EFL Students' Engagement with Readers in Expository Writing: Contribution of Gender and Proficiency Level

The present mixed-methods conversion-design study applied the engagement framework of the appraisal theory to disclose whether EFL students’ gender and proficiency level have any effect on their use of engagement resources in their expository texts. To this end, through a convenience sampling procedure, ۶۰ expository essays written by both male (N=۳۰) and female (N=۳۰) students of a language institute across three different proficiency levels (basic, intermediate, and advanced) were gathered and analyzed. Results of the chi-square test revealed that although generally, all students preferred to use more heteroglossic statements than monoglossic ones, the distribution of heteroglossic resources was significantly different in the essays of the three levels. Disclaim resources were dominantly used in the essays of all levels; however, more proficient students tended to use more Expand resources to leave room for opposing viewpoints while Attribute and Proclaim resources were considerably neglected in their writings. Additionally, no meaningful association was noted between the students' gender and their use of engagement resources. However, all types of resources were more frequent in male students' essays except for Proclaim. Based on the findings, this study provided insights into the need for incorporating engagement resources in writing instruction in order to help students construct a well-argued text to be able to communicate their viewpoints more efficiently.

Keywords:

appraisal theory , heteroglossic , interpersonal meaning making , monoglossic