چکیده:
Although scientific forum has obliged its members to hide their presence particularly while they are discussing research outcomes to avoid personal biases, a recent trend is encouraging writers to demonstrate their identity as the author of the text through the use of first person pronouns in order to take responsibility for the content. Therefore, the present study focuses on intermediate and advanced EFL learners‘ adoption of first person pronouns so as to manifest their identity in argumentative and narrative writings. A total of 30 EFL intermediate and advanced students attending an IELTS preparation course were requested to write essays on narrative and argumentative topics. The comparison between their uses of self-mention pronouns revealed that there was not a significant difference between the use of first person pronouns which are adopted by advanced and intermediate learners in the use of pronouns in both modes of writing (argumentative and narrative essays). Moreover, by tallying first person pronouns, it is shown that advanced learners have exploited first person pronouns less than intermediate learners within narrative writings. In addition, it was found that learners used more first person pronouns in narrative writings than in argumentative ones. Findings imply that since argumentative writing requires logical reasoning, learners prefer to be cautious about the adoption of first person pronouns and revealing their presence to show their credible self. English language teachers are suggested to make language learners aware of the uses of self-mention pronouns while practicing different writing modes. Since the overuse of the personal pronouns as well as the absolute absence of the mentioned pronouns is not recommended in writing, explicit instruction concerning the use of self-mention in witting is recommended.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Identity Reflection Mahsa Salman Mohajer University of Tehran Shiva Kaivanpanah University of Tehran Abstract Although scientific forum has obliged its members to hide their presence particularly while they are discussing research outcomes to avoid personal biases, a recent trend is encouraging writers to demonstrate their identity as the author of the text through the use of first person pronouns in order to take responsibility for the content.
The comparison between their uses of self-mention pronouns revealed that there was not a significant difference between the use of first person pronouns which are adopted by advanced and intermediate learners in the use of pronouns in both modes of writing (argumentative and narrative essays).
Searching for different identities highlighted by the first person pronouns I, me, mine, we, us, our, and ours, Tang and John (1999), based on genre role of the academic essay, suggested a typology of purposes set out by first person pronoun I which are listed from the least powerful to the most powerful as follows: - representative - guide - architect - recounter of the research process - opinion-holder - originator I as the representative is mostly realized as plural form of we and us and is adopted to refer to the whole group of people in general.
Discussion The analyses of the results of Chi-Square test for independence indicated that both groups of language learners (intermediate and advanced) did not differ significantly with reference to the adoption of first person pronouns to demonstrate their presence while writing an argumentative and a narrative essay.