Jason Miin-Hwa Lim

Paving the way for research findings: writers' rhetorical choices in education and applied linguistics

Notwithstanding the existence of previous investigations into how research results are presented in different academic disciplines, fewer studies have looked into how authors pave the way for their results, the interdisciplinary differences in ‘result pavements’, and the interconnections between their communicative functions and linguistic choices. Using the techniques of genre analysis, I have analyzed two corpora of research reports in applied linguistics and education in order to identify the possible ways in which experienced writers schematically pave the way for their findings. Using evidence based on authentic research articles, this study demonstrates how writers set the stage for their research results by (i) demonstrating their control of the structure and flow of result-related information, (ii) connecting past research with a current finding while furnishing pertinent background elements that lead the readership progressively to specific findings, (iii) regenerating readers’ interest in their initial research purposes, and (iv) deploying locatives to embed results in a ‘space-saving strategy’ aimed at presenting an abridged Results section. I have also analyzed interdisciplinary differences in the frequencies of these rhetorical steps and the range of intricate linguistic mechanisms employed by authors as communicative resources in each step to establish a smooth rhetorical transition that sets the stage for their research results.

Metadiscourse in English and Chinese research article introductions

The present study examines the use of metadiscourse in English and Chinese research article introductions in the field of educational psychology. The corpus for this study comprises 40 introductions of research articles – 20 Chinese and 20 English – in the field of educational psychology. Hyland’s (2004) model of metadiscourse has been employed as the analytical framework for the present study. The similarities and differences in the use of metadiscourse (i.e. the interactive and interactional resources) between the two sets of texts are looked at from a socio-cultural point of view. The findings of the present study provide some insights into the teaching and learning of academic English writing for Chinese ESL (English as a Second Language) students.

A Comparison Between Malay and English Research Article Discussions: A Move Analysis

This study investigated the rhetorical organization of Malay and English research article discussions. A move analysis was carried out for the two sets of data of the present study based on a modified version of Peacock’s model for the discussion section. For this purpose, a total of 40 research article discussions restricted to empirical studies (20 from each corpus) were randomly selected from journals in the field of education. Results show that Malay discussions are more context dependent while English discussions are more context independent and standalone. In addition, compared with its English-language counterparts, the fit between Peacock’s model and Malay discussions is partial. This phenomenon may be due to the preference for rhetorical concepts and values in the local writing community. The findings have pedagogical implications in an English for Academic Purposes classroom.