A Comparative Study of Rhetorical Competence among Chinese and American College Students under the Same Teaching Background

Abstract

It is observed that Chinese international students tend to be rhetorically incompetent, compared with their American peers, which triggers a comparative study of their rhetorical competence in the same teaching environment in the U.S. The experimental group and the control group are populated in 20 students respectively, the former group being 20 Chinese students who once major in English and communication in one Chinese famous university but now study in one American university, the latter being 20 American college students in the same class. They are selected to participate in tests of speech and writing competence. The result indicates that there is some discrepancy of speech competence between Chinese and American college students, as well as of writing competence, from which we gain some applications for the cultivation of rhetorical competence among foreign language learners in China, and some suggestions for Chinese international students’ success in American job market.