Abstract
Presenting research gap(s) in a research article (RA), particularly in the abstract and introduction, should be considered by authors, since it functions to show the novelty of the research. As there have been limited studies on the possible variations in authors' research gap strategies and the problems in identifying research gaps, this mixed-method study aimed to fill the gaps. Using genre analysis, this study compared the use of research gap strategies in English Language Teaching (ELT) RA abstracts and introductions by three groups of authors, namely, Indonesian doctoral students, Indonesian academics, and international authors. The results of the quantitative analysis in this study indicated that the three groups share similarities and differences in using the types of research gap strategy in their ELT RA abstracts and introductions. Then, the qualitative analysis using semi-structured interviews with ten doctoral students revealed some problems encountered by them in identifying research gaps during research activities. Finally, this study demonstrates the extent to which our findings have theoretical and practical implications concerning the use of strategies in presenting research gaps in RAs.
Highlights
Publishing English RAs in international journals has been a requisite for doctoral students to achieve the doctoral degree, and this rule has become widespread in many countries in America, Europe, and Asia over the last few years (Cuthbert & Spark, 2008; Li, 2015)
Since this study focused on comparing the research gap strategies used by Indonesian doctoral students, Indonesian academics, and international authors in their ELT RA abstracts and introductions, as well as exploring the doctoral students’ problems in identifying research gaps, a mixed-method design was employed and a quantitative analysis involving simple descriptive statistics was conducted
Indonesian Doctoral Students’, Indonesian Academics’, and International Authors’ Research Gap Strategies in ELT RA Abstracts and Introductions. This subheading presents the results on the frequency of occurrences of the strategies for presenting research gaps used by the three groups of authors: Indonesian doctoral students, Indonesian academics, and international authors
Summary
Publishing English RAs in international journals has been a requisite for doctoral students to achieve the doctoral degree, and this rule has become widespread in many countries in America, Europe, and Asia over the last few years (Cuthbert & Spark, 2008; Li, 2015). Considering the importance of RA publications, universities in Indonesia have provided several programs, such as workshops and short courses about writing RAs for publications, to assist students in writing RAs for publication in international journals (Arono & Arsyad, 2019). The curriculum developers have provided several courses in which the objectives demand the students to produce RAs. researchers, who focus on genre analysis of RAs, have been in the limelight because their reports contribute to the advancement of knowledge, in writing RAs (Ankomah & Afful, 2019; Hu & Liu, 2018; Irawati, Saukah, & Suharmanto, 2018; Kawase, 2018; Keshavarz, Atai, & Barzgar, 2007; Parnawati, Basthomi, & Ruslan, 2017; Rahman, Darus, & Amir, 2017; Rochma, Triastuti, & Ashadi, 2020; Samraj, 2005; Swales, 1990; Swales, 2004; Tanko, 2017).
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