Beyond ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’: Exploring Evaluative Language in Thai EFL Learners’ Product Reviews

As English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) continues to rise in prominence, the Languaging Approach, one ELF model, serves as an effective ideal for learning English language using meaningful communication. In this study, the researchers analyzed how first year undergraduates enrolled in LNG222: Academic Listening and Speaking (The Review Course) utilized evaluative language for product evaluation in written reviews. The analysis was based on Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Theory, concentrating on the Attitude subsystem: Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation. A qualitative analysis of 20 student reviews showed that students expressed strong emotional satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product, making ‘Affect’ the most dominant feature (100% of the student reviews). Students’ reviews also showed ‘Appreciation’ when they described product features (95% of reviews). Anyway, they seemed to express less ‘Judgment’ in their writing pieces (55% of reviews). This might result from choosing to express more personal experience than critique as students emphasized on expressing emotions greatly in their reviews. Through this study, the researchers have paved the way to comprehend how ELF learners have developed their evaluative writing skills. Moreover, it is shown that teaching writing skills could focus on adopting a more balanced approach when students produce evaluative writing texts.
Keywords: Evaluative Language, Appraisal Theory, Product Reviews, Languaging, Academic
Writing