Using a stance corpus to learn about effective authorial stance-taking: a textlinguistic approach

Abstract

Presenting a persuasive authorial stance is a major challenge for second language (L2) writers in writing academic research. Failure to present an effective authorial stance often results in poor evaluation, which compromises a writer's research potential. This study proposes a ''textlinguistic'' approach to advanced academic writing to complement a typical corpus approach that is oriented toward exploring lexico-grammatical patterns at the sentence level. A web-based stance corpus was developed which allowed the users to study both the linguistic realizations of stance at clause/sentence level and how stance meanings are made at the rhetorical move level. The assumptions the study tested included: (1) whether a textlinguistic approach assists L2 writers to polish their research argument particularly as a result of improved stance deployment, and (2) whether the web-based corpus tool affords a constructivist environment which prompts the learners to infer linguistic patterns to attain deeper understanding. Seven L2 doctoral students in the social sciences were recruited. The results indicate a positive relationship between writing performance and more accurate use of stance. However, the application of higher order cognitive skills (e.g., inferring and verifying) was infrequent in the corpus environment. Instead, the writers used more lower-level cognitive skills (e.g., making sense and exploring) to learn. The participants accessed the integrated ''context examples'' most frequently to guide their learning, followed by rhetorical ''move examples'' and clause-based ''stance examples''. This suggests that the learning of stance is critically contingent on the surrounding contexts. Overall, the study reveals that effective authorial stance-taking plays a critical role in effective academic argument. To better assist L2 academic writers, incorporating more (con)textual examples in computer corpora tools is recommended.

English for Scientific Purposes (EScP): Technology, Trends, and Future Challenges for Science Education

“…To sum up, based on the studies related to EScP published in 2008-2012, it is suggested that science instructors should turn teacher-centered courses into student-centered instruction by using data-driven approaches such as the corpus studies by Chang (2012), Lin and Evans (2012) and Soler (2011). Critical reviews on global forums and asynchronous online discussions (AOD) can also shift the paradigm to student-centered instruction (Loncar et al 2014).…”

“…Yet, it seems tough in the present education system despite calls for the field to move in this direction (Cargill et al 2012). Second, English-Mediated science instruction and EScP material development should be based on scientific disciplinary culture differences since it provides suitable courses and materials for the target students (Chang 2012;Lin and Evans 2012). As seen in the methodology column in Table 5, students' language needs are often met via corpus studies, which contain the target learner's authentic language needs-the standardized, scientific language used by the international scientific community (Chang 2012;Lin and Evans 2012;Soler 2011).…”

“…Second, English-Mediated science instruction and EScP material development should be based on scientific disciplinary culture differences since it provides suitable courses and materials for the target students (Chang 2012;Lin and Evans 2012). As seen in the methodology column in Table 5, students' language needs are often met via corpus studies, which contain the target learner's authentic language needs-the standardized, scientific language used by the international scientific community (Chang 2012;Lin and Evans 2012;Soler 2011). Teachers without a strong scientific research background, who could be asked to teach ESP and EScP courses due to their language instruction expertise (Butler 2005), can also consult the relevant corpora to determine the exact authentic language needs within a scientific field.…”

“…There are five studies in 2008-2012 addressing the future implications for EScP teachers such as raising their awareness of the In the past 5 years, only one study (Cargill et al 2012) pointed out the challenges facing EScP instruction, which refers to the collaboration between English language teachers and content subject teachers. The other four studies are related to the future of EScP teaching directions, in which two (Chang 2012;Lin and Evans 2012) focused on the influence of discipline-specific differences in English speaking and writing, and two (Soler 2011;Thøgersen and Airey 2011) emphasized the impact of language on the form of instruction. As Thøgersen and Airey (2011) maintain, in English-Mediated Instruction, where English is the main language in an academic context, science instruction courses should be more formal in terms of rhetorical style compared with L1 instruction.…”

“…Golonka et al (2014) classification of the strength of the empirical research effectiveness provides an effective way to analyze a research paper's methodology (see Table 8). Chang's (2012) study of question types is a moderately strong study due to design limitations-a small sample size of 15 lectures. Three groups are analyzed using an established taxonomy, but the results would be stronger with a more precise statistical analysis.…”