Discipline, level, genre : Integrating situational perspectives in a new MD analysis of university student writing
- Submitting institution
-
Coventry University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 19397834
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
-
10.1093/applin/amy005
- Title of journal
- Applied Linguistics
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 646
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 0142-6001
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- March
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
2
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This is a piece of empirical research, published in one of the foremost journals in the field of applied linguistics. It aims to enhance understanding of the way lexical and grammatical constructions combine in university-level student writing, and to inform the practice of academic writing teachers, curriculum planners and materials developers involved in the teaching of English for General or Specific Academic Purposes.
The research extends current knowledge by presenting an original model for the distribution of linguistic features across types of student writing. It draws on a dataset larger and more representative than those used in similar studies, and builds on our earlier analysis of this dataset (Gardner & Nesi 2013), which was able to achieve considerable influence and push the field forward. The research presented here considered twice as many lexico-grammatical features as our previous study (about 150), using factor analysis to identify frequently co-occurring clusters of features, and assign each text its own dimension scores. Significant differences were found in the mean dimension scores of texts grouped in different disciplines, genres, and levels of study, revealing very different registers in the Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities, and in essays, reports and reflective texts. Comparisons across levels demonstrate, inter alia, how upper-level students produce significantly more informationally dense text.
The research combines methods generally associated with computational linguistics with those of discourse analysis and theoretical linguistics (lexicogrammar). The resulting four-dimensional model, and our interpretations of these four dimensions as they apply to discipline, genre and level, provide a theoretical basis for further research into aspects of academic discourse. The article seeks to influence the examination of written texts produced across disciplines (engineering, dentistry, international relations), and in professional settings.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -