INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ARTICLE ABSTRACTS a GENRE BASED STUDY OF LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND MOVE STRUCTURE

i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of people helped me when this thesis was on its ways My grateful thanks in particular are to Assoc Prof Ton Nu My Nhat, my supervisor, who has supported me a lot during the time I work on my thesis Thanks for her kind encouragements, her endless patience, her critical comments and her valuable materials Her invaluable reading of the drafts as well as her useful feedback have contributed to the final form of this thesis My sincere thanks are also to my family members for their cooking and doing the chores so as to help me save time to this thesis Special thanks are to my parents for their love and kind support during the time I was engaged in this work I am also grateful to my friends and classmates for their warm encouragements, help and valuable materials; I will not name here for fear I might inadvertently leave someone out This thesis would not be possible without their contributions Thank you all! ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP This thesis represents my own work and due acknowledgment is given whenever information is derived from other sources No material which has been or is being concurrently submitted for any other qualification at any university is found, except where due reference has been made in the text Quy Nhon, 2019 PHAN THI MY HAO iii ABSTRACT This study is a genre analysis of research article abstracts (RAAs) in the fields of applied linguistics The data for this study is 30 RAAs from the two journals English for Specific Purposes Journal (ESPJ) and TESOL Quarterly Journal (TSQJ) This study is conducted with the aim of exploring the lexicogrammatical features and the rhetorical structure and the close inherent link between these two levels in this genre It is on the two approaches to genre analysis – the ESP approach and the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) – that this study is situated By applying Halliday & Matthiessen’s (2004) systemic functional grammar framework, and Santos’ (1996) move structure, the results reveal that although all types of processes are present in these abstracts, Material and Relational processes are the most prominent Besides, most of the clauses are non-modalised and contain mainly single unmarked topical theme; the use of multiple, interpersonal and textual themes are infrequent As regards move structure, obligatory moves are Presenting the research (M2), Describing the methodology (M3), Summarizing the results (M4) and Discussing the research (M5) Moreover, there is a close relationship between lexico-semantic features and the moves identified The results of this study can serve as data for further studies and contribute to methodological advancements in the field of Genre analysis; it also holds pedagogical implications for teaching English for Academic Purposes CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Research articles (RAs) is produced to communicate new knowledge to members of the academic community and thus persuading them to accept the claims (Hyland, 2000) Of which, one of the key parts is the abstract The abstract is considered as the point of departure of most research articles As opined by Pho (2008, p 231), it is the first section to be read, and it more or less “sells” the article Also, Hartley (2003) says that the abstract tends to be the first part of a journal article to be read because it captures the essence of the whole article For Martín (2003), very few journals would not require an abstract to be submitted with the main research article Due to the importance of the communicative appeal of an abstract, many journals that are published in languages other than English also need the submission of an English version of the abstract (Lorés, 2004) Therefore, abstract is an important genre that needs to be studied, for both writing and reading purposes More than 25 years ago, Graetz (1982) pointed out that the abstract greatly improved the journal comprehension if readers could recognize the linguistic signals of the different functions of an abstract Thanks to the signals which provide a clear guidance to readers, writers can communicate their ideas more effectively It will be valuable for novice writers such as graduate students, especially those from non-English countries, who want to submit articles for publication, to know both the lexico-grammatical features of the abstract and its rhetorical organization Recognizing the importance of having a good abstract, I decide to carry out an analysis of lexico-grammatical features and move structure of RAAs in the field of ELT This study is conducted with the hope that its result will provide some useful knowledge in terms of lexico-grammatical features as well as the move structure of this genre 1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES 1.2.1.Aim of the study This study is a genre analysis of the abstract section of RAs The overarching aim of this study is to provide an in-depth description of lexicogrammatical and textual features of RAAs in the field of ELT from the perspectives of the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) of Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), and move structure of Swales (1990) 1.2.2.Objectives of the study To achieve this aim, the research addresses the following objectives: - To describe lexico-grammatical features representing transitivity, modality and thematic structure of RAAs in the fields of applied linguistics; - To describe the move structure of RAAs in the field of applied linguistics; - To describe the correlation of lexico-grammatical features and the move structure of RAAs in the field of applied linguistics 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS - What is the distribution of lexico-grammatical features concerning transitivity, modality and thematic structure of RAAs in fields of applied linguistics? - What are the move patterns of RAAs in fields of applied linguistics? - What are the characteristic features of the moves in RAAs in fields of applied linguistics? 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY Due to the limited time and the scale of an MA thesis, only 30 RAAs in the fields of applied linguistics serve as the data for this exploration Of the range of professional journals published in English the world over, I decided to choose only two, which are especially prestigious and widely circulated They are English for Specific Purposes Journal (ESPJ) and TESOL Quarterly Journal (TSQJ) In addition, of multiple lexico-grammatical dimensions representing the three lines of meaning in SFG, this investigation focuses on only one dimension in each meaning, namely transitivity to explore the experiential meaning, modality to explore the interpersonal meaning, and thematic structure to explore the textual meaning 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Practically, this study contributes to the literature on genre-based analyses of RAA in particular and RA in general Particularly, the study provides a description of the lexico-grammatical features and move structure of RAAs Practically, it is a useful source for not only teachers of writing academic English but also novice writers who are interested in submitting articles for international publication In particular, based on the basis of the prominent linguistic features of the genre, the teachers can orient students to what must be included in RAAs to have a successful publication Theoretically, this study is a contribution to the methodology of movebased research on RAAs Firmly based on SFG, this study extends the previous studies on RAAs in general and RAAs in particular Whereas the previous studies investigated the linguistic features separately in traditional terms, it is in this present study that the three lines of meanings are brought together and systematically interpreted as characteristic features of individual moves 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY This paper is organized as follows: Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the rationale, the aim and objectives, the scope of the study, research questions, the significance of the study and the organization Chapter 2, Literature Review, presents brief accounts on the literature of Genre analysis, SFG, abstracts in academic writing as well as a review of previous studies related to this study Chapter 3, Methodology, describes the research methods, research procedures, description of data collection and analysis Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, presents the results, describing the lexico-grammatical features of transitivity, modality, the thematic structure, and the move structure of RAAs in ELT The results are also interpreted in light of the relevant literature Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, provides a summary of the major findings, pedagogical implications and limitations and puts forward some suggestions for further research CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides an overview of the theories closely related to the exploration How “genre” is technically defined and how genre has been approached in the literature are first dealt with The second main ground lies with the theory of SFG, where only the three aspects in focus are taken into account The chapter will close with a review of the previous studies relevant to this study 2.1 GENRE ANALYSIS 2.1.1.Genre defined Discourse analysis is a new branch of linguistics that grew out of work in various areas during the late 1960s and early 1970s It has been extensively explored by researchers from different disciplines due to its huge practical applicability in different fields of our daily life Discourse analysis gives us deep views into various aspects of language in use By learning discourse analysis, we know how texts are structured beyond sentence level; how talks follows regular patterns in different circumstances Moreover, it has many practical applications in language teaching Then the late 1980s and early 1990s, witnessed a preoccupation with texts concerning socially relevant domains This gave rise to a new trend in discourse analysis called Genre Analysis Genre analysis is one of the most important approaches to text-level analysis that has attracted significantly large numbers of investigations in different fields According to Bhatia (1993), genre analysis is known as study of situated linguistic behavior in institutionalized academic or professional context Because of its significant pedagogical implications for ESP and EAP practitioners, genre analysis is considered as one of the important approaches to RA analysis Swales and Feak (2009) defined genre as a type of discourse or text that is designed to achieve a set of communicative purposes It can be seen in very simple terms as register plus communication purpose It tends to give a grounded description of language in use rather than a surface analysis of linguistic form According to Swales (1990, p 58), “a genre comprises a class of communicative events” He states that “a communicative event is one in which language plays both a significant and an indispensable role” (Swales, 1990, p 45) He also claims that the communicative event is a complex notion, including not only the discourse itself but also the role of the discourse and the environment and culture surrounding it As defined by Holmes (1997), the communicative purposes reflected in certain structural patterns are both the most important and the most common features differentiating one genre from another Yearley (1981) noted that research article is considered as one of the most applicable genres in academic research writing which has been broadly surveyed and generated abundant pedagogical implications Recent years have seen increased attention being given to the notion of genre in the area of English language teaching This is especially the case in the teaching of English for specific purposes (ESP), the teaching of English in Australia, and the teaching of composition studies in North America 2.1.2.Approaches to Genre Analysis The main approaches to the analysis of genres are English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) Most generally, ESP views genre as a communicative event characterised by their communicative purposes as well as rhetorical features where the discourse community acts as one which recognises and sanctions the acceptance of a genre SFL perceives genre as the cultural purpose of texts, achieved through a genre’s structural and realisational patterns where meanings are made within the genre RGS considers genre as a form of social action involving analysis of genre through detailed accounts of the social and cultural contexts with an emphasis on how a genre fulfills its social purpose and actions A more detailed account of each approach will be given below 2.1.2.1.ESP approach According to Hyland (2002), the ESP approach adopts the Bakhtinian notions of intertextuality and dialogism and draws on the Systemic Functional understandings of text structure Swales (1990) and Bhatia (1993) stated that the central focus of the ESP approach lies in the analysis of the communicative purpose and formal language features of a genre in its context of use, aimed at providing language learners appropriate language resources and skills in their attempt to gain access to the English language demands that they encounter in their studies or professions In this approach, genres are understood as communicative tools situated within the social context It aims at examining the discourse community’s goals and how genre features in terms of their structure and lexicogrammar help to embody and assist members of the discourse community to serve their communicative goals ... the abstract and its rhetorical organization Recognizing the importance of having a good abstract, I decide to carry out an analysis of lexico-grammatical features and move structure of RAAs in... 1.2.1.Aim of the study This study is a genre analysis of the abstract section of RAs The overarching aim of this study is to provide an in-depth description of lexicogrammatical and textual features. .. (1990) and Bhatia (1993) stated that the central focus of the ESP approach lies in the analysis of the communicative purpose and formal language features of a genre in its context of use, aimed at