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Luận án tiến sĩ an investigation into structure and meaning of geological textbooks as a genre in english and vietnamese

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  • TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • FIGURES AND TABLES

  • PART I: INTRODUCTION

  • PART II: DEVELOPMENT

  • CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

  • 1.1. Genre and genre analysis

  • 1. 1. 1. The notion of genre

  • 1.1.2. Genre in folklore studies

  • 1.1.3. Genre in linguistics

  • 1.1.4. Genre in rhetoric

  • 1.2. Approaches to genre

  • 1.3. Genre and language study

  • 1.4. The systemic-functional approach to language study

  • 1.4.1. The metafunctions

  • 1.4.2. The Transitivity system

  • 1.4.3. The Mood system

  • 1.4.4. The Theme system

  • 1.5. Summary

  • CHAPTER 2: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 2.1. GENERIC STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 2.1.1. The organization of English geological textbooks

  • 2.1.2. Generic features of English geological textbooks

  • 2.1.3. The organization of the five Body Parts

  • 2. 2. LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 2. 2. 1. Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts and Body Parts

  • 2. 2. 2. Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts and Body parts

  • 2. 2. 3. Theme analysis of the Introduction Parts and Body Parts

  • 2. 3. Summary

  • CHAPTER 3: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF VIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 3.1. GENERIC STRUCTURE OF VIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 3.1.1. The organization of Vietnamese geological textbooks

  • 3.1.2. Generic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks

  • 3.1.3. The organization of the five Body Parts

  • 3.2. LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF VIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 3.2.1. Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts and Body Parts

  • 3. 2. 2. Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts and Body Parts

  • 3. 2. 3. Theme analysis of the Introduction Parts and Body Parts

  • 3. 3. Summary

  • CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE GEOLOGICAL TEXTBOOKS

  • 4.1. The overall generic structure of English and Vietnamese geological textbooks

  • 4.2. Comparison of the Introduction Parts

  • 4.2.1. Generic structure

  • 4.2.2. Linguistic features

  • 4.3. Comparison of the Body Parts

  • 4.3.1. Generic structure

  • 4.3.2. Linguistic features

  • 4.4. Comparison of thematic structure of the English and Vietnamese geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts

  • 4.4. 1. Comparison of thematic structure in English and Vietnamese clauses in different metafunctions

  • 4.4.2. Comparison of thematic structure

  • 4.5. Discussion of the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks

  • 4.5.1. Generic and linguistic similarities

  • 4.5.2. Generic and linguistic differences

  • 4.6. Summary

  • PART III: CONCLUSION

  • REFERENCES

  • APPENDIX

Nội dung

INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study

Aim and Scope of the study

The aim of the dissertation is to explore the generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese To achieve the proposed aim, we will commit ourselves to addressing the following research question

 What are the generic structure and linguistic features of English and Vietnamese geological textbooks as seen from systemic functional perspective?

As stated above this dissertation focuses on the investigation into generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese The theoretical framework on which the study is based is that of the systemic functional linguistics (hereafter abbreviated to ―SFL‖), a model of language as developed by M.A.K Halliday, and other systemicists Generic structure is examined based on the theories as observed by Bhatia (1993) and Martin (1990) In terms of linguistic analysis, the research restricts itself to the analysis of the Transitivity, Mood, and Theme of the texts chosen for the study Therefore, the analysis of the texts in terms of the issues such as cohesion, reference, substitution, ellipsis, lexical cohesion, etc are out of the scope of this research.

Methodology

The main methods employed in this study are descriptive, analytic, and contrastive

It is descriptive because in comparing the generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese, we need to establish a common theoretical framework; and in order to understand and use this framework effectively we have to describe it in detail by either re-examining the existing concepts or, in case of need developing the new ones In our study, we will re- examine the notion of genre, genre analysis as developed by Bhatia (1993), Halliday and Martin (1993) As our study is concerned mainly with the generic and linguistic analyses of the five Introduction Parts and Body Parts, it will present the analyses of these parts in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme Finally, contrastive method is applied to find out what are the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts and Body Parts

We use the contrastive method because we want to establish the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks; and in order to point out the similarities as well as the differences between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks in terms of generic structure and linguistic features, we have to analyze the data This involves the analytic method

Our study, to some extent, also uses qualitative method This method is employed to offer logical and meaningful explanation of the presence and absence of certain generic and linguistic features in the two languages under study and especially their meanings relative to the social context, in this case the discourse community is represented by the textbook writers in the two academic cultures

We use the theory of systemic-functional grammar as developed by Halliday and other systemic linguists as the theoretical framework for the following reasons:

(i) In the SFL model, Firth (1957), Halliday (1994) and Matthiessen (1995) stated that language is conceptualized as poly-systemic – a system of systems and the whole grammatical system is seen as ―hanging together‖ This means that ―it is difficult to break in at any point without presupposing a great deal of what is still to come‖ (Halliday, 1994)

(ii) SFG is thought to ensure high validity in the analysis (Hasan, 1989, cited in Paltridge, 1994) The main focus of the SF theory is the social and cultural role of language and systemic functional linguists attempt to explain the metafunctions, the interrelationships between culture, society, and language use

As for any cross-lingual comparative research, the researcher needs to start his /her comparison from a certain starting point That is to say she/he needs to rely on a language as a base then compare the other language from certain parameters established In this case, the two languages involved are English and Vietnamese

To compare the generic structure and linguistic features of the five Introduction Parts and Body Parts, we take the English language as the base language and Vietnamese as the comparative language

The corpus selected for the study is five English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts and five English and Vietnamese Body Parts The English and Vietnamese geological textbooks chosen for the study have to be based on the three following principles:

(i) representative: geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese are various consisting of different subjects and are written by different authors To meet the requirement of the representative, we chose textbooks of the main subjects in geology including physical geology, tectonics, and Earth science in English and Vietnamese In a chosen textbook, we chose the contents having the representative in both English and Vietnamese (the Introduction Parts, the Body Parts) and the samples are of the same contents in both English and Vietnamese

(ii) authentic: English and Vietnamese geological textbooks are written by well-known authors, geologists They are newly-published They have been used as main textbooks in Vietnam, the USA, Canada, many English-speaking countries

The samples are authentic and original

(iii) adequate/comprehensive: the size of the samples for the study is considered appropriate to obtain the accurate results They are neither too big nor two small The total number of clauses in the five English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts is 124 clauses and 198 clauses respectively The total number of clauses in the five English and Vietnamese Body Parts is 657 clauses and 449 clauses respectively The detailed analyses of the Introduction Parts and Body Parts in terms of clauses, Transitivity, Mood, Theme, and the text analyses are represented in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2

The reason for the choice is that the generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese have not been studied especially in systemic functional linguistics After establishing the locus of genre, Transitivity, Mood, and Theme in English and Vietnamese geological textbooks in the theoretical framework for this study – that of SFL – we set up the parameters of the generic structure and linguistic features of the five English geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts then use them to compare with those of Vietnamese A hypothesis we need to make before the comparison is that, like the English geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts, the Vietnamese geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts have the similar generic structure and linguistic features

The illustrating material in the dissertation is text-based, with examples taken from natural written textbooks Ideally, the analyses have been taken through the whole authentic texts So, in order to exemplify, we often search for short extracts or passages from complete texts which contain a number of examples

We have decided to base the grammatical comparison on a particular corpus because the grammatical phenomena explored in this study are restricted to a particular genre and a particular text type As the majority of examples are authentic, they sometimes contain elements which are irrelevant to the point under discussion and sometimes are elliptical; i.e certain elements have to be restricted with the help of co-text/context

In some instances, in order to avoid overload of information not needed immediately, what we have done is (i) to ―tidy up‖ the original example by removing the irrelevant elements such as false starts, stutters and so on or by reducing a highly complex nominal group to a proper name, and (ii) to expand the elements of an elliptical example, so as to remove ellipsis It is hoped that these

―editing‖ steps, taken minimally, in no way invalidate the suitability of the examples, especially where Transitivity, Mood, and Theme analyses of geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts are concerned.

Design of the study

Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, the study is organized into four chapters

The Introduction outlines the rationale of the study has been conducted; the aim and scope of the study; the methodology, and the design of the study

Chapter 1 attempts to establish the theoretical framework for the study It concerns itself with the notion of genre and how it is conceptualized from different linguistic approaches The review of genre from different linguistic approaches leads to the exploration of generic structure of geological textbooks in English in SFL The key concepts in systemic functional linguistics are examined to provide a clear picture of the linguistic model and also point out where the systems of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme are located in the linguistic space The aim is to show the notion of genre and generic structure as well as linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese

Chapter 2 is concerned with the investigation into the generic structure and linguistic features of the five English geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts

The generic analysis deals with the nature of the two main functions of textbooks exploited in English geological textbooks The linguistic analysis is carried out in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme This Chapter shows the inter-relationship between the generic structure and the linguistic features of the English geological textbooks

Chapter 3 looks at the generic structure and linguistic features of the five Vietnamese geological Introduction Parts and Body Parts The generic analysis deals with the nature of the two main functions of textbooks to exploit the generic structure of Vietnamese geological textbooks The linguistic analysis is carried out also in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme This Chapter provides the inter- relationship between the generic structure and the linguistic features of the Vietnamese geological textbooks

Chapter 4 presents the similarities and differences in generic structure and linguistic features between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks In this chapter, the main focus will be on the investigation into linguistic features of the texts chosen to provide parameters for the comparison

The Conclusion provides a synopsis of the study with some of its achievements and makes some suggestions for further research.

DEVELOPMENT

THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS 1.1 Genre and genre analysis

Figure 1.1 The relationship between text and context 22 Figure 1.2 Genre and register in relation to language 23 Figure 1.3 A simplified model of the English Process System, with major

GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF

Table 2.1 Distribution of moves in the five English Introduction Parts 58 Table 2.2 Combination of four-move introduction structure and the process type

Table 2.3 The Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 2.4 The Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 2.5.The Transitivity analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause) 79 Table 2.6 The Transitivity analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 2 7 The Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 2 8 The Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 2.9 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause) 85 Table 2.10 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 2.11 The Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by 89 clause) Table 2.12 The Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 2.13 The Thematic analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause) 95 Table 2.14 The Thematic analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by percentage)

GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF

Table 3.1 Distribution of moves in the English Introduction Parts 101 Table 3.2 Combination of four-move introduction structure and the process type

Table 3.3 The Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 3.4 The Transitivity analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 3.5 The Transitivity analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 3.6 The Transitivity analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 3.7 The Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 3.8 The Mood analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 3.9 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause) 121 Table 3.10 The Mood analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 3.11 The Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by clause)

Table 3.12 The Thematic analysis of the Introduction Parts (illustrated by percentage)

Table 3.13 The Thematic analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by clause) 129 Table 3.14 The Thematic analysis of the Body Parts (illustrated by percentage)

COMPARISON BETWEEN ENGLISH GEOLOGICAL

Table 4.1 Total number of clauses in English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts

Table 4.2 Comparison of frequency of Processes in the English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts

Table 4.3 Linguistic features of the English and Vietnamese Introduction Parts

Table 4.4 Total number of clauses in English and Vietnamese Body Parts 138 Table 4.5 Linguistic features of the English and Vietnamese Body Parts 140 Table 4.6 Examples of Theme-Rheme structure in English and Vietnamese 143 Table 4.7 Most common Modal Adjuncts functioned as interpersonal

Themes in English geological textbooks

Table 4.8 Most common Modal Adjuncts functioned as interpersonal Themes in Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.9 Most common Conjunctive Adjuncts functioned as textual Themes in English geological textbooks

Table 4.10 Most common Conjunctions functioned as textual Themes in Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.11 Combination of textual and interpersonal Themes in English geological textbooks

Table 4.12 Combination of textual and interpersonal Themes in Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.13 Similarities and differences between types of Themes in English and Vietnamese clauses as of different metafunctions

Table 4.14 Unmarked Themes in English and Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.15 Marked Themes in English and Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.16 Fronted Predicators function as the unmarked Themes in Vietnamese declarative clauses

Table 4.17 Realization of Subject Themes in English and Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.18 Realization of Complement Themes in English and Vietnamese geological textbooks

Table 4.19 Types of Themes and their realizations in English and Vietnamese geological declarative clauses

Geology is the science of the history of Earth‘s evolution It is based, first, on observations of the Earth itself and other planetary bodies, but the application of such sciences as biology, chemistry, physics, and materials sciences is also required to understand the processes we observe Geology differs from these other sciences in at least three ways

First, geology is fundamentally a historically oriented science dealing with processes that for the most part occur on a time scale that is immense compared with human lives Thus, it is impossible to observe an entire process directly; we can see only what is happening at a single geological instant in time Because of this constraint, the inference of geologic processes relies heavily upon the fundamental assumption that spatial variation can be interpreted as temporal evolution In other words, we assume that the same process can be found in various stages of advancement in different places and that therefore we can piece together observations made in different places to infer a temporal evolution of that process

Second, geology deals with large-scale and complex systems for which controlled experiments are difficult if not impossible to construct Thus, the observation and description of natural features acquire proportionately more importance than they have in most other sciences

Third, the fact that geologic evidence is fragmentary and incomplete makes any of the inferences drawn from the data non-unique and highly dependent upon our intuition and experience Despite these differences, the methods employed by geologists to investigate the Earth are philosophically much the same as those used in other realms of science

Concerning the discourse of geology, it remains a separate subject area, with a focus on natural geological phenomena and events For the most part its discourse is indistinguishable from that used in science, the main difference being the absence of experiments to illustrate the scientific world view constructed in introductory textbooks Geology as explained to students is very explicit about its goals The three stages geologists have to deal with are: to observe, order and explain the experiential world

From the point of view of ESP teaching and learning, geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese have never been exploited by any Vietnamese linguists so far It is presumably clear that to be effective, such an adaptation must be firmly based on understanding of the specific genre in the target language, in terms not only of the surface linguistic features but also of the discourse conventions, and the underlying scientific values, which must certainly be dependent on an empirical investigation

Given the necessity with ESP teaching and learning, this study sets out to investigate the structure and meaning of geological textbooks as a genre in English and Vietnamese using the theories of systemic – functional grammar as theoretical framework The theory of systemic functional linguistics was originally formulated by M.A.K Halliday in the early 1960s From its very beginning, systemic functional linguistics has been marked by its recognition that all languages take place in the context of a social situation, that the situation has an impact on the nature and the meaning of the language used and that any account of language must therefore include reference to that context of use

With the increasing international interest in the functional nature of language and in the linguistic analysis of texts much of work about the systemic functional model, both from practical and theoretical perspective has been done by systemicists such as Berry (1975); Fawcett (1980); Halliday (1994); Martin (1985, 1992); Morley (1985); Ventura (1991); Downing and Locke (1992); Bloor, T & M Bloor (1995);

Matthiessen (1995); Egging (1994); Butt, Fahey, Spinks, and Yallop (1996); Lock (1996); Thompson (1996); H.V.Van (1997, 2002) and many others

The research I have undertaken is an attempt to investigate the structure and meaning of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese as a subgenre of scientific textbooks The analyses into generic structure and linguistic features in both two languages will be done Generic analysis considering as the first task of the research tends to find out the typical generic features for a particular kind of textbook-geological textbooks The second task of the research is to examine linguistic analysis in terms of Transitivity, Mood, and Theme using systemic functional grammar as a theoretical framework A comparison from the systemic functional perspective would show the similarities as well as differences in generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in the two languages This research, hopefully, would be a worthwhile effort to provide a more articulate insight into ESP teaching and learning; and to serve as a framework for implicational purposes, which can be both theoretical and practical

In terms of theoretical values, this research would be the first step in the investigation of the English and Vietnamese geological textbooks from a systemic functional perspective Though the systemic functional linguistics model has won international interest and support from linguists for nearly forty years, the application of this linguistic approach in the study of Vietnamese can only be found in the work of a small number of Vietnamese linguists such C X Hao (1991);

As regards practical purposes, a focus on generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in both English and Vietnamese can have startling and immediate results in ESP teaching and learning Martin (1990) states ―when the students‘ texts are difficult to follow and it is hard to pinpoint exactly what they are reading or writing about, the problem often originates in the nature of the language used in the texts or the linguistic features to be exact‖ Once language learners understand how the ordering of language elements works in the language to orient the audience and to signpost and organize meanings, they have gained a powerful tool for managing the meanings of texts which are just beyond their current level of language proficiency In other words, an understanding of structure and meaning of a text can increase the comprehensible input accessible to students, especially when they work with written language

Genre has been studied in English by such linguists as Gregory and Carroll (1978);

Jamieson and Campell (1978); Halliday (1978); Miller (1984); Martin (1985);

Couture (1986); Preston (1989); Swales (1990); Bhatia (1993) and many others

However, their studies have been concerned with issues of genre in English or in comparison with languages other than Vietnamese In Vietnam, many researches on genre have been carried out These researchers have carried their studies on different kinds of genre namely: Research paper as a genre in English and Vietnamese: A systemic functional comparison by Duong Van Loc (2001); Applying Genre-based Approach in Teaching the Writing of the English Discussion Genre to Vietnamese EFL Students at Tertiary level by Dang Thi Kim Anh (2002); Research into Genre Analysis at Linguistic Level: The Case of English Fairly Tales by Tran

Thi Ngoc Lien (2003); The Generic structure and Linguistic features of Economics

Discourse in English and Vietnamese by Nguyen Thuy Phuong Lan (2003); An investigation into the generic structure of English and Vietnamese News Reportage and its text-forming devices by Pham Thi Thanh Thuy (2004); English and Vietnamese TESOL Journal Article Abstracts: A genre-based analysis by Nguyen

2 AIM AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The aim of the dissertation is to explore the generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese To achieve the proposed aim, we will commit ourselves to addressing the following research question

 What are the generic structure and linguistic features of English and Vietnamese geological textbooks as seen from systemic functional perspective?

CONCLUSION

In this study I have attempted to investigate the structure and meaning of geological textbooks as a scientific genre in English and Vietnamese to find out the generic structure and linguistic features of English and Vietnamese geological textbooks It may be appropriate at this stage to recapitulate what the study has been concerned with and to what extent the study has achieved its aim as put forwards at the beginning of the study

I began by setting up the foundation for this dissertation in Chapter 1-Theoretical background, where I first reviewed the theoretical bases relevant to the present study: genre analysis including the notion of genre by different scholars, the use of genre in various literary studies, the two main approaches to genre - the Swalesian and the Systemic- functional, and the relation between genre and language study

Then I provided the framework of systemic – functional grammar in which the most relevant concepts of the systemic-functional grammar was represented My description of the systemic functional approach to language study was taken through the examination of the three metafunctions, the transitivity system, mood system, and theme system

In Chapter 2 – Generic structure and linguistic features of English geological textbooks, I focused on the investigation of the generic structure and the linguistic features of English geological textbooks selected for the analysis The investigation of generic structures of English geological textbooks was carried out, using the generic theories as observed by Bhatia (1993) and Martin (1993), as the theoretical framework I chose five English Introduction Parts and Body Parts from the four English geological textbooks written by native writers for the analysis to describe the functional stages of the generic structure of this scientific genre In this section,

I first explored the main functions of textbooks including classifying, describing, defining, and explanation Then I looked at the linguistic features of English geological textbooks in the light of systemic-functional grammar Linguistic features of English geological textbooks were exploited, using Halliday‘s model of systemic-functional grammar as the theoretical framework concerning with the transitivity system, mood system, and thematic structure

In Chapter 3 - Generic structure and linguistic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks, I followed the same procedure as I had done in Chapter 2

The main focus of this chapter was on the investigation of the generic structure and the linguistic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks I applied the generic theories as developed by Halliday and Martin (1993), Bhatia (1990) as the theoretical framework to clarify the generic structures of Vietnamese geological textbooks Five Vietnamese Introduction Parts and Body Parts were chosen from the four Vietnamese geological textbooks written by well-known Vietnamese geologists in order to describe the functional stages of the generic structure of this genre-scientific genre Firstly, I explored the main generic features of textbooks including classifying, describing, defining, and explanation Secondly, I took a look at the linguistic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks in the light of systemic -functional grammar The linguistic features of Vietnamese geological textbooks were analyzed, using Halliday‘s model of systemic-functional grammar as the theoretical framework concerning with the transitivity system, mood system, and thematic structure

In Chapter 4 - Comparison between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks, I attempted to compare the five Introduction Parts and five Body Parts in terms of generic structure and linguistic features in order to find out the similarities and differences between English geological textbooks and Vietnamese geological textbooks The comparison shows that English and Vietnamese geological textbooks are similar: (i) both English and Vietnamese geological textbooks are organized in the same pattern with three main parts; (ii) a high percentage of unmarked theme; (iii) a large number of declarative clauses; (iv) a large number of relational and material processes; (v) a small percentage of modality; (vi) a minor rate of passive voice constructions

However, there are generic and linguistic differences between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks They can be listed as follows: (i) there is a section known as ―Concluding remarks” or “Summary‖ in English geological textbooks, but this section is not found in Vietnamese geological textbooks; (ii) non-finite embedded clause can act as marked Theme in English but this kind of marked Theme is not found in Vietnamese; (iii) the Subject ― anticipatory It ‖ functions as unmarked Theme in English but this kind of unmarked Theme is not used in Vietnamese; (iv) vocatives and the Finite can function as the interpersonal Theme in English but they are not found in Vietnamese; (v) fronted Predicators function as the unmarked Themes in Vietnamese declarative clauses but there are not fronted Predicator functioned as unmarked Themes in English; (vi) place- denoting nominal groups acting as adjunct Theme can only be found in Vietnamese, but this kind of adjunct Theme is not found in English

The following constructions of this thesis can be noted:

2.1 Contribution to the understanding of the meaning and structure of geological textbooks as a genre in English and Vietnamese from the systemic functional perspective Geological textbooks have been taught in English and Vietnamese for years but so far no research on their meaning and structure has been carried out so this dissertation attempts to fill this gap The study is the first step in exploring the generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese in the light of systemic functional grammar

2.2 Contribution to the relationship between English and Vietnamese in regards to the meaning and structure By adopting English as the base language for comparison, it has been possible to show the similarities and differences in how English and Vietnamese map the three metafunctions onto grammar, and thus which syntactic forms semantically correspond in each language The results of the study seem to show that there are both similarities and differences in the meaning and structure between English and Vietnamese geological textbooks The similarities and differences in terms of thematic structure, to some extent, have proved the conception of language universals

2.3 Contribution to the writing of textbooks for students: what the genre of textbooks is; how it is organized; and what the linguistic features of this kind of genre are

The thesis offers a valuable contribution to the teaching of English as a second language and the teaching of English for specific purposes It is imperative for Vietnamese learners of English to know well the generic structure and linguistic features of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese as a whole Students often find professional texts in general, and geological texts in particular, difficult to understand even in their mother tongue The situation becomes harder and harder when the texts are written in English The dissertation, therefore, helps them with the basic knowledge in exploring the theory of systemic functional grammar and it is represented in the reality

The study on the meaning and structure of geological textbooks as a subtype of scientific genre in English and Vietnamese, however, is far from complete, but the present study has opened up several directions for future investigations which may be useful for teaching ESP

4.1 It appears obvious from the scope of the study that the meaning and structure of geological textbooks in English and Vietnams are only examined in terms of generic structure and linguistic features Other researches on different kinds of textbooks would be needed to complete the picture of textbooks as a genre

4.2 In my investigation into the meaning and structure of geological textbooks in English and Vietnamese, it has been found that textbooks are considered as a subtype of scientific genre in scientific writing and so far there hasn‘t been any research on this kind of genre An investigation into the meaning and structure of different kinds of textbooks in English and Vietnamese may be of great theoretical and practical significance

1 Đỗ Kim Phương (2006), ―Một vài đặc trưng ngôn ngữ trong các giáo trình ngành địa chất viết bằng tiếng Anh‖, Tuyển tập Báo cáo Hội nghị khoa học lần thứ 17 trường Đại học Mỏ- Địa chất tr 252-254

2 Đỗ Kim Phương (2008), ―Văn bản và ngữ cảnh của văn bản‖, Tuyển tập Báo cáo Hội nghị khoa học lần thứ 18 trường Đại học Mỏ- Địa chất tr.74-

3 Đỗ Kim Phương (2008), ―Đặc trưng ngôn ngữ trong các giáo trình ngành địa chất viết bằng tiếng Anh‖, Tạp chí Ngôn ngữ và đời sống tập 151 (số 5), tr 30-32

4 Đỗ Kim Phương (2009), ―Một số vấn đề ngữ pháp trong các tài liệu chuyên ngành viết bằng tiếng Anh‖, Tạp chí Ngôn ngữ và đời sống tập 169

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