Although many studies modelled writing quality by analysing basic skills (spelling, grammar, etc.), few focused on top-down compositional strategies at the discourse level. We propose that using both narrative and argument discourse modes in an argumentative essay (a multi-discourse mode [MDM] strategy) capitalizes on their complementary advantages, yielding higher quality argumentative essays. We tested whether MDM strategy and linguistic features were linked to essay scores in 695 Chinese high-stakes exam essays by upper secondary school students. Path analyses showed that essays with the MDM strategy had higher scores. MDM essays also featured more words, shorter sentences, more infrequent words, and more concrete words—all contributing to higher essay scores. Additionally, essays written from a picture prompt (versus a text prompt) had higher scores. This study captures how discourse strategies can improve essay writing.

中文翻译：

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学生写作中的多话语模式：结合叙述和论证话语模式对议论文分数的影响

尽管许多研究通过分析基本技能（拼写、语法等）来模拟写作质量，但很少有人关注语篇层面的自上而下的写作策略。我们建议在议论文中同时使用叙述和论证话语模式（多话语模式 [MDM] 策略），利用它们的互补优势，产生更高质量的议论文。我们测试了 MDM 策略和语言特征是否与高中生 695 篇中文高考作文的作文分数相关。路径分析表明，采用 MDM 策略的论文得分较高。MDM 论文还具有更多的单词、更短的句子、更多不常用的单词和更具体的单词——所有这些都有助于提高论文分数。此外，从图片提示（相对于文本提示）写的文章得分更高。这项研究捕捉到话语策略如何改善论文写作。