“THE OVERALL AIM OF THIS WORK IS ….” FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL SUBJECT IN RESEARCH ARTICLE INTRODUCTIONS ACROSS FOUR DISCIPLINES
Vol.10,No.1(2017)
This study investigates the types and discourse functions of grammatical subjects in
research article introductions across four disciplines, namely: Applied Linguistics and
Psychology, representing soft sciences, and Chemistry and Environmental Engineering,
representing hard sciences. This study was carried out on a corpus of 40 research article
introductions (10 from each discipline). The research article introductions were sourced
from twelve ISI journals published from 2008 to 2012. The corpus was analysed based
on the modified model in relation to grammatical subject types and discourse functions
suggested by Ebrahimi (2014). The results revealed that the grammatical subject type
selections were guided by the nature of the research article introduction. However, the
frequency of use of the grammatical subject types was constrained by the nature of
the discipline. Discourse functions of grammatical subject types were predominantly
determined by the divisions of the hard and soft sciences, and the specific disciplines
within and the internal structure of the research article introductions. In addition, the
results of this study manifest a new framework for the analysis of discourse functions of
grammatical subject types in research article introductions.
Becher, T. (1989) Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures
of Disciplines. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Becher, T. (1994) ‘The significance of disciplinary differences.’ Studies in Higher
Education, 19/2, 151-161.
Becher, T. and Trowler, P. R. (2001) Academic Tribes and Territories. Milton Keynes:
Open University Press.
Berkenkotter, C. and Huckin, T. N. (1995) Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary
Communication: Cognition/Culture/Power. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bloor, T. and Bloor, M. (1995) The Functional Analysis of English: A Hallidayan
Approach. London: Arnold.
del Saz Rubio, M. M. (2011) ‘A pragmatic approach to the macro-structure and
metadiscoursal features of research article introductions in the field of Agricultural
Sciences.’ English for Specific Purposes, 30/4, 258-271.
Ebrahimi, S. F. (2014) Thematicity in English Academic Research Articles across
Disciplines in Hard and Soft Sciences. Unpublished doctoral thesis, UPM, Malaysia.
Ebrahimi, S. F. and Chan, S. H. (2015) ‘Research article abstracts in applied linguistics
and economics: Functional analysis of the grammatical subject.’ Australian Journal
of Linguistics, 35/4, 381-397. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2015.1070660
Fakhri, A. (2004) ‘Rhetorical properties of Arabic research article introductions.’ Journal
of Pragmatics, 36/6, 1119-1138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2003.11.002
Gledhill, C. (2000) ‘The discourse function of collocation in research article
introductions.’ English for Specific Purposes, 19/2, 115-135.
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, 11/3, 207-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(05)80010-9
Gosden, H. (1993) ‘Discourse functions of subject in scientific research articles.’ Applied
Linguistics, 14/1, 56-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/14.1.56
Harwood, N. (2005) ‘Nowhere has anyone attempted… In this article I aim to do just that:
A corpus-based study of self-promotional I and we in academic writing across four
disciplines.’ Journal of Pragmatics, 37/8, 1207-1231. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.01.012
Hasselgard, H., Johansson, S. and Lysvag, P. (1998) English Grammar: Theory and Use.
Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Hewings, M. and Hewings, A. (2002) ‘“It is interesting to note that…”: a comparative
study of anticipatory ‘it’ in student and published writing.’ English for Specific
Purposes, 21/4, 367-383.
Hewings, A., Lillis, T. and Vladimirou, D. (2010) ‘Who’s citing whose writings? A corpus
based study of citations as interpersonal resource in English medium national and
English medium international journals.’ Journal of English for Academic purposes,
9/2, 102-115.
Hirano, E. (2009) ‘Research article introductions in English for specific purposes:
A comparison between Brazilian Portuguese and English.’ English for Specific
Purposes, 28/4, 240-250.
Hunston, S. and Sinclair, J. (2000) ‘A local grammar of evaluation.’ In: Hunston, S. and
Thompson, G. (eds) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of
Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 74-101.
Hyland, K. (1999) ‘Academic attribution: Citation and the construction of disciplinary
knowledge.’ Applied Linguistics, 20/3, 341-367. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/20.3.341
Hyland, K. (2001) ‘Humble servants of the discipline? Self-mention in research articles.’
English for Specific Purposes, 20/3, 207-226.
Hyland, K. (2002) ‘Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing.’
Journal of pragmatics, 34/8, 1091-1112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00035-8
Hyland, K. (2003) Second Language Writing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K. (2009) ‘Writing in the disciplines: Research evidence for specificity.’ Taiwan
International ESP Journal, 1/1, 5-22.
Jalilifar, A. R. (2009) Research Article in Applied Linguistics: A Gender-Based Writing
Guide. Ahwaz: Shahid Chamran University Press.
Karahan, P. (2013) ‘Self-mention in scientific articles written by Turkish and non-Turkish
Authors.’ Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 305-322.
Lim, J. M. H. (2012) ‘How do writers establish research niches? A genre-based investigation
into management researchers’ rhetorical steps and linguistic mechanisms.’ Journal of
English for Academic Purposes, 11/3, 229-245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.05.002
Loi, C. K. and Evans, M. S. (2010) ‘Cultural differences in the organization of research
article introductions from the field of educational psychology: English and Chinese.’
Journal of Pragmatics, 42/10, 2814-2825. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.03.010
Martín, P. and Pérez, I. K. L. (2014) ‘Convincing peers of the value of one’s research:
A genre analysis of rhetorical promotion in academic texts.’ English for Specific
Purposes, 34, 1-13.
Ozturk, I. (2007) ‘The textual organisation of research article introductions in applied
linguistics: Variability within a single discipline.’ English for Specific Purposes, 26/1,
25-38.
Petrić, B. and Harwood, N. (2013) ‘Task requirements, task representation, and selfreported
citation functions: An exploratory study of a successful L2 student’s writing.’
Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12, 110-124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.01.002
Saadabadi, H. and Ebrahimi, S. F. (2014) “This study tests.....” Functional analysis of
the grammatical subjects in research article abstracts: A cross disciplinary study.’
International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 3/4, 341-349.
Samraj, B. (2002) ‘Introductions in research articles: Variations across disciplines.’
English for Specific Purposes, 21/1, 1-17.
Sheldon, E. (2011) ‘Rhetorical differences in RA introductions written by English L1 and
L2 and Castilian Spanish L1 writers.’ Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10/4,
238-251.
Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Setting.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tang, R. and John, S. (1999) ‘The ‘I’ in identity: Exploring writer identity in student
academic writing through the first person pronoun.’ English for Specific Purposes,
18, 23-39.
Thompson, G. (1994) Collins COBUILD English Guides 5: Reporting. London: Harper
Collins.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2019 Seyed Foad Ebrahimi