Jokar Sheshdeh, Elham

A Cross-Linguistics Study of Engagement Markers in Physics Research Articles: A Lexical Bundles Perspective

AbstractRecent studies have examined patterns of use of lexical bundles and provided beneficialinformation about their different structures and functions in written and spoken registers Some of the previous studies compared the differences of L1 versus L2 English writersin the usage of lexical bundles in English written texts while some other studies focusedon the patterns of lexical bundles utilized by novice or expert writers However therewere not so many studies which analyzed engagement bundles EBs cross culturally inphysics research articles To fill this gap the present study analyzed 163 L1 English L2 English and L1 Persian articles and compared the results in order to perceive thedifferences as well as similarities among native and non native writers The AntConc3 5 0 software was utilized as the main instrument in the present study The structure ofidentified EBs were classified based on the structural taxonomy proposed by Biber Johansson Leech Conrad and Finegan 1999 The functional elements proposed byHyland 2005b were identified to determine engagement markers Using AntConc software there were 23 and 56 four word EBs identified in L1 EC andL2 EC respectively Also there were 52 EBs identified in L1 PC manually to comparethe structures and functions of these bundles utilized by L1 Persian writers when theyproduce English or Persian texts in physics discipline The results of the study indicatedthat there were structural and functional differences in the usage of EBs in terms offrequency between L1 English versus L2 English writers and L1 English versus L1 Presian writers but there were not significant differences between L2 English versusL1 Persian writers However there were not major structural clausal versus phrasal and functional directives reader pronouns or shared knowledge elements differencesbetween the three groups of writers In other words L1 English L2 English and L1 Persian writers favored the usage of clausal and more directive EBs through their physicsresearch articles The relationship between the structural and functional categoriesdemonstrated that most of the structures utilized for EBs serve the same function ofdirecting the readers through the text In addition it was indicated that L2 Englishwriters who have L1 Persian tend to use EBs which have structures and functions moresimilar to those utilized in Persian texts than native like bundles Key words academic writing culture engagement markers function lexical bundles metadiscourse vii