英語寫作常常是中國學生學習中的弱項。老師們也常常出於幫助學生的愛心，指出中國學生英語寫作的關鍵在掌握中西文化以及思維的不同。如此說來好似這個作文的問題是個大問題，非得有深厚的文化積澱才可以勝任。其實很多學生在玩電腦，參與或在諸如博客、twitter和微博等社交傳媒上上傳圖文的過程中就已經對英文寫作的要素和傳統有了可資類比的實踐。
      首先， 諸如此類的媒體要求供稿或寫作者提出或上傳新鮮有趣的圖文。這個做法與英文寫作要求作者有與眾不同的觀點和發現如出一轍。沒有一個自愛的博主會花時間精力去寫人盡皆知的東西，比如：“ 溫哥華連續多年被評為最適於人類居住的城市。”同理，在給住在溫哥華的人看的文章裏寫出這樣的主題句，也是明顯一點道理都沒有的做法。雖然作為寫作文的人，很多英文學生對主題句必須新鮮有力的要求不是很敏感了，但是作為一個社交網站的上傳者，同一個人會敏銳的感受到他或她的網上上傳的內容是否有新聞價值，因為如上傳沒有新意的文字或圖片會導致他或她的網頁沒人理睬或不受歡迎。其結果是很痛苦地明顯，因為沒新意的網址或圖文不會有人頂，或回應或關注。
      此外， 網路老手絕對懂得抄襲別人的圖文來冒充是自己的原創的做法是昭彰的欺詐行為。大多數的網路用戶對網上內容了如指掌，他們閉着眼就能嗅出抄襲者而且能細指其劣迹而無疑。熟悉網路禮儀使得中國學生很容易理解為什麼人們那麼厭惡抄襲者。還有，網路用戶對新鮮圖文的胃口如此之大， 轉發他人的圖文而不發表任何評論就顯得很懶惰而為有款兒的博主所不屑。把這種經驗移植到寫作中，在有了網路經驗的學生自己的眼裏，滿篇都是引用他人文字的文章就很沒水平，他是不會輕易讓這樣的文章出手的。
      Writing the English essay well is usually a headache for the Chinese ESL students. While it is true that the difficulty lies in cultural differences, students do not have to be cultural experts first before they could write adequate English essays.  Most of the students do not realize that they have already exposed themselves to elements and conventions of the English essay writing when they participate in and write for social media such as blog, twitter and Weibo. The web savvy Chinese should be able to translate some code of conduct on the internet to English writing as these codes can be translated into English writing principles such as  strong thesis and avoiding plagiarism.
      As is well-known to many social media fans, such media require a writer or a contributor to present new and interesting entries. This is comparable to the fact that a writer of English essay must present a strong and unique thesis in his or her writing. No self-respecting blog writer would spend the time and energy to write about what everyone has already known such as "For many years, Vancouver has been selected one of the best cities for people to inhabit". Similarly, writing such thesis in an essay for Vancouverites becomes obviously pointless. Whereas many students of the English essay often become insensitive to the requirement of a strong thesis, a social media contributor is keenly aware of the news value of his or her entry because  failure in presenting news worthy entries or attractive visuals results in ignored and unpopular entries or sites. The consequence of a weak entry is painfully obvious as there will be absolutely no one to respond to or Like what an inadequate contributor has sent.
Furthermore, no veteran of the internet would doubt that copying other people's blog or twitter or using other peoples pictures as one's own original work is flagrant cheating. As most social media users are so well educated about the content of the internet they could smell plagiarist miles away and prove the guilt of the culprit easily with the help of the internet itself. Familiarity with the internet etiquette definitely makes it easy for the Chinese students to comprehend why people have such strong aversion against plagiarism. In addition, the appetite for new and original entries is so voracious that simply forwarding other people's material without any comment appears to be such a lazy act that classy contributors would never lower themselves down to that level. By the same token, these internet veteran turned essay writers would see the poor reflection of their own writing in their own minds' eyes before they allow themselves to fill half of their own essays with quotes from other writers. They would be reluctant to allow such so-called original work leave their own hands and get into those of others.

      圓德英文學院阿木古朗老師
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