This view attracted a lot of criticism. People said it was too simplistic, it was based on insufficient evidence, and it was biased in favour of English (which seemed to offer the "most efficient" way of presenting an argument). Russian students, in particular, didnt agree with the idea Kaplan had of them! But Kaplans work at least reminded us that, to be able to write effectively in English (or any language), it is not enough to master structures at sentence level - we need to work at a higher level of organization, and to understand how rhetorical devices, such as repetition and figurative language, are used.
Whats more, most of us would probably agree that people from different cultural backgrounds do have different ways of presenting arguments, or telling stories, and that, even if these differences are difficult, and perhaps impossible to classify, just being aware that they exist can help us to understand and appreciate each other better.
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