Marked Themes As Context Frames In Research Article Abstracts
Abstract
Research article abstract (RA abstract) is an important area of investigation. This importance comes from the role that it plays in the scientific community that is used to serve different writings and reading functions and purposes. It helps writers to squeeze significant information and findings of a whole research article into a compact unit and to manage information flow to be communicated in the scientific community (Martin, 2003; Ventola, 1994). This paper attempted to investigate the discourse functions (context frames) of marked themes used in Applied Linguistics and Economics research article abstracts. Sixty research article abstracts from the two disciplines published in journals of Applied Linguistics and Oxford Economic Papers in 2010 to 2011 issues were analyzed. The results revealed a significant difference in the use of validation context frame across the two disciplines. However, there were more similarities than differences regarding use of context frames in the abstracts from the two disciplines. This is discussed in the context of general and specific genre expectations as well as textual choices exercised to give text coherence. Findings of this study also supported the proposition that one micro level feature, in the form of marked theme, as thematic function, has the potential to signal the development of macro structure and rhetorical organization in abstract writing for scientific article writing.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Borsinger, A. M. (2003). A comparison of thematic options in novice and expert research writing. Estudios de Linguistica Aplicada Journal , 21(37), 37-51.
Davies, F. (1988). Reading between the lines: thematic choices as a device for presenting writers viewpoint in academic discourse. Especialist, 9, 173-200.
Ebrahimi, S. F. (2008). Thematic organization and thematic progression in Iranian EFL composition writing: Implication in teaching writing skill. Unpublished MA thesis. Ahvaz: Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch Press.
Ebrahimi, S.F., & Khedri, M. (2011). Thematicity in Research Article Abstracts: A cross Disciplinary Study. Educational Quest, International Journal of Education and Applied Science, 2(3), 1-6.
Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Printer.
Francis, G. (1990). Theme in the daily press. Occasional Papers in Systemic Linguistics, 4, 51-87.
Fries, P. H. (1994). On theme, rheme and discourse goals. In M. Coulthard (Ed.), Advances in written text analysis (pp. 229-249). London: Routledge.
Ghadessy, M. (1999). Thematic organization in academic articles abstracts. Estudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense , 7, 141-161.
Gosden, H. (1992). Discourse functions of marked theme in scientific research articles. Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 11, 207-224.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Britain Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). London: Britain Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed.). London: Britain Edward Arnold.
Jalilifar, A. R. (2009). Research article in Applied Linguistics: A gender-based writing guide. Ahwaz: Shahid Chamran University Press.
Jalilifar, A.R. (2010). The status of theme in Applied Linguistics articles. The Asian ESP Journal, 6(2), 7-39.
Jalilifar, A.R. & Khedri, M. (2011). Thematic development in English and translated academic text. In A.R. Jalilifar & E. Abdollahzadah (Eds.), Academic research genre in Asian context (pp. 335-364). Ahwaz: Shahid Chamran University Press.
Lores, R. (2004). On RA abstracts: From rhetorical structure to thematic organization. Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 23, 280-302.
Lovejoy, K. B. (1991). Cohesion and information strategies in academic writing: Analysis of passages in three disciplines. Journal of Linguistics and Education, 3, 315-343.
Martin, M. P. (2003). A genre analysis of English and Spanish research paper abstracts in experimental social sciences. English for Specific Purpose, 22, 25-43.
Martinez, I. A. (2003). Aspects of theme in the method and discussion sections of biology journal article in English. Journal of English for Academic Purpose, 2, 103-123.
Mauranen, A. (1996). Discourse competences-evidence from thematic development in native and non-native texts. In E. Ventola, & A. Mauranen (Eds.), Academic Writing. Intercultural and textual issues (pp. 195-230). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Miller, C.R. (1984). Genre as social interaction. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151-167.
Myers, G. (1989). The pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles. Applied Linguistics, 10, 1-35.
North, S (2005). Disciplinary variation in the use of theme in undergraduate essays. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 431-452.
Swales, J.M. (1988). Discourse communities, genres, and English as an international language. World Englishes, 4, 211- 220.
Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research setting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ventola, E. (1994). Abstracts as an object of Linguistic study, In S. Cmejrkova, F. Danes and E. Havlova (Eds.), Writing vs speaking: Language, text, discourse, communication. Proceedings of the Conference held at the Czech Language Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, 14–16, pp 333–52. Tubingen: G. Narr.
Ventola, E. (1995). Thematic development and translation. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Thematic development in English text (pp. 85-104). London: Pinter.
Wang, L. (2007). Theme and rheme in the thematic organization of text: Implication for teaching academic writing. Asian EFL Journal, 9(1), 1-11.
Whittaker, R. (1995). Theme, process and the relation of meaning in academic articles. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Thematic development in English text (pp. 105-128). London: Pinter.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
eISSN : 2550-2131
ISSN : 1675-8021