Pragmatic force modifiers in English-medium master's thesis defenses in Taiwan universities

A check list and population trends of invasive amphibians and reptiles in Taiwan

“…Based on morphology, one of us, Dr. Yi-Ju Yang, confirmed that this was the first record of K.pulchra in Taiwan. From the analysis of their mitochondrial genes, this species in Taiwan does not seem to have originated from nearby China (Lin 2007) and the origin of this frog remains unknown. Linyuan District is adjacent to Kaohsiung Harbor with many wood processing plants around this region and it is believed the species have entered via this route, as has been found to be the case in New Zealand (Gill et al 2001).…”

“…Because the species burrows under the soil (especially in the dry season), evaluation and removal of this long-lived frog is difficult. Typhoons and floods, as well as occasional release by pet keepers (Lin 2007), further facilitate their dispersal. The species has low mobility and thus eliminating it might be possible during the early stages of invasion; yet this phase seems to have passed in Taiwan and successful eradication seems unlikely.…”

Current trends in ESP research in the Asia Pacific region

“…The increase in EMI across the Asia Pacific region has spurred research into the teaching English for academic purposes in this region – see, for example, the studies by Chan (2018) and Wu (2019) described in subsection 3.2 above and linguistic inquiry type studies, such as Dang (2018) and Lin (2020), described in subsection 3.4 below. However, publications directly about EMI itself have only recently began to emerge in the ESP literature.…”

“…Socio-cultural differences in specific purpose language use Lin (2020) reports an inquiry into the master's thesis defense (the oral examination) that drew on the question-answer sessions in English-medium defenses at universities in Taiwan to investigate participants' use of pragmatic-force modifiers, linguistic devices, such as maybe, just, actually, that strengthen or weaken the force with which ideas are expressed, and which have important textual and interpersonal functions. A major focus of the inquiry was an analysis of committee members' and master's candidates' use of the modifiers in relation to their roles in the defense.…”

“…As a result, English has morphed in Asian contexts from being a foreign language for potential use in study abroad contexts to being a second language for disciplinary study in local contexts. The shift to English as a medium of instruction has become a major means by which many universities in Asian, such as Taiwan and South Korea, seek to globalize higher education and enhance their competitiveness in order to attract more international and local students (Lin, 2020, p. 30).…”