Abstract
For Chinese English majors, bachelor’s theses are regarded as the most substantial piece of writing in their undergraduate study. However, in the field of EAP/ESP and genre research, thesis writing at the undergraduate level has been relatively neglected. From the perspective of genre in Systemic Functional Linguistics, the macrostructure of a bachelor’s thesis constitutes a macrogenre which combines more than one elemental genre to accomplish complex goals. An understanding of the deployment of elemental genres in this macrogenre can further help reveal the rhetorical values circulating in this thesis writing community. Based on the genre taxonomy developed by SFL genre theorists (e.g., Rose, 2010, 2015a, 2015b), this study analysed the genre deployment of 40 highly-rated bachelor’s theses written by English majors at a Chinese university, triangulated with semi-structured interviews with thesis writers and advisors. The results show that the 40 theses contained 776 shorter texts instantiating 22 types of elemental genres across 7 genre families. Specifically, reports were most extensively used by the thesis writers to transmit their received disciplinary knowledge. Arguments and text responses, though ranking lower in number, were essential to the writers’ projection of evaluative meanings and authorial selves. Stories, chronicles, explanations, and procedural genres were deployed sporadically, but empowered the writers to perform a constellation of social roles . The findings of this study may assist novice thesis writers by heightening their genre awareness, and more practically, increasing their knowledge on the specific types of elemental genres over which they need control to produce a rhetorically well-developed bachelor’s thesis. This paper then concludes with implications for teaching and researching thesis writing in non-English dominant contexts.
Highlights
In the field of EAP/ESP and genre research, compared with the higher-level academic genres, such as postgraduate theses or dissertations, published research articles, or textbooks, theses at the undergraduate level have been relatively neglected
We focus on the high-stakes bachelor’s theses, and present findings from an analysis of a small corpus based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), its genre theories, which is, according to Hyland (2007), ‘perhaps the most clearly articulated approach to genre both theoretically and pedagogically’ (p.153)
Twenty-two types of elemental genres were identified across the corpus, with no instances being found for observation, recount, news story, personal response, and critical review
Summary
In the field of EAP/ESP and genre research, compared with the higher-level academic genres, such as postgraduate theses or dissertations, published research articles, or textbooks, theses at the undergraduate level have been relatively neglected. A few studies have examined the textual features of bachelor’s theses, or equivalent genres, across disciplines (Gardner & Holmes, 2009; Nesi & Gardner, 2012; Hyland, 2012). Hyland (2012) examined the use of stance and voice markers in 64 project reports written by final-year Hong Kong undergraduate students from eight disciplinary fields, in comparison with a reference corpus of research articles written by ‘expert writers’ from closely related disciplines. We focus on the high-stakes bachelor’s theses, and present findings from an analysis of a small corpus based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), its genre theories, which is, according to Hyland (2007), ‘perhaps the most clearly articulated approach to genre both theoretically and pedagogically’ (p.153)
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