Hypes in undergraduate thesis abstracts by Indonesian students across years
Vol.17,No.1(2024)
Discourse and Interaction 1 2024
Cita Nuary Ishak
Yazid Basthomi
Nurenzia Yannuar
Previous studies showed that as a result of intense competition to succeed in academic pursuits such as publishing research papers and securing grants, promotional language known as hypes are pervasive in academic texts. This paper investigates hypes in a corpus of undergraduate thesis abstracts written by Indonesian English learners in a span of ten years, from 2011 to 2020. Taking a corpus-based approach, it examines the extent to which hypes are used in the thesis abstracts, including their linguistic manifestations, frequencies over the years, and the values they promote. We found hypes in all five moves of thesis abstracts, but they were most frequent in the introduction, in which they emphasized the importance and novelty of the research and stress the urgency of the research problems. In the span of the ten years, the frequencies of hypes generally increase, indicating the students’ awareness of the need to convince thesis supervisors, board of examiners, and their colleagues and the efforts to stand out in a competitive academic landscape. Important, investigate, and reveal were the most frequent hype words over the years and their instances suggest a growing emphasis on significance, a stronger commitment to evidence-based research, and desire to contribute new and concrete findings.
hypes; promotional language; thesis abstracts; Indonesian learners; EFL writers
Cita Nuary Ishak
Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
Cita Nuary Ishak is a student of English Language Education, Graduate Program, Universitas Negeri Malang. Her research interests include English for Academic Purposes and EFL writing. Currently, she focuses on the analysis of promotional language in English learners’ academic texts.
Address: Cita Nuary Ishak, Fakultas Sastra, Jalan Semarang No.5, Sumbersari, Kec. Lowokwaru, Kota Malang, Jawa Timur 65145. [email: cita@polinema.ac.id]
Yazid Basthomi
Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
Yazid Basthomi (Corresponding author) is a faculty member at the Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia. A Fulbrighter, he spent a stint of pre-doctoral research at the English Language Institute, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, USA. His educational backgrounds and research interests have led him to work in the area of applied linguistics leading to his professorship.
Address: Yazid Basthomi, Fakultas Sastra, Jalan Semarang No.5, Sumbersari, Kec. Lowokwaru, Kota Malang, Jawa Timur 65145. [email: ybasthomi@um.ac.id]
Nurenzia Yannuar
Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
Nurenzia Yannuar received her doctoral degree in Linguistics from Leiden University in 2019. She has widely published on youth language practices spoken in Indonesia, colloquial Indonesian, perceptual dialectology, World Englishes and translation, among other topics. She has taught a variety of courses in Malang (Indonesia), Leiden, and The Hague (The Netherlands).
Address: Nurenzia Yannuar, Fakultas Sastra, Jalan Semarang No.5, Sumbersari, Kec. Lowokwaru, Kota Malang, Jawa Timur 65145. [email: nurenzia.yannuar.fs@um.ac.id]
Alek, A., Marzuki, A. G., Hidayat, D. N. and Fauzji, F. (2022) ‘The discourse structure and linguistic features of research articles and thesis abstracts in English by Indonesian academics.’ Journal of Education, Language Innovation, and Applied Linguistics 1(1), 37-44. https://doi.org/10.37058/jelita.v1i1.3940
Amalia, S., Kadarisman, E. and Laksmi, E. D. (2018) ‘The rhetorical moves in Indonesian EFL thesis abstracts across educational levels.’ Jurnal Pendidikan Humaniora, 6(2), 99-107. Online document. https://doaj.org/article/4f0f2d83de3346c18c97e8981e63cc2f
Anthony, L. (2017) ‘Corpus linguistics and vocabulary: A commentary on four studies.’ Vocabulary Learning and Instruction 6(2), 79-87. http://dx.doi.org/10.7820/vli.v06.2.Anthony
Anthony, L. (2022) AntConc (Version 4.1.4) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software
Arsyad, S. (2014) ‘The discourse structure and linguistic features of research article abstract in English by Indonesian academics.’ Asian ESP 10(2), 191-224. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED569125
Arsyad, S., Hakim, H. and Astria, H. (2021) ‘Rhetorical structure and linguistic features of abstracts: A comparative study of local, national and international journals in English education written by Indonesian authors.’ Komposisi: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa, Sastra, dan Seni 22(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.24036/komposisi.v22i1.109987
Basthomi, Y. (2006) ‘The rhetoric of article abstracts: A sweep through the literature and a preliminary study.’ Bahasa dan Seni 34(2), 174-190.
Basthomi, Y., Hidayati, M. and Effendi, A. (2019) C-SMILE and CINTA: RoLingresearch projects. ICERI2019 Proceedings, 9120-9128. https://dx.doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2019.2192
Belcher, W. A. (2019) Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226500089.001.0001
Biber, D., Conrad, S. and Reppen, R. (1998) Corpus Linguistics: Investigating Language Structure and Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cahyono, B. Y. and Amrina, R. (2016) ‘Indonesian EFL students’ perception on training in writing research articles for publication.’ Journal of Language Teaching and Research 7(5), 859-866. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0705.05
Coxhead, A. (2000) ‘A new academic word list.’ TESOL Quarterly 34(2), 213-238.
Fairclough, N. (1993) ‘Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: The universities.’ Discourse & Society 4(2), 133-168.
Fyfe, A., Coate, K., Curry, S., Lawson, S., Moxham, N. and Røstvik, C. M. (2017) ‘Untangling Academic Publishing: A history of the relationship between commercial interests, academic prestige and the circulation of research.’ Zenodo, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.546100
Gardner, D., and Davies, M. (2013) ‘A new academic vocabulary list.’ Applied Linguistics 35(3), 305-327. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt015
Hakim, H., Arsyad, S. and Syahrial, S. (2021) ‘Rhetorical moves and linguistic realizations of research article abstracts by Indonesian authors in applied linguistics published in international journals.’ Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literature 6(1), 46-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.33369/joall.v6i1.11800
Hinkel, E. (2005) ‘Hedging, inflating, and persuading in L2 academic writing.’ Applied Language Learning 15(1 & 2), 29-53.
Hyland, K. (2000) Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing. London: Longman.
Hyland, K. (2005) ‘Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse.’ Discourse Studies 7, 173-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605050365
Hyland, K. and Jiang, K. (2021a) ‘The Covid infodemic: Competition and the hyping of virus research.’ International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 26(4), 444-468. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.20160.hyl
Hyland, K. and Jiang, K. (2021b) ‘‘Our striking results demonstrate …’ Persuasion and the growth of academic hype.’ Journal of Pragmatics 182, 189-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.06.018
Intemann, K. (2022) ‘Understanding the problem of “hype”: Exaggeration, values, and trust in science.’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy 52(3), 279-294. https://doi.org/10.1017/can.2020.45
Leech, G. (1983) Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Male, H. (2018) ‘A structural move analysis of abstracts in undergraduate theses: A case study at Universitas Kristen Indonesia.’ The 1st International Seminar on Language, Literature and Education, KnE Social Sciences, 284-294. https://doi.org/10.18502/
kss.v3i9.2690
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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2013.09.002
Master, Z. and Resnik, D. B. (2013) ‘Hype and public trust in science.’ Science and Engineering Ethics 19(2), 321-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11948-011-9327-6
Mazidah, E. N. (2019) ‘A comparison of the interactive metadiscourse in the abstracts of articles written by Indonesian and NES scholars.’ Ethnolingual Journal 3(1), 57-73. https://doi.org/10.20473/etno.v3i1.12995
Mazidah, E. N., Cahyani, W. I. and Masruroh, L. (2022) ‘Hedges and boosters in undergraduate thesis abstracts of Qomaruddin University students.’ Journal of Education, Humaniora and Social Sciences (JEHSS) 4(3), 1657-1663. https://doi.org/10.34007/jehss.v4i3.925
McCarthy, M. (2015) ‘Superlatives are commonly used in news coverage of cancer drugs, study finds.’ BMJ, h5803. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h5803
Miasari, S., Arsyad, S. and Arono, A. (2018) ‘Indonesian authors’ stances in citing English research article introductions literature in sciences.’ EduLite: Journal of English Education, Literature, and Culture 3(2), 173-187. https://doi.org/10.30659/e.3.2.173-187
Millar, N., Salager-Meyer, F. and Budgell, B. (2019) ‘“It is important to reinforce the importance of”: ‘Hype’ in reports of randomized controlled trials.’ English for Specific Purposes 51, 139-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2019.02.004
Millar, N., Budgell, B. and Salager-Meyer, F. (2020) ‘Hype in reports of clinical research: The authors‘ perspectives.’ English for Specific Purposes 60, 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2020.07.001
Millar, N., Batalo, B. and Budgell, B. (2022) ‘Trends in the use of promotional language (hype) in abstracts of successful National Institutes of Health Grant Applications, 1985-2020.’ JAMA Network Open 5(8), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.28676
Nugraha, D. S. and Mbato, C. L. (2022) ‘Abstract in undergraduate thesis: A study oflinguistic realizations of rhetorical moves and thematic patterns of Indonesian EFL students.’ Eralingua: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Asing dan Sastra 6(1), 82-102. https://doi.org/10.26858/eralingua.v6i1.28161
Putri, R. K., Wulandari, K., Nilasari, I. and Taruna, I. (2019) ‘Strategies to increase universities’ scientific publication in Indonesia.’ Universal Journal of Educational Research 7(5a), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2019.071501
Rinaldi, A. (2012) ‘To hype, or not to(o) hype.’ EMBO reports 13, 303-307. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2012.39
Samodra, M. C. and Pratiwi, V. D. R. (2018) ‘Lexical bundles in Indonesian and English undergraduate thesis abstracts. 4th PRASASTI International Conference on Recent Linguistics Research (PRASASTI 2018).’ Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research 166, 183-191. https://doi.org/10.2991/prasasti-18.2018.35
Sapriawan, M. M. and Chandra, N. E. (2022) ‘Coherence on undergraduate thesis abstract written by English language students.’ TEKNOSASTIK 20(1), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.33365/ts.v20i1.1370
Scott, S. L. and Jones, C. W. (2017) ‘Superlative scientific writing.’ ACS Catalysis 7, 2218-2219. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.7b00566
Sivasubramanian, K., Jose, R. M. and Enoch, S. (2018) ‘Preparing a title page, abstract, and a table of contents page.’ In: Parija, S. C. and Kate, V. (eds) Thesis Writing for Master’s and Ph.D. Program. 133-140. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0890-1
Sujiyani, E. (2022) ‘The rhetorical moves in Indonesian EFL graduate students’ thesis abstracts.’ Ebony-Journal of English Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Literature 2(1), 55-71. https://doi.org/10.37304/ebony.v2i1.4043
Suwandi, S. (2016) ‘Coherence and cohesion: An analysis of the final project abstracts of the undergraduate students of PGRI Semarang.’ Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics 5(2), 253-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v5i2.1349
Swales, J. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Valdez, J. R. and Rosa, J. D. (2021) ‘The completion of the academic requirements at the graduate school and its relation to thesis-writing.’ International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications 11(6), 762-768. http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.11.06.2021.p11498
Vinkers, C. H., Tijdink, J. K. and Otte, W. M. (2015) ‘Use of positive and negative words in scientific PubMed abstracts between 1974 and 2014: Retrospective analysis.’ The BMJ, 351, h6467. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h6467
Wang, W. and Yang, C. (2015) ‘Claiming centrality as promotion in applied linguistics research article introductions.’ Journal of English for Academic Purposes 20, 162-175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.05.002
Wernick, A. (1991) Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. London: SAGE.
Wheatley, D. (2014) ‘Drama in research papers.’ European Science Editing 40(1), 14-16.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2024 Cita Nuary Ishak, Yazid Basthomi, Nurenzia Yannuar