刊讯｜SSCI 期刊《专门用途英语》2023年第69-72卷

ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC

PURPOSES

Volume 69-72,2023

ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES（SSCI一区，2022 IF：2.5，排名：33/194）2023年第69-72期共发文66篇，其中研究性论文42篇，书评及文章评论11篇。研究论文主题包括语法隐喻、多语交际对话、词汇习得模式、多模态话语、商务话语模式、慕课等。欢迎转发扩散！（2023年已更完）

往期推荐：

刊讯｜SSCI 期刊《专门用途英语》2022年第65-68卷

目录

VOLUME 69

• Adopting a ‘move’ rather than a ‘marker’ approach to metadiscourse: A taxonomy for spoken student presentations, by Annelie Ädel, Pages 4-18

• High use of direct questions and relative absence of promotional intention in Japanese peer-reviewed research article introductions compared to their English counterparts, by Tomoko Sawaki, Pages 19-32

• Grammatical metaphor across disciplines: Variation, frequency, and dispersion, by Darby McGrath, Cassi Liardét, Pages 33-47

• The development, evaluation and application of an aviation radiotelephony specialised technical vocabulary list, by Jenny Drayton, Averil Coxhead, Pages 51-66

• Modes and intersemiotic cohesion in student presentations performed online: An SF-informed multimodal discourse analysis, by Dennis Lindenberg, Pages 67-79

• Argument not optional: The language of alternatives and recommendations in the case analysis genre, by Silvia Pessoa, Thomas D. Mitchell, María Pía Gómez-Laich, Pages 80-94

• But then something happened: A critical multimodal genre analysis of corporate image repair videos, by Sylvia Jaworska, Pages 95-108

VOLUME 70

• How epidemiologists exploit the emerging genres of twitter for public engagement, by Christine M. Tardy, Pages 4-16

• Multimodal practices of research groups in Twitter: An analysis of stance and engagement, by María-José Luzón, Pages 17-32

• Digital genres: What they are, what they do, and why we need to better understand them, by Diane D. Belcher, Pages 33-43

• A corpus-based genre analysis of promotional-informational discourse in online painting exhibition overviews, by Elvan Eda Işık, Pages 44-56

• Towards a communication-focused ESP course for nursing students in building partnership with patients: A needs analysis, by Qing Huang, Qianwen Joyce Yu, Pages 57-69

• Explaining science to the non-specialist online audience: A multimodal genre analysis of TED talk videos, by Sichen Xia, Pages 70-85

• Figure legends of scientific research articles: Rhetorical moves and phrase frames, by Luda Liu, Feng (Kevin) Jiang, Zhongquan Du, Pages 86-100

• Moving across a genre continuum: Pedagogical strategies for integrating online genres in the language classroom, by Ron Darvin, Pages 101-115

• Exploring the significance of English-based communication for a community of medical academics in a public university teaching hospital in Algeria, by Belkacem Outemzabet, Hanane Sarnou, Pages 116-130

• Authorial stance in citations: Variation by writer expertise and research article part-genres, by Genggeng Zhang, Pages 131-147

• Corpus-based bundle analysis to disciplinary variations: Relocating the role of bundle extraction criteria, by Xia Liu, Shuangling LI, Wenzhang Fan, Qimeng Dang, Pages 151-163

• Science dissemination videos as multimodal supporting resources for ESP teaching in higher education, by Carolina Girón-García, Inmaculada Fortanet-Gómez, Pages 164-176

• Disciplinary and gender-based variations: A frame-based analysis of interest markers in research articles, by Qian Wang, Guangwei Hu, Pages 177-191

• The rhetoric of negation in research articles: A cross-disciplinary analysis of appraisal resources, by Fatemeh Zolfaghari, Pages 192-206

• Coloniality and social sciences research: ERPP realities and border thinking in the Arab world, by Anoud Abusalim, Pages 210-223

• “Doing Explicit” in hospitality and tourism service encounters in English as a lingua franca, by Aonrumpa Thongphut, Jagdish Kaur, Pages 224-236

• Stance constructions in CEO statements of CSR reports of Chinese and US companies,by Jing Liu, Qingrong Liu, Pages 237-251

• A core meaning-based analysis of English semi-technical vocabulary in the medical field, by Chinh Ngan Nguyen Le, Julia Miller, Pages 252-266

• Content adaptations in English-medium instruction: Comparing L1 and English-medium lectures, by Beatrice Zuaro, Pages 267-279

  
  

VOLUME 71

• Podcasts as a resource for learning academic English: A lexical perspective,by Chen-Yu Liu, Pages 19-33

• 'The study has clear limitations’: Presentation of limitations in conclusion sections of PhD dissertations and research articles in applied linguistics, by Hui Zhou, Feng Kevin Jiang, Pages 34-47

• Becoming a member of the business community, by Zuocheng Zhang, Pages 48-50

• Transcending science in scientific communication: Multimodal strategies to incorporate humanistic perspectives in TED talks on biology, by Sichen Xia, Pages 60-77

• Multi-communication in the new normal, by Vicky Margari, Pages 78-86

• Integrating multi-communication research and the business English class, by Julio Gimenez, Pages 87-89

• Frame-based formulaic features in L2 writing pedagogy: Variants, functions, and student writer perceptions in academic writing, by J. Elliott Casal, Jungwan Yoon, Pages 102-114

• Digital mediation in ESP genres, by Christoph A. Hafner, Simon Harrison, Wing Yee Jenifer Ho, Becky S.C. Kwan, Pages 115-122

• Developing an ESP workshop to promote handover practices in nursing communication: A case study of nurses in a bilingual hospital in Hong Kong, by Jack Pun, Pages 123-138

• Toward an empirical understanding of formality: Triangulating corpus data with teacher perceptions, by Tülay Dixon, Jesse Egbert, Tove Larsson, Henrik Kaatari, Elizabeth Hanks, Pages 161-177

• Shell noun phrases in scientific writing: A diachronic corpus-based study on research articles in chemical engineering, by Yunyun Wang, Guangwei Hu, Pages 178-190

  
  

VOLUME 72

• Suitability of TED-Ed animations for academic listening, by Chen-Yu Liu, Pages 4-15

• Becoming a reviewer: Insights from the student and editorial boards of ESPJ, by Averil Coxhead, Jordan Batchelor, Onesmo Mushi, Xixin Qiu, Sunny Hyon, Pages 20-25

• The challenges of radiotelephony communication and effective training approaches: A study of Korean pilots and air traffic controllers, by Youn-hee Kim, Pages 26-39

• A corpus-based study of vocabulary in massive open online courses (MOOCs), by Chen-Yu Liu, Pages 40-50

• The relationship between syntactic complexity and rhetorical stages in L2 learners’ texts: A comparative analysis, by Yujiao Zhang, Jie Cui, Pages 51-64

摘要

Adopting a ‘move’ rather than a ‘marker’ approach to metadiscourse: A taxonomy for spoken student presentations

Annelie Ädel, Department of English, School of Languages, Literature and Learning, Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden.

Abstract In metadiscourse work, what may be called a ‘marker’ approach vastly outnumbers a ‘move’ approach. This has led to a research focus on small units of analysis, typically wordbased, classifying for example the pronoun I as Self-mention. This paper argues that we also need to develop a‘move’ approach in metadiscourse studies, involving a more contextualised analysis of the discourse functions that speakers/writers use metadiscourse to perform. To support such a development, an overview is given of existing functional taxonomies for academic discourse and a specific taxonomy is presented of metadiscursive functions. The taxonomy was originally developed based on academic lectures and student essays, but is further developed as applied to spoken student presentations. The second main contribution of the article is the analysis of student presentations. The material is culled from an MA-level English-language online teaching context and compiled into a corpus of 13 presentations (20,000 words and 169 min of presentation time). The qualitative focus of the study is on the taxonomy for how metadiscourse is performed. Quantitative findings regarding the distribution of different types of metadiscourse functions are also included. Despite the widespread practice of student presentations, they have received very little research attention, but the present study maps their key discourse functions.

Key words：  Metadiscourse， Spoken student presentations，Discourse functions， A ‘marker’ approach，A ‘move’ approach，Taxonomy of metadiscourse

High use of direct questions and relative absence of promotional intention in Japanese peer-reviewed research article introductions compared to their English counterparts

Tomoko Sawaki, Ollera St, Guyra, NSW 2365, Australia

Abstract This study aims to describe the rhetorical features of Japanese and English research article introductions (RAIs) in the discipline of Japanese Literature. The analysis revealed that

significantly more Japanese RAIs used question-raising to establish research niches. Notably, half of the Japanese RAIs that used question raising did not use other Move 2 steps. One-third of the Japanese RAIs used gap indication. These findings suggest not only that establishing a clear niche is relatively unimportant in Japanese RAIs but also that question-raising serves as an effective rhetorical strategy that meets the audience’s expectations. Semantic feature analysis further revealed that the Japanese RAIs were less likely to rely on epistemology, not creating a research space in previous studies. In contrast, the English RAIs were characterized by promotional features such as significantly higher centrality claims. Nevertheless, the overall macro-rhetorical structures between the two datasets were similar. This study found no evidence that Japanese RAIs delay the presentation of research and purpose, contrary to previous reports on other Japanese written genres; however, the Japanese RAIs tended to not detail their research. It was concluded that the Japanese and the English RAIs were organized in a way to satisfy local and international audiences’ expectations, respectively.

Keywords: Rhetorical organization，English for Academic Purposes (EAP)，Research article introduction，Japanese academic writing，Genre analysis，Creating-A-Research-Space (CARS) model

Grammatical metaphor across disciplines: Variation, frequency, and dispersion

Abstract Grammatical metaphor (GM) has been shown to perform a central function in academic prose, enabling writers to reorganise grammatically intricate texts into lexically dense expression. It follows, therefore, that some facility with grammatical metaphor is an important facet of academic literacy. However, due to its contextual nature, the study ofGM has almost entirely been conducted at small scale, precluding a broad understanding of how it is employed in published writing and the extent to which its use varies across disciplines. The current study begins to address these issues with an analysis of GM use in a 200,000-word corpus drawn from samples of 200 research articles across four disciplinary groupings. The 3,480 GMs identified in the analysis were ranked by frequency and dispersion and compared across the four disciplinary groupings. Some variation was detected between disciplines, both in frequency and in the most commonly used forms of GM, but these differences were small, suggesting that a generalised approach to the instruction of GM may be appropriate. The findings from this study can inform both future research into GM use and more accessible and strategic instruction of GM in ESP and EAP classes.

Keywords: Grammatical metaphor, Nominalisation, Disciplinary variation, Research articles

The development, evaluation and application of an aviation radiotelephony specialised technical vocabulary list

Abstract International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard phraseology is an integral element of aviation radiotelephony (two-way radio) communication between air traffic controllers and other aviation personnel. A key issue with standard phraseology in this context is uncertainty as to its role. This is important in the aviation setting as miscommunication can lead to accidents. This paper presents a corpus-based Tower Aviation Radiotelephony Technical Vocabulary List (TARTVL) that is derived from ICAO standard phraseology. The list includes: technical words e.g. taxiway, proper noun classifications e.g. aircraft type, number classifications e.g. headings, acronyms e.g. FOD (Foreign Object Debris) and multiword units e.g. lineup and wait. Evaluation of the list shows that it is a promising training tool. The article discusses how the TARTVL can be used by English for specific purposes (ESP) and content instructors to provide aviation radiotelephony language training for ab initio, first language and non-native English speaking aviation personnel. Such training could help reduce miscommunication in multilingual workplaces, thus enhancing safety in aviation.

Keywords: Aviation industry language training, Aviation technical vocabulary, Aviation communication, Aviation radiotelephony, Air traffic control

Modes and intersemiotic cohesion in student presentations performed online: An SF-informed multimodal discourse analysis

Dennis Lindenberg, Waseda University, Graduate School of Education, 1–6–1 Nishi Waseda, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169–8050, Japan

Abstract This study proposes a multimodal discourse analysis for investigating semiotic resources and intersemiotic cohesion in student presentations online. Data come from seminars in applied linguistics at a private university in Japan. After analyzing elements found in the verbal, paralinguistic, and visual modes, intersemiotic cohesion was identified in the form of reading aloud written text on the slides, verbal references, animations, as well as deictic gestures and word-tracking by cursor movement. A closer qualitative inspection of how students differed in utilizing these cohesive devices revealed considerable variation. Some students focused on verbal and paralinguistic modes and formed vivid narratives through a multimodal ensemble of gestures, sentence stress, and head-nodding, while others were regulated by the visual mode to such a degree that their shared slide became the locus of attentive action. In the latter case it became observable how material resources unique to the online environment were transformed into semiotic resources (i.e., tracking written text with the mouse while reading it aloud). Findings are discussed with respect to both theoretical implications and practical takeaways for doing presentations in an online environment.

Keywords: Multimodal discourse, Student presentations, Visual communication, Computer-mediated communication

Argument not optional: The language of alternatives and recommendations in the case analysis genre

Silvia Pessoa, Thomas D. Mitchell, María Pía Gómez-Laich, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Qatar

Abstract The case analysis is a common assignment in business courses that requires students to use their disciplinary knowledge to identify a company’s problems and propose logical recommendations to solve them (Gardner, 2012; Nathan, 2013). When writing the recommendations section of a case analysis, students are often required to discuss alternatives to their preferred recommendation as part of their argument for it. Despite the central importance of the recommendations section in case analysis writing, there is limited research on how to effectively help students write it. In this paper, we use SFL-basedgenre analysis to analyze how effectively students incorporated and rejected alternatives in a case proposal assignment in an Organizational Behavior (OB) course at an American university’s branch campus in the Middle East. Unlike other research that focuses only on exemplar or successful student writing (e.g., Nathan, 2016; Nesi & Gardner, 2012; Szenes, 2017, 2021), we show a range of representative text patterns, from students who neglected to  take a position on a preferred recommendation, to students who effectively supported a clear position. Our analysis has implications for a range of genres where students need to maintain a consistent stance while arguing for a preferred solution among alternatives.

Keywords: Recommendations, Case analysis, Alternative solutions, rgument, SFL, Genre

But then something happened: A critical multimodal genre analysis of corporate image repair videos

Sylvia Jaworska, Dept of English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, RG6 6UR, UK

Abstract This study explores an emergent genre of corporate image repair videos that were produced and disseminated on YouTube by three large corporations Facebook, Uber and Wells Fargo following major corporate scandals and mismanagement. Utilising a critical multimodal genre analysis, the generic and semiotic features of this new corporate multimodal‘product’ are investigated focusing on meanings, values and beliefs that they interactively produce. The analysis shows how the corporations appropriate the generic structure of the canonical narrative, narrative positionality, narrative frames and audio-visual resources in fresh and creative ways to do repair work and diminish their responsibility for wrongdoings. The analysis raises critical awareness of the ‘dark side’ of generic creativity and innovation in the service of corporate interests and public manipulation. This study is intended as a case study showcasing to the community of ESP students, teachers and researchers a workable approach to explore multimodal practices of professional communication

mediated online.

Keywords: Corporate communication, Image repair videos, Multimodality, Genre analysis, Narrative, Critical ESP

How epidemiologists exploit the emerging genres of twitter for public engagement

Christine M. Tardy, Department of English, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210067, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Abstract With the COVID-19 global pandemic, epidemiologists and other public health professionals have become important sources of insight for the general public. One popular means for reaching public audiences is the microblog Twitter. Understanding how prominent professionals tweet–and what might contribute to the visibility or reach of their tweets–can reveal insights into the emerging digital genres scientists use for communicating across specialist and non-specialist domains. Toward that aim, this study examines the use of Twitter by ten epidemiologists during a one-month period in 2020, focusing specifically on those with a strong following on the platform. The research analyzes 143 high- and low engagement tweets in several genre-related areas: tweet types and elements; tweet topics, purposes, and audiences; and author identities. The study demonstrates that“tweeting science” involves the use of a range of emerging Twitter genres and identities that together engage diverse audiences for purposes. The paper also discusses the implications of this research for genre theory and ESP instruction.

Keywords: Digital genres, Emerging academic genres, Public science,  Genre analysis

Multimodal practices of research groups in Twitter: An analysis of stance and engagement

María-José Luzón, Department of English and German Studies/Research Institute of Employment, Digital Society and Sustainability, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract  Twitter is being increasingly used in academia as a tool for self-promotion, information sharing, networking and public outreach. To achieve these purposes scholars combine a variety of semiotic resources afforded by this social networking site. The aim of this study  is to analyse the use of multimodal semiotic resources to express stance and engagement  in the Twitter accounts of research groups. The data for the study consist of 300 tweets taken from the Twitter accounts of four research groups in two different disciplines  (Chemistry and Medicine). The analysis reveals a high number and variety of stance and engagement resources (the most prominent being attention-getting resources, self-mentions,  and attitude markers), which help research groups to promote their research, make  themselves saliently visible, establish interpersonal rapport with diverse audiences, and  persuade these audiences to perform actions. In these tweets, stance and engagement are expressed by resources found in other academic genres (see Hyland, 2005b), but also by  other resources afforded by the digital medium (e.g. static images, moving images, emoji,  @mentions, hashtags). The study shows that these semiotic resources are orchestrated strategically to achieve the promotional, social networking and persuasive purposes of  tweets composed by research groups.

Keywords: Academic Twitter Digital genres, Stance and engagement, Research groups, Multimodality

A corpus-based genre analysis of promotional-informational discourse in online painting exhibition overviews

Elvan Eda Işık,Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Abstract Online painting exhibition overviews (OPEOs) on websites of art museums and galleries not only promote on-site exhibitions, but also inform and educate the public who might have a limited background in art. Embedding both informational and promotional discourses,  the OPEO displays rhetorical hybridization, which sets it apart from predominantly  univocal genres like art history texts or traditional advertisements. In line with the global increase in the number of art venues, there is a greater demand for art professionals equipped with the written English communication skills necessary to produce OPEOs. This  paper aims to identify the rhetorical moves and key lexico-grammatical features in the previously underexplored genre of OPEOs through the analysis of a 35,175- word corpus of  120 texts obtained from the websites of 20 highly reputed art museums in the UK and the  US. The move analysis reveals five moves and nine steps, which can be categorized into two key discourse types: promotional and informational, according to their communicative functions. Among these, Move 2, ‘justifying the exhibition’, is highly significant as an  obligatory move, and is most commonly recycled across the corpus. The study presents recommendations for ESP pedagogies in raising writers’awareness of the generic features  of OPEOs.

Keywords: Online painting exhibition overview, Move analysis, Genre analysis, Promotional discourse, Informational discourse, Rhetorical hybridization

Towards a communication-focused ESP course for nursing students in building partnership with patients: A needs analysis

Qing Huang, School of Foreign Languages, Huizhou University, Huizhou, Guangdong, China

Qianwen Joyce Yu, Department of English, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Abstract  With the growing popularity of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) nursing courses worldwide, considerable work has gone to identifying the English language learning needs of nurses and nursing students, with their perceptions well documented. However, needs analyses grounded in students’ communicative behaviors in performing nursing tasks are still in their fledging stage. This study offers an ethnographic discourse analytical account of role-play conversations collected from 100 college nursing students in China. It explores nursing students’ communicative practices by identifying the communication patterns that students adopt in a simulated scenario of giving a patient an injection. Findings show students’ awareness of patients’ concern and preferences, and their informational skills such as giving instructions, negotiating treatment options, and explaining medical procedures. Yet students demonstrate a great reliance on prescribed phraseology, struggling to adjust their nursing plan based on differing patient needs. This study sheds light on the specificity of ESP nursing courses and the challenges complicated by the changing nature of the global healthcare landscape, where patient-centered care is prioritized. It also provides implications for ESP curriculum development and highlights the importance of learner-centered tailor-made language instruction.

Keywords: English for nursing, Needs analysis, Ethnographic discourse analysis, Nursing student-patient communication, Injection Partnership in nursing

Explaining science to the non-specialist online audience: A multimodal genre analysis of TED talk videos

Sichen Xia,The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China

Abstract Digital technologies have impacted scientific communication by facilitating developments in forms of expression for scientific genres and contributing to a diversified audience. Recently, a range of digital scientific genres that target not only specialists but also the non-specialist audience have emerged, requiring authors to recontextualize scientific knowledge effectively to meet the needs of a wider audience. One such genre is the TED talk video where scientists deliver speeches to audiences with diverse backgrounds. For such a digital-multimodal genre, language becomes just one element of the assemblage of multimodal semiotic resources that are exploited to explain science, and other semiotic resources are drawn upon in text construction. The present study explores how scientific knolwedge is explained to the non-specialist online audience through the use of generic and multimodal resources in TED talk videos. Adopting theoretical and analytical toolkits from the ESP framework of genre analysis and multimodal analysis, the study investigated twenty-eight TED talk videos on biology created from 2003 to 2018, interviews with insider informants, and community texts that explain the genre. Genre analysis of TED talks reveals that one communicative purpose of TED talks is to explain knowledge to a broad audience and that a rhetorical move named Developing the topic is adopted to achieve this purpose. Multimodal analysis reveals three types of visuals used to realize the move: figurative, graphical, and scriptural. Two types of visual-verbal configurations are also found: concurrence and complementarity. The findings show that visuals are significantly foregrounded when explaining science in TED talk videos. The study suggests that the TED talk video, a web-mediated genre originating from live TED talks, has developed the characteristics associated with the digital form.

Keywords: Genre analysis, Digital mediation, Multimodality, Scientific communication

Abstract Figure legends, descriptive statements accompanying a figure, are short yet important aspects of research articles, but they have almost escaped scrutiny in the literature. Drawing on a corpus of 1,190 figure legends in four science disciplines, this paper explores the structuring of figure legends in terms of rhetorical moves and the typical phrase frames that assist in realizing the communicative purposes of the moves.We identified two highly frequent moves in the figure legends that function to present titles of legends and define graphic items, two regular moves (i.e., account of statistical and experimental details) and three infrequent moves (i.e., result statement, reference of sources of data, and interpretation of results). We further found interesting variations in the use of phrase frames across moves, with the largest number in the move of defining graphic items. Additionally, each move was realized by varying structural and functional phrase frames, but overall, function-word and research-oriented types were the most common. This study adds to our understanding of figure legends and raises pedagogical implications for the teaching of science writing.

Keywords: Figure legends, Genre analysis, Rhetorical moves, Phrase frames, Research articles, Scientific writing

Belkacem Outemzabet, Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Languages, University of Bejaia, Algeria

Hanane Sarnou, Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Mostaganem, Algeria

Abstract This paper provides an in-depth and holistic description of the significance of English language use for a community of university hospital professors in a public university teaching hospital in Algeria. The research follows an exploratory qualitative study methodology. The participants included 26 community members who agreed to take part in focus group interviews, in addition to complementary in-depth interviews and field observations. The study revealed a complex linguistic situation that is characterized by multilingualism, diglossia, code switching, and code mixing. English is used in the traditional domains of research publication and dissemination but has also expanded to the formerly French-medium medical domains such as professional, vocational, educational, and social communication. Community members’ need to use English is motivated by their attempt to integrate into the international medical community through the practice of a variety of skills and tasks organised as domain-related task repertoires. The use of information and communication technologies and participation in international medical conferences have also increased the need for English language use. These results can be used for future ESP research on English for medicine involving the design of English for medical purposes curricula, materials and assessment models, and data collection instruments.

Keywords: English-based communication, Language needs, Language practices, Language use domains, Medical academics, University hospital professors

Genggeng Zhang,Department of Applied Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University 312 Sparks Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

Abstract Citation, as an explicit marker of the social nature of the academic discourse, reflects writers’ positioning vis-à-vis the cited scholars and anticipated readers and plays a crucial role in the construction and acceptance of claims in a research community. While most studies focused on the forms and functions of citations, few studies explored the authorial stance writers displayed in citations, and even fewer examined the citation practices of emerging scholars in engineering disciplines. Addressing these gaps, this article presents a corpus-based discourse analysis study that adopted an Appraisal Theory inspired citation analysis framework to investigate the stance-related citation patterns in engineering research articles written by doctoral students (n ¼ 17) and published research article writers (n ¼ 17). In-text citations were identified in part-genres (Introduction-Methods- Discussion) and analyzed for the expression of authorial stance by writer expertise. Findings revealed fairly consistent choices of citation forms in the two corpora, and writers were found to adapt their authorial stance and citation forms to the rhetorical needs of a part-genre. However, compared to experts’ more diverse and intricate citation and stance patterns, students relied on a more limited repertoire of strategies. The implications of findings on disciplinary writing research and pedagogy are discussed.

Keywords: Citations Authorial stance, Engineering writing, Appraisal theory, Expertise Research article part-genres

Xia Liu, Shuangling LI,  School of Foreign Languages for Business, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China

Wenzhang Fan, Qimeng Dang, School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China

Abstract Previous lexical bundle research has stimulated heated discussions on disciplinary variations and disciplinary specificity-generality spectrum. The current study explores whether (and how) bundle extraction criteria (i.e. frequency, dispersion, and bundle length) may affect the conclusions on disciplinary variations and specificity-generality. Focusing on eight disciplines, it used an 11-million corpus of academic journal articles with a balanced design (the same number of texts and similar average text length for each subcorpus). The results indicated a clear picture of disciplinary variations and a strong tendency towards disciplinary specificity. More importantly, the results suggested that different methodological criteria played an important part, especially concerning the analysis of disciplinary specificity or generality. The choice of ‘4-word’ bundles over ‘3-word’ bundles, in particular, would tend to be associated with a result of a higher degree of disciplinary specificity. Regarding disciplinary variations, it was found that the effect from different choices of bundle extraction criteria was relatively smaller. Only the choice on different dispersion requirements could predict the significant differences between certain disciplines. These findings provide support for disciplinary variations and new perspectives on the disciplinary specificity-generality debate.

Keywords: Bundle extraction criteria, Disciplinary variations, Disciplinary specificity-generality

Carolina Girón-García, Inmaculada Fortanet-Gómez,Universitat Jaume I, Spain

Abstract In recent years, science dissemination has moved from printed to digital formats, and digital genres such as free access videos, along with their own multimodal characteristics (e.g. image, audio, movement, among others) are particularly relevant in order to meet 21st century users’ (i.e., digital natives) learning needs (Prensky, 2017) and to make them aware of the use of the multimodal traits. However, only a few studies can be found on the use of videos for the dissemination of research in ESP teaching as learning resources in Higher Education (HE) contexts, nor have the multimodal connections embedded in videos which contribute to the engagement of their users been taken into account (Valeiras- Jurado & Bernad-Mechó, 2022). Considering a communicative multimodal procedure in the digital era (Kress, 2010), the objective of this research is to identify the criteria that ESP teachers take into account when selecting this type of video for their courses, as well as the multimodal characteristics of these videos that can be identified and taken into consideration in the classroom. To attain our aim, a questionnaire will be distributed to 10 ESP teachers asking about the criteria they use for the selection of videos (e.g., length, clarity of language, visual aids, subject matter appropriate to the content, difficulty, among other aspects). Secondly, a multimodal discourse analysis of an extract from one of the videos teachers use in their courses will be developed. The teacher who uses this video in his class will be interviewed before and after showing him the multimodal analysis in order to check whether being aware of the video’s multimodal traits can change his criteria for video selection and for class activities related to it. The results of this investigation will serve to offer teachers some support in their selection of appropriate multimodal materials for their ESP courses, as well as pedagogical tips about activities that can enhance the multimodal features of this digital genre.

Keywords: HE, Digital genres, Dissemination, Videos, ESP, Multimodal analysis

Qian Wang, School of Foreign Studies, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

Guangwei Hu, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Abstract Linguistic expressions of interest as emotive responses are not uncommon in academic discourse but have hardly attracted any research attention. This paper reports on a study designed to examine how the deployment of such expressions in academic writing is mediated by an academic author’s disciplinary background and gender. Drawing on a semantic frame developed for interest markers found in a corpus of 640 research articles sampled from four disciplines, corpus-based quantitative analyses were conducted on the incidence of the various elements of the Interest frame. Text-based interviews were also conducted with 16 disciplinary informants to explore considerations behind their use of interest markers. The corpus analyses found that although discipline and gender did not reliably predict academic authors’ overall use of interest markers, they were robust predictors of several frame elements. The analyses of the interview data revealed that the observed quantitative differences were related to disciplinary knowledge-making practices, knowledge/knower epistemological orientations prevailing in the disciplines, gender-preferential discursive practices and an author’s relative status in academia.

Keywords: Interest markers, Frame semantics, Disciplinarity Gender, Research article

Fatemeh Zolfaghari,Center of English Language, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract Research on negation has generally explored the cross-linguistic similarities and differences of a host of widely spoken languages with little attention to its nuances within academic genres and disciplines. Accordingly, and given the co-articulation of negation with various interpersonal and evaluative resources, this study examined appraisal subsystems in 360 research articles on astrophysics, chemistry, geology, psychology, linguistics, and political science (60 papers from each discipline) published between 2018 and 2020. Comparative analyses of appraisal resources revealed significantly greater employment of total engagement and graduation, acknowledge, concede, counter, denial, distance, entertain, pronounce, justifying, affect, judgment, positive polarity of attitude, force, and softening devices in soft disciplines. However, hard sciences allowed denser employment of appreciation, neutral polarity of attitude, and sharpening resources. The results of the text/pragmatic analysis of denial further indicated a stronger preference for disalignment, cautious detachment, and unfulfilled expectations functions in soft sciences and varying negation patterns across both subcorpora. The line-by-line annotations revealed either the independent use of denial markers or their co-articulation with other appraisal options. An important implication of this study is awareness-raising about the rhetorical conventions of maintaining an authorial stance and promoting a sense of disciplinary community.

Keywords: Negation, Appraisal, Research articles, Cross-disciplinary analysis

Anoud Abusalim,American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Abstract This empirical study explores some of the effects of coloniality on social sciences research writing and publishing in the Arab World. The study investigates some aspects of the English for Research Publishing Purposes (ERPP) practices of Arabic-speaking academics who have English as an additional language (EAL) and Native English-speaking (NES) academics who write and publish about issues pertaining to the Arab World, from the Arab World. Employing qualitative interviews, this study examines the accounts of 11 EAL and 11 NES scholars in social sciences (SS) and science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) disciplines about their ERPP practices. The study answers critical questions about the ERPP challenges EAL and NES academics face when writing about their local issues. The study’s findings suggest that SS academics face significant challenges with epistemological dependency, discouraging border thinking, and managing the demands of disciplinary writing conventions. The study’s accounts, from the Arab World, suggest how embracing border thinkers, who employ local and/or Western epistemic frameworks develops academic research and knowledge construction. The study’s findings contribute essential considerations about the necessity of critically approaching the buzzing conversation on decolonization in ESP and ERPP scholarship by recognizing the experiences of EAL and NES scholars with decoloniality.

Keywords: ERPP, Coloniality, Decoloniality, Epistemological dependency, Border thinking

Aonrumpa Thongphut, Jagdish Kaur,Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract In many highly heterogenous hospitality and tourism (HT) settings around the world, English is used to mediate hospitality service encounters. However, little is known about how front-desk staff are able to effectively communicate with international guests of diverse linguacultural backgrounds to deliver quality service. This study investigates the use of communications strategies by Thai front-desk staff that is characterized by increased explicitness in their interactions in English as a lingua franca (ELF) with international tourists. The data comprise 15 h of authentic interactions recorded at three sites: a tour service counter, an airport information counter, and a hotel front office. Using conversation analytic procedures, the analysis reveals the staff’s orientation to explicitness: they repeat key information multiple times to increase its prominence, use explication, circumlocution, and self-reformulation to clarify keywords and repair ongoing utterances to address potential ambiguity. In the absence of overt displays of non/misunderstanding, the staff’s use of multiple explicitness strategies in these short, routine exchanges points to explicitness as a defining feature of ELF HT service encounters. The findings of this study have implications for ESP course development in HT where awareness raising and practice in the use of explicitness strategies should be incorporated.

Keywords: Effective communication, English as a lingua franca (ELF), English for hospitality and tourism, Explicitness strategies, Service encounters

Jing Liu, School of Foreign Languages, Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan, 430205, China

Qingrong Liu, English Department and Research Institute of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

Abstract CEO statements from CSR (corporate social responsibility) reports serve as an important channel to promote the positive image of a company. It is critical for CEOs to take a positive stance to address the company’s strategy to stakeholders. This paper examines grammatical stance constructions that US and Chinese Global Fortune 500 companies employed for establishing a responsible image in CEO statements. Based on 50 US and 50 Chinese CEO statements, the present paper investigates how CEOs use attitudinal, epistemic, and modality stance constructions to introduce their strategies for social responsibility. The findings of the study show that US CEO statements use significantly more attitudinal and epistemic stance constructions than Chinese CEO statements, indicating an affective stance taken by US CEOs. In addition, Chinese CEOs employ stance strategies focusing more on the companies’ competence of environmental protection and self-improvement that conforms to the government policy. By contrast, US CEOs tend to actively present CSR participation in a wider range of social benevolence activities. The present study thus contributes to the increasing scholarly attention to CSR as well as to the understanding of different institutional practice across cultures. The study also provides implications for teaching and learning business writing and communication.

Keywords: CEO statements, Corporate, social responsibility, report, Stance Corpus

Chinh Ngan Nguyen Le, Julia Miller,School of Education, The University of Adelaide, 10 Pulteney Street, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

Abstract  Semi-technical vocabulary, a type of vocabulary with both a technical and non-technical meaning (e.g., colon: part of the large intestine; punctuation mark), is an area of controversy owing to disagreement over its definition and characteristics. While it is widely held that learning technical vocabulary is critical for learners of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), several studies have also focused on semi-technical vocabulary because these words often have multiple meanings, depending on the context, and may therefore be harder to learn and understand than purely technical words. This study aims to revisit semitechnical vocabulary in medicine to address these controversial issues by re-evaluating a 595 semi-technical medical word list developed by Hsu (2013). A core meaning-based analysis identified 302 potentially confusing semi-technical medical words. These are mostly mid-frequency words; some are academic and low-frequency words. The findings also revealed pedagogic challenges associated with word form frequency-based lists deserving of further research.

Keywords: Semi-technical medical, Core meaning, English for Specific Purposes, Wordlist Vocabulary

Beatrice Zuaro,The Open University, School of Languages & Applied Linguistics, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

Abstract  While lecturers’ teaching practices continue to be a focal point of English-medium Instruction (EMI) research, contrastive studies between EMI and L1 lectures remain extremely scarce. The present study addresses this research gap by analyzing five sets of matching L1 and English-medium lectures given in different disciplines at three Italian universities. Each set of lectures is given by the same lecturer, about the same topic. Thus, the study, closely examines the lectures’ content in order to investigate which changes, if any, accompany the linguistic shift from L1 to English-medium teaching. The investigation focuses mainly on quantity and organization of content; nonetheless, other variables (such as speech rate, questions, language alternation), which can play a relevant role towards the organization of the lecture, are also considered. The analysis reveals a high correspondence of the core topics addressed in the lecturers; however, significant differences in the way such knowledge is conveyed are also observed. Such differences are grouped into three categories: differences in content quantity, differences in content selection and differences in rhetorical devices used.

Keywords: English-medium instruction, English, Italy, Lecture observation, Academic discourse, Higher education

Chen-Yu Liu， Language Center, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan

Abstract  As the demand for English for academic purposes (EAP) courses increases, efforts are being made to identify pedagogically useful resources for them. Academic podcasts may be helpful for EAP pedagogy, considering their ever-growing stockpile of authentic content covering a wealth of topics from various disciplines that is conveyed in diverse speech formats (e.g., narratives and discussions). Yet, the potential value of podcasts as EAP re[1]sources remains largely unexplored. This study addresses that issue by analyzing the lexical nature of the general, academic, and discipline-specific vocabulary in a 9.6-million[1]word corpus of academic podcasts. The results indicate that these podcasts contain a large amount of frequently used academic vocabulary, but are lexically less demanding than university lectures. As such, they may be especially suitable as learning materials for novice EAP students. The podcasts also contain many disciplinary vocabulary items that are rather infrequent in general English but are essential to discipline-specific speech. Together, these results indicate the strong potential value of academic podcasts to EAP pedagogy, as they create rich opportunities for students to encounter both core academic and discipline-specific vocabulary in use in authentic contexts. Pedagogical suggestions for the use of podcasts in EAP courses are also provided.

Keywords: Academic podcasts, Lexical coverage, Vocabulary demands, Academic vocabulary, Discipline-specific vocabulary, EAP

Hui Zhou, School of Foreign Languages, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, China 

   Feng Kevin Jiang， School of Foreign Language Education, Jilin       University, Changchun, Jilin, China

Abstract How limitations are acknowledged and discussed has a profound impact on the extent the research is evaluated and accepted by its intended readers. However, little attention has been drawn to the presentation of limitations in the EAP literature. This study seeks to remedy the oversight by exploring how this discursive practice is mediated by meta-discourse, how limitations are rhetorically contextualized and how much these rhetorical investments differ between PhD dissertations and research articles in applied linguistics. A corpus-based analysis of 100 PhD dissertations and 200 published articles in applied linguistics shows that PhD dissertation writers make more use of frame markers but less use of code glosses, evidentials, and hedges in the acknowledgment of limitations than published writers do in limitations steps. It is also found that limitations pertaining to the overall quality of research and writers’ competence are far more often self-reported in PhD dissertations than in research articles, and PhD dissertation writers tend to attribute the limitations to situational constraints in research context and unmanageable complexity of research subjects. The results support the two-genre perspective (El-Dakhs, 2018; Kawase, 2015) and demonstrate that discussing limitations is a strategically self-critical but pro[1]motional effort in conclusion sections.

Keywords: Research limitations, Limitations steps, Metadiscourse, PhD dissertations and RAs

Becoming a member of the business community

Zuocheng Zhang,School of Education, University of New England, Australia

Abstract  Becoming is a useful notion for researching ESP learning as ESP is typically viewed as an instructional approach to meeting learner needs by identifying such needs, for example, in terms of language, genres and discourses and explicitly teaching to these needs. What transformation ESP learners experience through ESP learning is highly relevant to the field. Zhang (2013) illustrates this theme by reporting the learning of business genres by Busi[1]ness English Major students at a Chinese university and responses to these students’ business writing by experienced international business practitioners. In this commentary, I offer a critical review of my own earlier work by revisiting the key findings in the original article and their value in light of developments in the field and suggesting several issues for further research.

Keywords: Business English

Sichen Xia，The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China

Abstract  When disseminating science to a general audience it is necessary for scientists to refashion the knowledge to meet the audience’s expectation that science benefits everyday life rather than just the scientific community. One way to realize this is to transcend the description of scientific inquiry to discuss its implications for the society and humanity. Limited research has been conducted to determine whether and how such transcendence is discursively and multimodally achieved. To fill this gap, I adopted a three-phase analytical approach combining genre analysis and multimodal analysis to investigate 28 TED talks on biology and relevant secondary data. The study revealed that some TED presenters in recent years have adopted the Expanding the horizon move to surpass the intellectual dimension of science and help the audience understand the significance of science. Three multimodal strategies were identified: portraying technological innovations cinematically to create a futuristic sense; presenting quotations from non-scientists mul[1]timodally; and strategic use of shots of presenters. The findings suggest a tendency to incorporate “ultra-scientific” perspectives in scientific communication and that multi[1]modal semiotic resources can be useful in such practices

Keywords: Scientific popularization, genre, Genre analysis, Multimodality, Digital media

Julio Gimenez，Westminster Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, University of Westminster, London, UK

Abstract The study reported in Gimenez’s (2014) article investigated multi-communication (MC) practices at four multinationals based in London, UK. Following previous studies, the article defined MC as “the act of holding multiple conversations at the same time” (Gimenez, 2014: 2), expanding the coverage of the term ‘conversation’ to include not only face-to-face but also electronically mediated communication (e.g., talk over the telephone, email, instant messaging [IM]). The study also expanded on previous research by examining the underpinning role of digital media in workplace interactions, and revealed a set of interactional skills, such as ‘thematic threading’, ‘presence allocation’, ‘media packaging’ and ‘audience profiling’, needed to communicate effectively in the contemporary workplace. It also revealed a preference for efficiency rather than effectiveness, highlighting that efficiency “has become a more relevant feature of business communication in today’s highly technicalised workplaces” (p. 3). Based on its findings, the article suggested applications for the business English (BE) class, featuring a number of technology-enhanced tasks that aim at helping students to feel prepared for the communication demands of the contemporary workplace.

Keywords: Multi-communication, Business English, Research-informed pedagogy

Frame-based formulaic features in L2 writing pedagogy: Variants, functions, and student writer perceptions in academic writing

J. Elliott Casal, Department of English, The University of Memphis, Patterson Hall, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA 

Jungwan Yoon, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University, 262 Posner, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

Abstract This paper analyzes formulaic language in conference abstracts in Applied Linguistics and tracks an application of the findings to a second language English academic writing context. Specifically, the authors identify and profile phrase-frames (a form of discontinuous formulaic sequence) in terms of their frequency, internal variation, predictability, structure, and rhetorical functions in a corpus of approximately 1,600 conference abstracts in Applied Linguistics. The analysis informed a corpus- and genre-based second language writing pedagogical intervention on formulaic language, and the paper also presents the experiences of learners through sample student writing, survey, and interview data. Overall, findings highlight the pedagogical potential for including frame-based formulaic language in second language writing pedagogy due to the prevalence and inherent productivity of such features, the clear role they play in signaling functional intentions in rhetoric, and their ability to stimulate reflection and discussion of formulacity in writing more broadly

Keywords: Phrase-frames, Formulaic language, Corpus linguistics, L2 writing instruction, Conference abstracts

Christoph A. Hafner, Simon Harrison, Wing Yee Jenifer Ho, Becky S.C. Kwan, Department of English, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Abstract  This editorial introduces the virtual special issue on digital mediation in ESP genres, bringing together a number of studies presented at LSPPC6: the 6th International Conference of the Asia–Pacific LSP and Professional Communication Association, held in collaboration with the International Society for Gesture Studies - Hong Kong Hub and organized by the Department of English, City University of Hong Kong. The editorial examines: 1) theoretical issues raised by digital mediation, especially with respect to genre theory; 2) communicative practices in digital contexts, expanding the range of descriptions of ESP genres; and 3) implications for ESP pedagogy.

Keywords: Digital genres, Genre analysis English for academic purposes, English for business, Professional communication

Developing an ESP workshop to promote handover practices in nursing communication: A case study of nurses in a bilingual hospital in Hong Kong

Jack Pun, Department of English, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Abstract  Handovers are major clinical tasks in nursing practice involving the transfer of responsibility and accountability for patient care from one nurse to another. As English medium nursing training is increasing, nurses who use English as a second language may find handovers challenging. Ineffective communication during handovers due to incomplete and unstructured information can be a major contributor to patient harm and critical incidents in hospitals. This study evaluates whether ESP workshops can enhance nurses’ communication skills in handovers by incorporating handover protocols (i.e., the use of ISBAR, CARE) for better logical sequencing of clinical information and good quality of interactions between nurses. A 3-hour ESP handover communication workshop was implemented in a hospital in Hong Kong with a study population of 55 nurses. Data were collected through observations, surveys, and interviews and were analysed pre- and post-workshop. The findings indicate that post-workshop both informative and interactive dimensions improved in 1) message delivery after using ISBAR, 2) coherence due to sequential marker use and 3) increased interaction between incoming and outgoing staff as demonstrated by active clarification seeking and comprehension checking. ESP support for nurses should focus on English needs in performing clinical tasks so that optimal care can be provided.

Keywords: English for nursing purpose, Clinical handovers, Discourse analysis, Communication, Hong Kong

Toward an empirical understanding of formality: Triangulating corpus data with teacher perceptions

Tülay Dixon, Jesse Egbert, Oxford College of Emory University, 801 Emory St, Oxford, GA, 30054, USA 

Tove Larsson, Henrik Kaatari, English Department, Northern Arizona University, Box 6032, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA 

Elizabeth Hanks, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden

Abstract  Academic writing is often referred to as “formal,” but the teaching and assessment of formality can be challenging as formality has been conceptualized in many ways. The goal of this study is to explore the elusive construct of formality in the context of academic writing, especially with regard to what formality means to academic writing instructors. We used instructors’ perceptions of formality (i) to identify relationships between the use of linguistic features in academic texts and perceptions of formality and (ii) to determine the extent to which the situational characteristics of texts (e.g., differences in audience, purpose, and discipline) are related to perceptions of formality. Specifically, we asked 72 academic writing instructors to rate the formality level of 60 short academic text excerpts on a five-point scale. The excerpts were sampled from two publication types (university textbooks, journal articles) in three disciplines (psychology, biology, history). Overall, the results indicate that perceptions of formality can be explained by both linguistic features and situational characteristics. As linguistic features and situational characteristics are intertwined, differences in perceptions of formality seem to be functionally motivated. Implications for the teaching of academic writing are discussed.

Keywords: Academic writing, Formality Informality, Register, Linguistic variation, Situational characteristics

Shell noun phrases in scientific writing: A diachronic corpus-based study on research articles in chemical engineering

Yunyun Wang, Guangwei Hu, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, AG430, Core A, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract  A key feature of scientific writing is the use of shell noun phrases to turn human experiences into abstract entities. This paper reports on a diachronic study of shell noun phrases in 120 chemical engineering research articles over a span of 40 years, focusing on their lexico-grammatical patterns, functional categories and alternative expressions. A corpus-based analysis revealed a significant decline of cataphoric shell noun constructions, a substantial decline in discourse and cognition shell noun phrases and concomitant changes in the frequencies of alternative constructions (i.e., reporting clauses). These observed patterns of shell noun use can be explained by the joint influences of a general move toward greater authorial visibility in the academic writing of hard disciplines, disciplinary developments specific to chemical engineering, the informalization of academic discourse in response to the perceived need for knowledge and identity negotiation, and the functional interrelationships among various linguistic resources. They demonstrate that diachronic changes to academic writing are contextually embedded and respond to discipline-internal developments, shifting epistemologies, larger social changes, and the versatility of linguistic resources.

Keywords: Shell nouns, Diachronic change, Chemical engineering, Scientific writing

Chen-Yu Liu, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, 320317, Taiwan

Abstract Amid increasing demand for EAP courses, there is a pressing need to identify suitable materials for EAP instruction. This study examines the suitability of TED-Ed animations for academic listening by exploring the lexical demands, academic vocabulary coverage, lexical density, and speech rates of a corpus of 1,319 such animations covering 12 subject areas. The results show that knowledge of the most frequent 3,000–5,000 word families is necessary to follow TED-Ed animations reasonably well, meaning that they are lexically more demanding than academic lectures. The animations were also found to have a coverage of lower frequency academic words comparable to that of academic lectures, making the former a potentially important resource in which EAP students can encounter important academic words that are seldom used in general English. Moreover, the speech rate of TED-Ed animations is comparable to that of academic lectures, but they are lexically denser, suggesting that – while they may be useful for familiarizing learners with the delivery pace of academic lectures – additional vocabulary support may be needed. Overall, these results support the use of TED-Ed animations as materials for academic listening, but adequate scaffolding and some adjustments will be needed if they are to be integrated effectively into EAP instruction.

Keywords: TED-Ed animations, Lexical demand, Academic vocabulary, Lexical density, Speech rate,  Academic listening

Averil Coxhead, School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 

Jordan Batchelor, Georgia State University, USA 

Xixin Qiu, Pennsylvania State University, USA 

Sunny Hyon, California State University, San Bernardino, USA

Abstract  Reviewing is an important task in one’s academic career. Learning the skills and gaining practice are often overlooked activities in postgraduate education programmes. English for Specific Purposes instituted a Student Editorial Board (SEB) in 2022 and tasked two new Associate Editors to provide mentorship in reviewing over the course of a year. This paper focuses on the key questions which arose through mentoring meetings, such as the processes a paper goes through before it gets sent out for review and how to frame critical and supportive reviews. It also discusses the development of skills through membership in the SEB, drawing on reviews drafted individually over the year and one-on-one mentoring sessions, as well as feedback and group meetings with SEB members, Associate Editors and a very experienced board member. The paper ends with suggestions on how early career academics might become reviewers and ways to approach and respond to a paper as a reviewer. The paper demonstrates that offering SEB positions in journals is beneficial for postgraduate students, editors and the field overall.

Keywords: Journal review, Student board, Training, Peer review

The challenges of radiotelephony communication and effective training approaches: A study of Korean pilots and air traffic controllers

Youn-hee Kim, Korea Aerospace University, South Korea

Abstract The utilisation of Aviation English is paramount in ensuring the safety and efficiency of the aviation industry, and it serves as a preventative measure against incidents and accidents related to communication. This study examines the challenges in radiotelephony communication faced by Korean pilots and air traffic controllers, who are English as a second language (L2) speakers. The study aims to identify the causes of communication difficulties and to explore effective English educational materials to mitigate these difficulties. The research employed a questionnaire to gather the perspectives of pilots and controllers, who are experts in the aviation industry, regarding the issues. The results indicate that communication difficulties are caused by a lack of English language proficiency, excessive use of plain language, rapid rate of speech, and accents that deviate from standard English. Moreover, the results suggest that practical training, using materials such as real transmission voice recordings and diverse vocabulary resources, can enhance speaking and listening comprehension skills in non-routine situations. This study provides valuable insights for the development of effective training programs and materials, which could help reduce communication difficulties and improve the safety and efficiency of aviation operations.

Keywords: Aviation English proficiency, Communication difficulties, Language training materials, Perceptions of pilots and controllers

Chen-Yu Liu, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan

Abstract Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide rich academic content to learners around the world. However, understanding such content is challenging to second-language learners. Given the importance of vocabulary knowledge to comprehension, this study constructed a 10.2-million-word corpus of MOOCs from four disciplinary areas (engineering, humanities and arts, science and math, and social sciences), and examined (a) the lexical demands of MOOCs, (b) the coverage of general and discipline-specific academic vocabulary lists in MOOCs, and (c) the extent to which these lists helped learners with MOOCs’ lexical demands. The results show that – together with proper nouns, marginal words, transparent compounds, and acronyms – the most frequent 3,000 and 4,000 word families of general English respectively provide 90% and 95% coverage of the corpus, indicating that MOOCs are as lexically challenging as university lectures. Also, because both general and discipline-specific academic vocabulary lists provide high coverage of MOOCs, studying them can lower students’ learning burdens and help them achieve higher coverage of MOOCs than learning words by frequency. Lastly, based on learners’ existing vocabulary knowledge and target disciplines, this study provides pedagogical recommendations to teachers on how to employ general and discipline-specific academic word lists as vocabulary support for EAP students.

Keywords: Massive open online courses (MOOCs), Lexical demands, Academic spoken vocabulary, Disciplinary variation, EAP

Yujiao Zhang, Graduate School, Xi'an International Studies University, Xi' an, Shaanxi, China 

Jie Cui, Business School, Xi0 an International Studies University, Xi0 an, Shaanxi, China

Abstract A recent trend in corpus-based genre analysis emphasizes the relationship between syntactic complexity and rhetorical units, with a primary focus on English texts for research and publication purposes. The present study extends this trend into research on argumentative writing, a genre that L2 learners have to write and master, by examining the syntactic features of rhetorical stages and their variation across these stages through a comparative analysis. Based on a corpus of argumentative texts (written by 162 native English speakers and 148 Chinese English learners), analyzed for rhetorical structures and assessed for syntactic complexity, this analysis reveals robust differences between the two writing groups in the syntactic features of specific rhetorical stages. It also shows some consistency but more variation between the two groups in their patterns of syntactic variation across these stages. The findings reveal a strong relationship between syntactic complexity and the rhetorical stages of argumentative texts, thus demonstrating the feasibility and necessity of studying the function-form relationship in L2 learner writing. The authors suggest that genre-based L2 writing teachers should focus on the syntactic features of rhetorical stages and increase students’ awareness of the function-form relationship.

Keywords: Syntactic complexity, Rhetorical stages, Argumentative texts, L2 learners

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