scholarly journals How is information content distributed in RA introductions across disciplines? An entropy-based approach

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Jin Liu ◽  
Li Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Interest In Research

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in research article (RA thereafter) introductions. Most previous studies focused on the macro structures, rhetorical functions and linguistic realizations of RA introductions, but few intended to investigate the information content distribution from the perspective of information theory. The current study conducted an entropy-based study on the distributional patterns of information content in RA introductions and their variations across disciplines (humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences). Three indices, that is, one-, two-, and three-gram entropies, were used to analyze 120 RA introductions (40 introductions from each disciplinary area). The results reveal that, first, in RA introductions, the information content is unevenly distributed, with the information content of Move 1 being the highest, followed in sequence by Move 3 and Move 2; second, the three entropy indices may reflect different linguistic features of RA introductions; and, third, disciplinary variations of information content were found. In Move 1, the RA introductions of natural sciences are more informative than those of the other two disciplines, and in Move 3 the RA introductions of social sciences are more informative as well. This study has implications for genre-based instruction in the pedagogy of academic writing, as well as the broadening of the applications of quantitative corpus linguistic methods into less touched fields.

Elaboration, compression and explicitness across sub-registers of popular and academic writing in Hong Kong English

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-305
Author(s):  
Elena Seoane ◽  
Cristina Suárez-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
Popular Writing ◽  
Hong Kong English ◽  
Opposite Tendency

Abstract In this study we examine elaboration, compression and explicitness in academic and popular writing in an Outer Circle variety of English, that of Hong-Kong, as represented in the International Corpus of English corpus. As Biber and Gray (2016) show, contemporary academic discourse is structurally compressed at NP level (rather than elaborated) and inexplicit in the expression of meaning. The linguistic features selected for analysis are short passives, which are compressed and inexplicit, and adnominal relative clauses, which represent the opposite tendency, that towards elaboration and explicitness. We focus on register variation through analyzing, first, differences between academic and popular writing, and second, interdisciplinary variation in four sub-registers: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and technology.

Markers of identification in Indigenous academic writing: A case study of genre innovation

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shurli Makmillen ◽  
Michelle Riedlinger
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Academic Genres

AbstractThis study contributes to research into genre innovation and scholarship exploring how Indigenous epistemes are disrupting dominant discourses of the academy. Using a case study approach, we investigated 31 research articles produced by Mäori scholars and published in the journal AlterNative between 2006 and 2018. We looked for linguistic features associated with self-positioning and self-identification. We found heightened ambiguous uses of “we”; a prevalence of verbs associated with personal (as opposed to discursive) uses of “I/we”; personal storytelling; and a privileging of Elders’ contributions to the existing state of knowledge. We argue these features reflect and reinforce Indigenous scholars’ social relations with particular communities of practice within and outside of the academy. They are also in keeping with Indigenous knowledge-making practices, protocols, and languages, and signal sites of negotiation and innovation in the research article. We present the implications for rhetorical genre studies and for teaching academic genres.

Lexical priming in humorous satirical newspaper headlines

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Skalicky
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lexical Priming ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Do So

Abstract Satire is a type of discourse commonly employed to mock or criticize a satirical target, typically resulting in humor. Current understandings of satire place strong emphasis on the role that background and pragmatic knowledge play during satire recognition. However, there may also be specific linguistic cues that signal a satirical intent. Researchers using corpus linguistic methods, specifically Lexical Priming, have demonstrated that other types of creative language use, such as irony, puns, and verbal jokes, purposefully deviate from expected language patterns (e.g. collocations). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether humorous satirical headlines also subvert typical linguistic patterns using the theory of Lexical Priming. In order to do so, a corpus of newspaper headlines taken from the satirical American newspaper The Onion are analyzed and compared to a generalized corpus of American English. Results of this analysis suggest satirical headlines exploit linguistic expectations through the use of low-frequency collocations and semantic preferences, but also contain higher discourse and genre level deviations that cannot be captured in the surface level linguistic features of the headlines.

scholarly journals Perspectives on written L1 in Swedish CLIL education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Ohlsson
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
School Subjects ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
L1 Use ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Upper Secondary Schools

This article presents a longitudinal investigation of texts written by students in upper secondary schools in Sweden. The texts are collected at three different schools implementing Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL, where school subjects are taught in a second or foreign language, L2, in this case English. CLIL research with an L1 focus in the Swedish context is rare. The present study explores and compares vocabulary use in texts written in L1 Swedish by students attending schools where English is used as the medium of instruction to various degrees, thereby representing diverse CLIL models. One school uses English in practically all subjects except in language arts (subject area of Swedish and optional German/French/Spanish). The other two schools use L2 English in some lessons but not all, thus representing other CLIL models. The data comprises 306 pieces of texts that were analysed using quantitative and corpus linguistic methods to examine the vocabulary use including linguistic variables connected to academic writing. The texts were written at four different occasions during a period of three years, Results indicate that the L1 vocabulary use concerning specific word variables show no substantial diversifications between the three CLIL schools despite the dissimilar exposure to L2 English and L1 use. The impact of L2 on students’ L1 is sometimes raised as an apprehension against CLIL education in Sweden. The results regarding productive written academic vocabulary of the present study indicate that there are no grounds for such concerns.

scholarly journals Analogical Rationality in Social Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Carlos-Adolfo Rengifo-Castañeda
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Rational Beliefs ◽  
Research Article ◽  
The Social ◽  
Classical Conception

This research article proposes a conception of analogical rationality, which operates in the social sciences as well as in the natural sciences, according to "epistemic, ontological and pragmatic" conditions. According to this, in this paper it is intended: First, to account for analogical rationality according to epistemic, ontological and pragmatic conditions, contrasting with this, the classical conception of rationality. And second, on the basis of the above, to enable by analogical rationality a status of scientificity for the social sciences by justifying rational beliefs and decisions, according to this tripartite condition

Marine engineering and sub-disciplinary variations: a rhetorical analysis of research article abstracts

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-363
Author(s):  
Ju Chuan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
First Person ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Electronic Engineering ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Marine Engineering ◽  
Verb Tense

Abstract This study explores the rhetorical structure and linguistic features of research article abstracts in an applied discipline. Recently, many emerging applied disciplines have evolved to incorporate knowledge from a variety of disciplinary areas. Therefore, the writing style may vary within one discipline. While most studies have compared rhetorical variations between disciplines, few have examined sub-disciplinary variations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which variations exist among research article abstracts in three sub-fields of one applied discipline: marine engineering. A small specific corpus consisting of 60 marine engineering abstracts was compiled. By examining similarities and differences in the rhetorical structure, frequently used verbs, tense, and the use of first person pronouns, the analysis showed that sub-disciplinary variations existed among the three sub-fields. For example, the abstracts in the sub-field of automatic control (a discipline closely related to electronic engineering) differ from the abstracts of the other two sub-fields as for rhetorical structure, verb tense, and frequency of use of first-person pronouns. The findings of this study indicate that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) instructors should take into account sub-disciplinary preferences when teaching academic writing so that students can make informed choices when writing in their specific sub-field.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF GENRE-BASED MENTORING ON LINGUISTIC FEATURE QUALITY OF RESEARCH ARTICLE ABSRACTS BY INDONESIAN LECTURERS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-161
Author(s):  
Dedi Jasrial ◽  
Safnil Arsyad ◽  
Arono Arono
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Appropriate Use ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Joint Construction ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Quality Of Research ◽  
Article Abstract

Meta-discourse is one of the linguistic features that have gotten considerable attention in writing a research article abstract recently. It is because the meta-discourse serves as a textual and interpersonal marker that can help readers to organize, classify, interpret, evaluate, and react to the contents of a propositions or meanings of sentences in the research article abstracts. However, Indonesian authors still have a problem in the use of meta-discourse based on its function in writing a research article abstract that meets to reputable international journals. The purpose of this study is to help improve the linguistic feature quality of research article abstracts written by Indonesian lecturers in social sciences and humanities in terms of the appropriate use of meta-discourse devices. This study used three stages of genre-based method following Hyland (2003): modeling, joint construction, and independent construction to mentor 20 lecturers in improving their research article abstract quality in terms of the appropriate use of meta-discourse devices in the sentences. The meta-discourse devices in the lecturers’ research article abstracts was evaluated following the frameworks of meta-discourse based on its function as suggested by Hyland (2005). The result revealed that there is an important improvement on the linguistic feature quality of Indonesian lecturers’ research article abstracts in terms of the appropriate use of meta-discourse devices. It implies that genre-based mentoring method has been quite effective in helping Indonesian lecturers in social sciences and humanities in writing their RA abstracts in using meta-discourse devices for a reputable international journal.

scholarly journals HEDGING THROUGH THE USE OF MODAL AUXILIARIES IN ENGLISH ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tofan Dwi Hardjanto
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Modal Auxiliaries ◽  
Communicative Strategy

As a communicative strategy, hedging plays a central role in academic writing. Numerous different linguistic forms can be used to express this strategy. This article attempts to investigate modal auxiliary verbs as the principal means of expressing hedging in English academic discourse. For this purpose, a corpus of 75 primary empirical research articles from economics, linguistics, medicine, natural sciences and engineering was analyzed quantitatively with the help of corpus linguistic method. The results revealed that modal auxiliaries were used most frequently in linguistics and economics and least frequently in engineering and natural sciences while their use in medicine came in between. This seems to suggest that there is noticeable disciplinary variation in the degree of hedging through the use of modal auxiliaries in English research articles. Modal auxiliaries tend to be more common in soft sciences than in hard sciences whereas their use in health sciences in comparison with soft and hard sciences does not seem to show any significant difference.

Hunting for a linguistic phantom

Terminology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-224
Author(s):  
Anne-Kathrin Schumann
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Conceptual Information ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Multivariate Method ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
German Data ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Shed Light

The importance of semantic descriptions of concepts by means of defining statements is a commonplace tenet of scientific and practical approaches to terminology. While the current understanding of defining statements remains bound to classical concepts of defining, there is limited knowledge about the types of conceptual information that may ease the transfer of knowledge. Furthermore, there is little insight into how defining statements differ epistemologically from non-defining (generic) statements; on the linguistic side, the same can be said about linguistic differences between defining and generic statements. Last but not least, it remains unclear how practical terminology work can benefit from corpus-based research on the description of defining statements. This paper aims to shed light on some of these questions by describing a corpus-linguistic study of knowledge-rich contexts in German and Russian web corpora. Hypotheses about linguistic features of knowledge-rich contexts are derived in a theory-driven manner and researched by means of corpus-linguistic methods. Significant features are then investigated further for the German data, using a multivariate method.

scholarly journals Another Look at the Rhetorical Moves and Linguistic Realizations in International and Indonesian Journal Articles: A Case of Tourism Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eri Kurniawan ◽  
Nurul Aini Akrima Sabila
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Writing For Publication ◽  
Tourism Research ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Textual Organization ◽  
Rhetorical Structures

Although a significant number of studies have been conducted to explore the rhetorical structures of research article abstracts, there is a paucity of research specifically comparing the move patterns, and linguistic features of tourism research article abstracts published in international and national journals. Such a comparison is quintessential to address a notion that journal indexation may factor into the quality of textual organization in abstract writing. Employing Hyland’s (2000) analytical framework, the paper analyzed 120 tourism research article abstracts from international journals indexed by Scopus and Indonesian journals indexed by Sinta. Findings revealed more similarities than differences across the two corpora. All of Hyland’s five moves were generally found in the abstracts, with  M2 (Purpose), M3 (Method), and M4 (Product) as the most occurring moves in both data sets. An exception was found in M1 (Introduction) and M5 (Conclusion), where M1 was favored and M5 was excluded in Sinta-indexed abstracts, yet the reverse was true of Scopus-indexed counterparts. In terms of the linguistic features, present tense and active voice were evidently dominant across both data groups, with a notable exception in Method move, where past tense and passive voice were more favorable. These findings appear to suggest that journal indexation does not profoundly influence abstract writing. Recommendations and implications for academic writing for publication purposes are also discussed.

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