Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Educational Research 2327-6150 1 1 2013 03 21 A Functional Grammar Approach to Analysing Asian Students¡¯ Writing 49 57 EN Dr Angelia Lu National Institute of Education- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore EDUCATION2013123 10.12691/education-1-2-3 2012 12 28 2013 03 09 2013 03 21 This paper compares aspects of Singaporean and PRC students¡¯ writing at the university level while enrolled in the freshman composition courses. These aspects involve instances of nominalization, theme, and use of modals (or their inappropriate usage) at various parts of the essays submitted by these students. These items are measured and reported in percentages as to gain greater insight to the depth of similarities and differences between the two sets of writing. In addition, the author is concerned that idiosyncractic usage of such anomaly in writing impedes comprehension when reading and is hardly audience-centred. It is noteworthy that the writing of Singaporean and Chinese students do produce various interesting similarities and differences, possibly attributable to their sociolinguistic and educational backgrounds. The implications of the results are analysed and discussed, with possible pedagogical solutions suggested in order to overcome difficulties of teaching separate students with different linguistic abilities.