A Comparative Study of Linguistic Features of English Agricultural Journal Abstracts Written by American and Chinese Scientists
Keywords:
Coh-Metrix;, linguistic features;, agricultural English;, English academic writing;, cross-culture study
Abstract
The present study investigated the variations in linguistic features of English academic writing by American and Chinese scientists by building a corpus of 600 English agricultural journal abstracts and using the natural language processing tool Coh-Metrix. Through a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a discriminant function analysis (DFA), we statistically analyzed the corpus texts based on their lexical, syntactic and cohesive features and generated 8 distinguishing linguistic indices. The results indicated that Chinese scientists tended to write abstracts with more frequent words, more similar sentence structures, more modifiers per noun phrase and more agentless passive voice forms, while the American counterparts tended to write abstracts with a wider range of vocabulary, more specific terms, more words with multiple senses and more adversative connectives. These findings offer good guidance for Chinese scientists to write in a style closer to the agricultural research field and the native speakers so as to get their manuscripts better reviewed and more easily published. These findings also have practical implications for the development of agricultural English teaching materials as well as the curriculum design.
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Johansson, S. (1985). Some observations on word frequencies in three corpora of present-day English texts. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 67, 117-126. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.67-68.08joh
Klare, G. R. (1974). Assessing Readability. Reading Research Quarterly, 10(1), 62-102. https://doi.org/10.2307/747086
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Louwerse, M. A. X. (2001). An analytic and cognitive parameterization of coherence relations. Cognitive Linguistics, 12(3), 291-315. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2002.005
Lu, C. . (2016). Ying yu bei dong ju de yu pian gong neng ping xi [On Textual Functions of English Passive Voice]. Jia Mu Si Zhi Ye Xue Yuan Xue Bao, 160(3), 340-341.
Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical Diversity and Language Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
McCarthy, P. (2005). An assessment of the range and usefulness of lexical diversity and the potential of the measure of textual, lexical diversity (MTLD). Memphis Tennessee: University of Memphis.
McCarthy, P., Briner, S., Rus, V., & McNamara, D. (2007). Textual signatures: Identifying text-types using latent semantic analysis to measure the cohesion of text structures. In A. Kao & S. Poteet (Eds.), Natural language processing and text mining (pp. 107-122).
McCarthy, P., Hall, C., Duran, N., Doiuchi, M., Fujiwara, Y., Duncan, B., & McNamara, D. (2009). Analyzing Journal Abstracts Written by Japanese, American, and British Scientists Using Coh-Metrix and the Gramulator. The ESPecialist: Research in Language for Specific Purposes, 30(2), 141-173.
McCarthy, P., Lewis, G., Dufty, D., & McNamara, D. (2006). Analyzing writing styles with Coh-Metrix. Proceeding of the 19th Annual Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society International Conference.
McNamara, D., Ozuru, Y., Graesser, A., & Louwerse, M. (2006). Validating Coh-Metrix. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 572-578.
Mcnamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & Mccarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic Features of Writing Quality. Written Communication, 27(1), 57-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088309351547
Orr, T. (2001). English Language Education for Specific Professional Needs. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 44(3), 207-211. https://doi.org/10.1109/47.946467
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Schleppegrell, M. J. (2001). Linguistic Features of the Language of Schooling. Linguistics and Education, 12(4), 431-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(01)00073-0
Silva, T. (1993). Toward an Understanding of the Distinct Nature of L2 Writing: The ESL Research and Its Implications. TESOL Quarterly, 27(4), 657-677. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587400
Tardy, C. (2004). The role of English in scientific communication: lingua franca or Tyrannosaurus rex? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 3(3), 247-269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2003.10.001
Ye, D. M. (2015). Ji suan yu yan xue shi yu xia de zhong-mei-han san guo ke ji qi kan ying wen zhai yao zuo zhe shen fen yan jiu [A Computational Linguistic Research on Writer Identity in English Abstracts Written by Chinese, American, and Korean Scientists: An Analysis us. Nan jing shi fan da xue [Nanjing Normal University].
Zeng, Y. F., & Wei, F. (2005). Ying yu xue shu lun wen zhai yao zhong de mo hu xian zhi yu [Hedges in Abstracts of English Academic Papers]. Shan Dong Wai Yu Jiao Xue [Shandong Foreign Languages Teaching Journal], 105, 40-42. https://doi.org/10.16482/j.sdwy37-1026.2005.02.021
Baayen, R., Piepenbrock, R., & Gulikers, L. (1995). The CELEX lexical database (CD-ROM). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
Belcher, D., & Connor, U. (2001). Reflections on Multiliterate Lives. Clevedon: Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
Biber, D. (1987). A Textual Comparison of British and American Writing. American Speech, 62(2), 99-119. https://doi.org/10.2307/455273
Brace, N., Kemp, R., & Snelgar, R. (2002). SPSS for psychologists: A guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows (Chinese tr). Taiwan: Wu-Nan Books Inc.
Brill, E. (1995). Transformation-Based Error-Driven Learning and Natural Language Processing: A Case Study in Part-of-Speech Tagging. Computational Linguistics, 21(4), 543-565. https://doi.org/10.5555/218355.218367
Canagarajah, S. (2002). A Geopolitics of Academic Writing. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Chafe, W. (1976). Givenness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics, and point of view. In C. Li (Ed.), Subject and Topic (pp. 25-55). New York: Academic Press.
Charniak, E. (1997). Statistical Parsing with a Context-free Grammar and Word Statistics. Proc National Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
Connor, U. (1995). Examining syntactic variation across three English-speaking nationalities through a multi-dimensional approach. In D. L. Rubin (Ed.), Composing Social Identity in Written Language. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Crossley, S. A., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M., & McNamara, D. (2007). A linguistic analysis of simplified and authentic texts. Modern Language Journal, 91(1), 15-30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00507.x
Dai, W. D. (2001). Gou jian ju you zhong guo te se de ying yu jiao xue “yi tiao long” ti xi [The construction of the streamline ELT system in China]. Wai Yu Jiao Xue Yu Yan Jiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research]., 33(5), 322-327+399.
De Beaugrande, R., & Dressler, W. (1996). Introduction to text linguistics. New York: Longman.
Du, H. Y., & Cai, J. T. (2013). Ji yu Coh-Metrix de zhong guo ying yu xue xi zhe yi lun wen xie zuo zhi liang yu ce mo xing yan jiu [A Coh-Metrix-based model of linguistic features predicting argumentative writing quality of EFL learners]. Xian Dai Wai Yu [Modern Foreign Languages], 36(3), 293-300+331.
Duran, N., McCarthy, P., Graesser, A., & McNamara, D. (2007). Using temporal cohesion to predict temporal coherence in narrative and expository texts. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 212-223. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193150
Fan, X. H. (2005). Lun yi xue lun wen ying wen zhai yao zhong de bei dong yu tai de lan yong [The overpassivization in English abstracts of Chinese medical journals]. Zhong Guo Ke Ji Fan Yi [Chinese Science & Technology Translators Journal], 18(4), 13-16. https://doi.org/10.16024/j.cnki.issn1002-0489.2005.04.004
Fellbaum, C. (1998). WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Graesser, A. C., & McNamara, D. S. (2011). Computational analyses of multilevel discourse comprehension. Topics in Cognitive Science, 3(2), 371-398. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01081.x
Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M., & Cai, Z. (2004). Coh-Metrix: Analysis of text on cohesion and language. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(2), 193-202. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195564
Grela, B. G. (2002). Lexibal verb diversity in children with Down syndrome. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 16(4), 251-263. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699200210131987
Hall, C., Lewis, G., McCarthy, P., Lee, D., & McNamara, D. (2006). Language in Law: Using Coh-Metrix to Assess Differences between American and English/Welsh Language Varieties. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2498.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1967). Notes on transitivity and theme in English: Part 2. Journal of Linguistics, 3(2), 199-244. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700016613
Halliday, M., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. New York: Longman.
Helt, M. (2001). A multi-dimensional comparison of British and American spoken English. In S. Conrad & D. Biber (Eds.), Variation in English: Multi-dimensional studies. Essex: Pearson.
Hyland, K. (2012). Disciplinary identities: individuality and community in academic writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jiang, J. (2016). Coh-Metrix gong ju zai wai yu jiao xue yu yan jiu zhong de ying yong [The Application of Coh-Metrix in Foreign Language Teaching and Research]. Zhong Guo Wai Yu [Foreign Languages in China], 13(5), 58-65. https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2016.05.009
Johansson, S. (1985). Some observations on word frequencies in three corpora of present-day English texts. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 67, 117-126. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.67-68.08joh
Klare, G. R. (1974). Assessing Readability. Reading Research Quarterly, 10(1), 62-102. https://doi.org/10.2307/747086
Liang, M. C. (2006). Xue xi zhe shu mian yu yu pian lian guan xing de yan jiu [A study of coherence in EFL learners4 written production]. Xian Dai Yai Yu [Modern Foreign Languages], 29(3), 284-292.
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. (2006). Re-Farming notions of competence in multilingual scholarly writing. Revista Canaria de Edtudios Inglese, 53, 63-78.
Louwerse, M. A. X. (2001). An analytic and cognitive parameterization of coherence relations. Cognitive Linguistics, 12(3), 291-315. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2002.005
Lu, C. . (2016). Ying yu bei dong ju de yu pian gong neng ping xi [On Textual Functions of English Passive Voice]. Jia Mu Si Zhi Ye Xue Yuan Xue Bao, 160(3), 340-341.
Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical Diversity and Language Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
McCarthy, P. (2005). An assessment of the range and usefulness of lexical diversity and the potential of the measure of textual, lexical diversity (MTLD). Memphis Tennessee: University of Memphis.
McCarthy, P., Briner, S., Rus, V., & McNamara, D. (2007). Textual signatures: Identifying text-types using latent semantic analysis to measure the cohesion of text structures. In A. Kao & S. Poteet (Eds.), Natural language processing and text mining (pp. 107-122).
McCarthy, P., Hall, C., Duran, N., Doiuchi, M., Fujiwara, Y., Duncan, B., & McNamara, D. (2009). Analyzing Journal Abstracts Written by Japanese, American, and British Scientists Using Coh-Metrix and the Gramulator. The ESPecialist: Research in Language for Specific Purposes, 30(2), 141-173.
McCarthy, P., Lewis, G., Dufty, D., & McNamara, D. (2006). Analyzing writing styles with Coh-Metrix. Proceeding of the 19th Annual Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society International Conference.
McNamara, D., Ozuru, Y., Graesser, A., & Louwerse, M. (2006). Validating Coh-Metrix. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 572-578.
Mcnamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & Mccarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic Features of Writing Quality. Written Communication, 27(1), 57-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088309351547
Orr, T. (2001). English Language Education for Specific Professional Needs. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 44(3), 207-211. https://doi.org/10.1109/47.946467
Rayner, K., Pollatsek, A., Ashby, J., & Clifton, C. (2012). Psychology of Reading (Second edi). New York: Psychology Press.
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2001). Linguistic Features of the Language of Schooling. Linguistics and Education, 12(4), 431-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(01)00073-0
Silva, T. (1993). Toward an Understanding of the Distinct Nature of L2 Writing: The ESL Research and Its Implications. TESOL Quarterly, 27(4), 657-677. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587400
Tardy, C. (2004). The role of English in scientific communication: lingua franca or Tyrannosaurus rex? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 3(3), 247-269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2003.10.001
Ye, D. M. (2015). Ji suan yu yan xue shi yu xia de zhong-mei-han san guo ke ji qi kan ying wen zhai yao zuo zhe shen fen yan jiu [A Computational Linguistic Research on Writer Identity in English Abstracts Written by Chinese, American, and Korean Scientists: An Analysis us. Nan jing shi fan da xue [Nanjing Normal University].
Zeng, Y. F., & Wei, F. (2005). Ying yu xue shu lun wen zhai yao zhong de mo hu xian zhi yu [Hedges in Abstracts of English Academic Papers]. Shan Dong Wai Yu Jiao Xue [Shandong Foreign Languages Teaching Journal], 105, 40-42. https://doi.org/10.16482/j.sdwy37-1026.2005.02.021
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