How Causal Relation Affects the Construction of Problem-Solution in Argumentation Essays

The Problem-Solution text pattern is often used in academic writing. The present study investigates how Problem-Solution is used in non-native speaker (NNS) argumentation essays by Japanese speaking students, in comparison with native speaker (NS) essays by American students. By taking the clause relational approach, the present study attempts to find how the students use causal relation when employing the Problem-Solution pattern in their essays. The investigation focuses on problem, which is a causative device, as well as a shell noun that can construct the text. This paper will show that in the two corpora the students’ use of causal relation was similar in frequency and drew on the same types of causal categories; however, how the causal categories were expressed in lexico-grammatical patterns was often different. Furthermore, NNS students used problem in non-causal relation significantly more frequently than NS students did. This paper points to what lacked in NNS essays in order for the students to use causal relations in the same ways as NS students did in their essays (e.g., type of verbs, rheme-theme development). A discussion of the pedagogical implications of the findings provides insights which could be helpful to educators developing syllabi and teaching academic writing to NNS students.