Nominalization in articles of educational studies a systemic functional analysis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***** PHẠM THÚY MAI NOMINALIZATION IN ARTICLES OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS (Danh hóa báo tạp chí Educational Studies: Phân tích theo quan điểm chức hệ thống) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***** PHẠM THÚY MAI NOMINALIZATION IN ARTICLES OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS (Danh hóa báo tạp chí Educational Studies: Phân tích theo quan điểm chức hệ thống) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, PhD HANOI – 2015 DECLARATION I hereby state that I (Pham Thuy Mai, from Group K22C), being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarians for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Pham Thuy Mai i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible Firstly, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Minh Tam, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject Secondly, I am truly grateful to the teachers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU for their devotion to provide me with a strong foundation for my knowledge Last but not least, I am heartily thankful to my family – my parents and my sister, and my close friend Nguyen Mai Le who supported me in any respect during the completion of the study ii ABSTRACT Nominalization is a prevalent linguistic phenomenon in English, especially in English writing As a universal characteristic of human language, nominalization has attracted interests of many linguists Basing on the theory of functional grammar developed by Halliday, this thesis aims at investigating how nominalization is realized in the articles of Educational Studies With the corpus of research articles extracted from the journal Educational Studies, the author has made an attempt to show the distribution of nominalization in the articles and carry out an analysis in terms of ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions Additionally, the paper tries to examine the possible effects of nominalization in academic discourses The author hopes that this paper will yield some insights and contribute to the studies of grammatical metaphor In addition, implications for teaching and translating academic discourses would be offered in this thesis iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ……………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents ………………………………………………………………… iv List of abbreviations …………………………………………………………… vi List of tables and figures ………………………………………………………… vii PART A: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………… 1 Rationale ……………………………………………………………………… Aims of the study …………………………………………………………… Scope of the study …………………………………………………………… Significance of the study ……………………………………………………… Design of the study …………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………………… CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Nominalization ……………………………………………………………… 1.1.1 Notion of nominalization ………………………………………… 1.1.2 Nominalization classification ……………………………………… 1.1.3 Nominalization in the view of Systemic Functional Grammar and as grammatical metaphor ………………………………………………… 13 1.2 Related studies ……………………………………………………………… 17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY …………………………………………… 19 2.1 Corpus compilation ………………………………………………………… 19 2.2 Data collection procedure ………………………………………………… iv 19 2.2.1 Data analyzing instruments and methods ………………………… 20 2.2.2 Analytical framework ………………………………………… 20 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ……………………………… 3.1 Realization of nominalization in the five articles of Educational Studies … 3.1.1 Distribution of nominalization …………………………………… 23 3.1.2 Distribution of nominalization subtypes ………………………… 24 3.1.3 Nominalization in terms of ideational metafunction ……………… 25 3.1.4 Nominalization in terms of interpersonal metafunction ………… 3.1.5 Nominalization in terms of textual metafunction ………………… 3.2 Possible effects of nominalization ………………………………………… 32 3.2.1 Creating objectivity ……………………………………………… 32 3.2.2 Enhancing conciseness …………………………………………… 33 3.2.3 Creating formality ………………………………………………… 34 3.2.4 Enhancing cohesion ……………………………………………… 36 3.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………… 36 PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ………………………… 37 Recapitulation ………………………………………………………………… 37 Implications for teaching and translating English academic writing ………… 2.1 Teaching English academic writing ………………………………… 2.2 Translating English academic discourse …………………………… Limitations and suggestions for further studies ……………………………… REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………… 40 APPENDIX APPENDIX v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DA: De-adjectival nominalization DV: De-verbal nominalization CV: Conversion THAT: That clause WH: Wh clause TO: To-infinitive clause VING: Ving clause Eg: Example vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Table 2: Table 3: Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3a: Figure 3b: Figure 4: Figure 5: Figure 6: Figure 7: Figure 8: Figure 9: vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nominalization is a prevalent linguistic phenomenon that is commonly seen in academic discourses As one type of academic discourse, English research article is characterized by its reliance on nominalized structures Undeniably, formality and encapsulation are two principal features of academic writing discourse These ones could be achieved with the use of nominalization The frequent use of nominalization renders greater degree of texts‟ formality and objectiveness Both Halliday (1994/2000) and Ure (1997) think that nominalization is closely related to text formality As Halliday (1994) points out that “the nominal group is the primary resource use by the grammar for packing in lexical items at high density” (Halliday, 1994:351) Ure (1997) also holds the viewpoint that lexical density might be a norm used for measuring degree of text formality She maintains that the higher the lexical density of a text is, the more formal the text appears Therefore, nominalization could be seen as an indicator of text formality In addition, nominalization plays an important role of encapsulation (Thompson, 2000) Understanding the nature and characteristics as well as the roles of nominalization in English academic discourse would make great contribution to the perception of this discourse genre, which are necessary for academic writers Thus, it is of great necessity to conduct a study on the phenomenon of nominalization in academic discourses if we want to learn more about this important variety of English and benefit the reading and writing of English academic discourses, especially research articles In this thesis, the writer attempts to explore how nominalization is realized in English articles with the hope that it will help readers recognize the importance of nominalization for the comprehension and this genre XCI NOMINALIZATION IN THE ARTICLE V Line Nominalization 3-4 that notions … school discipline that this is unhelpful 9-10 that discipline … an educational concept 10 possession 11 capacity 12 difficulty 16 discipline 17 development 18 to act … about themselves 19 to engage … and knowledge 20 interests 24 discipline 25 influence 30 management 31 management 31 rewards 34 encouraging 34-35 what constitutes positive behaviour 36 expectation 39-41 that the most frequently bought literature … your class variety 43 education 45 to get pupils on task and engaged in learning 46-49 that the emphasis … to behave better 46 emphasis 47 education 48 development 50 argument 50-53 that advocates of behaviour management … by teachers XCII 51 52-53 52 53-56 54 55 56 56 59-60 62 62 63 63-65 65 65 66 73 77-78 77 78-80 advocates that positive discipline … by teachers management that the behaviour management skills … their own education and development management understanding education development how discipline might better support the ends of education possession capacity difficulty that genuinely educational discipline … and development learning development understanding discipline contemplating … the paper implications that when it comes to … managerial ends 83 83 85 87 88-90 behaviour difference advocates management that the meaning of discipline … mere punishment meaning punishment that discipline is actually concerned … social order discipline guidance responsibilities 88 90 90-92 90 91 92 XCIII 93 95 95 96 97-98 98-100 99 104105 104 107 107 107 107 109 111112 113 114 115 116 117 119 122 123 124 distinction discipline brining human activity punishment what happens … to order to make … on the other discriminations that positive discipline … negative language adoption asking students … to wander to sit … to wander telling them not to wander to wander adoption how hurried or snappy our speech is how our language is heard by the student behaviour behaviour discipline behaviours discipline confidence movements instruction 125 126 126 127128 130 130 130132 132 132 133 engagement confidence frequency how physically close … to them attention interest to gain … the eye contact ambiguity meaning use XCIV 133 135136 137 137 138 139 140 141 141 142 145 145 149 149 155 157159 157 158 159 163 164 170 173 expectation that these skills … on discipline that positive alteration … the behaviour of students alteration behaviour that this is not manipulation or mere technique adoption behaviours improvement behaviour desire solutions that the consistent application … social norms application assertion that effective behaviour management … pupil discipline management behaviours discipline declaration behaviours adoption reinforcement 173 174 175 176177 177 177180 178 178 178- behaviour intention frequency that teachers … desired behaviours behaviours that teachers …reinforcements behaviour directions adopting the positivist language of XCV 180 180 184 185 186 192194 196 197 199200 199200 200 201 202 205 207 207 209 213215 213 214 214215 215 216 consequences and reinforcements importance enforcement punishment responsibility that the repertoire of behaviour management skills … in our schools limitations behaviour that they both tend … brought about what good or bad behaviour consists of how it may be brought about discipline reinforcement responsibility education development reinforcements that there is … for it evidence behaviour taking responsibility for it responsibility responsibility 217 218 218220 218220 219 219220 221 conduct evidence to suggest … its own sake that rewards and sanctions … its own sake motivation to engage in learning for its own sake desire XCVI 221 225226 226227 227 229 230 234 234 237 237 238 239 245 249 250 253 254 254 257259 257259 257 261 262 approval how schools might promote … in pupils how discipline … valuable learning discipline discipline discipline education development to address these questions drawing upon philosophical literature how school discipline might promote educational ends discipline awareness work observations interest engrossment that etymologically speaking … disparate things that guiding someone … good sense to perceive … to be learned connection interest interest 264 to be interested in something necessarily having wider aims and purposes 264265 268 268 269 269 challenge difficulty ability to set goals based on their interests XCVII 269 270 273 273 275 278 279 279 279 283 283 289 289 291 292 295297 295 295296 297 297 307 308 309 309 309310 310 310 interests what actions are necessary to achieve these goals ambitions discipline discipline discipline responsibility learning development explanations debate control discipline control to get something done that genuine discipline … their teachers‟ guidance discipline creating spaces … a degree of agency interests guidance that human agency … the world capacity actuality possibility to act to determine possibility 311 313 possibility that only the past is wholly determinate that MacMurray‟s notion of the future … school discipline particularly limitations education 321325 323 324 XCVIII 323 325326 326 328332 328 330 330 337 339 339343 342 342 343 343344 346 350 353354 354 354 355357 357 358 360362 361- discipline what distinguishes … by others capacity that genuinely educational discipline … and development discipline control management education development that discipline … considerable difficulty possession capacity difficulty that genuinely educational discipline involves pupil agency consideration impression that I think … educational how discipline might be educational discipline that I not think … on the other consideration thinking that possessing … a child‟s moral development possessing … a child‟s moral 362 362 363 development development to unite the child with larger society that discipline … moral education 364365 365 discipline XCIX 365 365368 369370 371372 372 375376 379 380382 381382 384 385 387 389 390393 395396 398 405407 406407 408 410411 410 415 education that there were … or autonomy to attain … self-determination that a classroom … in morality morality that the rules … the pupil‟s internal moral constitution capacity that teachers … on their own terms to see the value … on their own terms acceptance how teachers … in the end development understanding that all human persons … ought to live to become autonomous … discipline limitations that human agents … an individualizing chimera that rational autonomy is an individualizing chimera richness how school discipline … managerial ends discipline initiation 416 422423 423423 425 initiation that children be free … in experience what is valuable in experience valuations C 428429 429432 432 432 433 433 438 439 439440 441442 441 451 451 452 452 453454 454 455459 456459 460461 462465 464 466467 466 to help pupils learn to become more human that traditional approaches … in a community discipline focus experiences focus discipline education to pay disciplined attention to each other that the capacity … to be learned capacity work awareness interests experiences that such philosophies … valuable knowledge initiation that epistemic knowledge … a key purpose of education that knowledge which is … a key purpose of education that pupils are far from … any meaningful sort of way that the bodies of knowledge … much effort coming to understand them that genuinely educational engagements … liberation engagements 467 467 469 469 469 discipline liberation engagement discipline release CI 470 472 472 475 475476 475 476 476 477478 477 479 479 481482 482485 483 485 489490 490491 491 492 492 – 494 495 – 497 497 497 500 501 engagement patience courage discipline that learning … and experiences learning interests experiences how it is … wider traditions of knowledge too interest development interest to engage in … and knowledge that the mere adoption … epistemic pupil development adoption development that discipline … an educational concept that notions of … school discipline discipline advocates that positive discipline … by teachers that the behaviour management skills … their own education and development education development inspiration how discipline might better support the ends of education discipline possession capacity 502 504 504 CII 506508 506 507 508 508 510515 511 512 518 525 533 535 537 540541 543 545 546 – 547 546 546547 547 547 549552 550 550 551 that genuinely educational discipline … their own learning and development discipline learning development understanding that a reconceived notion of school discipline … and the epistemic controlling discipline discussion how discipline may be educational debate value development what they think … in the first place why it is practically important … they adopt weakness to offer definitive guidance … far from it guidance how they should seek to arrange discipline in their classrooms discipline that the philosophies … to be put to debate research discipline 555 559 559 discipline challenge difficulty CIII 561 development CIV ... kind of grammatical metaphor 12 1.1.3 Nominalization in the view of Systemic Functional Grammar and as grammatical metaphor In Systemic Functional Grammar, language is understood as a system of. .. discussion of the use of nominalization in abstracts and research articles, across corpora and domains The results indicate that nominalization occurs much more often in abstracts than in research articles, ...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***** PHẠM THÚY MAI NOMINALIZATION IN ARTICLES OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES: A SYSTEMIC