Non-native Authors Research Articles

Investigating Native and Non-Native Authors' Use of Lexical Bundles in the Literature of ELT Articles Discussion Section

Investigating Native and Non-Native Authors' Use of Lexical Bundles in the Literature of ELT Articles Discussion Section

A cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and cross-gender study on Appraisal resources in PhD dissertation abstracts: Martin & White's (2005) Appraisal Theory in focus

The abstract which complements proposals, articles, and dissertations, is a remarkable convention in scientific studies since it creates access for readers and authors to read or publish studies or articles. Research abstracts (RA) function as the gateway to view an article, journals' selection for contributions, and for conferences to accept or reject articles (Lores, 2004) In this study, we aimed to investigate the preferences of writers in 160 PhD dissertation abstracts, encompassing both male and female native and non-native authors, across various fields of study, both in the hard and soft sciences. Our primary objective was to discern the writers' inclinations towards utilizing specific linguistic resources, as proposed by Martin and White's Appraisal theory (2005), to convey their positions and engage with the perspectives articulated by their peers. The analysis of the data, conducted using statistical methods, unveiled a pervasive utilization of appraisal resources by the writers, enabling them to articulate their viewpoints, prospects, perceptions, and evaluations concerning diverse subjects. Among these resources, Attitude resources stood out prominently, constituting a substantial 84% of the total Appraisal resources employed in all the abstracts. Graduation resources held an intermediate position, while Engagement resources were the least utilized. Within the realm of Attitude subcategories, Appreciation resources emerged as the most prevalent. Remarkably, female authors specializing in the soft sciences displayed a higher degree of proficiency in the use of these resources, surpassing their counterparts in other categories. This finding suggests that female writers in the soft sciences possess exceptional interpersonal communication skills, making them particularly persuasive and inspirational. The implications of this study extend to the domains of language teaching and learning, material development, and syllabus design. It sheds light on how writers employ linguistic resources to convey their positions effectively, offering valuable insights for educational practices and curriculum enhancement.

Is “ai” a Unitary or Separate Morpheme?

Yorubá is one of the major languages spoken in Nigeria alongside Hausa and Igbo. It has enjoyed extensive research works from both native and non-native authors in virtually all the sub-fields of linguistics. However, there are areas of disagreement among scholars, one of which is the status of the negative maker "ai" as a morpheme or two morphemes. This argument, among other reasons, prompted this paper. Albeit, Oye (2007) argues that negative marker /ai/ is a morpheme while Awobuluyi (2005), Adewole (1992) Solomon (1983) and Olumuyiwa (2006) have a contrary opinion, they claim that the negative prefix marker /ai/ is two morphemes. In this paper, we shall examine the arguments of Yoruba scholars on the negative prefix marker /ai/ as to whether it a unitary morpheme or two separate morphemes. We shall argue in this paper, that the morpheme /i/ has two variants; one is a nominal prefix while the other is a negative marker and the variants are in complementary distribution. We shall also show in this paper that /a/ is a nominal prefix while /i/ is the negative marker in support of the earlier scholars that claim that /ai/ is two morphemes.

Native experts and reputable journals as points of reference: A study on research-article discussions

The current study sought to compare the rhetorical moves and steps that native-English-speaking and Iranian authors of research articles (RAs) employ in writing up the ‘discussion’ sections of their RAs. It was hypothesized that the latter group is not as proficient in writing RA discussions as the former group. A total of 66 (N=66) RA discussions from three reputable international academic journals and three Iranian journals were sampled from years 2009 to 2019. This corpus was then analyzed by three human coders who used Yang and Allison’s (2003) rhetorical move analysis model for scoring the sampled RA discussions. Results showed stark differences between Iranian and native RA writers; the majority of the rhetorical moves and steps that are considered obligatory or conventional by the native group are seen as options by the Iranian group. With the native group and the reputable international journals being the standard points of reference, it was concluded that Iranian authors of RAs lack the professional knowledge and expertise prerequisite to writing standard RA discussions. It is recommended (a) that non-native authors of RAs receive professional training for writing standard discussions, and (b) that journal editors be more sensitive to rhetorical moves and steps before they accept a submission for publication.

Interactional Metadiscourse Markers in English Research Article Abstracts Written by Non-Native Authors: A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study

Abstracts in research articles play a crucial role in settling the impact of academic articles. However, despite the abundance of research on academic discourse, variation in its linguistic features among scholars from different academic cultures seems to have remained untouched. This corpus linguistics study presents a comparative analysis of interactional metadiscourse markers in 96 research article abstracts written in English by both Russian and Spanish scholars in the field of linguistics. The study is based on the assumption that the distribution of interactional metadiscourse devices is different in the abstracts produced by each group of scholars. This is because Spanish academic discourse has been influenced by the growing expansion of Anglophone academic conventions to a larger extent. The theoretical basis of the study is Hyland’s (2005) taxonomy of interactional metadiscourse markers, which offers a pragmatically-grounded method for studying different types of such markers in academic discourse. Findings revealed that Spanish scholars leave more traces of themselves in their writing and take far more explicitly involved positions than Russian scholars. These findings carry pedagogical implications for academic writing course designers and instructors and can enhance non-native English writers’ knowledge of culture-specific and international academic writing conventions in the discipline.

Formulaic Sequences and Discourse Markers in Applied Linguistics Research Papers. A cross-linguistic corpus-based analysis of native and non-native authors published articles

Metadiscourse markers and their importance to academic writing are essential research subjects nowadays. The current corpus-based study aims at identifying interactional and interactive metadiscourse markers in terms of frequency and function in the abstract section of published research articles in applied linguistics developed by Algerian, Saudi, and Native researchers. 20 research articles for each group, with a total of 60 articles have been randomly selected and compiled as the research corpus for this study, then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using AntConc.3.2.4 relying on Hyland’s classification of metadiscourse markers. As a comparative study, the research considered the abstracts written by natives as a benchmark and attempted to find an answer to the main inquiry related to the frequency of use of metadiscourse devices by Algerian and Saudi researchers in comparison to their Native counterparts. The main research results showed how close were Algerian abstracts to native ones in terms of using endophorics, frame markers, code glosses, hedges, attitude markers, and self-mentions. While Saudi abstracts were close to the benchmark only in two markers that are transitions and engagement markers. The rest of the devices were shown to be far from the native norm in both cases. The findings also revealed that the use of metadiscourse markers is not the only indicator of papers publication rate in indexed journals by comparing the corpus analysis results to the source of the articles (journals), to find that even if Algerian researchers publish less in high indexed journals in comparison to Saudis, they are still closer in using markers to the natives as a benchmark.

Movement and Suspension：A Stylistic Study of Rībi Hideo’s Novels

Since the early 1990s literary works that critics would later call “border-crossing literature” (<i>ekkyō bungaku</i>) have emerged on the Japanese literary scene. These works, which are primarily characterized by being written in Japanese by non-native authors, have to-date tended to challenge the concept of “Japanese literature”. A number of studies have explored this very issue in taking into account some similarity with literary genres such as the “Japanese literature of Korean residents in Japan” (<i>Zainichi chōsenjin bungaku</i>). It should be noted, however, that today’s border-crossing writers use Japanese language for personal—or even esthetic—reason unlike postcolonial writers who could not have any other option than writing in their colonizer’s language. In that respect, what seems necessary today is also an analysis that takes a closer look at how today’s border-crossing writers write in Japanese language, namely their writing style. This paper adopts this approach in dealing with Rībi Hideo’s novels, with a particular focus on the fact that most of them feature the theme of a form of travel which is not characterized by the idea of free-flowing movement. By analyzing some relevant examples, I show how this American author develops his original writing style, which is central to his narratives.

“However, we argue that ...”: The Construction of Authorial Identities in English Research Articles

This research investigates how professional authors construct their authorial identities in English research articles (RAs). Sixty research articles were selected from three disciplines, biology, linguistics, and medicine, published by native and non-native authors in reputable international journals. First-person references in the articles were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively with the help of corpus linguistic methods to examine the identities they were used to express, their density, and their cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary variation. The findings showed that native and non-native authors frequently employed authorial references in their English RAs. The results showed striking similarities in the density of authorial references and the identities they express in the RAs published by both groups. However, there was a significant difference in authorial references and identities by these groups of authors across different disciplines, with the hard sciences employing significantly more frequent authorial references than the soft sciences. The findings suggest that while research publication at the highest level does not seem to affect the construction of authorial identities, disciplinary practices significantly affect authorial identity construction. It is argued that authorial references may be an essential feature of written academic interaction at the highest level. They allow authors to create identities serving as humble servants to seek cooperation and emphasize solidarity with their disciplinary communities and as knowledge originators to stress personal contribution to their respective disciplines.

A Comparative Analysis of Stance Features in Research Articles: Malaysian and English Authors

The study of academic writing has gained considerable interest among academia. Good academic writing necessitates the writers’ language talents and their comprehension of accepted rhetorical components. Many researchers have explored non-native authors’ use of metadiscourse markers in academic discourses and how they differ from native speaker authors. However, limited attention has been given to Malaysian authors, precisely stance features in each rhetorical Move of research articles. This study intends to bridge the gap of comparative studies of native and non-native authors in understanding the usages of stance features within the rhetorical moves of research articles, focusing on the “Introduction” section. The present study compared the “Introduction” sections between six British and Australian authors’ research articles and six Malaysian authors’ research articles in applied linguistics. A mixed-method approach was used in this study. The data were firstly analysed qualitatively to identify the rhetorical moves in the “Introduction” section presented in the research article texts using Swales’ (2004) Creating a Research Space (CARS) model. Secondly, the frequency of stance features used in each move was investigated quantitatively using Hyland’s (2005) stance features taxonomy. The findings revealed that the stance features mostly appeared in the first two Moves (Moves 1 & 2) of the “Introduction” section written by Malaysian authors. The most frequently occurred stance features were hedges, followed by boosters, and lastly attitude markers. There were no self-mentions in the non-native speakers’ (NNS) articles. The native speaker (NS) authors, whereas used more stance features in the three moves (Move 1, Move 2, & Move 3) of the “Introduction” section than Malaysian authors. The authorial identity in the NS authors’ articles was strategically constructed by the presence of self-mentions. As such, the results of this study have informed the pedagogical implications, and further research is needed.

A diachronic analysis of hedging in non-native authors’ research article abstracts

A growing part of studies on English for academic purpose explores how English is used in non-Anglophone contexts. This article focuses on the under-researched context of Russia, where English has been used as a language of scientific publications only since 2010. The paper explores hedging devices in Russian authors’ research article abstracts from a diachronic perspective. The main focus is on quantitative and qualitative variations in the use of these linguistic means. It is assumed their distribution could change over time. Exploring functions of hedges and suggesting reasons for diachronic changes in their use are other research questions. The weakening intrusion of national Russian criteria of good writing and greater awareness of English academic norms due to the need to publish internationally have influenced hedging patterns in Russian authors’ research article abstracts. The study is based on a corpus of 120 research article abstracts from the field of linguistics published in two Russian journals in 2010-2020. The theoretical framework followed here is Hyland’s (2000) taxonomy of hedges, which offers a pragmatically-grounded method for analyzing hedging in academic discourse

Native English and non-native authors’ utilisation of lexical bundles: A corpus-based study of scholarly public health papers

: This study examined the use of lexical bundles in the results and discussion sections of public health research articles (RAs) by comparing the native English writers with Iranian non-native English writers. To this end, four-, five-, and six-word lexical bundles were contrastively investigated in two different sub-corpora i.e. a native English corpus (NEC) and a non-native English corpus (NNEC). The corpus contained 496 985 words, and each sub-corpora included 100 RAs. The RAs were then examined structurally and functionally. The data were analysed both quantitatively, using frequency count and chi-square analyses, and qualitatively through content analysis. Based on the results, from among the lexical bundles, 29 four-word, 17 five-word, and one six-word bundles were identified in the NEC, while 52 four-word, 27 five-word, and five six-word bundles were found in the NNEC. The findings highlight that Iranian non-native English authors employed more four-word, five-word and six-word lexical bundles than native English authors. The descriptive and overall findings also suggested some differences in the two groups’ functional and structural patterns of lexical bundles, whereas statistically insignificant differences were identified in the structural patterns of bundles in the groups. These findings lay considerable emphasis on the central part that lexical bundles play in English for academic purposes (EAP) and English for specific purposes (ESP) courses.

Native and nonnative authors in L2 pronunciation

Abstract Achieving nativeness in L2 pronunciation is not critical, nor is it critical for writing about L2 pronunciation. Using the experience of an L2 writer whose paper was rejected because of nonnative written features, this paper argues that it is past time for editors and reviewers to reject nativelike writing as a criterion for acceptance or rejection of an otherwise well-constructed contribution to research.

Semiotics with Style and Situation: Multi-modal Comparative Analysis of Title pages of Native and Non-native English Novels

The communicative function of text can be obtained through the multimodal analysis of the text which contains the interaction and integration of two or more semiotic resources, graphics and text. This study investigated the structure of the titles and graphics of the title pages along with the situation of the content of native and non-native title pages of English novels of modern age. 20 title pages including 10 modern native and non-native English novels are randomly selected from the Google search engine. Multimodal analysis including Jeffries (2016) model to analyse the structure of the text of the title pages, Davy (2013) model to analyse the graphical features of the title pages and Bernstein (2003) to investigate the situational features presented in the title pages of the novels have been followed. A bench mark technique was used to identify the graphics of title pages, structure of the title phrases and situation presented in the title pages. The results generated from qualitative analysis indicated that mostly the native authors observed all of the features mentioned by the great linguists, stylitions and graphic experts while selecting the design of title pages whereas, non-native authors and publisher have not kept these features in mind while selecting the contents of title page of their composition. It causes lack of readership as the readers cannot extract maximum information from the title page. The study has opened new dimensions to the new researchers and it also beneficial for the authors and publisher in the selection of the title pages.Key words: Semiotics, Graphics, Situation, Text, Title-page

A Logogenetic Delve into Attitudinal Meanings in Native vs. Non-Native Discussion Section of Research Articles

Using evaluative language has been considered as the significant predictor of academic writing success in second and foreign language research. Such an importance paved the way for the current study to investigate the use of the APPRAISAL tool, namely ATTITUDE resources, in the research articles (RAs) written by native (N) and non-native (NN) writers, focusing on the discussion sections. A qualitative corpus selection resulted in choosing 30 RAs written by American writers and 30 authored by Iranian writers. Two coding schemes were used: one for discussion boundaries based on Kanoksilapatham’s (2005) discussion move structure, and the modified version of APPRAISAL theory (Xu, 2017) for identifying attitudinal resources. The corpus analysis revealed that academic writers preferred to use a great number of inscribed ATTITUDE resources, that is, APPRECIATION tools compared to JUDGMENT. There was also a significant difference between N and NN sub-corpora in using attitudinal resources, highlighting that the language of N RAs contained more authorial stance of ATTITUDE compared to NN sub-corpus. However, the use of idioms as evoked ATTITUDE was found to be frequently applied by NN authors. The findings of the study contributed to the significance of using evaluative language in academic writing through which the writers can make a dialogic interaction with readers and enhance their critical stance by involving them in the argument.

The authors’ research gap strategies in ELT research article introductions: Does Scopus journal quartile matter?

Swales’ (1990) Creating a Research Space (CARS) model has spawned a large number of studies focusing on investigations of research article introductions (RAIs), and the reports have given meaningful contributions to guide novice and non-native authors in writing English RAIs. However, the investigation of authors’ research gap strategies in RAIs has so far received little attention. Also, the previous investigations do not account for the way such strategies are applied across the Scopus journal quartiles (i.e., Q1, Q2, Q3, & Q4). Therefore, this study is undertaken to investigate the research gap strategies used by authors who published their research articles (RAs) in Scopus-indexed journals. The strategies found were, then, compared seen from the Scopus journal quartile lens. Forty RAs from eight Scopus-indexed journals in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) were randomly collected and analyzed using Swales’ (1990) framework, taking into account the insights proposed by Lim (2012) and Kwan, Chan, and Lam (2012). The findings reveal that the authors use five research gap strategies to present their research gaps in their ELT RAIs. The comparative analysis shows that there are differences and similarities in using research gap strategies across the quartiles. The findings of this study can assist non-native and novice authors to achieve visibility worldwide by giving closer attention to how to present research gaps using several research gap strategies in RAIs.

CONTRASTIVE INTERLANGUAGE ANALYSIS OF EVIDENTIALITY IN PHD DISSERTATIONS

The present study investigates evidentiality in its broadest sense (Chafe 1986) in PhD dissertations as a genre of academic writing. For this purpose, Chafe’s taxonomy (1986), revised by Ifantidou (2001), has been used as a framework in order to analyze three different groups of datasets, including one group of native speakers of English and two groups of non-native speakers: a group of Turkish speakers of English and the other non-native speakers with diff erent L1 backgrounds. The texts of these three groups are examined in order to fi nd out whether the native language of the participants is a factor in the choice of evidential markers. The results show that the native speakers of English use evidential markers more frequently compared to the non-native authors. In terms of the Native Language/Interlanguage comparison in Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis (Granger 1996, 1998), the overall use of evidentiality reveals that non-native authors do not show native-like features in the use of evidentiality. In terms of the Interlanguage/Interlanguage comparison, Turkish authors of academic texts diff er from the authors with various native language backgrounds in terms of the use of evidentiality.

Interacting with readers: How nonnative authors of English use meta-discourse markers in their research article abstracts published in English medium journals

The use of appropriate rhetorical moves (RMs) and meta-discourse markers (MMs) improve the argumentative and persuasive force of academic texts, such as essays, thesis, seminar papers, and articles. However, authors from a different language background and level of expertise may use different RMs and MMs when writing in a foreign language. This study is aimed at describing how Indonesian authors in Applied Linguistics use RMs and MMs in their research article abstracts (RAAs) published in international and local journals. 20 RAAs published in international journals and 20 RAAs published in local journals were chosen for the corpora of this study. Swales (2009) five rhetorical move for RAAs and Hyland's (2005) taxonomy of MMs were used as models in the analyses. The results reveal that different from international journal readers’ expectations, Indonesian authors in Applied Linguistics use only 3 Moves (Moves 2, 3 & 4) classified as obligatory and 2 Moves (Moves 1 & 5) conventional. Also, they use interactive MMs far more frequently in Move 3 and 4 because these two moves are relatively longer than the other three moves. As found in other similar studies, the Indonesian authors use interactive MMs far more frequently than interactional MMs because they concern more of their text cohesion, coherence, and convincing rather than their interaction with the potential readers.

What Nonnative Authors Should Know When Writing Research Articles in English.

What Nonnative Authors Should Know When Writing Research Articles in English.

Error analysis of nonnative authors' publications in health-care journals: A descriptive study.

BACKGROUND:As nonnative speakers of English, Iranian health researchers/authors often need to publish in English; however, published manuscripts may reflect a need for language editing. The study is aimed to investigate the language accuracy of Persian authors’ articles published in Iranian health journals, and to explore whether these journals take steps towards an acceptable level of Standard written English.MATERIALS AND METHODS:In this descriptive study, fifty original articles were selected from five health journals (from April 2017 to April 2018) with nonnative editors/proofreaders based on convenience sampling in 2019. The articles were carefully read several times; errors were identified according to Gass and Selinker's model and classified into four categories and further expanded into 22 subcategories.RESULTS:The results showed 4322 errors in the 50 articles, where the “grammatical errors” obtained the highest frequency, with punctuation errors (n = 989) ranking first, and errors in using auxiliary verbs (n = 19) the last in frequency. The descending order of the errors emerged as follows: the grammatical, mechanical, lexical, and discoursal errors.CONCLUSION:All categories of errors contributed to textual unintelligibility, attributable to either the authors’ inadequate English proficiency or their native language interference. Most errors could have been corrected by the journal editors. Professional development courses and hands-on workshops are advised for both nonnative authors and journal editors/proofreaders in Iran to help authors keep to the conventions of scientific writing.

A Contrastive Study of Theme Types and Patterns in Medical Research Article Abstracts Written in English by Native and Saudi Scholars

Abstracts of research articles are dense in nature and require authors to pack information in a concise cohesive paragraph. One principle of cohesion is employing various theme types and thematic progression patterns. The study conducted qualitative contrastive analyses of these aspects in medical research article (RA) abstracts written in English by native and Saudi scholars. The findings revealed the predominance of constant and linear thematic progression patterns. Whereas the two patterns are almost equally used in the native scholars’ data, the constant pattern prevailed in the non-native scholars’ data. Non-native authors tended to simplify complex subject matter by using shorter clauses to exert less effort in processing them. They also relied on cohesive ties to achieve cohesion rather than using various thematic progression patterns. Due to the factual nature of the medical abstracts, unmarked topical and textual themes were the most used instead of interpersonal themes. Multiple themes were minimally employed due to the generic features of abstracts. The study findings may have implications for novice RA scholars of medicine, English for specific purpose instructors, and researchers interested in both second language acquisition and cross-cultural variations. Future studies could investigate themes in medical RA abstracts written in other languages.