A Functional Investigation of Self-mention in Soft Science Master Theses

Afsari, Somaye; Kuhi, Davud

|
|
|
How to cite
RIS EndNote BibTeX APA MLA Harvard Vancouver
|
Share

	A Functional Investigation of Self-mention in Soft Science Master Theses
Article 3, Volume 9, Issue 18, Winter and Spring 2016, Page 49-64 PDF (259.15 K)
Document Type: Research Paper
Authors
Somaye Afsari¹; Davud Kuhi ²
¹Department of English Language, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
²Department of English Language, Maragheh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Maragheh, Iran
Abstract
This study is a quantitative and functional corpus-based study of self-mention in soft science Master theses. One important purpose of this study was to find out the functions of self-mention in soft science Master theses. For this purpose, 20 soft science Master theses in four disciplines (Applied linguistics, Psychology, Geography, and Political sciences), were randomly selected out of the library of four American universities. Five Master theses were selected in each discipline, in a period of seven years (2007-2014). The present study analyzed only the discussion section of these Master theses. The quantitative analysis of the corpus showed that the frequency of the various forms of self-mention in soft science Master theses is quite different. Among the analyzed resources, “I” with the frequency of 49 was the most frequently used first person pronouns. Based on Tang and John’s (1999) taxonomy of the discourse roles of personal pronouns, self- mentions were functionally analyzed. The findings of the functional dimension of the present study showed that the most frequent discoursal role of self-mentions in the corpus was the recounter of research process, whereas the least frequent role was originator.
Keywords
interpersonal resource; master thesis; Metadiscourse; self-mention; soft science


References
Becher, T. (1989). Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines. Milton. Basal. A., & Bada. E. (2012). Use of first person pronouns: A corpus based study of journal articles. Energy Education Science and Technology Part B: Social and Educational Studies, 4(3), 1777-1788. Casanave, C. P. (2003). Looking ahead to more sociopolitically-oriented case study research in L2 Writing scholarship. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 85-102. Chavez Munoz, M. (2013). The “I” in interaction: authorial presence in academic writing.Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Revista de Lingüística y LenguasAplicadas, 8, 49-58. Harris, Z. (1959). The transformational model of language structure. Anthropological Linguistics, 1(1), 27-29. Harwood, N. (2005a). Nowhere has anyone attempted ... In this article I aim to do just that. A corpus-based study of self-promotional I and we in academic writing across four disciplines. Journal of Pragmatic, 37, 1207-1231. doi: 10.1016/j. pragma Harwood, N. (2005b). We do not seem to have a theory ... the theory I present here attempts to fill this gap: Inclusive and exclusive pronouns in academic writing. Applied Linguistic, 26, 343- 375. doi:10.1093/applin/ami012 Hyland, K. (1998a). Persuasion and context: The pragmatics of academic metadiscourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 30, 437-455. Hyland, K. (2001). Humble servants of the discipline? Self-mention in research articles. English for Specific Purposes, 20, 207-226. doi: S0889-4906(00)00012-0 Hyland, K. (2002 a). Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1091-1112. doi: S0378-2166(02)00035-8 Hyland, K. (2002 b). Options of identity in academic writing. ELT Journal, 56, 351-358. Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in writing. London: Continuum. Hyland, K. (2008). Persuasion, interaction, and the construction of knowledge: Representing self and others in research writing. International Journal of English Studies,8 (2), 1-23. Hyland, K. (2009).Writing in the disciplines: Research evidence for specificity. Taiwan International ESP Journal, 1(1), 5-22. Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2004). Metadiscourse in academic writing: A reappraisal. Applied Linguistics, 25(2), 156-177. Ivanic, R. (1998) Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Kuo, C. H. (1999). The use of personal pronouns: Role relationships in scientific journal articles. English for Specific Purposes, 18(2), 121 138. Martinez, I. A. (2005). Native and non-native writers’ use of first person pronouns in the different sections of biology research articles in English. Journal of Language Writing, 14, 174-190. Swales, J.M & Feak, C.B (2003). Academic writing for graduate student. (2^ndedition). The University of Michigan press. Tang, R., & John. S. (1999). The ‘I’ in identity: Exploring writer identity in student academic writing through the first person pronoun. English for Specific Purposes, 18, 23-39. doi: 10.1016/S0889-4906(99)00009-5 Vande Kopple, W. J. (1985). Discourse about discourse. College Composition and Communication, 36, 82-93. Vande Kopple, W. (2002). Metadiscourse, discourse, and issues in composition and rhetoric. In F. Bar-ton & C. Stygall (Eds.), Discourse studies in composition (pp. 91–113). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Widdowson, H. G. (2002). Conceptual and communicative functions in written discourse, Applied Linguistics.
Statistics Article View: 853 PDF Download: 521