International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Review

This multiple case study of mixed methods focused on 12 Chinese 1+2+1 and 2+2 Sino-American Dual Degree Program students facing Western sociocultural and pedagogical aspects of narratives in their U.S. first-year English composition classes. The theme of individualism in the narrative genre is in direct contrast with collectivism in Eastern cultures; also, U.S. pedagogy follows teaching writing as a process, not the product approach commonly practiced in China. These sociocultural and pedagogical differences have impeded Chinese L2 students’ progress in their required composition classes and their ability to enter academic discourse. Explicit instruction of the personal narrative and the literary essay was content-based, including authentic texts, supplementary materials, and scaffolding to provide the conceptual framework so that students were able to write required essays, developing and maintaining their academic voice. Qualitative data, triangulated from classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and students’ portfolios, revealed Chinese students’ views of instruction of the narrative genre while quantitative data compiled from expert inter-raters’ rankings of content, organization and style measured the impact of explicit instruction with score gains with p values <.05 and <. 01. Using explicit instruction, U.S. instructors bridged the sociocultural and pedagogical gaps between the East and West.