本研究基于Kaplan的对比修辞假说，即当二语学习者在进行二语写作时，其母语中的修辞模式会消极地影响二语写作，通过定量篇章对比分析方法，收集对比了27位北京师范大学英语专业二年级学生所写的英语说明文和议论文各27篇，发现学生英语作文的修辞模式有如下特征： （1）难度较低的说明文中，修辞模式大多呈演绎型；难度较高的议论文中，修辞模式比较混乱。 （2）不论是议论文还是说明文，演绎型模式都多于归纳型和准归纳型。 （3）一半以上的说明文始终采用演绎型模式，而议论文则倾向于在不同段落采用不同模式。 （4）议论文中多数段落的主题句不够精炼概括、观点不明晰。 在文本分析的基础上，本研究对被试学生进行了问卷调查，总结出学生英语写作中的修辞特征主要受以下三方面因素的影响： （1）汉语的修辞传统； （2）学校的写作教育； （3）学生的抽象概括能力。 本研究的结果部分支持了Kaplan关于母语修辞传统会影响学生的二语写作的论述，但同时指出写作教育和学生的逻辑能力同样会对篇章修辞结构产生影响，证明了Kaplan研究的局限性。同时，本研究从侧面反映了当前高校英语写作教学的不足之处，并建议在英语写作教学中注入英语修辞学、对比修辞学的知识。

Based on Robert Kaplan’s contrastive rhetoric hypothesis, that is, the rhetorical conventions in L1 interfere with L2 writing, the thesis aims to examine the rhetorical patterns of Chinese English majors’ English writing and figure out its possible factors. The research analyzes 27 expositions and 27 argumentations written by 27 English major sophomores in Beijing Normal University respectively, and identifies four features of the rhetorical patterns in their writing: (1) In the argumentations, the rhetorical patterns demonstrate more of the Chinese rhetorical conventions than that in the expositions; (2) Paragraphs in the deductive pattern are more than that in the inductive and quasi-inductive pattern both in the expositions and argumentations; (3) More than a half of the expositions adopt only one rhetorical pattern in the elaboration while most argumentations employ two or three patterns; (4) The topic sentences of the body paragraphs in the argumentations are usually inaccurate and incomplete. Based on the results of the sample analysis, a questionnaire is conducted to further examine the possible factors that influence the students’ employment of rhetorical patterns. It is found that there are mainly three factors: (1) the rhetorical conventions in Chinese writing; (2) training on English writing; (3) students’ ability to abstract and generalize. The findings of the research partly supports Kaplan’s hypothesis that L1 rhetorical conventions interfere with L2 writing, yet it points out that school education and the writer’s cognition also exert a great impact. This reflects the limitations of Kaplan’s early study. The research also reveals the deficiencies in today’s English writing education, and suggests that knowledge of contrastive rhetoric and English rhetorical patterns should be introduced to ELT classrooms.