A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals
The emerging abstract genre in scholarly publication has led to the growing concern towards abstracts written by novice writers, in particular non-native English speakers (NNES). This study investigates the rhetorical structures and language features of NNES writers...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
2009
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/1/A%20GENRE%20ANALYSIS%20OF%20ABSTRACTS%20BY%20NON-NATIVE%20ENGLISH%20SPEAKING%20%28NNES%29%20SCHOLARS%20IN%20MALAYSIAN%20JOURNALS%2024%20pgs.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/7/Edward%20Ngui%20How%20Lai%20ft.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848836019488555008 |
|---|---|
| author | Edward,, Ngui How Lai. |
| author_facet | Edward,, Ngui How Lai. |
| author_sort | Edward,, Ngui How Lai. |
| building | UNIMAS Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The emerging abstract genre in scholarly publication has led to the growing concern towards abstracts written by novice writers, in particular non-native
English speakers (NNES). This study investigates the rhetorical structures and language features of NNES writers of English abstracts published in Malaysian
journals.The text analysis on 50 abstracts in 7 local journals from the field of applied linguistics
has found a considerable match with Santos’ (1996) five-
move pattern and Weissberg and Buker’s (1990) verb tenses specifications despite the
variations and problems identified in the corpus.
The results showed that 28 out of the 50 abstracts (56.0%) included the 3 fundamental moves
(i.e. purpose, methodology and results)
in a logical order. Of particular variations were the
two unspecified forms for the background(i.e. practical problem to lead to purpose)and purpose statements(i.e.
presenting outcome/findings) and the preponderant
use of present tense in presenting purpose, methodology and results instead of the past tense.
The four main flaws were the omission of moves(especially the fundamental ones), loss of move status(in particular the methods, results and
discussions), confusion in the order of moves and unsound evaluative claim in the present without modulations.
In addition, the infrequency of extending previous
research (in situating research), reporting the scope of research (in describing
methodology), suggesting solutions to problems (in summarising results) and the
lower tendency to draw conclusion than to give recommendations(in discussing
research) were observed.
This study concludes that NNES should assimilate
prescribed conventions so that their writings conform
to the expectation of the
discourse community they are writing to and simultaneously, fulfill their different
writing needs.The incorporation of findings into instructional materials should emphasise the specific writing skills and problems identified to
enhance NNES’ writing of more effective abstracts. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T06:17:06Z |
| format | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| id | unimas-6916 |
| institution | Universiti Malaysia Sarawak |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T06:17:06Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | unimas-69162023-08-07T04:09:15Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/ A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals Edward,, Ngui How Lai. LB Theory and practice of education PE English The emerging abstract genre in scholarly publication has led to the growing concern towards abstracts written by novice writers, in particular non-native English speakers (NNES). This study investigates the rhetorical structures and language features of NNES writers of English abstracts published in Malaysian journals.The text analysis on 50 abstracts in 7 local journals from the field of applied linguistics has found a considerable match with Santos’ (1996) five- move pattern and Weissberg and Buker’s (1990) verb tenses specifications despite the variations and problems identified in the corpus. The results showed that 28 out of the 50 abstracts (56.0%) included the 3 fundamental moves (i.e. purpose, methodology and results) in a logical order. Of particular variations were the two unspecified forms for the background(i.e. practical problem to lead to purpose)and purpose statements(i.e. presenting outcome/findings) and the preponderant use of present tense in presenting purpose, methodology and results instead of the past tense. The four main flaws were the omission of moves(especially the fundamental ones), loss of move status(in particular the methods, results and discussions), confusion in the order of moves and unsound evaluative claim in the present without modulations. In addition, the infrequency of extending previous research (in situating research), reporting the scope of research (in describing methodology), suggesting solutions to problems (in summarising results) and the lower tendency to draw conclusion than to give recommendations(in discussing research) were observed. This study concludes that NNES should assimilate prescribed conventions so that their writings conform to the expectation of the discourse community they are writing to and simultaneously, fulfill their different writing needs.The incorporation of findings into instructional materials should emphasise the specific writing skills and problems identified to enhance NNES’ writing of more effective abstracts. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2009 Final Year Project Report / IMRAD NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/1/A%20GENRE%20ANALYSIS%20OF%20ABSTRACTS%20BY%20NON-NATIVE%20ENGLISH%20SPEAKING%20%28NNES%29%20SCHOLARS%20IN%20MALAYSIAN%20JOURNALS%2024%20pgs.pdf text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/7/Edward%20Ngui%20How%20Lai%20ft.pdf Edward,, Ngui How Lai. (2009) A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals. [Final Year Project Report / IMRAD] (Unpublished) |
| spellingShingle | LB Theory and practice of education PE English Edward,, Ngui How Lai. A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals |
| title | A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals |
| title_full | A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals |
| title_fullStr | A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals |
| title_full_unstemmed | A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals |
| title_short | A genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (NNES) scholars in Malaysian journals |
| title_sort | genre analysis of abstracts by non-native english speaking (nnes) scholars in malaysian journals |
| topic | LB Theory and practice of education PE English |
| url | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/1/A%20GENRE%20ANALYSIS%20OF%20ABSTRACTS%20BY%20NON-NATIVE%20ENGLISH%20SPEAKING%20%28NNES%29%20SCHOLARS%20IN%20MALAYSIAN%20JOURNALS%2024%20pgs.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6916/7/Edward%20Ngui%20How%20Lai%20ft.pdf |