Patsy Soo

Appraising Arguments:: a Comparative Analysis of Singapore Students' Writing in a Response Genre at Post-secondary Level Patsy Soo

This work seeks to contribute to the growing literature on academic discourses by probing into a relatively new reading-to-write examination genre featured in the Singapore Cambridge Advanced level General Paper. The recently introduced Application Question on the GP comprehension question paper, aimed at producing more critical thinkers, makes an array of new linguistic and rhetorical demands on students taking the General Paper. Appraising Arguments unveils the many hidden expectations in the AQ response genre, as viewed through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics, APPRAISAL and genre theory. It is hoped that Appraising Arguments will grant junior college students and GP teachers alike fresh insights into the Application Question and its manifold requirements.