English for Specific Purposes最新文献

The value of interactional metadiscourse in university level writing: Differences between high and low performing undergraduate business students

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-04-09 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2025.03.002

Randy Appel , Ruth McKay

{"title":"The value of interactional metadiscourse in university level writing: Differences between high and low performing undergraduate business students","authors":"Randy Appel , Ruth McKay","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.03.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.03.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the use of interactional metadiscourse within a third-year Human Resources course at a large North American university. Analysing final individual writing assignments, higher-performing (grades 80 and above) and lower-performing (grades 74 and below) students were compared in terms of how they differ in their use of interactional metadiscourse. The Authorial Voice Analyzer (Yoon, 2017) was employed to extract interactional metadiscourse features, including hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mentions, and engagement markers. Intergroup differences were then assessed using Cohen's <em>d</em>. Key findings include higher-performing students employing a greater variety of hedge types and using self-mentions more frequently, while lower-performing students relied more heavily on reader engagement markers, particularly by way of reader pronouns. These results suggest that higher-graded students in business courses may be more adept at managing interactional metadiscourse to present an appropriate authorial stance, while lower-graded students tend to over-engage with the reader. Pedagogical implications include the need for writing instructors to focus on teaching students how to strategically employ hedges and self-mentions to improve the quality and authority of their writing in business-related disciplines. These insights can help shape targeted writing interventions aimed at improving student performance in content-focused courses, such as Human Resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"79 ","pages":"Pages 30-42"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143800203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Rhetorical distinctions: Comparing metadiscourse in essays by ChatGPT and students

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-03-28 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2025.03.001

Feng (Kevin) Jiang , Ken Hyland

{"title":"Rhetorical distinctions: Comparing metadiscourse in essays by ChatGPT and students","authors":"Feng (Kevin) Jiang , Ken Hyland","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.03.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.03.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the use of metadiscourse in argumentative essays generated by ChatGPT compared to those written by British university students. Using Hyland's (2005) framework, we analysed interactive and interactional metadiscourse to uncover rhetorical and linguistic distinctions. The findings reveal that ChatGPT essays, though structurally coherent and logically organised, exhibit a significantly lower frequency of interactional metadiscourse, such as hedges, boosters, and attitude markers, leading to a more impersonal and expository tone. Conversely, student essays demonstrate higher rhetorical engagement, employing nuanced stance markers and personalised expressions to foster reader interaction. ChatGPT prioritises clarity and structural coherence through transitions and endophoric markers, reflecting its algorithmic nature and training. The variability in student writing highlights the influence of individual style and instructional practices. These differences underscore the complementary roles of AI and human authorship in academic writing, with implications for pedagogy. This research advances our understanding of the rhetorical strategies employed by large language models and their potential in academic contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"79 ","pages":"Pages 17-29"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143724157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A cross-disciplinary study of value arguments in doctoral theses submitted to universities in Hong Kong

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-03-11 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2025.02.002

Guangwei Hu, Emmanuel Mensah Bonsu

{"title":"A cross-disciplinary study of value arguments in doctoral theses submitted to universities in Hong Kong","authors":"Guangwei Hu, Emmanuel Mensah Bonsu","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.02.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.02.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The doctoral thesis is a key academic genre that documents doctoral students' socialisation into their disciplinary knowledge-making practices and their contributions to disciplinary knowledge. However, little attention has been paid to how doctoral students promote the value of their research in their theses. Using Carter's value arguments (VAs) framework, this study explored how doctoral students construct VAs strategically to underscore and promote the significance of their research. Analyses of 90 doctoral theses in the disciplines of applied linguistics, psychology, and physics, submitted to UGC-funded Hong Kong universities, revealed disciplinary differences in the formal and functional classes of VAs. Formally, applied linguistics theses employed explicit VAs significantly more frequently than those of psychology and physics did. Functionally, significant disciplinary differences were found in the use of VAs to narrow the focus of a study, intensify the importance of research gaps, justify the importance of gaps in literature, demonstrate the overall value of the research, and demonstrate the value of research findings. These findings highlight disciplinary influences on VAs as a promotional strategy for doctoral students to persuade readers of their research's value and merits. Based on these findings, implications are derived for English-for-academic-purposes pedagogy, doctoral supervision, and further research on promotion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"79 ","pages":"Pages 1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143591715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-02-18 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2025.02.001

John M. Swales

引用次数: 0

Ideational interplay of textual and visual elements in graphical abstracts of biology research articles

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-01-30 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2025.01.002

Junqiang Ren , Jiajin Xu

{"title":"Ideational interplay of textual and visual elements in graphical abstracts of biology research articles","authors":"Junqiang Ren , Jiajin Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.01.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.01.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Academic journals in a wide range of disciplines are increasingly requiring graphical abstracts (GAs). A commonly noted feature of this emerging genre is the simultaneous use of textual and visual elements within a single-panel multimodal text. This dimension, however, has not been described in sufficient detail in available GA studies. To advance the discussion on textual-visual interactions in GAs, we focused on the interplay of ideational meanings created by these two distinct semiotic sources. We collected the GAs of all 129 open-access research articles published in the journal <em>Cell</em> throughout 2023. Using edge detection and manual checks, we decomposed these GAs into basic textual and visual units. Each basic textual unit (BTU) was paired with its visual correlates through an analytical procedure that considers both visual and semantic clues. We categorized the ideational interplay within each textual-visual pair using a framework adapted from Unsworth's (2007) taxonomy. Our findings reveal that textual elements are integral to this visually prominent genre, and the ideational textual-visual interplay exhibits several realization patterns that can serve as practical references for effective GA design. These insights may inform future research and practices in the design of graphical abstracts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"78 ","pages":"Pages 156-179"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Meeting the needs of EAP students in Canadian colleges: Insights from a needs analysis study

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-01-21 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2025.01.001

Valerie Smith , Sheila Windle , Leanne Johnny

{"title":"Meeting the needs of EAP students in Canadian colleges: Insights from a needs analysis study","authors":"Valerie Smith , Sheila Windle , Leanne Johnny","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.01.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2025.01.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article presents the findings of a mixed-methods study conducted on the writing needs of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students at a Canadian college. While numerous studies have explored the writing needs of EAP students entering university programs, this study examines the unique needs of EAP learners who transition into the more vocationally oriented Canadian college system. The study draws primarily on a sample of 44 participants enrolled in a college post-secondary program who had completed the college's EAP program prior to beginning their program of study. Participants completed surveys examining the usefulness and alignment of the skills and genres learned in EAP for their college programs. Focus group data from 11 student participants and 7 professors was also collected and used for triangulation purposes. The findings offer insights into students' perceptions of the most critical skills and assignment types within a Canadian college milieu, which include the prevalence of vocational writing types, research assignments and group writing. The study also revealed that participants believed there was a strong connection between completing an EAP program and success in later college programs of study. Pedagogical implications for EAP college writing programs are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"78 ","pages":"Pages 139-155"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Authorial identity construction through implicit stance-taking in the introduction of research articles

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2025-01-07 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.003

Yajing Wu

{"title":"Authorial identity construction through implicit stance-taking in the introduction of research articles","authors":"Yajing Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stance is an important resource for the construction of authorial identity. However, much attention has been paid to explicit self-mentions (e.g., <em>I/we</em>), and very little is known about how authorial identities are constructed through implicit stance resources across disciplines. Drawing upon an adapted stance model from Hyland (2005a), this research explores authorial identities constructed through implicit stance resources in 120 introductions of research articles from both soft (i.e., philosophy and linguistics) and hard (i.e., bioscience and materials science) disciplines by using mixed methods. Findings show that: (1) In the construction of opinion holders, with the exception of linguistics, all disciplines tend to employ certainty-indicating boosters rather than fact-asserting boosters to express their opinions; authors of soft disciplines tend to employ commitment hedges, while authors of hard disciplines tend to employ accuracy-oriented hedges. (2) In the construction of evaluators, all disciplines predominantly employ assessment markers and rarely use emotional markers; authors of linguistics use less significance markers than those of hard disciplines to highlight the research value. These nuanced findings are beneficial for teaching students to construct discipline-recognized authorial identities in academic writing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"78 ","pages":"Pages 88-108"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Assessing the language needs of L2 English student pilots preparing for flight training in English-speaking countries

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2024-12-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.007

Maria Treadaway, John Read

{"title":"Assessing the language needs of L2 English student pilots preparing for flight training in English-speaking countries","authors":"Maria Treadaway, John Read","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>After COVID-19, pent-up demand for worldwide travel is driving recruitment of commercial pilots from non-English-speaking backgrounds who need to speak English as the language of international aviation. However, within aviation training environments, organisations delivering flight training programs to student pilots often use English language tests not designed to target their specific needs. Therefore, this study offers an investigation into the language training needs of English L2 student pilots about to undertake practical flight training in an English-speaking country. A quantitative survey collected data from 56 student pilots while semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 subject-matter experts. Findings revealed that the language proficiency required by the student pilots should be situated within the specific communicative events of this target language use (TLU) domain. This investigation enabled the creation of diagnostic language tests, tailored to this specialised context. As such, the study contributes to an understanding of the test tasks that could be incorporated by ESP specialists into their assessment of student pilots undertaking practical flight training. It also sheds light on the linguistic specificity of the aviation training environment and its challenges, made more complex by attitudinal and cultural influences, which impact ESP teaching and learning within this domain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"78 ","pages":"Pages 125-138"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

When Methods and Results intertwine: An exploration from congruent and metaphorical construal

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2024-12-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.001

Yingyu Wang (瑛宇王)

{"title":"When Methods and Results intertwine: An exploration from congruent and metaphorical construal","authors":"Yingyu Wang (瑛宇王)","doi":"10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Structural variation in research articles is a significant challenge in the pedagogy of academic writing. One crucial reason for this is our limited understanding of how changes in one section can lead to a series of adjustments in other sections. To address this issue, this paper investigates the rhetorical impact on Results when the Methods is placed at the end of the articles. It is found that to clarify the process of generating results and demonstrate rigor, Researchers’ action often intertwine with Finding presentation in 10 distinct patterns. Of these, six patterns (three congruent and three metaphorical) are responsible for construing consequential relation between the categories; four patterns (two congruent and two metaphorical) are responsible for construing proving relation between the categories. The congruent and incongruent patterns are different subtly: the logical relations in the congruent patterns tend to be simple and vague, whereas metaphorical patterns significantly enrich and clarify the relation by using material verbs, relational verbs, and prepositions. More importantly, the metaphorical patterns construe a more abstract scientific world than the congruent patterns do. The findings have implications for academic discourse research and pedagogical practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47809,"journal":{"name":"English for Specific Purposes","volume":"78 ","pages":"Pages 109-124"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

IF 3.2 1区文学

English for Specific Purposes Pub Date : 2024-12-26 DOI: 10.1016/j.esp.2024.12.005

An Cheng

引用次数: 0