A genre-base investigation of theme : product and process in scientific research articles written by NNS novice researchers
This multi-method study presents an exercise in applied discourse analysis conducted within the broad framework of systemic-functional linguistics. The theoretical part of the work explores the relationship between one functional component of language, Halliday's notion of Theme, and the characterisation of a particular genre, the scientific research article (RA). Relevant literature on a variety of views of genre and Theme in the traditions of English for Academic Purposes (FAP) and systemic-functional linguistics is reviewed. The integration of these two levels of functional description is used as a basis for exploring the way in which Theme and generic structure relate to 'successful' processes and products of scientific research communication. The particular educational setting for the applied part of this work is the writing of first scientific RAs in English by NNS (non-native speaker) novice researchers. The primary method of study adopted here is corpus-based and initial discourse-functional analysis and description of marked and unmarked thematic choices are based on a corpus of 36 published RAs in the physical and life sciences written by 'experienced' NSs. This corpus represents a base 'norm' of
Gosden, Hugh Robert Martin
Systemic functional linguistics
A genre-base investigation of theme : product and process in scientific research articles written by NNS novice researchers. This multi-method study presents an exercise in applied discourse analysis conducted within the broad framework of systemic-functional linguistics. The theoretical part of the work explores the relationship between one functional component of language, Halliday's notion of Theme, and the characterisation of a particular genre, the scientific research article (RA). Relevant literature on a variety of views of genre and Theme in the traditions of English for Academic Purposes (FAP) and systemic-functional linguistics is reviewed. The integration of these two levels of functional description is used as a basis for exploring the way in which Theme and generic structure relate to 'successful' processes and products of scientific research communication. The particular educational setting for the applied part of this work is the writing of first scientific RAs in English by NNS (non-native speaker) novice researchers. The primary method of study adopted here is corpus-based and initial discourse-functional analysis and description of marked and unmarked thematic choices are based on a corpus of 36 published RAs in the physical and life sciences written by 'experienced' NSs. This corpus represents a base 'norm' of
genre base investigation theme product process scientific article_write nns novice researcher multi_method study present exercise applied discourse_analysis conduct_within broad_framework systemic_functional_linguistics theoretical part work explore_relationship functional component language halliday notion theme characterisation particular genre scientific article relevant_literature variety view genre theme traditions english academic systemic_functional_linguistics review integration two_level functional description use_basis explore_way theme generic structure relate successful process product scientific communication particular educational setting applied part work write first scientific ras english nns non_native_speaker novice researcher primary method study adopt corpus_based initial discourse functional analysis description mark unmarked thematic choice base_corpus publish ras physical life write experienced nss corpus represent base norm