Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 14. Number 2 June 2023 Pp. 360-377
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no2.25
Asserting Authorial Identity through Stance and Voice: Expert vs. Novice Scientific
Writers
Nurul Naimmah Hamdan
Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Corresponding Author: naimmah@utm.my
Ummul K. Ahmad
Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Received:02/24/2023 Accepted:06/23/2023 Published: 06/29/2023
Abstract:
Successful scientific writers make use of various lexico-grammatical features to assert their authorial voice in ways that their target audience finds most convincing. While many studies have focused on the use of stance markers in scientific writing, very few have reported on the voice construction of Malaysian scientific writers. To address this, this paper reports a three-way comparative study of stance-taking made by Malaysian scientific writers, their international counterparts as well as novice writers. Analyses were conducted on a 1.2-million-word corpus of 212 published research articles written by local and international writers and 14 unpublished papers by local writers. Using Hyland’s (2005b) taxonomy of authorial stance markers, we found that both Malaysian experts and their international counterparts displayed similar patterns, albeit different approaches to stance-taking. In particular, Malaysian experts were found to prefer boosters the most when establishing their niche, while their international counterparts chose to use first-person plural pronouns and hedges for positioning their results. Novice writers, on the other hand, consistently showed a lack of strategies but tended to take an attitudinal stance in the discussion and conclusion segments. The differences found in novice and expert writers as well as between Malaysian writers and their international counterparts, point towards the complexity of stance-taking and stance-marking in research writing. This study shows that linguistics devices for marking attitudinal commitments towards propositions possibly mark individual aspects of voice and contribute to a broader conception of a writer’s self-representation within a text.
Keywords: authorial identity, novice vs. experts, scientific writing, stance-taking, voice
Cite as: Hamdan, N. N., & Ahmad, U. K. (2023). Asserting Authorial Identity through Stance and Voice: Expert vs. Novice Scientific Writers. Arab World English Journal, 14 (2) 360-377.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no2.25
References
Abdollahzadeh, E. (2011). Poring over the findings: Interpersonal authorial engagement in applied linguistics papers. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(1), 288–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.019
Adams, J., Pendlebury, D., Rogers, G.,& Szomszor, M.(2019). Global Research Report – South and East Asia. Institute of Scientific Information.
Akinci, S. (2016). A cross-disciplinary study of stance markers in research articles written by students and experts, (Unpublished Graduate Master’s thesis).Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Aull, L. L., & Lancaster, Z. (2014). Linguistic markers of stance in early and advanced academic writing: A corpus-based comparison. Written Communication, 31(2), 151-183.
Beaufort, A., & Williams, J. A. (2005). Writing history: Informed or not by genre theory? In A. Herrington, & C. Moran, (Eds.), Genre across the curriculum (pp. 44-64), Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.
Biber, D. (2006). Stance in spoken and written university registers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5, 97-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2006.05.001
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow. UK: Pearson Education.
Casanave, C. P., & Vandrick, S. (2003). Introduction: Issues in writing for publication. In C. P. Casanave& S. Vandrick (eds.), Writing for scholarly publication (pp. 19-34). New York: Routledge.
Chang, Y.-Y., & Swales, J. (1999). Informal elements in English academic writing: Threats or opportunities for advanced non-native speakers? In C. N. Candlin, & K. Hyland, (eds.), Writing: Texts, processes, and practices (pp. 145-167). London: Longman.
Charles, M. (2006). The construction of stance in reporting clauses: A cross-disciplinary study of theses. Applied Linguistics, 27(3), 492–518. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml021
Crosthwaite, P., Cheung, L., & Jiang, F. (Kevin). (2017). Writing with attitude: Stance expression in learner and professional dentistry research reports. English for Specific Purposes, 46, 107–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2017.02.001
Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. M. (2004). Multilingual scholars and the imperative to publish in English: Negotiating interests, demands, and rewards. TESOL Quarterly, 38(4), 663. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588284
Davis, M. (2013). The development of source use by international postgraduate students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(2), 125–135. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jeap.2012.11.008
de Magalhães, M. B., Cotterall, S., & Mideros, D. (2019). Identity, voice, and agency in two EAL doctoral writing contexts. Journal of Second Language Writing, 43, 4-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2018.05.001
Ding, H. (2008). The use of cognitive and social apprenticeship to teach a disciplinary genre: Initiation of graduate students into NIH grant writing. Written Communication, 25(1), 3–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088307308660
Flowerdew, J. (2008). Scholarly writers, who use English as an Additional Language: What can Goffman’s “Stigma” tell us? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(2), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2008.03.002
Flowerdew, J. (2015). Some thoughts on English for research publication purposes (ERPP) and related issues. Language Teaching, 48(2), 250-262. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000523
Flowerdew, J., & Wang, S. H. (2015). Identity in Academic Discourse. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 81–99. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026719051400021X
Groom, N. (2000). Attribution and averral revisited. Three perspectives on manifest intertextuality in academic writing. In P. Thompson (Ed.), Patterns and perspectives: Insights into EAP writing practice (pp. 14–25). Centre for Applied Language Studies. Reading.
Harwood, N. (2005). “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 Pragmatics, 37(8 SPEC. ISS.), 1207–1231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.01.012
He, A. W. (1993). Exploring modality in institutional interactions: Cases from academic counselling encounters. Text, 13(4), 503-528.
Hinkel, E. (1997). Indirectness in L1 and L2 academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 27(3), 360-386. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(96)00040-9
Holmes, J. (1988). Doubt and certainty in ESL textbooks. Applied Linguistics, 9(1), 21-44. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/9.1.21
Hu, G., & Cao, F. (2011). Hedging and boosting in abstracts of applied linguistics articles: a comparative study of English- and Chinese-medium journals. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 2795-2809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.04.007
Hu, G., & Cao, F., (2015). Disciplinary and paradigmatic influences on interactional metadiscourse in research articles. English for Specific Purposes,39, 12-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2015.03.002
Hunston, S., & Thompson, G. (2000). Evaluation: An introduction. In S. Hunston & G. Thompson (Eds.), Evaluation in text: Authorial stance and the construction of discourse (pp. 1–27). London: Oxford University Press.
Hyland, K. (1999). Disciplinary discourses: Writer stance in research articles. In C. N. Candlin, & K. Hyland (Eds.), Writing: Texts, processes and practices (pp. 99-121). London: Longman.
Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Hyland, K. (2005a). Metadiscourse. London. Continuum.
Hyland, K. (2005b). Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse. Discourse Studies,7(2), 173-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605050365
Hyland, K., &Guinda, C. S. (2012). Stance and voice in written academic genres. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hyland, K., & Milton, J. (1997). Qualification and certainty in L1 and L2 students’ writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 6(2), 183–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(97)90033-3
Hyland, K., &Tse, P. (2005). Hooking the reader: a corpus study of evaluative that in abstracts. English for Specific Purposes, 24(2), 123-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2004.02.002
Ivanič, R. (1998). Writing and identity. The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Kim, L. C., & Lim, J. M. H. (2013). Metadiscourse in English and Chinese research article introductions. Discourse Studies, 15(2), 129-146.
Koutsantoni, D. (2006). Rhetorical strategies in engineering research articles and research theses: Advanced academic literacy and relations of power. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5(1), 19–36.
Kwan, B. S. C. (2013). Facilitating novice researchers in project publishing during the doctoral years and beyond: A Hong Kong-based study. Studies in Higher Education, 38(2), 207-225.
Lancaster, Z. (2016). Expressing stance in undergraduate writing: Discipline-specific and general qualities. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 23, 16–30.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge university press.
Lee, J. J., &Casal, J. E. (2014). Metadiscourse in results and discussion chapters: Across-linguistic analysis of English and Spanish thesis writers in engineering. System, 46(1), 39–54.
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing in a global context. The politics and practices of publishing in English. London: Routledge.
Liu, Y., & Zhou, H. (2014). Reporting and stance in second language academic writing. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 37(4), 483-497.
Lorès-Sanz, R. (2011). The construction of the author’s voice in academic writing: The interplay of cultural and disciplinary factors. Text & Talk, 31(2), 173–193
Martín, P., Rey-Rocha, J., Burgess, S., & Moreno, A. I. (2014). Publishing research in English-language journals: Attitudes, strategies and difficulties of multilingual scholars of medicine. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 16, 57-67.
McGrath, L., &Kuteeva, M. (2012). Stance and engagement in pure mathematics research articles: Linking discourse features to disciplinary practices. English for Specific Purposes, 31(3), 161–173.
Mhilli, O. (2023). Authorial voice in writing: A literature review. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 8(1), 100550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100550
Mur-Dueñas, P. (2011). An intercultural analysis of metadiscourse features in research articles written in English and in Spanish. Journal of pragmatics, 43(12), 3068-3079.
Myers, G. (1989). The pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles. Applied Linguistics, 10(1), 1–35.
Paltridge, B. (2002). Thesis and dissertation writing: An examination of published advice and actual practice. English for Specific Purposes, 21, 125–143.
Peacock, M. (2006). A cross-disciplinary comparison of boosting in research articles. Corpora, 1(1), 61-84.
Pennycook, A. (1994). The politics of pronouns. ELT Journal,48(1), 173–178. DOI
Salager-Meyer, F. (1994). Hedges and textual communicative function in medical English written discourse. English for Specific Purposes, 13, 149-170.
Scollon, R. (1994). As a matter of fact: the changing ideology of authorship and responsibility in discourse. World Englishes, 13,34-46.
Scott, M. (2016). WordSmith Tools version 7, Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software.
Soler, V. (2002). Analyzing adjectives in scientific discourse: an exploratory study with implications for Spanish speakers at advanced university level. English for Specific Purposes, 21, 145–165.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University 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, S23–S39.
Tardy, C. M. (2005). “It’s like a story”: Rhetorical knowledge development in advanced academic literacy. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 4(4), 325–339.
Tardy, C. M. (2012). Current conceptions of voice. In K. Hyland, & C. S. Guinda (eds.), Stance and voice in written academic genres (pp. 34-48). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Thompson, G. (2001). Interaction in academic writing: learning to argue with the reader, Applied Linguistics,22, 58–78.
Thompson, G., & Hunston, S. (2000). Evaluation: An introduction. In S. Hunston, & G. Thompson (Eds.), Evaluation in text: Authorial stance and the construction of discourse (pp. 1-27). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vassileva, I. (2001). Commitment and detachment in English and Bulgarian academic writing. English for Specific Purposes, 20(1), 83–102.
Vold, E. T. (2006). Epistemic modality markers in research articles: A cross-linguistic and cross-disciplinary study. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16(1), 61–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2006.00106.x
Watt, E. D. (1982). Authority. London: Croom Helm.
Whitley, R. (2000). The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences(2nd ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
Yasuda, S. (2022). Natural scientists’ perceptions of authorial voice in scientific writing: The influence of disciplinary expertise on revoicing processes. English for Specific Purposes, 67, 31–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2022.03.001
Zhao, C. G. (2019). Writer background and voice construction in L2 writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 37, 117–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.11.004