Citation in Applied Linguistics: Analysis of Introduction Sections of Iranian Master's These

Writing a master's thesis, oftentimes the first shot by a novice researcher at writing for academic purposes, requires providing a framework and support by learning how to cite the works of others. Compared to the host of studies on research article introductions as the product of expert writing, little work has been done on citations in master's thesis introductions (MAIs), and so the paucity of research in this area calls for further investigation into citations in MAIs. To this aim, we compared the use of citation forms in 65 Iranian MAIs in the field of Applied Linguistics. Citation forms were divided into integral which play an overt grammatical role within a sentence and non-integral which play a covert grammatical role in text. Each category was further divided into sub-categories. Analyses of the citation practices indicated that integral citations constituted a greater proportion of citations in the MAIs. The study also examined stance manifested in verb controlling citations and underlined the importance of evidential marking in academic writing and discussed pedagogical implications of the research

In Search of the Generic Identity of the Book Review: A Chronological and Pragmatic Study

Given the significance of Book Reviews (BRs) and the fact that little has been devoted to the study of this genre, the current study investigated the macrostructure as well as the politeness features of a sample of BRs, representing two periods of time (1980-1990/2000-2010), in applied linguistics. The main purpose of this analysis was to identify the macrostructures and the politeness strategies in the "closing evaluation" section of BRs. The dataset consisted of 80 BRs (40 extracted from the journals published in the 1980s and 40 derived from the journals published in the 2000s). The findings demonstrated no major quantitative differences between the moves exploited in the BRs, except for move 3. Further, positive politeness strategies, characteristic of the "closing evaluation" section, revealed no significant differences deployed in the two groups of BRs, and negative politeness strategies were absent, indicating the non-alignment of these latter strategies to BRs. The analysis of BRs can contribute to both the schema theory and discourse analysis. The study may provide a valuable framework for a comprehensive book review analysis

Persian Academic Lecture Closings: An Investigation into Verbal and Non-verbal Ending Indicators

Lectures, as an indispensable channel of knowledge, have drawn the attention of many dis-course analysts. The present study investigates the organization of academic lecture closings, level of formality, and verbal and non-verbal cues for the ending of classes. To this end, 1500 minutes of 100 recorded Persian academic lectures were transcribed and the relating parts analyzed to explore the rhetorical structure of their termination points. Results showed that Persian lecturers used a wide range of strategies in lecture closings. Answering questions, raising questions, and indicating the end of the lecture were the most frequently used strate-gies. Moreover, most strategies tended to cluster at the pre-ending stage. Findings also re-vealed that lecturers in Persian academic settings employ collective you to enhance teacher-student distance and degree of formality. The study can provide lecturers with practical appli-cations regarding the structure of lecture closings

World of Attitudes in Research Article Discussion Sections: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective

This study aimed to account for metadiscourse variations in the discussion sections of  articles written in Persian and English and published in Iranian as well as international scholarly journals in English Language Teaching and Psychiatry. For this purpose, 90 research article discussions were selected, and then hedges and boosters were identified based on the taxonomies of metadiscourse markers. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed significant differences in frequency, type, and functions of these devices in the texts. These differences might be attributed to lack of awareness of the conventional rules of English rhetoric, limited and fragile knowledge of academic English by Persian writers, and lack of explicit instruction and exposure to pragmatic and sociolinguistic rules of English by Persian researchers. Further research in other disciplines will help to make more accurate generalizations about the role of metadiscourse markers in research articles

Research article introductions and literature reviews in applied linguistics: A genre-based study

Following Swales’ (1981, 1990) pioneering work on the move structure of research article ‎introductions, the Create-a-Research-Space (CARS) model, a host of genre studies were carried out on different parts of the research article. However, research on the literature review ‎sections in the studies organized in the introduction, literature review, method, result and ‎discussion format remains extremely limited. Even lesser has been done to examine whether ‎the literature review and the introduction as separate sections belong to the same genre. Thus, this ‎study aimed at comparatively investigating research article introductions and literature reviews in ‎the field of applied linguistics, adopting Swales’ (2004) CARS model as the point of departure, ‎to reveal how these two sections, when stranded, are different or alike in terms of the utilized ‎rhetorical moves. The data comprised 30 articles, drawn from the most recent issues of 5 International Scientific Indexing journals. The findings of the analysis revealed that the two sections, besides bearing major similarities, perform slightly different tasks. The literature review section is more closely woven into the core of the research, more flexible in terms of the generic structure and thus less consistent with the strict CARS model. Despite these differences, the strong resemblance between the two sections implies that they belong to the same genre colony of academic research introductions. The CARS model was modified and presented in light of the findings of the study

A Comparative Study of Nominalization in an English Applied Linguistics Textbook and its Persian Translation

Among the linguistic resources for creating grammatical metaphor, nominalization rewords   processes and properties metaphorically as nouns within the experiential metafunction of language. Following Halliday's (1998a) classification of grammatical metaphor, the current study investigated nominalization exploited in an English applied linguistics textbook and its corresponding Persian translation. Selection of these textbooks was motivated by consulting 10 ELT professors. Analysis started by identifying nominalization instances and recurrent patterns of nominalization in the books through adopting a mixed approach. The frequency of nominal expressions was counted, and eventually chi-square was run to find out the probable significance of nominalization use in English and Persian academic text samples. The quantitative differences in using nominalization turned out to be significant, and results revealed variations in the ranking patterns of nominalization in both texts. Qualities as entities tended to recur more in English than in Persian. However, the noun to noun modifier was frequently exploited in the Persian translation. The similarities in the employment of nominalization patterns might reflect the awareness of both the author and the translator of the role of metadiscourse markers in scientific texts. The main reason for the differences lies in the matter that knowledge is realized in different languages. The findings of this study have implications for textbook writers, English for Academic Purposes students, and translators

Construction of Evaluative Meanings by Kurdish-Speaking Learners of English: A Comparison of High- and Low-Graded Argumentative Essays

Academic writing ability is an important goal that learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) try to attain. While ESL students’ academic writings have been widely explored, owing to few studies investigating appraisal resources in EFL students’ argumentative writing, the gap still exists about EFL students’ academic writing. This study aimed to see how Kurdish-speaking learners of English employ appraisal resources in their writings. It further aimed to explore whether the appraisal framework can be utilized as an assessment scale for evaluating the students’ argumentative writing. To this end, the study investigated the argumentative essays written by 15 bilingual Kurdish-Iranian graduates of English within the framework of the appraisal theory. The instruments applied in this study consisted of a modified rating scale for assessing the essays in terms of the macrostructures exploited in them and the framework for the analysis of appraisal resources. Quantitative findings revealed high-graded essays employ more attitudinal items and fewer monoglossic resources than low-graded ones. Qualitatively, the high-graded essays articulated attitudinal values in nominal forms and sometimes in a backgrounded manner while these values were mostly presented by surge of feelings and in a foregrounded way in the low-graded essays. Regarding engagement, unlike the high-graded essays, the low-graded ones were poor in recognizing other voices and alternative positions. Inspired by the strength of the appraisal model evaluating writing, results suggest that high-graded essays are successful in positioning readers attitudinally and clarifying the ethical message to readers

Does It Make a Difference? L2 Vocabulary Learning via Mobile and Conventional Mode

The present study investigated the significance of mobile learning (m-learning) of English vocabulary items through a traditional contrasted with a blended method of content representation. To achieve the goals, sixty semi-illiterate adults were evaluated for their knowledge of the English alphabet and then randomly placed in two groups: traditional (G1) and the blended group (G2). Next, they were presented thirty new English vocabulary items through the two methods. Also, the vocabulary items were taught with and without pictorial annotations. Upon the completion of teaching, the participants took the paper-and-pencil-based English Vocabulary Recognition and Recall (EVRR) test. The test results were subjected to the appropriate statistical analyses. The analysis demonstrated the supremacy of blended group's performance over the traditional group in vocabulary learning. Furthermore, the obtained results confirmed that pictorial annotations enhanced the learning of L2 vocabulary compared with non-annotated items. The results can provide some practical and theoretical implications for both teachers and learners

(Dis)agreements in Iranians’ internet relay chats

The present study on politeness is an attempt to examine (dis)agreeing strategies utilized by EFL learners while chatting on the internet. Subjects of the study were forty male and thirty-three female Iranian natives whose internet relay chat (IRC) interactions, composed of 400 excerpts, were collected between December 2007 and September 2008. Data analysis was based on the general taxonomy of politeness strategies suggested by Brown and Levinson (1987) which is the baseline of many politeness studies today. The results indicate that IRC is a mode of communication whose characteristics are typically different from face-to-face and real-life conversational settings. Some common face threatening acts (FTAs) like ‘direct disagreements’ are performed widely in chat channels. Furthermore, gender-oriented differences were found not to be statistically significant on the internet

Nominalization in Applied Linguistics and Medicine: The Case of Textbook Introductions and Book Reviews

Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, this study explored variational use of nominalization in 600 textbook introductions and 200 book reviews in applied linguistics and medicine. The nominalized expressions were identified in the texts, the frequencies of the nominalization types were counted, and eventually a chi-square test was administered. Analysis of nominalization patterns across the different informational/promotional moves revealed divergent patterns in the two disciplines but insignificant differences across the genres in focus. The density of nominalizations was acknowledged in the applied linguistics introductions and book reviews. However, functional variations in the use of nominalizations were found only in the introductions. As for the proportion of nominalization to grammatical metaphor, results demonstrated a lower tendency towards nominalizing scientific information in the medicine corpus. Further research is needed to see how nominalization is exploited in other genres and other disciplines