Textual Engagement of Native English Speakers in Doctoral Dissertation Discussion Sections

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Academic writing is no longer considered an objective and impersonal form of discourse. It is now seen as an attempt involving interaction between writers and readers; hence, academics are not only required to produce texts representing external realities but also to use language to recognize, build, and exchange social relations. The present study aimed to analyze how native English speakers, Ph.D. candidates in TEFL, position their texts intertextually when writing their doctoral dissertation Discussion sections. To this end, 5 Discussion sections were selected and analyzed in detail based on the Engagement subsystem of the appraisal model.  Hence, the type and frequency of every Engagement resource were identified and its functionalities were explicated. Results indicated that the examined writers could easily engage themselves in dialogue with their potential interlocutors. Also, they preferred to limit the possibility of being rejected or challenged by using dialogically contractive Engagement resources almost twice as many as dialogically expansive ones. Moreover, it was found that, although these authors developed their Discussion sections in a dialogistically contractive way, they provided enough space for the consideration of alternative viewpoints.

Keywords

References

Al-Zubaidi, K. O. (2012). The academic writing of Arab postgraduate students: Discussing the main language issues. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 66, 46-52.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: four essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Bazerman, C. (1988). Shaping written knowledge. Wisconsin: Wisconsin University Press.
Bitchener, J., & Basturkmen, H. (2006). Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L1 thesis students writing the Discussion section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5, 4-18. 
Butt, D., Fahey, R., Feez, S., Spinks, S., & Yallop, C. (2000). Using functional grammar: An explorer's guide. Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Macquarie University.
Chatterjee, M. (2008). Textual engagement of a different kind? Bridging discourses. ASFLA 2007 Online Proceedings. Australia: Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association.
Cominos, N. (2011). Managing the subjective: exploring dialogic positioning in undergraduate essays. (Doctoral dissertation). https://digital.library.adelaide. edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/78605
Crismore, A., Markkanen, R., & Steffensen, M. S. (1993). Metadiscourse in persuasive writing: A study of texts written by American and Finnish university students. Written Communication, 10(1), 39-71.
Flowerdew, L. (2004). The argument for using English specialized corpora to understand academic and professional language. In U. Connor & T. Upton (Eds.), Discourse in the professions: Perspectives from corpus linguistics (pp. 11-36). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Galvan, J. (2009). Writing literature review: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences. New York & London: Rutledge.
Geng, Y., & Wharton, S. (2016). Evaluative language in Discussion sections of doctoral theses: Similarities and differences between L1 Chinese and L1 English writers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 22, 80-91.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1989). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hyland, K. (2007). Stance and Engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse. Discourse Studies, 7(2), 173-192.
Hyland, K. (2012). Disciplinary identities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K., & Jiang, F. (2016). Change of attitude? A diachronic study of stance. Written Communication, 33(3), 1-24.
Iedema, R. S., Feez, S., & White, P. R. R. (1994). Media literacy: Write it write literacy in industry research project stage 3. Sydney Metropolitan East Disadvantaged Schools Programs: NSW Department of School.
Karimnia, A. (2013). Writing research articles in English: Insights from Iranian university teachers of TEFL. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 901-914.
Lemke, J. L. (1992). Interpersonal meaning in discourse: Value orientations. In M. Davies & L. Ravelli (Eds.), Advances in systemic linguistics: Recent theory and practice (pp. 82-93). London: Printer Publishers.
Liu, X. (2010). An application of appraisal theory to teaching college English reading in china. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(2), 133-135.
Martin, J. R., & White, P. R. R. (2005). The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publications.
Miles, C., & Wilson, C. (2004). Learning outcomes for the twenty-first century: Cultivating student success for college and the knowledge economy. New Directions for Community Colleges, 126, 87-100.
Ngongo, M. (2017). Systemic analysis of text appraisal on students’ theses writing    in English.  Journal of Scientific Research and Studies, 4(4), 67-72.
Ngo, T., & Unsworth, L. (2015). Reworking the appraisal framework in ESL research: Refining attitude resources. Functional Linguistics, 2(1), 1-24.
Pascual, M. (2010). Appraisal in the research genres: An analysis of grant proposals by Argentinian researchers. Revista Signos, 43(73), 261-280.
Tang, L. (2005). Evaluation strategies of English academic review: An engagement analysis for the dialogic perspective. Foreign Language Research, 4, 1-7.
Wang, D., & Guan, X. (2013). An analysis of appraisal in CEO corporate social responsibility statements. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(3), 459-456.
Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics
Volume 10, Issue 1
April 2019
Pages 78-107

Files

Cited by

Share

How to cite

Statistics