A corpus-based comparison study of first-person pronoun we in English-language abstracts

Abstract

This paper offers a corpus-based study of how the first-person plural pronoun we is used in English-language RA abstracts published in Chinese-language journals in comparison to corresponding RA abstracts published in English-language journals in the fields of Finance and Accounting. Using a range of corpus-based methods of investigation, this study finds that abstracts written by the two groups of writers display characteristic differences in the usage of this first-person pronoun, such as its phraseological patterns. In general, the study demonstrates that the uses of we in RA abstracts written by Chinese Finance and Accounting academic writers diverge in a substantial number of important ways from those written by their international peers. The study also discusses some reasons for such differences. This paper identifies a number of points of difference that could be devoted to the teaching of RA abstract writing skills in English for Academic Purposes course.