How do applied linguistics researchers structure coherence relations in the process of establishing a niche for their research?

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoyuki Kawase
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Genre Analysis ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Real World Problem ◽  
Coherence Relations ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract This study is an extension of previous research on how writers of research articles (RAs) structure their texts to be coherent in the process of achieving communicative purposes of the RA genre. It examines how RA writers relate sentences in establishing a niche for their studies in the introduction section. Genre analysis methods and Rhetorical Structure Theory are used to analyse 40 applied linguistics RA introductions. The findings show that the RA writers who establish a niche by indicating a gap in previous research tend to use a concessive or contrastive relation to relate the gap statements to the descriptions of previous studies. The writers who establish a niche by indicating how their studies would extend previous research in the field tend to use a background relation to claim a niche based on the specific studies. The writers who indicate a real world problem for the niche establishment tend to use a background relation to reveal a niche based on contextual information surrounding the problem. Possible reasons for the selection of the relations are discussed in terms of the influence of the nature of the RA genre and/or the applied linguistics discipline.

Text as tautology: an exploration in inference, transitivity, and logical compression

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Potter
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Propositional Logic ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Transitive Inference ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Logical Models ◽  
Logical Operations ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Rhetorical structure theory (RST) and relational propositions have been shown useful in analyzing texts as expressions in propositional logic. Because these expressions are systematically derived, they may be expected to model discursive reasoning as articulated in the text. If this is the case, it would follow that logical operations performed on the expressions would be reflected in the texts. In this paper the logic of relational propositions is used to demonstrate the applicability of transitive inference to discourse. Starting with a selection of RST analyses from the research literature, analyses of the logic of relational propositions are performed to identify their corresponding logical expressions and within each expression to identify the inference path implicit within the text. By eliminating intermediary relational propositions, transitivity is then used to progressively compress the expression. The resulting compressions are applied to the corresponding texts and their compressed RST analyses. The application of transitive inference to logical expressions results in abridged texts that are intuitively coherent and logically compatible with their originals. This indicates an underlying isomorphism between the inferential structure of logical expressions and discursive coherence, and it confirms that these expressions function as logical models of the text. Potential areas for application include knowledge representation, logic and argumentation, and RST validation.

Review of the Discussion Section of Research Articles: Rhetorical Structure and Move

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
Yasir Bdaiwi Al-Shujairi
Keyword(s):  
Writing Process ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Discussion Section ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Main Components

      The discussion section forms an integral part in the writing process of a research article (RA). Research authors find it difficult to write and produce a well-structured discussion for their findings. The reason could be due to the unawareness of the main components (rhetorical moves) that shape this section. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a review of the studies that have been done to analyze the discussion section of RAs over the last 36 years. Also, this review seeks to examine the discussion section of RAs across various scientific disciplines and different types of journals. The review showed that the rhetorical structure of RAs discussion section witnessed some changes over the course of time. New moves such as Research Implications and Research Limitations started to be parts of the discussion section of RAs. In addition, it was revealed that differences in writing the discussion section can be varied broadly across disciplines such as soft sciences (e.g., applied linguistics, sociology, psychology) and hard sciences (e.g., engineering, chemistry, biology) and slightly across types of journals such as ISI and local journals. In conclusion, this paper offered several suggestions for further research to be conducted in the area.  

scholarly journals Learning Outcome-Based Teaching of Power Electronics and Electric Machines Hybrid Laboratory Using ABAL Method

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umair Safdar ◽  
Yaqoob Javed ◽  
Subhan Khan ◽  
Mujtaba Hussain Jeffery ◽  
Noman Naeem
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Power Electronics ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Real World ◽  
Electric Machines ◽  
Experimental Methodology ◽  
The Real ◽  
Real World Problem ◽  
Selection Of

This paper presents an Application Based Active Learning (ABAL) methodology on Power Electronics (PE) and Electric Machines (EM) as a hybrid laboratory course for the undergraduate students to design and implement the real-world engineering problems. The ABAL is a type of active learning which is a branch of Learner-centered teaching (LCT). The DC/DC converter along with the speed control of DC separately excites the motor. In addition, a DC/AC converter is designed to control the speed of an induction motor. The results are then investigated on a hardware platform under the ABAL experimental methodology. This paper also discusses the problem identification selection of the equipment, circuit design, hardware mounting and critical analysis of the results acquired from the hybrid laboratory. The ABAL methodology was evaluated based on student satisfaction, feedback, grades and interest to solve the real-world problem rather than cramming the engineering concepts and fulfill so-called lab routine and tasks

Evaluation in research article introductions: A comparison of the strategies used by Chinese and British authors

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Xu ◽  
Hilary Nesi
Keyword(s):  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Journal Article ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Genre Analysis ◽  
Appraisal Theory ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Research Article

Abstract This article investigates differences in evaluative style in introductions to research articles written by scholars from China and Britain. A corpus of 30 research article introductions in applied linguistics was analysed in terms of Appraisal Theory and genre analysis, using the UAM Corpus Tool. Findings from this analysis suggest that both the Chinese and the British authors were aware of the need to argue for their own opinions and maintain good relationships with their readers. However, the Chinese writers made more categorical assertions, supported by lists of references to prior studies, while the British writers were more likely to acknowledge the existence of alternative views within the research community, and were more explicit about their own attitudes towards the research topic, prior studies, and their own work. The findings, and the illustrative examples, can inform the design of programmes to help novice researchers publish internationally, and might also usefully raise the awareness of journal article reviewers and editors regarding cultural variation in approaches to stance-taking.

scholarly journals Cross-Cultural Variation in the Use of Hedges and Boosters in Academic Discourse

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Dontcheva-Navratilova
Keyword(s):  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Rate Distribution ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Target Readership ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Hedges and boosters are important metadiscoursal devices contributing to the construal of persuasion in academic discourse as they enable academic writers to distinguish facts from opinions, evaluate the views of others and convey a different degree of commitment to their assertions (cf. Hyland 1998a, Hyland 2004, 2005). This study explores cross-cultural variation in the use of lexical hedges and boosters in the academic discourse of non-native writers. The study is carried out on a specialized corpus of linguistics research articles published in the international journal Applied Linguistics and the national Czech English-medium journal Discourse and Interaction. The main purpose of the cross-cultural investigation is to analyze variation in the rate, distribution and choice of hedges and boosters across the rhetorical structure of research articles in order to shed light on ways in which Anglophone and Czech writers express different degrees of commitment in their assertions when striving to persuade their target readership to accept their views and claims.

Coherence relations in research article discussions

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-264
Author(s):  
Tomoyuki Kawase
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Discussion Section ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Coherence Relations

Abstract Constructing a coherent text and achieving genre-specific communicative purposes are crucial aspects of academic writing. However, to date, it remains unclear how coherence and genre are related to each other conceptually. This paper seeks to extend previous research on the influence of genre on coherence relations by examining how writers of applied linguistics research articles (RAs) organise sentences in the discussion section to achieve communicative purposes of the RA discussion genre. The analyses suggest that the writers of the selected discussions might have related sentences to each other differently depending on the purposes they sought to achieve. Possible reasons for relational features are considered in light of the nature of the RA discussion genre and/or the applied linguistics discipline.

scholarly journals Coherence relations in academic spoken discourse

Linguistica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliano Desiderato Antonio ◽  
Fernanda Trombini Rahmen Cassim
Keyword(s):  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Coherence Relations ◽  
Discourse Relations

According to Rhetorical Structure Theory, implicit propositions emerge from the combination of pieces of text which hang together. Implicit propositions have received various labels as coherence relations, discourse relations, rhetorical relations or relational propositions. When two portions of a text hold a relation, the addressee of the text may recognize the connection even without the presence of a formal sign as a conjunction or a discourse marker. In this paper we claim that some intrinsic spoken discourse phenomena like paraphrasing, repetition, correction and parenthetical insertion hold coherence relations with other portions of discourse and, thus, may be considered strategies for the construction of coherence. The analysis, based on academic spoken discourse (five university lectures in Brazilian Portuguese), shows that these phenomena are recurring and relevant for the study of spoken discourse.

The space of coherence relations and their signalling in discourse

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-233
Author(s):  
Maite Taboada
Keyword(s):  
Essential Elements ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Discourse Coherence ◽  
Coherence Relations ◽  
Relational Coherence

Abstract I present an overview of the concept of coherence in discourse and explore how one of the essential elements to that coherence, relational coherence, has been studied and partitioned in different discourse traditions. I then introduce one of the theories that deals with discourse coherence, Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST). Through the description of RST, I investigate fundamental concepts in the study of coherence relations such as the classification of relations and their signalling in discourse.

scholarly journals Unifying dimensions in coherence relations: How various annotation frameworks are related

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted J.M. Sanders ◽  
Vera Demberg ◽  
Jet Hoek ◽  
Merel C.J. Scholman ◽  
Fatemeh Torabi Asr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Representation Theory ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Discourse Representation ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Discourse Representation Theory ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Coherence Relations ◽  
Annotated Corpora

AbstractIn this paper, we show how three often used and seemingly different discourse annotation frameworks – Penn Discourse Treebank (PDTB), Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), and Segmented Discourse Representation Theory – can be related by using a set of unifying dimensions. These dimensions are taken from the Cognitive approach to Coherence Relations and combined with more fine-grained additional features from the frameworks themselves to yield a posited set of dimensions that can successfully map three frameworks. The resulting interface will allow researchers to find identical or at least closely related relations within sets of annotated corpora, even if they are annotated within different frameworks. Furthermore, we tested our unified dimension (UniDim) approach by comparing PDTB and RST annotations of identical newspaper texts and converting their original end label annotations of relations into the accompanying values per dimension. Subsequently, rates of overlap in the attributed values per dimension were analyzed. Results indicate that the proposed dimensions indeed create an interface that makes existing annotation systems “talk to each other.”

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