Wu, Huang2026-03-192026-03-192009-091175-3099https://hdl.handle.net/10289/18122On the basis of the analysis of the structure of text segments occurring in a range of journals, Bruce (2003) proposes four prototypes for the overall rhetorical structure and internal discourse structure of academic texts in English that focus on explanation, argument, recount and classification. This paper reports on a study involving 20 texts written in Chinese by native speakers of Chinese resident in Taiwan who were judged to be highly competent writers of Chinese. Five of these texts focused on explanation; five on argument, five on recount and five on classification. Analysis of these texts in terms of overall rhetorical structuring and internal discourse structuring suggests that texts written in Chinese by competent writers of Chinese may be closer to texts written in English by competent writers of English than is sometimes supposed, something that may have significant implications for the teaching of writing in English to native speakers of Chinese. However, the participants in this study were residents of Taiwan, a country that has had long-term academic and trading links with the USA and one in which most residents have some competence in English. It may be that a similar study involving native speakers of Chinese from other areas would yield different results.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Pacific AreaTaiwanEnglish language educationChinese peopleTeachingNative languageComparative studiesEducationJournal Article10.15663/K10.141843021-5668