Based on the theories of discourse analysis, this study focuses on describing and analyzing typical discourse features of English language master thesis introductions in Australia (A-ELMTIs) and English language master thesis introductions in Vietnam (V-ELMTIs) in terms of syntactic and lexical features.
ISSN 1859-1531 - THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NO 6(103).2016 101 A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND LEXICAL FEATURES OF THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH M.A THESES IN LINGUISTICS IN VIETNAM AND AUSTRALIA Tran Thi Ngoc Phuong University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Danang; phuongtran@ufl.udn.vn Abstract - Based on the theories of discourse analysis, this study focuses on describing and analyzing typical discourse features of English language master thesis introductions in Australia (A-ELMTIs) and English language master thesis introductions in Vietnam (V-ELMTIs) in terms of syntactic and lexical features From the investigation, we have found out their differences and similarities With regard to syntactic features, it is evident that the largest differences are in the use of simple and compound sentences Simple sentences are used with far greater frequency in V-ELMTIs than in A-ELTMIs, whereas there is more use of complex sentences in A-ELTMIs Lexically, A-ELMTIs use a higher proportion of “contrast terms” and “quantifiers and quasi-negatives” than V-ELTMIs Meanwhile, the use of “contrast terms” and “negatives” is very low in both Key words - master’s (MA) thesis; discourse analysis; syntax; lexicon; English language Introduction To get a master’s degree in a certain field, students usually write a thesis to fulfill the requirements of the course or the degree, and hence, the introduction to theses plays an integral part in this process It is the introduction that helps the readers decide whether they are interested in that topic or will continue to read through the thesis or not At the very least, introductions consist of a rationale, aims and objectives, a scope of the study, significance of the study, research questions and an overview of the structure of the thesis Even if the theses are written in English, there are differences in the way the introductions are written in universities in Vietnam and in Australia For years, Australia is a country whose educational environment has attracted a great number of Vietnamese students Therefore, in order to help Vietnamese students to undertake research or write a thesis in Australian universities with less trouble and less confusion, it is necessary to carry out research on this issue Moreover, research on the differences and similarities between English Language Master’s Theses (ELMTs) in Vietnam and Australia will help to promote training in Masters of Arts in Linguistics in Vietnam to an international level in order to achieve a global educational standard This study is part of a larger study that aims to analyze the discourse features of the introductions of master’s theses written in Englishin the field of linguistics in Vietnam and in Australia Due to space limitations, this particular study is limited to describing the discourse features of the introductions of the theses in terms of their syntactic and lexical features in order to illustrate the potential differences in writing theses in different regions even when the same language is used.The syntactic and lexical aspects are less obvious than the layout and structure, but research into other types of documents suggests that differences exist [9], hence they form the focus of the current study Theoretical Background 2.1 Discourse analysis Brown and Yule [2, p.iii] describe discourse as“language in use” and remark that “the term discourse analysis has become to be used with a wide range of meanings which cover a wide range of activities at the intersection of many disciplines from sociolinguistics, psychological linguistics to computational linguistics” Based on concepts proposed by Salkie [10, p ix], Cook [5, p 156] argues that discourse is “stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposeful” Furthermore, Nunan [7, p 5] asserts “Discourse can be defined as a stretch of language consisting of several sentences which are perceived as being related in some way Sentences can be related not only in terms of the ideas they share, but also in terms of their functions”.In conclusion, all the above concepts of discourse have mentioned the application of language Hence, recently discourse analysts have tended to base their research on observing language usage during conversations in sequences of sentences The analysis of discourse is, necessarily, the analysis of language in use As such, as Brown and Yule argue, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human relationships [2, p 1] 2.2 Cohesion Cohesion can be thought of as all the syntactic and lexical links that connect one part of a text to another This consists of the use of synonyms, lexical sets, pronouns, verb tenses, time references, grammatical reference, and so forth to help to sequence a text and link ideas and arguments in the text Halliday suggests that a text “has texture and this is what distinguishes it from something that is not a text… The texture is provided by the cohesive relation” [6, p.2] Cohesion refers to the explicit linguistic devices that are expressed partly through the syntax and partly through the vocabulary In other words, cohesion consists of syntactic cohesion and lexical cohesion While the term may be used in a much broader sense as well, in the context of the current study, the focus is on these two main elements Method 3.1 Data Collection The introduction texts analyzed in this study are taken from a total of 30 ELMTs in Vietnam (15) and in Australia (15) on topics related to linguistics All theses are written in English and include a chapter entitled “Introduction” ranging in length from 700 - 1400 words Thesis 102 introduction samples are those in the library of, University of Foreign Language Studies, the University of Danang and the University of Foreign Language Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi or published online A total of 15 master’s theses are obtained from Australian universities in the field of linguistics through the thesis collection of The University of Queensland and through contacting both teachers and students directly in Australia Authors of all theses in Vietnam are Vietnamese while authors of theses in Australia are varied in their native languages including English, Chinese, Indonesian, Swedish and Vietnamese 3.2 Data Analysis After collecting the data, these are categorized and divided into Australiansources and Vietnamese sources The introductions are analyzed in terms of the syntacticand lexical features using both both qualitative and quantitative methods.For lexical choice, software named AntConc is used to count the tokens (the total number of words), and look inside that for the types (the number of repeated words) From this, it is possible to identify the range of words being used (type-token ratio) and the most frequently used words in the theses Results & Discussion 4.1 Syntactic Features In this part, we would like to investigate some syntactic devices used in Australian thesis introductions (A-ELMTIs) and Vietnamese thesis introductions (V-ELMTIs), particularly passive voice and sentence types 4.1.1 Voice in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs In English, the passive voice is a syntactic form in which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb, where the passive sentence emphasizes the process rather than who is performing the action [14] Quirk [9] suggests that the passive voice is more commonly used in informative than in imaginative writing The get-passive often reflects an unfavorable attitude towards the action [7] Fortunately, only be-passive is found in our data as can be found in the examples in Vietnamese thesis #14 [V-14] and Australian thesis #4 [A-4]: (1) The fact that little research has been done on discourse features of AdEs and little instruction has been given about it in academic writing course in Vietnam creates a need to have research on it [V-14] (2) It was also found that the teacher tended to perceive the classroom environment that was more positive than they perceived as actually being the case [A-4] Two types of passive voice are investigated in the study; passive with purpose and passive without purpose In this paper, passive voice with purpose is a specific passive voice used when talking about the aims and objectives or placing the emphasis on the goal (e.g., I was fined 500.000 VND for speeding) Meanwhile, passive voice without purpose is a general passive voice which moves the emphasis from who is performing the action to the object or the process (e.g., It is believed that the rising oil price will have a huge impact on food prices) Tran Thi Ngoc Phuong Table Distribution of Passive Voice in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs Passive Voice A-ELMTIs V-ELMTIs Occurrence % Occurrence % With purpose 36 11.4 54 18.6 Without purpose 279 88.6 237 81.4 Total 315 100 291 100 The rate of using passive voice for purpose in AELMTIs and V-ELMTIs is quite modest, accounting for 11.4% and 18.6% respectively As observed and analyzed from the data, the majority of cases of passive voice with purpose are used to point out the aims or purposes to conduct the theses which are considered as an essential requirement for any author For example: (3) This study was aimed at developing and then observing the use of a computerized simulation as a language teaching tool which is designed to help learners to maintain motivation through their language study through involving them in meaningful interactions, thus encouraging learners to continue with their language studies [A-1] (4) The study is expected to investigate and describe syntactic features, lexical features and cohesive devices used in this type of discourse [V-7] Meanwhile, in some cases, in order to write the introduction, authors tend to use the passive voice without purpose to emphasize the objects or certain things mentioned That is also the reason for this kind of passive voice to be used very frequently in both ELMTIs, reaching 88.6% and 81.4% respectively For example: (5) Action Research is also different to empirical research which tends to be done by a researcher on “subjects” who have little to with the research process [A-7] (6) Issues of personal, social, and cultural identity were challenged every day [A-6] (7) This absence of the mentioned above factors in identifying and recognizing the information organizing devices and the relationships between portion of pieces of information will be compensated by resorting the linguistic materials [V-10] (8) This thesis is predicted to help learners and users of English understand and use tautologies properly [V-13] To sum up, in the current study, the passive voice is used predominantly to focus on the object rather than the goal or the performer of the action, which is a technique used quite regularly in academic writing 4.1.2 Sentence Types According to Thorne [12], sentence type includes four categories; simple sentences (consisting of one independent clause), complex sentences (containing one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses), compound sentences (containing two or more independent clauses joined together by a coordinator, conjunctive adverb or semicolon) and compound-complex sentences (a ISSN 1859-1531 - THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NO 6(103).2016 combination of two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses) Table Distribution of Sentence Types in A-ELMTIs Sentence Types Simple Complex Compound Compound-Complex Total Sentences 160 285 69 77 591 % 27.1 48.2 11.7 13.0 100 Sentences % 299 45.2 228 34.5 72 10.9 62 9.4 661 100 In contrast, in V-ELMTIs, compound and compoundcomplex sentences appear with modest percentages (i.e 10.9% and 9.4% respectively),and simple sentences are the most preferred in V-ELMTIs, making up the highest percentage of 45.2% with complex sentences still accounting for a comparatively large proportion of 34.5% 4.2 Lexical Choice Alo [1] defines lexis as “…the level of linguistic analysis and description concerned with the way in which the vocabulary of a language is organized” In linguistics, Yeibo [13] describes lexis as the storage of language in our mental lexicon as prefabricated patterns that can be recalled and sorted into meaningful speech and writing Thus, lexis, as a concept, has a distinct identity from other traditional levels of linguistic study or interpretation, as it refers specifically to the word-stock of a language from which writers and speakers make choices for self-expression according to their purpose or intended meaning.For the purpose of this study, the following linguistic indicators defined by Swales and Feak [11] are used in the analysis: contrastive terms (i.e however; yet; while/ meanwhile; but; although; nevertheless), quantifiers and quasi-negatives (i.e limited; few; little) and negatives (none of; not been; no) 4.2.1 Contrastive terms A concordance search is conducted and examined to determine the role of contrastive terms in the establishment of opposite statements, as listed in the table below Sentence Types Simple Complex Compound Compound-Complex Total Table Contrastive Termsused in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs But V-ELMTIs Occurrence % Occurrence % 28 33.7 35 50 23 27.7 16 22.8 7.2 10 24 28.9 11.4 Yet 2.4 2.9 Nevertheless 0 2.9 83 100 70 100 Total Table Distribution of Sentence Types in V-ELMTIs A-ELMTIs Although While/ meanwhile The results show that compound-complex sentences appear to be used rather modestly in A-ELMTIs, (i.e 11.7% and 13.0% respectively),and simple and complex sentences are frequently used It is quite surprising, however, that complex sentences are the most preferred in A-ELMTIs than simple ones, and that they account for the highest percentage of 48.2% while simple sentences make up a markedly smaller percentage of 27.1% Contrastive Terms However 103 A significantly high usage of “but” is found in both A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs, making up 33.7% and 50% respectively “But” usually signals two types of contrast: (i) “denial-of-expectation” (what is expected after a reading of the first conjunct turns out not to be true from a reading of the second); and (ii) the “marker of semantic contrast” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, [3]) “However” is another contrastive term used frequently in both ELMTIs with 23 instances (27.7%) in A-ELMTIs and 16 cases (22.8%) in V-ELMTIs, but this word alone does not guarantee a clear indication of the gap between issues With nearly the same number of examples in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs (6 cases and cases respectively), “although” seems to be a popular choice after “but, however, while” for the expression of knowledge when the authors want to hedge the weaknesses identified in the already used research and point out what need to be studied There is insufficient space to provide examples of all of the sentences types, but two of the more notable expressions are “yet” and “nevertheless” There are only two cases each for A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs for “yet”, and an example of each is given below (9) It is interesting that people use incomplete sentences in conversations and even in written texts, yet they are still successful in communication; and that a set of separate sentences put together can make sense while correct sentences connected by lots of cohesive devices cannot [V-11] (10) Language loss research may be conducted in a variety of way It may be studied in its sociocultural, political, pedagogical or psycholinguistic context; yet all aspects will deal with the competence-performance dichotomy as expressed in Chomsky’s model… [A-15] Two clear-cut cases of the use of “nevertheless” are found in V-ELMTIs while no cases are found in A-ELMTIs to express opposing ideas as in the following examples (11) Nevertheless, the study of culture, especially crossculture, is not recognized well enough in Vietnam [V-6] (12) Especially, all risks of medicine are enumerated in advertisements so as to help people avoid unexpected reactions and allergies Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to express medical terms in simple ways without changing their meanings [V-9] The reason for the lack of use of this expression in the Australian theses is not clear, but it could simply be a result of the sample size in the current study 4.2.2 Quantifiers and quasi-negatives According to Swales and Feak [11, p.258], the “most common way to indicate a gap is to use a ‘quasi-negative’ subject” Quantifiers, such as the following, could be 104 Tran Thi Ngoc Phuong helpful in pointing out the shortcomings of the previous research and thus preparing ground to accommodate the current work “Few” and “little”, although not morphologically negative, are negative in meaning and in syntactic behavior There is a different trend in using quantifiers and quasi-negatives in A-ELMTIs and VELMTIs, as shown in the table below: Table Quantifiers and quasi-negatives used in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs Quantifiers and quasinegatives A-ELMTIs V-ELMTIs Occurrence % Occurrence % Limited 26.7 41.7 Few 53.3 0 Little 20 58.3 Total 15 100 12 100 In particular, while “few” with a 53.3% occurrence seems to be at the top in A-ELMTIs, “Little” which is found with a 58.3% occurrence seems to be at the top in V-ELMTIs, no cases of “little” are found in the AELMTIs Using “limited” is one way to show that other investigators’ work or the scope of the thesis has been limited in certain ways or to certain areas, and thus it is intended to be encompassed by the present research The word “limited” appear four times in A-ELMTIs and five times in V-ELMTIs Some examples of usage from the sample are given below: (13) Of the relatively few studies that have specifically addressed the role of written autobiographical narrative, Pavlenko’s (1998; also Pavlenko&Lantolf, 2000) research is most relevant to mine [A-11] (14) Many studies regarding the speech act of request, giving and receiving compliments, promising or addressing terms and so on have been carried out in Vietnam and in other interlanguage of English learners of different language backgrounds, but little attention is paid to the speech act of complaining [V-4] (15) However, research on the topic of language chunks is limited, particularly compared with studies in syntax, phonology, discourse and other aspects of second language acquisition (SLA) [A-14] The role of limiting the scope of the respective areas being described is very clear from the above examples It can be contrasted with the following section 4.2.3 Negatives The third category of the linguistic indicators studied in this data analysis is negatives As Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman [3, p.196] explain,“The chief use of negatives is directed at a proposition already in the discourse” and they are used more to respond than to initiate They further elaborate that one might assume that the negative would receive prominent stress whereas it is reduced to mitigate the disagreement, presumably in the interest of maintaining social harmony Negatives are generally known to be used for pinpointing something which is either faulty or has not been paid sufficient attention to One would then assume the use of negatives as a natural choice to pave the way for one’s own work Contrary to this speculation, the tendency of the usage of negatives is lower here when compared to that of conjunctions and quantifiers/quasi-negatives, as shown in the following table Table Negatives used in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs Negatives A-ELMTIs Occurrence V-ELMTIs % Occurrence % None 0 0 Not been 100 100 No 0 0 100 100 Total “None” and “no” not appear in any of the thesis introductions, while “not been” occurs twice in A-ELMTIs and three times in V-ELMTIs For example: (16) There have not been a great number of computerised simulations documented to date, but the reactions of learners to the ones that have been utilised have been very positive so far [A-1] (17) In other words, complaining in an area that has not been researched much [V-4] It might be thought that the use of “none” and “no” are too definitive, indicating that there are absolutely no examples of research that have been conducted before In both of the examples above, “not been” has been softened through the use of “a great number” and “much” respectively, suggesting that there are studies that have been carried out before, although these may not necessarily be described in the introduction Conclusion This study describes an analysis of the syntactic and lexical features of master’s thesis introductions written in English in Australia and Vietnam to identify if differences exist in ELMTIs written in these two different environments With regard to syntactic features, it is evident that the largest differences are in the usage of simple and compound sentences Simple sentences are used with far greater frequency in V-ELMTIs than in AELTMIs, whereas there is more use of complex sentences in A-ELTMIs With regard to lexical choice, both ELMTIs in Australia and Vietnam use a specific number of “contrast terms”, “quantifiers and quasi-negatives” as well as “negatives” to express opposite statements among related issues In particular, A-ELMTIs use a higher proportion of “contrast terms” and “quantifiers and quasinegatives” than those in V-ELTMIs, namely “contrast terms” and “negatives”, which are used at a very low rate in both Thesis writing is a specialized form of writing requiring knowledge of not only vocabulary and syntax but also of discourse features While similar findings appear in other types of documents [9], it should be pointed out that the purpose is not to distinguish ELMTIs from other genres, but rather to shed light on thesis introductions written in English in different environments.Through investigating the discourse features of A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs, learners of ISSN 1859-1531 - THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NO 6(103).2016 English who intend to pursue a master’s degree in English linguistics can gain a better understanding of how to write their theses and of the potential variations that might exist It is hoped the research can contribute to our knowledge of typical discourse features in writing of this kind REFERENCES [1] Alo, M (1995), Applied English Linguistics: An Introduction, PortHarcourt Aeddy Link [2] Brown, G &Yule, G (1983), Discourse Analysis, Cambridge University Press [3] Celce-Murcia, M & D Larsen-Freeman (1999), The GrammarBook, 2nd ed Boston: Heinle and Heinle [4] Choudara, R &Kono, Y (2012) Beyond more of the same: The top four emerging markets for international student recruitment World Education News & Reviews, 25 (9) Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2187362 105 [5] Cook, G (1998), Discourse, Oxford University Press, Oxford [6] Halliday, M.A.K & Hasan, R (1989), Language, context, and text Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK [7] Nunan, D (1993), Introducing Discourse Analysis, Penguin English [8] Pennycook, A (2013) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language Routledge, New York [9] Quirk, R et al (1985), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman [10] Salkie, R (1995), Text and Discourse Analysis, Routledge, London & New York [11] Swales, J.M & C Feak (2004), Academic Writing for Graduate Students Essential Tasks and Skills, 2nd ed Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press [12] Thorne, S (1997), Mastering Advanced English Language, Macmillan press [13] Yeibo, E (2011), “Patterns of Lexical Choices and Stylistic Function in J.P Clark-Bekederemo’s Poetry”, International Journal of English Linguistics, (1), 138 [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice#Usage_and_style (The Board of Editors received the paper on 05/10/2015, its review was completed on 20/01/2016) ... contacting both teachers and students directly in Australia Authors of all theses in Vietnam are Vietnamese while authors of theses in Australia are varied in their native languages including English, ... Chinese, Indonesian, Swedish and Vietnamese 3.2 Data Analysis After collecting the data, these are categorized and divided into Australiansources and Vietnamese sources The introductions are analyzed... morphologically negative, are negative in meaning and in syntactic behavior There is a different trend in using quantifiers and quasi-negatives in A- ELMTIs and VELMTIs, as shown in the table below: Table