ESL Writers’ Topical Depths in Persuasive Essays

The purpose of this study is to analyze L2 learners’ writing with diverse cultural backgrounds studying in ESL classes and to identify different aspects in using topical depths of the topical subjects. A total of 53 Asian adult L2 students who applied for the entrance exam for a theological seminary in the Philippines participated in this research. They consisted of 17 Myanmars, 7 Chinese, 18 Koreans, and 11 Filipinos. This study assumed that there would be some different aspects in using topical depths of the topical subjects, as one of the factors that make the writing to be coherent, among the nationality groups and between the lower and higher scored groups. The findings of this study are as follows. First, there was no difference in the percentage of topical depths relatively computed by the number of clauses in any compared groups. Secondly, in correlation analysis, no significant relation was taken noted in relation to the topical depths or the percentage of the topical depths over the number of the clauses. Thirdly, the number of words affects positively on the number of clauses, the number of topical depths, and the scores. It means that sufficient number of words may cause the healthy number of topical depths, which may be positively reflected in the scores.