A Genre Analysis of English and Chinese Legal Research Article Abstracts: A Corpus-based Approach

Authors

  • Jing Duan Southwest University of Political Science and Law
  • Jing Wei Southwest University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1205.21

Keywords:

legal RA abstracts, genre, move analysis, move structure

Abstract

Research article (RA) abstracts are generally viewed as the gateway to know the gist and major findings of a study. They also function as a “promotional” genre to attract readers’ interest and increase readership so as to better engage the authors in the academic communities. Although RA abstracts as a genre have been gaining more attention over the years, there is still a lack of study on RA abstracts in the field of law, let alone cross-linguistic study concerning them. Therefore, this study investigates English and Chinese legal RA abstracts from the perspective of genre, analyzes their move structures, frequency and features, and then compares the similarities and differences of them in two different languages. To this end, a corpus consisting of 60 RA abstracts was compiled, 30 randomly selected from three prestigious English law journals and 30 from three Chinese law journals. The move analysis was conducted based on an adjusted model of four moves. The results reveal that the moves of Introduction, Gap-filling and Contribution are obligatory while that of Methodology is optional in both languages. However, English abstracts, with more complicated move structures than Chinese ones, tend to state explicitly the purposes of study while Chinese abstracts show a preference for pointing out the “Gap” first.

Author Biographies

Jing Duan, Southwest University of Political Science and Law

School of Foreign Languages

Jing Wei, Southwest University

College of International Studies

References

Agathopoulou, E. (2009). Characteristics of high-rated and low-rated conference abstracts: a genre-based analysis. In K. Katsaboxaki-Hodgets (ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference Options and Practices of LSP. University of Crete. Crete: Crete University Press:150–70.

Alhuqbani, M.N. (2013). Genre-based analysis of Arabic research article abstracts across four disciplines. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 3(3): 371-382.

Bazerman, C. (1984). Modern Evolution of the Experimental Report in Physics: Spectroscopic Articles in Physical Review, 1893-1980. Social Studies of Science, 14(2): 163-196.

Berkenkotter, C., & Huckin, T. N. (1995). Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary Communication: Cognition/culture/power. Hillsdale, NJ, L. Erlbaum Associates.

Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing Genre: Language Use in professional settings. London: Longman.

Bhatia, V. K. (2004). Worlds of Witten Discourse: A Genre-based View. London: Continuum.

Bhatia, V. K. (2008). Towards critical genre analysis. London: Routledge.

van Bonn, S., & Swales, J. M. (2007). English and French journal abstracts in the language sciences: Three exploratory studies. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(2): 93-108.

Cao, Y., & Xiao, R. (2013). A multi-dimensional contrastive study of English abstracts by native and non-native writers. Corpora, 8(2): 209-234.

Cavalieri, S. (2014). Variation across disciplines. The case of applied linguistics and medicine. In M. Bondi, & R. Lorés Sanz (Eds.), Abstracts in academic discourse: Variation and change, Bern. Germany: Peter Lang: 161-174.

Cross, C., & Oppenheim, C. (2006). A genre analysis of scientific abstracts, Journal of Documentation, 62(4):428-446.

Chu, J. W., & Jiang, Y. (2018). A corpus-based study of engagement resources in English abstracts of medical research articles by Chinese and Native English authors. Medical Education Research and Practice, 26(1): 134-139.

Diani, G. (2014). On English and Italian research article abstracts: Genre variation across cultures. In M. Bondi, & R. Lorés Sanz (Eds.), Abstracts in academic discourse: Variation and change, Bern. Germany: Peter Lang: 65-83

Doró, K. (2013). The rhetoric structure of research article abstracts in English studies journals. Prague Journal of English Studies, 2 (1): 119-139.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: A critical study of language. London: Longman.

Ghasempour, B., & Farnia, M. (2017). Contrastive move analysis: Persian and English research articles abstracts in law. The Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 5(4): 739-753.

Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. Edward Arnold, London.

Halliday, M. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Hartley, J. (2003). Improving the clarity of journal abstracts in psychology: The case for structure. Science Communication, 24 (3): 366-379.

Hasan, R. (1977). Text in the Systemic-Functional Model. In W. Dressler (ed.) Current Trends in Text Linguistics. 228-246, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Hatzitheodorou, A.-M. (2014). A genre-oriented analysis of research article: Abstracts in law and business journals. In M. Bondi, & R. Lores Sanz (Eds.), Abstracts in academic discourse: Variation and change. Bern, Germany: Peter Lang: 175-198.

Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. London: Longman.

Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.

Kanoksilapatham, B. (2005). Rhetorical structure of biochemistry research articles. English for Specific Purposes, 24 (3): 269-292.

Lewin, B.A., Fine, J., & Young, L. (2001). Expository Discourse: A Genre-Based Approach to Social Science Research Texts. London and New York: Continuum.

Lorés, R. (2004). On RA abstracts: From rhetorical structure to thematic organization. English for Specific Purposes, 23(3): 280‐302.

Majid, T. G., & Omid, T. (2018). A structural move analysis of the abstract section of ISI articles of Iranian and native scholars in the field of agricultural engineering. International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 7(3): 109-122.

Marefat, H., & Mohammadzadeh, S. (2013). Genre analysis of literature research article abstracts: A cross-linguistic, cross-cultural study. Applied Research on English Language, 2(2): 37-50.

Martin. J. R. (1992). English Text: System and structure. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Martín-Martín, P. (2003). A genre analysis of English and Spanish research paper abstracts in experimental social sciences. English for Specific Purposes, 22(1): 25-43.

Miller, C.R. (1984). Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70(2): 151-167.

Nwogu, K. N. (1991). The structure of science popularizations: A genre-analysis approach to the schema of popularized medical texts. English for Specific Purposes, 10(2): 111-123.

Pho, P. D. (2008). Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies, 10(2): 231-250.

Saboori, F., & Hashemi, M.R. (2013). A cross-disciplinary move analysis of research article abstracts. International Journal of Language learning and Applied Linguistics World, 4 (4): 483-496.

Salager-Meyer, F. (1990). Discoursal flaws in medical English abstracts: a genre analysis per research- and text- type. TEXT, 10(4): 365-384.

Salager-Meyer, F. (1992). A text-type and move analysis study of verb tense and modality distribution in medical English abstracts. English for Specific Purposes, 11(2): 93-113.

Santos, M. B. D. (1996). The textual organization of research paper abstracts in applied linguistics. TEXT, 16(4): 481-499.

Santos, V. B. M. P. D. (2002). Genre analysis of business letters of negotiation. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2): 167-199.

Stotesbury, H. (2003). Evaluation in research article abstracts in the narrative and hard sciences. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2(4): 327-341.

Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2009). Abstracts and the writing of abstracts. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Tankó, G. (2017). Literary research article abstracts: An analysis of rhetorical moves and their linguistic realizations. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, (27), 42-55.

Tseng, F. (2011). Analysis of move structure and verb tense of research article abstracts in applied linguistics. International Journal of English Linguistics, 1 (2): 27-35.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1980). Macrostructures: An interdisciplinary study of global structures in discourse, interaction, and cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Zhao, Y. Q., Liu, L. D., Deng Y. C. et. al. (2019). The move-step analysis of international literary research article abstracts. Foreign Languages Research, 173 (1): 18-23.

Downloads

Published

2021-09-01

Issue

Section

Articles