Raising Students' Awareness of Cross-cultural Contrastive Rhetoric in English Academic Writing via an E-learning Course

This study investigated the potential impact of e-learning on raising overseas students'
cultural awareness and explored the possibility of creating an interactive learning
environment for them to improve their English academic writing. The study was based on
a comparison of Chinese and English rhetoric in academic writing, including a comparison
of Chinese students' writings in Chinese with native English speakers' writings in English
and Chinese students' writings in English with the help of an e-course and Chinese
students' writings in English without the help of an e-course. Five features of contrastive
rhetoric were used as criteria for the comparison. The experimental results show that the
group using the e-course was successful in learning about defined aspects of English
rhetoric in academic writing, reaching a level of performance that equalled that of native
English speakers. Data analysis also revealed that e-learning resources helped students to
compare rhetorical styles across cultures and that the interactive learning environment was
effective in improving overseas students' English academic writing