Title: Voice in rhetorical units of results and discussion chapter of master's theses: across science study
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2021, vol. 47, iss. 1, pp. 73-92
Extent
73-92
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2021-1-5
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/144295
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
In order to gain insights into the voice profile in academic discourse, the present study investigated the realizations of voice in obligatory moves and steps in integrated Results and Discussion chapter of 40 master's theses from hard and soft sciences written by ESL students from 2002 to 2012. To conduct the study, a mixed-method approach was adopted. The quantitative analysis was conducted to locate the voices in the identified obligatory rhetorical units of the corpus. The shifts in the use of the voices and possible reasons for voice selection were investigated in the form of contextual analysis. It was found that the use of active voice outnumbered passive voice in the overall corpus. The disciplinary variations were observed mostly in Structure of the Section, Describing Aims and Purposes, Listing Procedures or Methodological Techniques, and Referring to Previous Research. The influencing factors in voice choice were the function of the step, the associated verb and tense, and the writers' stance in the text.
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[2] Ahmad, Jameel (2012) Stylistic features of scientific English: A study of scientific research articles. English Language and Literature Studies 2 (1), 47–55.
[3] Aitchison, Claire (2003) Thesis writing circles. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 8 (2), 97–115.
[4] Alvin, Leong Ping (2014) The passive voice in scientific writing. The current norm in science journals. Journal of Science Communication 13 (1), 1–13.
[5] Atai, Mahmood Reza and Simin Falah (2005) A Contrastive Genre Analysis of Result and Discussion Sections of Applied Linguistic Research Articles Written by Native and Non-Native English Speakers with Respect to Evaluated Entities and Ascribed Values. Paper presented at the 10th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, Edinburgh.
[6] Baker, Paul (2006) Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. London: Continuum.
[7] Baratta, Alexandar (2009) Revealing stance through passive voice. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (7), 1406–1421. | DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2008.09.010
[8] Basturkmen, Helen (2012) A genre-based investigation of discussion sections of research articles in Dentistry and disciplinary variation. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 11 (2), 134–144. | DOI 10.1016/j.jeap.2011.10.004
[9] Becher, Tony and Paul Trowler (1989) Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Culture Of Disciplines. Buckingham: Open University Press.
[10] Bhatia, Vijay K. (2000) Genres in Conflict. In Trosborg, Anna (ed.) Analysing Professional Genres. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 147–162.
[11] Biber, Douglas, Conrad, Susan and Randi Reppen (1998) Corpus Linguistics: Inversigating Language Structure and Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[12] Brett, Paul (1994) A genre analysis of the results section of sociology articles. English for Specific Purposes 13 (1), 47–59. | DOI 10.1016/0889-4906(94)90024-8
[13] Carter, Ronald and Michael McCarthy (2006) Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide; Spoken and Written English Grammar and Usage. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Sprachen.
[14] Cheng, Ying-Hsueh (2014) Dissertation grant proposals as "writing games": An exploratory study of two L2 graduate students' experiences. English for Specific Purposes 36, 74–84. | DOI 10.1016/j.esp.2014.07.001
[15] Dong, Yu Ren (1998) Non-native graduate students' theses/dissertation writing in science: Self-reports by students and their advisors from two U.S. institutions. English for Specific Purposes 17 (4), 369–390. | DOI 10.1016/S0889-4906(97)00054-9
[16] Duderstadt, James J. (2000) A choice of transformations for the 21st-century university. The Chronicle of Higher Education 46, B6–B7.
[17] Ebrahimi, Foad and Chan Swee Heng (2012) Manifestation of theme as a point of departure in the result and discussion section of academic research articles. In: Proceedings of the 7th Malaysia International Conference on Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, 1–6.
[18] Fallahi, Mohammad and Maryam Erzi (2003) Genre analysis in language teaching: An investigation of the structure of the discussion section of language-teaching-journal articles. Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics 6 (1), 69–81.
[19] Halliday, Michael A. K. (1985) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
[20] Hanania, Edith and Karima Akhtar (1985) Verb form and rhetorical function in science: A study of MS theses in biology, chemistry and physics. English for Specific Purposes 4 (1), 49–58.
[21] Hyland, Ken (2002) Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics 34 (8), 1091-1112. | DOI 10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00035-8
[22] Hyland, Ken (2005) Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in Writing. London: Continuum.
[23] Kanoksilapatham, Budsabada (2005) Rhetorical structure of biochemistry research articles. English for Specific Purposes 24 (3), 269–292. | DOI 10.1016/j.esp.2004.08.003
[24] Kanoksilapatham, Budsabada (2007) Writing scientific research articles in Thai and English: Similarities and differences. Silpakorn University International Journal 7, 172–203.
[25] Kennedy, Graeme (1998) An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics. New York: Longman.
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[27] Nguyen, Loan. Thi. Thuy and Issra Pramoolsook (2015) Move analysis of results-discussion chapters in TESOL Master's theses written by Vietnamese students. 3L; Language, Linguistics and Literature, The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies 21 (2), 1–15.
[28] Ooi, Vincent B. Y. (2001) Upholding standards or passively observing language? Corpus evidence and the concentric circles model. In Vincent B. Y. Ooi (eds.), Evolving Identities: The English Language in Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore: Times Academic Press, 168–83.
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[30] Paltridge, Brian and Susan Starfield (2007) Theses and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language. London & New York: Routledge.
[31] Pho, Phuong Dzung (2008) Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies 10 (2), 231–250. | DOI 10.1177/1461445607087010
[32] Puckica, Jerome (2009) Passive constructions in present-day English. Groninger Arbeiten zur Germanistischen Linguistik 49, 215–235.
[33] Rhodes, Susan (1997) Active and Passive Voice Are Equally Comprehensible in Scientific Writing. Doctoral dissertation. Washington: University of Washington.
[34] Saboori, Fahime and Mohammed Reza Hashemi (2013) A cross-disciplinary move analysis of research article abstracts. International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World 4 (4), 2289–3245.
[35] Salager-Meyer, Francoise (1992) A text-type tense and and move analysis study of verb tense and modality distribution in medical english abstracts. English for Specific Purposes 11, 93–113. | DOI 10.1016/S0889-4906(05)80002-X
[36] Samah, Bahaman (2010) Exploring Statistics Using SPSS. Serdang: University Putra Malaysia Press.
[37] Seoane, Elena (2006) Changing styles: On the recent evolution of scientific British and American English. In Dalton-Puffer, Christiane, Dieter Kastovsky and Nikolaus Ritt (eds.) Syntax, Style and Grammatical Norms: English from 1500–2000. Bern: Peter Lang, 191–211.
[38] Shaw, Peter (1992) Reasons for the correlation of voice, tense, and sentence function in reporting verbs. Applied Linguistics 13 (3), 302–319. | DOI 10.1093/applin/13.3.302
[39] Shirian Dastjerdi, Zahra, Tan, Helen and Ain Nadzima Abdullah (2017a) Rhetorical structure of integrated results and discussion chapter in master's dissertations across disciplines. Discourse & Interaction 10 (2), 117–128.
[40] Shirian Dastjerdi, Zahra, Tan, Helen and Ain Nadzima Abdullah (2017b) Tense analysis in rhetorical movement of results and discussion chapters of master's theses in hard sciences. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research 4 (5), 1–18.
[41] Sinclair, John, Susan Jones and Robert Daley (2004) English Collocation Studies: The OSTI Report. London: https://www.bookdepository.com/publishers/Bloomsbury-PublishingPLC Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
[42] Strauss, Pat, Jo Ann Walton and Suzanne Madsen (2003) "I don't have time to be an English teacher." Supervising the EAL thesis. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 8 (2), 1–16.
[43] Swales, John (1990) Genre Analysis. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
[44] Tarone, Tarone, Dwyer Sharon, Gillette, Susan and Vadid Icke (1998) On the use of the passive and active voice in astrophysics journal papers: With extensions to other languages and other fields. English for Specific Purposes 17 (1), 113–132.
[45] Taylor, Lolita and Gerry Knowles (1988) Manual of Information to Accompany the SEC Corpus: The Machine Readable Corpus of Spoken English. University of Lancaster: Unit for Computer Research on the English Language.
[46] Taylor, Vilinh (2001) Tense Usage In Academic Writing: A Cross-Disciplinary Study. Unpublished dissertations. Victoria: University of Victoria.
[47] Thompson, Paul (2001) A Pedagogically-Motivated Corpus-Based Examination of PHD Theses: Macrostructure, Citation Practices and Uses of Modal Verbs. Doctoral dissertation. University of Reading.
[48] Yannuar, Nurenzia, Ida Ayu Shitadev, Yazid Basthomi and Utami Widiati (2014) Active and passive voice constructions by Indonesian student writers. Theory and Practice in Language Studies 4 (7), 1400–1408.