Forming an Opinion in Second Language Evaluative Texts

Abstract

      This paper explores the process by which students develop their writing style and tone while constructing scholarly propositions. The focus is on the students' ability to manipulate the evaluative elements that influence their writing, in order to demonstrate both successful and unsuccessful argumentative strategies. The study demonstrates the manner in which the APPRAISAL framework for systemic-functional linguistics explains the presence of authorship in the academic writing of students. The attitude module of Assessment, namely the classifications of Engagement, and Attitude, as well as Graduation, emphasize the predominant language employed by the students to convey either an adverse or constructive voice of authorship in their work. The results have significant consequences for assisting and encouraging the development of scholarly writing abilities in English as foreign language (EFL) environments. They contribute to our understanding of how undergraduates acquire the ability to express their own perspective in their written argumentation.