A Tentative Study on Paragraph Unity in Chinese University Students’ English Writing

ABSTRACT
This thesis is focused on paragraph unity in Chinese university students’ English writing. After collecting and analyzing 45 Chinese university students’ argumentative writings, the author classifies those articles into three main types which are unity, disunity and transition. According to the classification, the author finds there are some problems in the aspect of unity in Chinese university students’ writings. The factors causing disunity might be the lack of the consciousness of paragraph unity and the confusion of the students’ logics. It is suggested that teachers should give courses about paragraph unity and students should do more writing practice to avoid paragraph disunity. There is some theoretical significance in this research and it also performs a guiding function to Chinese university students’ paragraph writing.
Key words: Chinese university students, English writing, paragraph writing, meaning unity
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements    i
摘要      ii
ABSTRACT    iii
CHAPTERⅠ INTRODUCTION    1
CHAPTERⅡ PARAGRAPH WRITING AND UNITY    3
2.1    English Writing at Tertiary Level in China    3
2.2    Paragraph Writing and a Good Paragraph    3
2.3    Unity    4
2.4    Summary    5
CHAPTER Ⅲ METHODOLOGY    6
3.1    Data Collection    6
3.2    Data Analysis    7
3.3    Summary    9
CHAPTER Ⅳ RESULTS    11
4.1    Paragraph Unity    11
4.2    Students’ Performances in Paragraph Unity    12
CHAPTER Ⅴ DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION    13
5.1    Summary of the Study    13
5.2    Factors Causing Disunity    13
5.3    Pedagogical Implications    14
5.4    Limitations of the Research and Suggestions for Further Studies    14
Bibliography    16