EFL students must master the technicalities of English and learn how to construct arguments in the language. This means that they need to be able to use their emotions to create the desired impression. Appraisal Theory can be used to study their success in this aspect of language acquisition. This study examined word usage in two short essays by EFL students. One asked them to describe the location they had visited, and the other asked them to compare two such locations. Overall, most students made limited use of appraisal terms, but this was more common in the comparative essay, suggesting that the task structure encouraged such usage. Implications for further research and teaching of ESL are also considered.
Keywords: EFL, Emotions, appraisal theory, genres, writing
