English bilingual undergraduates (n=20) in Hong Kong, addressing critical gaps in ESL pedagogy and multilingual writing research (Ortega, 2022). Analyzing 20 texts (7,615 English words; 13,162 Chinese characters) from the E&L’s Outstanding Student Writings Journal 2023, we compare three genres — Creative Writing, Reflective Journals, and Course Assignments — to explore: (1) quantitative differences in linguistic features; and (2) genre’s role in shaping writing complexity. Our quantitative analysis reveals significant genre-mediated disparities. In Creative Writing, English texts were shorter (1,056.67 vs. 1,719 Chinese words) yet exhibited higher lexical density (e.g., prepositions: 127 (English) vs. 55 (Chinese)), reflecting constraints on L2 creativity (Kroll et al., 2023). Conversely, Reflective Journals in Chinese prioritized nominalization (nouns: 233 vs. 168(English)), suggesting culturally embedded metacognition (Carson, 2021), while English Course Assignments emphasized adjectival precision (56 vs. 31 (Chinese)), aligning with disciplinary socialization norms (Hyland, 2019). Multivariate tests confirmed genre’s strong effect on syntactic complexity, though no correlation emerged between text length and complexity, challenging conventional L2 proficiency metrics (Crossley & McNamara, 2021). These findings underscore the nuanced interplay of genre and language in academic writing. Pedagogically, they advocate for genre-aware curricula to scaffold translingual transfer (Ortega, 2022), particularly in multilingual classrooms. The study also highlights equity concerns, as implicit genre biases may disadvantage ESL students in assessment. By bridging applied linguistics and higher education research, this work this contributes to translingual education research and offers actionable strategies for ESL instruction in higher education.
Authors:
Catherine Shee-hei Wong, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
About the Presenter(s)
Catherine Wong Shee-hei is currently a Lecturer in the School of Education and Languages at Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU).
See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule
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