Applied Linguistics Research Articles Research Articles

Rhetorical Organization of Applied Linguistics Abstracts: Does Scopus Journal Quartile Matter?

This study investigates whether Scopus journal quartile affects the rhetorical organization and linguistic realizations of applied linguistics research article (hereafter RA) abstracts from Scopus-indexed journals. Embracing the corpus-based approach, this study analyzed 28 abstracts from four AL journals (seven abstracts each) with different quartile. Hyland’s (2000) model was adopted as the analysis guideline. The phrase was the unit of analysis to obtain fine-grained results of the moves occurrences. The analysis revealed that most of the articles from Q2-Q4 journals applied the informative typology, while those from Q1 journal applied the indicative-informative one. Journal quartile does not necessarily affect the manifestation of all moves and steps. The number of occurrences of Step 1- describing participants and Step 3- describing procedure in the Method move was similar in all journals. Moreover, the Purpose and Findings moves were obligatory in all journals. Journal quartile played an influential role in employing the verb tense of Introduction, Purpose, and Conclusion moves and the sentence voice of Method and Conclusion moves. The findings reach a conclusion that journal quartile does not necessarily affect the domination of the standard rules of the RA abstracts’ rhetorical organization and linguistic realizations in AL journals. This study provides insight into the realm of English academic writing about the current trends of move analysis from the journal quartile lens. Further comparative research on the rhetorical features between the accepted and rejected RA abstracts and materials development for the pedagogy of English for research publication purposes are recommended.

Features of Informality in Applied Linguistics Research Articles Published in Iranian Local Journals

Abstract This study was motivated by the recent study on informality in academic writing carried out by Hyland and Jiang (2017), to see the status of informality in Applied Linguistics research articles published in Iranian local journals. To this end, 50 research articles from two Journals of “Research in Applied Linguistics” and “Iranian Journal of applied Linguistics” were selected. The research articles were published in 2014 and 2015 issues. They were analyzed based on Hyland and Jiang’s (2017) taxonomy. The results imply that unattended anaphoric pronouns and sentence initial conjunctions have received the greatest attention from Iranian writers of Applied Linguistics writers while exclamations and contractions were totally ignored. Compared to the results reported by Hyland and Jiang (2017), the use of features of informality by Iranian writers of the present study varies to a great extent. The variations could stress the necessity of awareness of Iranian Applied Linguistics and related fields of study writers concerning the use of these features by successful writers.

Move-based investigation of appraisal in the introduction section of Applied Linguistics research articles: Similarities and differences between L1 and L2 English texts

Recent research has shown that academic writing is not ‘author-evacuated’ but, rather, carries a representation of the writers’ identity. One way through which writers project their identity in academic writing is stance-taking toward propositions advanced in the text. Appropriate stance-taking has proved to be challenging for novice writers of Research Articles (RAs), especially those writing in a foreign language. To contribute to the literature on stance-taking, the present study compared the move-based use of evaluative resources in the introduction section of L1 (written by native English speakers) and L2 (written by Iranian, non-native writers) English RAs in the discipline of Applied Linguistics. To this end, 100 English Research Article Introductions (RAIs), 50 by L1 writers and 50 by L2 writers, were investigated as the corpus of the study. Categories of analysis were taken from Appraisal framework (Martine & White, 2005) and CARS model (Swales, 2004). The results revealed that the two groups of texts were not substantially different in the overall use of appraisal resources in the whole body of RAIs. However, more detailed analyses of the specific categories of appraisal in each of the rhetorical moves demonstrated that in some cases, especially in moves 1 and 3, L1 and L2 writers made different choices when taking a stance. The findings of this study can serve as a valuable source providing a practical and comprehensive understanding of the use of evaluative resources in RAIs for EAP researchers, teachers, and other professionals involved in the teaching of academic writing.

Coherence relations in research article discussions

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.

Interaction in Academic L2 writing: An analysis of Interactional Metadiscourse Strategies in Applied Linguistics Research Articles

It has been acknowledged that academic writing is not only content-oriented but also involves various rhetorical strategies that help writers project themselves on text so that the content as well as the writer’s stance can be understood. Interactional metadiscourse (MD) strategies are established to play a rhetorical role that contribute to the persuasiveness of argument. Due to the variation of rhetorical strategies across cultures, L2 writers tend to find some problems employing appropriate interactional MD strategies to express a clear stance and engage readers in the content presented. This paper examines the extent to which interactional MD strategies are employed in advanced L2 writing. To this end, 34 research articles written by Yemeni/Arab applied linguistics L2 writers were analysed. Based on Hyland (2005a), interactional MD strategies were identified via AntConc, a concordance analytical software tool. Moreover, a qualitative analysis was conducted to examine the way how advanced L2 writers use interactional MD strategies to pursue persuasive goals. The findings indicate that L2 writers tend to employ impersonal and less dialogic style in academic writing. A closer in-depth analysis indicates that the most salient interactional strategies in Yemeni L2 writing include making bare assertion as well as marking certainty of claims. They mostly tend to make assertion as they indicate research gaps and express conviction when they state findings and summarize their research. The implications of such findings could be useful for genre analysis, academic writing and L2 writing instruction. Keywords: genre analysis; research articles; interaction; interactional metadiscourse strategies; L2 writing

A Corpus-Based Study of Reformulation Markers: The Case of Native versus Non-Native Research Articles

This study presents a corpus-based study of reformulation markers as a common metadiscourse device in research articles of applied linguistics by native and Iranian non-native writers. Toward this end, qualitative and quantitative analyses of reformulation devices were conducted. The corpora were compiled by downloading articles from academic journals which were selected via convenience sampling. Each corpus included approximately one million words. All the analyses were conducted through employing Murillo’s (2004, 2007) classification which consists of three broad categories: explicit meaning functions (identification, specification, and explanation), conceptual meaning functions (definition and denomination), and implicit meaning functions (conclusion and mathematical operation). After analyzing the data, Chi-square tests were performed to determine whether the results found in the analysis were statistically significant. The results revealed that there were differences between the functions of reformulation markers (RMs) across research articles written by native and non-native writers. In particular, they differ in terms of their types and functions, where non-native writers of applied linguistics research articles (RAs) use RMs much more frequently than native writers of applied linguistics. In light of the findings, recommendations are made for EAP classes as well.

Cohesive Conjunctions in Applied Linguistics Research Articles among Iranian and Non-Iranian Researchers: A Comparative Corpus-based Study

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of authentic materials on enhancing Iranian English as a foreign language learners' communicative competence. To this end, 106 upper-intermediate participants out of 136 were selected based on their performance an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and randomly assigned to two equal groups- one experimental group and one control group. Then a pre-test was administered to assess the participants' communicative competence at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment. The control group was taught the course content using the regular communicative method through which students received teacher-course from the textbook. After the treatment, the two groups took the post-test. The data analysis through paired and independent sample t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. In other words, teaching authentic materials showed to have a significant effect on improving learners' communicative competence. The implications, limitations, and suggestions of this study are explained at the end of the study.

SELF-MENTIONS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS RESEARCH ARTICLES WRITTEN BY INDONESIANS AND NON-INDONESIANS

This study explores self-mentions in Applied Linguistics research articles written by Indonesians and non-Indonesians. Twenty research articles consisting of 10 research articles written by Indonesians, and the other 10 by non-Indonesians were randomly selected from the leading and international Applied Linguistics journal published in 2017-2018. The use of first person pronouns in those articles was recorded and analyzed. The results indicate the more frequent use of self-mentions in the research articles written by Indonesians than by non-Indonesians. However, the use of first person plural pronoun is higher in the research articles written by non-Indonesians. 

SUBJECT IT-EXTRAPOSITION IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS RESEARCH ARTICLES: SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS

During the last two decades, numerous studies have focused on linguistic features of academic writing. One of these features, which appears frequently in academic writing and which writers need to improve their use of, is the it-extraposition construction. The existing literature on subject it-extraposition has focused on syntactic analysis (types and patterns) of this construction and little attention has been paid to semantic analysis (meanings); thus, this study aims to explore the types, patterns and meanings of subject it-extraposition used in Applied Linguistics research articles. The study was run on a corpus of 57 Applied Linguistics research articles, wherein the common extraposed subject clauses were the that-clause followed by the infinitive to-clause. It was also evident that minimal attention was devoted to the use of the wh-clause and the -ing participle clause. Concerning patterns of it-extraposition subject clause, subject + predicate and subject + predicate + complement were the most commonly utilised in Applied Linguistics research articles. The findings showed that Applied Linguistics writers were more concerned with expressing and evaluating their opinions and claims semantically. This study could help novice writers, especially novice non-native writers, to increase their awareness regarding how such construction is used syntactically and semantically by expert writers in writing research articles.

Lexical Bundles in Applied Linguistics Research Article English Abstracts

Lexical Bundles in Applied Linguistics Research Article English Abstracts

STANCE AND CULTURE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND PERSIAN AUTHORIAL STANCE IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS RESEARCH ARTICLES

This study tended to investigate the effect of culture, as depicted in language, on the use of stance in the applied linguistics research articles of two groups: native speakers of Persian, and native speakers of English. The two corpora comprising the discussion sections of forty research articles from reliable journals were compared for amounts and types of stance. In order to find the cultural differences between native Persian and English researchers, the subtypes of stance devices adapted from Hyland’s (2005b) model were used. Results showed that the groups used stance markers differently; more specifically, they employed hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions differently. Furthermore, culture affects stance features as the meta-discourse devices employed by the researchers in writing the research article genre. The findings have implications for EFL learners and novice non-native writers to know the conventions and patterns as thinking devices for effective writing in academic communities of articles.

Lexical Ties in Applied Linguistics Research Articles among Iranian and Non-Iranian Authors: A Comparative Corpusbased Study

Lexical Ties in Applied Linguistics Research Articles among Iranian and Non-Iranian Authors: A Comparative Corpusbased Study

From the perspective of: Functional Analysis of Lexical Bundles in Applied Linguistics ‎Research Articles ‎

The current study explored two levels of lexical bundles, core (i.e. general) and peripheral (i.e. domain specific), in a corpus of 200 applied linguistics research articles and examined the functions they serve. Using Antconc software, in total, 2563 lexical bundles were identified including 593 core bundles and 1370 peripheral bundles. These numbers account for 30% and 70% of the full list of bundles, covering 8.54% in comparison to 7.76% of one-million-word corpus respectively. Functional analysis revealed that core and peripheral bundles follow the same pattern, with text oriented bundles making it to the top of the list followed by research oriented and participant oriented bundles. Peripheral bundles surpassed core bundles, providing evidence for the existence of more diversity of peripheral bundles. Structural and functional correlates also showed that the form of lexical bundles is closely related to the functional use of the bundles rather than whether they are general or domain specific.

Nominalization in Academic Writing: A Cross-disciplinary Investigation of Physics and Applied Linguistics Empirical Research Articles

The present study aimed to explore how nominalization is manifested in a sample of Physics and Applied Linguistics research articles (RAs), representing hard and soft sciences respectively. To this end, 60 RAs from discipline-related professional journals were randomly selected and analyzed in light of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (1999) taxonomy of nominalization. Comparing the normalized frequencies indicated that articles in Applied Linguistics differ significantly from their counterparts in Physics as they include more nominalized expressions. Moreover, the analysis brought out the findings that deployment of nominalization Type Two is significantly different from the other three types of nominalization in each discipline. Subsequently, the obtained expressions were put into their context of use in order to extract the most prevalent patterns of nominalization in the RAs. The investigation into the embedded patterns introduced 15 common patterns for Physics and Applied Linguistics RAs. Chi-square analyses suggested statistically significant differences in using only four patterns. Finally, implications accrue to the findings in reference to academic writing teachers and course designers.

Informality in Applied Linguistics Research Articles: Comparing Native and Non-Native Writings

This quantitative-qualitative study aimed to fathom out whether and how informal features are exploited in articles of applied linguistics written in English by natives and non-natives. To this end, a corpus of 200 articles was compiled. We employed the classification of informal features proposed by Chang and Swales (1999) representing 10 informal features in academic writing. The AntConc software was used, along with manual search, to detect the informal features. The frequency, percentages, and the density per 1000 words of each informal feature were calculated. The results revealed that informal features are utilized more frequently in native articles than non-native ones, with no significant differences in the two corpora in terms of their most and least frequent informal features. Sentence initial conjunctions are the most recurrent informal features, while exclamation marks are employed the least frequently in both native and non-native articles . Implications for EAP courses are delineated in the study as well.

A Comparative Study of Generic Structure of Applied Linguistics and Chemistry Research Articles: The Case of Discussions

This genre-based study investigated the cross-disciplinary variations in the rhetorical structure of the Discussion sections of 104 applied linguistics and chemistry research articles (RAs), drawing upon Basturkmen’s (2009, 2012) framework and taking into account the new insights proposed by Bhatia (2004), Shehzad (2008), and Lim (2012). To this end, in addition to collecting quantitative data and conducting frequency and chi-square analyses, a number of semistructured interviews were also conducted with some distinguished chemistry scholars and applied linguistics experts to triangulate the data and get a fuller understanding of the quantitative results. Results of the chi-square analyses revealed significant variations in the way the authors in the 2 disciplines employed moves, steps, and substeps to realize the purpose of the Discussion sections. Findings might prove fruitful for postgraduate students and novice researchers in chemistry and applied linguistics to help them write more effective Discussion section in their research articles.

Clustering Keywords to Identify Concepts in Texts: An Analysis of Research Articles in Applied Linguistics

Keyword analysis is one of the most widely used methods in corpus linguistics. The method is used to generate keywords which provide an indication of concepts in texts or a corpus. Keyword analysis tools commonly produce resulting keywords presented as a list which rather poorly indicates what the corpus is about since it typically requires analysts’ knowledge on conceptual associations between keywords. Therefore, common follow-up methods of keyword analysis are to examine concordances, collocational patterns, and some other patterns of associations between keywords and contexts. This study focuses on the association within a group of keywords by constructing a representation of a keyword list as keyword clusters. The keywords for an analysis were generated from two corpora; the target corpus was collected from research articles in applied linguistics and the comparative corpus was a collection of research in pure and applied sciences. The relationship between the top 30 keywords was identifed using mutual information scores of all possible pairs of the keywords within a span of 20 and these scores were used as input for creating keyword clusters. The representations of the 30 keywords as a list and clusters are presented and discussed.

Levels of Statistical Use in Applied Linguistics Research Articles: From 1986 to 2015

The main objective of this study is to assess the levels of statistical use (basic, intermediate, and advanced) in Applied Linguistics research articles over the past three decades (from 1986 to 2015). The corpus included 4079 quantitative and mixed-methods studies published in ten prominent journals of Applied Linguistics. The articles were analysed and the statistical techniques used were aggregated by two current writers and four PhD students in TEFL. Results showed that descriptive statistics (40.04%) were by far the most commonly used technique followed by one-way ANOVA (14.91%), t-test (10.15%), and Pearson correlation (8.76%). Regarding the sophistication level of statistical use, about 78.77% (n = 4686) of the techniques were classified as basic, 14.49% (n = 862) as intermediate, and 6.74% (n = 401) as advanced. Clearly, most of the techniques were either basic or intermediate, with a significant higher percentage for the former. So, a person with basic knowledge of statistics could understand 69.03% of the papers published during 1986 to 2015. It is discussed that researchers should be updated on recent statistical knowledge if they wish to statistically comprehend research articles published in Applied Linguistics journals.

An Investigation into the Usage and Distributional Pattern of Metadiscourse Features in Research Articles in Applied Linguistics Based on Hyland's Classification: A Comparative Corpus-based Inquiry

An Investigation into the Usage and Distributional Pattern of Metadiscourse Features in Research Articles in Applied Linguistics Based on Hyland's Classification: A Comparative Corpus-based Inquiry

Comparative citation analysis of applied linguistics research articles' introduction sections

Comparative citation analysis of applied linguistics research articles' introduction sections