Medical case reports in English and Vietnamese: A genre-based analysis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ***** NGUYEN THI TUYET MAI MEDICAL CASE REPORTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A GENRE – BASED ANALYSIS (Các báo cáo trường hợp lâm sàng tiếng Anh tiếng Việt: Phân tích dựa vào thể loại) A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics HANOI – 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ***** NGUYEN THI TUYET MAI MEDICAL CASE REPORTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A GENRE – BASED ANALYSIS (Các báo cáo trường hợp lâm sàng tiếng Anh tiếng Việt: Phân tích dựa vào thể loại) MAJOR: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 9220201.01 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Le Hung Tien HANOI – 2019 DECLARATION I certify my authority of the study project report submitted entitled: MEDICAL CASE REPORTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE: A GENRE-BASED ANALYSIS In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at Vietnam National University, Hanoi Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the dissertation Hanoi,2019 Signature Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Doctor Le Hung Tien, for his continuous constructive suggestions, guidance, help and encouragement over the last few years Thanks to his constant presence and aid, I can overcome many obstacles and hurdles along the stressful writing stages of this dissertation and find the motivation to keep moving on my own work Secondly, I would also like to thank Doctor Huynh Anh Tuan from VNU, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Faculty of Post Graduate Studies and Doctor Pham Hien from Vietnam Institute of Lexicography and Encyclopaedia who contributed to this dissertation Their valuable and thought-provoking comments and feedback have helped me to enhance this work in its style and content Thirdly, I would like to give many thanks to all the professors and teachers from the VNU, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies whom I had during my coursework years for acting as members of the examination committee and for their constructive questions, suggestions and comments about this research Next, I express my sincere and deepest gratitude to my friends and colleagues from Faculty of Foreign Languages, Vietnam Military Medical University who has patiently listened to all my problems and helped me at different stages of this research over the last few years Thank them for all the vivid discussions we have had Most importantly, I would not have been able to complete this work without the support of my family; Many thanks to my parents, my mother-in-law, my sisters, my brothers and my lovely children who have always been there for me and supported me in all of my decisions I would like to thank them for their unconditional, unselfish love and support I also would like to give special thanks to my big friend, my husband who even not knowing anything about this research, has motivated me endlessly ii ABSTRACT The current study used ESP approach to genre analysis with the emphasis on move analysis based on Swale‟s theory (then developed by Nwogu 1997 Hylan 2002 and Mend z-Ced n 2009) to analyze English and Vietnamese medical case reports (MCRs) encompassing Abstract, Introduction, Case presentation and Discussion sections The study was carried out with two main aims: (i) to explore how the moves and lexical signals of the moves work in English and Vietnamese MCRs and (ii) to compare these moves to establish the similarities and differences between the two corpora The moves were analyzed in terms of frequency, length and steps while the lexical signals were examined concerning typical linguistic features such as words, phrases and reporting verbs (RVs) The study was designed as a descriptive, qualitative, quantitative and comparative study The results obtained from the analysis of 80 MCRs in English and Vietnamese published within 2010 and 2015 lent weight to the following general conclusions: First, the genre of the MCRs was made up of twelve conventional moves with 22 steps Second, the Vietnamese MCRs were longer because of the amount of the information presented in the reports Third, the typical phrases used in the Vietnamese MCRs were not as diversified as in the English MCRs due to a repetitive use of the same expressions in the reports Finally, more reporting verbs were used in the English MCRs because the writers may lack judicious use of the RVs, efficiency in using the verbs, or creativity of successful academic discourse The study acknowledged some limitations: First, the order of the moves was still neglected and second, it would be better if the thesis dealt with reporting verbs in some depth, taking into consideration the interpersonal function of language Despite these limitations, the study is hoped to provide some pedagogical implications for teaching ESP in Vietnamese settings to help students to be aware of the moves and steps when writing a MCR iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Scope of the study 1.3 Aims and research questions 1.4 Research methods .4 1.5 Significance of the study 1.5.1 Theoretical significance 1.5.2 Practical significance 1.6 Structure of the thesis CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .7 2.1 APPROACHES TO GENRE ANALYSIS 2.1.1 The Systemic Functional Sydney School approach to genre analysis 2.1.2 North American New Rhetoric tradition approach to genre analysis .10 2.1.3 The ESP Approach to Genre analysis .12 2.1.4 Summary of the approaches to genre analysis 16 2.1.5 Distinction between genre analysis and register analysis .18 2.2 MEDICAL CASE REPORTS AS A GENRE 20 2.2.1 Definition of a medical case report 20 2.2.2 MCRs and other research methods in clinical settings 21 2.2.3 Limitations and merits of MCRs .22 2.2.4 Structure of a medical case report 25 iv 2.3 PREVIOUS STUDIES OF MCRs .26 2.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS OF THE STUDY 29 2.4.1 Theoretical framework for move analysis 29 2.4.1.1 The notion of move analysis 29 2.4.1.2 Swale‟s move analysis 30 2.4.1.3 Major studies based on Swale‟s move analysis 33 2.4.1.4 The rationale for adapting Hyland (2000), Nwogu (1997) and M ndezCend n (2009) models of move analysis 41 2.4.2 Contrastive framework 42 2.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS .43 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 45 3.1 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA 45 3.1.1 The description of the chosen MCRs 45 3.1.2 The description of sources 46 3.1.3 Criteria for collecting the data 48 3.1.4 English and Vietnamese MCRs 49 3.1.5 Data entry 53 3.2 DATA ANALYTICAL TOOLS 56 3.3 DATA ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 57 3.3.1 The modified model of move analysis 58 3.3.2 The analysis procedures 60 3.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS .64 CHAPTER IV: DEPLOYMENT OF MOVES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MCRs 65 4.1 DEPLOYMENT OF MOVES IN ENGLISH MCRs .65 4.1.1 Deployment of moves in English MCR abstracts 65 4.1.2 Deployment of moves in English MCR introductions 78 4.1.3 Deployment of moves in English MCR case presentations 84 4.1.4 Deployment of moves in English MCR Discussions 92 v 4.2 DEPLOYMENT OF THE MOVES IN VIETNAMESE MCRs .99 4.2.1 Deployment of the moves in Vietnamese MCR abstracts 99 4.2.2 Deployment of moves in Vietnamese MCR introductions 108 4.2.3 Deployment of moves in Vietnamese MCR case presentations 114 4.2.4 Deployment of moves in Vietnamese MCR Discussions .118 4.3 CONCLUDING REMARKS 123 CHAPTER V: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MOVE DEPLOYMENT IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MCRs 126 5.1 COMPARISONS OF MOVE DEPLOYMENT BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE MCRs 126 5.1.1 Comparisons of move deployment between English and Vietnamese MCR abstracts 126 5.1.2 Comparisons of move deployment between English and Vietnamese MCRs introductions 133 5.1.3 Comparisons of move deployment in English and Vietnamese MCR case presentations 137 5.1.4 Comparisons of move deployment in English and Vietnamese Discussions 142 5.1.5 Comparisons of move deployment in English and Vietnamese MCRs as a whole147 5.2 SUMMARY .156 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSIONS 158 6.1 SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS 158 6.2 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 163 6.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 164 6.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 164 THE AUTHOR’S PUBLICATION RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION 166 REFERENCES 167 APPENDICES I vi ABBREVIATIONS EAP: English for Academic Purposes EMP: English for Medical Purposes ESP: English for Specific Purposes ICD: International Classification of Diseases IMRD: Introduction – Methods – Results – Discussions M1: Move M2: Move M3: Move M4: Move M5: Move M6: Move M7: Move M8: Move M9: Move M10: Move 10 MCR: Medical Case Report MRA: Medical Research Article RCT: Randomised Controlled Clinical Trials RGS: Rhetoric Genre Studies RV: Reporting verb SFL: Systemic Functional Linguistics VMMU: Vietnam Military Medical University VNU: Vietnam National University vii LIST OF TABLES Table Three approaches to genre analysis 16 Table Ten common pitfalls of MCRs 22 Table The individual sections and their contents of a medical case report 25 Table The CARS Model 31 Table The model of abstract move analysis by Hyland 36 Table The model of move analysis of whole article by Nwogu 38 Table The modified model of move analysis of case presentation section 40 Table A Corpus of English MCRs 50 Table The domestic journals rankedby the Council of Vietnamese Medical Professors 51 Table 10 A Corpus of Vietnamese MCRs .53 Table 11 Classification of the 11 disease groups with the codes based on ICD 10 54 Table 12 The modified model of move analysis of a MCR as a whole 60 Table 13 The data of the moves in English abstract section 66 Table 14 An example of English M1 abstract 69 Table 15 An example of English M3 abstract 71 Table 16 An example of English M4 abstract 72 Table 17 The use of RVs in English abstracts 75 Table 18 The data of the English introduction moves .78 Table 19 An example of English M6 introduction with two steps 79 Table 20 The use of RVs in English introductions 82 Table 21 Data of the English case presentation moves 84 Table 22 An example with two steps in M9 case presentation section 86 Table 23 The use of RVs in English Case presentation section 90 Table 24 Frequency of the occurrence of moves in English discussion section 93 Table 25 An example of M14 in English MCR discussion section 95 Table 26 The use of RVs in English discussion section 97 Table 27 The data of moves in Vietnamese MCR abstracts 100 Table 28 An example of Vietnamese M1 abstract (1) 102 viii