“I’m Applying Mathematical Methods to Social Sciences” : Norms in Disciplinary Writing and Methodological Paradigms

Abstract

In contemporary academia L2 speakers of English are actively involved in producing research texts in English. Hence, for EAP and ESP researchers it is important to study how L2 speakers write their research and to uncover factors influencing their linguistic and discursive choices. The paper reports on the analysis of 18 interviews with L2 scholars working in the broad domain of social sciences and humanities, some of whom are multidisciplinary researchers. Based on the discussion of epistemic stance expression, the study explores the norms influencing L2 scholars' research writing practices. The results show that along with disciplinary norms, the norms of writing in a certain methodological paradigm seem to be a significant factor shaping research writing. Another important factor influencing linguistic features of research text is journal requirements. The results have pedagogical implications since they reveal the influences that should be taken into consideration by research writing course designers and instructors