“This study is an attempt to”: Metadiscursive nouns in L1 and L2 Applied Linguistics research article abstracts

Abstract

This paper offers a corpus-based study of how metadiscursive nouns are used in English RA abstracts published in Chinese-language journals and international journals by Chinese L2 writers in comparison to RA abstracts published by English L1 writers in Applied Linguistics across two decades. It is found that L1 writers employ the most metadiscursive nouns in Applied Linguistic RA abstracts, while L2 writers employ the least in their Chinese journal abstracts. Variations in metadiscursive noun use are found between L1 writers' RA abstracts and L2 writers' international RA abstracts in the purpose move. Functional categories also demonstrate an under-employment of metadiscursive nouns in the moves of background and purpose in L2 RA abstracts in comparison with their L1 counterparts. Over two decades, metadiscursive noun use has seen a decrease in frequencies in both L1 and L2 RA abstracts. In particular, L2 writers’ international journal RA abstracts have witnessed a marked shift in the overall use and functional categories in the purpose move and the method move. The variations may be driven by academic socialization, publishing practices and conventions, and disciplinary paradigm shift. The practical implications of the findings are also discussed concerning the instruction of using English for publication purposes.