scholarly journals Phrasal Discourse Style in Cross-Disciplinary Writing: A Comparison of Phrasal Complexity Features in the Results Sections of Research Articles

2020 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 191-204
Author(s):  
Muhammed Parviz ◽  
Alireza Jalilifar ◽  
Alexanne Don
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Disciplinary Writing ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Manual Search ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Rate Of Success

The present study aimed at exploring how research article writers from two academic disciplines exploit phrasal complexity features (PCFs) to verbalize the results sections of research articles with the eventual aim of assisting advanced EFL writers with their composition strategies. To this end, following a manual search, 200 empirical research articles in the fields of Applied Linguistics and Physics were comparatively examined. Due to the low rate of success of tagging programs in identifying the occurrences of PCFs, the datasets were also manually analyzed. The results revealed that the research article writers drew upon three high-frequency phrasal complexity features, namely, pre-modifying adjectives, post-modifying prepositional phrases, and nominalizations. The study also revealed that the results sections of research articles included different amounts of exceedingly complex patterns of pre-modification, a hybrid of novel appositive structures, and great reliance on hyphenated adjectives. Overall, we believe that these findings can be used to heighten the awareness of academic writers and instructors regarding the linguistic characteristics of academic writing and of the variations of how such phrasal features of compression are constructed in different academic subjects.

Bridging boundaries across genre traditions

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-293
Author(s):  
Isaac Nuokyaa-Ire Mwinlaaru
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Research Article

Abstract This study explores the benefits of a synergy between ESP research on genre and theoretical dimensions of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). It models genre on SFL dimensions and employs this model to analyse 200 biodata written by Applied Linguistics scholars, 100 each from research articles and seminar posters. Data were analysed from contextual, logico-semantic and lexicogrammatical perspectives. The findings reveal five generic stages in biodata. The frequency distribution of these stages and the phases that realise them shows variation between research article bios and seminar bios. The most frequent logico-semantic (or rhetorical) relations identified among stages and phases are of the expansion type, namely addition and elaboration, Further, collocational frameworks are used in organising some generic phases into waves of meaning and in construing different identities. Finally, evaluative resources, in the form of lexical bundles, modification and circumstantial elements in the clause, are employed by writers to boost their professional achievements and promote themselves. These findings contribute to theoretical discussions on genre and the scholarship on the interface between identity construction and academic writing, and also motivate further research.

scholarly journals Semantic Categories of Reporting Verbs across Four Disciplines in Research Articles

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Sani Yantandu Uba
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Raising Awareness

This paper investigates semantic categories of reporting verbs across four disciplines: Accounting, Applied Linguistics, Engineering and Medicine in research article genre. A general corpus of one million words and sub-corpus (for each discipline) were compiled from a total of 120 articles representing 30 articles from each discipline. In this study, two levels of analysis were conducted. Firstly, I randomly selected five articles from each discipline and read and reread each article identifying what reporting verbs are used, in what context are used and why such reporting verbs are used. This process enabled me to identify semantic categories of reporting verbs. Secondly, on the basis of the identified list of semantic categories of reporting verbs, I used the list in generating concordance output for quantitative textual analysis of each sub-corpus of the four disciplines, as well as the general corpus. The results of the study show that writers from both Accounting and Applied Linguistics are having a high frequency of reporting verbs than writers from Engineering and Medicine disciplines. It also shows that there are certain commonalities and differences between the disciplines. For example, all the disciplines are having frequency of the three semantic categories of reporting verbs but with certain degree of variations. The study recommends raising awareness of students on semantic categories of reporting verbs. The results could also help EAP/ESP teachers in designing course materials for discipline specific reporting verbs. It could also be helpful for textbook course designers in developing textbooks for teaching reporting verbs.

A Corpus-based Analysis of Phrasal Complexity across Different Sections of Research Articles in two Academic Disciplines

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajab Esfandiari ◽  
Mohammad Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Clinical Medicine ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Distributional Pattern ◽  
Complexity Measures ◽  
Leading Journals

Abstract Complexity measures in academic writing have experienced a shift from clausal to phrasal indices in recent years. Drawing on a subset of Biber et al. (2011) hypothesized stages of writing development, we explored phrasal complexity across sections of research articles (RAs) in applied linguistics and clinical medicine. A 389,332-word corpus consisting of 80 randomly selected RAs from leading journals in applied linguistics and clinical medicine was compiled for the purposes of the present study. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent-samples t-test, as implemented in SPSS (version 25), were employed to find differences across the RA sections and between two groups of academic writers. The findings indicated that RAs in clinical medicine relied more heavily on noun phrase modifiers in all sections than those in applied linguistics, suggesting that the distributional pattern of these linguistic expressions is discipline-independent. The implications of the findings are also discussed.

scholarly journals Exploring Nominalization in the Introduction and Method Sections of Applied Linguistics Research Articles: a Qualitative Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-80
Author(s):  
Alireza Jalilifar ◽  
Elham Saleh ◽  
Alexanne Don
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Knowledge Claims ◽  
Discussion Format

Abstract One of the most distinctive linguistic characteristics of academic writing is the high frequency of nominalized structures. The present study explores how nominalization was used as an approach to making knowledge claims in applied linguistics research articles. Data comprised the introduction and method sections of 16 empirical papers featuring the IMRD (Introduction, Method, Result, Discussion) format, drawn from the most recent issues of 10 journals, with a total of 40,122 running words, from which 3,150 instances of nominalization were drawn. Analyzing these nominalized structures in the cotext of their local spans revealed 15 patterns, with the preference for some of the patterns varying across the introduction and method sections of these articles. Results showed a higher concentration of nominalization in the introductions. The study also identified the more prevalent nominal expressions in each section. The fact that each of these sections serves different purposes appears to justify the use of a contrasting range of nominal expressions. Based on the findings of this study, some pedagogical implications for academic writing and reading, ESP/EAP courses, and researchers are proposed.

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 A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study of Code Glosses Used in English Academic Articles Written by Authors of Politics and Applied Linguistics

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Safari
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Frequency Count ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Writing Instructors

In the field of academic writing, it is important to create a structurally and communicatively well-organized and coherent text. Metadiscourse is the way in which writers interact through their use of language in the form of writing with readers– is a widely used term in the field of pragmatics and language teaching. This research article aims to investigate using code glosses as a sub-category of metadiscourse in the introduction section of two different disciplines, politics and applied linguistics. The corpus consists of twenty research articles from the politics and twenty from applied linguistics. The model suggested by Hyland (2005) is used for analizing the selected corpus. These articles were investigated and the number of code-glosses in each group was counted and analyzed. The result of data analysis revealed that there is significant difference between the frequency count of using code glosses used by applied linguistics and politics authors. Politics authors used more code glosses in comparison with applied linguistics and both applied linguistics and politics writers used reformulations more than exemplifications. This study can have pedagogical implications for EAP course designers as well as academic writing instructors and students.

scholarly journals Der wissenschaftliche Artikel in der germanistischen Linguistik als Modell für den Unterricht wissenschaftlichen Schreibens: Ergebnisse einer Pilotstudie

2016 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Huemer
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Disciplinary Writing ◽  
The Core ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The University

Similar structures in research articles of different disciplines indicate that the research article can be qualified as a genre across disciplinary borders. In spite of these structural similarities, which are constitutive for a genre, there are linguistic varieties that can be found in research articles of several disciplines relevant to be pointed out when teaching academic writing at the university. Little research has been conducted so far on linguistic varieties within subcategories of a discipline, because it is assumed that linguistic varieties within the genre research article are discipline-specific and therefore can only be found across disciplines. This article will present the results of a pilot study in which linguistic varieties within the discipline German linguistics have been researched. 14 introductions to research articles within this field have been selected in order to analyse their macro structure in detail. The data has been taken from a high rated journal in the field of German linguistics called Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik (ZGL 2014) in which the most important articles that have been published in the year before are promoted. The study shows that the macro structure of the research articles’ introductions are essentially determined by the research question and the research method, which vary within this discipline. This result is particularly relevant for the teaching of academic writing, because it offers an alternative approach to support the writing process oriented towards the core of every research: which is to formulate a research question and to choose an appropriate method rather than to strictly follow assumed disciplinary writing norms.

scholarly journals Hedging in the Results and Discussion Section of English Applied Linguistics Research Articles by Vietnamese and Foreign Writers

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Thao Quoc Tran ◽  
Thiep Ba Tang
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Discussion Section ◽  
Similar Frequency ◽  
Research Article

Hedging in academic writing in general and in research article (RA) in specific has a vital role in enabling writers to minimize their opposing claims and negotiate the meaning. Nevertheless, hedging can be different from one discipline to another and from culture to another. This study, therefore, aims at examining the deployment of hedges in the Results and Discussion (R-D) section of English Applied Linguistics (AL) RAs by Vietnamese writers and their foreign counterparts. Two corpora consisting of 30 RAs written by Vietnamese writers and the other 30 ones by foreign writers were collected. The results revealed that both Vietnamese and foreign writers deployed hedges in the R-D section of English AL RAs at a similar frequency. Moreover, they shared common senses of utilizing the hedges’ types and functions in the R-D section of English AL RAs. This study has confirmed that the norms and practices of the AL, a soft science, were common among non-native English writers regardless of their culture-bound.

scholarly journals A Discourse Analysis: Cohesion of the Introduction Section of Research Article

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Anis Firdatul Rochma ◽  
Sulis Triyono
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Research Article ◽  
English Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Competence

<em>As an effort to give contribution to the existing knowledge, it is expected for the undergraduate students to compose an engaging research article in order to convince the readers about the importance of the research article. However, there is only a little attention given to the articles written by the undergraduate students although it is considered very critical to examine whether the exposure of English academic writing has significantly enhances the writing competence of the students. Furthermore, as it is also very crucial to build a meaningful semantic meaning among the sentences in order to disclose the worthiness of the research article, it is essential to analyze the cohesion of the research article written by the undergraduate students. Henceforth, the present research is projected to investigate the cohesion of the research articles written by the undergraduate students of English Language Teaching. As the introduction section of research article is likely to be an area to portray the logical explanation of the research, the present research solely focuses on examining the cohesion of the introduction section of research article. By adopting a qualitative design and involving several steps to analyze the introduction section, it is revealed that the grammatical cohesion is considered to be the most utilized type of cohesion in writing the introduction section. Still, the lexical cohesion is also necessary to build an eloquent semantic meaning about the topic as well the importance of the research article.</em>

scholarly journals Move analysis and their lexical verbs of research article abstracts of Filipino and American writers

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-63
Author(s):  
Abdul Wahid Ibrahim Tocalo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Writing Instructions ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Rhetorical move analyses of research article (RA) abstracts have established variations across disciplines and cultures. However, there is still a need for more explorations on Applied Linguistics discipline. Comparing native and other group of non-native speakers of English, such as Filipino users of the language, has also been a neglect in research as far as the researcher’s knowledge is concerned. Hence, this study investigated the rhetorical moves in the RA abstracts of American and Filipino writers who are published in two journals related to Applied Linguistics field. The study also explored the lexical verbs underlying each move in all the abstracts. Each abstract was then segmented into moves. Findings revealed that the moves Situating the Research (STR), Presenting the Research (PTR), and Discussing the Research (DTR) were obligatorily used by both groups of writers, while the moves Describing the Methodology (DTM) and Summarizing the Findings (STF) were obligatory only among Filipinos and optional among Americans. Filipino writers appear to develop their own conventions deviating from Americans who are considered native speakers and norm providers. The results also amplify the existence of cultural differences even in abstract writing. Further, the study details lists of lexical verbs that may be used to realize a rhetorical intent of each move. Hence, academic writing instructions may be informed by the rhetorical and linguistic realizations unveiled in this study. Directions for future research are likewise provided.

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