A study of syntactic and lexical features of the introduction of English M.A. theses in linguistics in Vietnam and Australia

Based on the theories of discourse analysis, this study focuses on describing and analyzing typical discourse features of English language master thesis introductions in Australia (A-ELMTIs) and English language master thesis introductions in Vietnam (V-ELMTIs) in terms of syntactic and lexical features.

ISSN 1859-1531 - THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NO 6(103).2016 101

A STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND LEXICAL FEATURES

OF THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH M.A THESES IN LINGUISTICS

IN VIETNAM AND AUSTRALIA

Tran Thi Ngoc Phuong

University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Danang; phuongtran@ufl.udn.vn

Abstract - Based on the theories of discourse analysis, this study

focuses on describing and analyzing typical discourse features of

English language master thesis introductions in Australia

(A-ELMTIs) and English language master thesis introductions in

Vietnam (V-ELMTIs) in terms of syntactic and lexical features

From the investigation, we have found out their differences and

similarities With regard to syntactic features, it is evident that the

largest differences are in the use of simple and compound

sentences Simple sentences are used with far greater frequency

in V-ELMTIs than in A-ELTMIs, whereas there is more use of

complex sentences in A-ELTMIs Lexically, A-ELMTIs use a higher

proportion of “contrast terms” and “quantifiers and quasi-negatives”

than V-ELTMIs do Meanwhile, the use of “contrast terms” and

“negatives” is very low in both

Key words - master’s (MA) thesis; discourse analysis; syntax;

lexicon; English language

1 Introduction

To get a master’s degree in a certain field, students usually

write a thesis to fulfill the requirements of the course or the

degree, and hence, the introduction to theses plays an integral

part in this process It is the introduction that helps the readers

decide whether they are interested in that topic or will

continue to read through the thesis or not At the very least,

introductions consist of a rationale, aims and objectives, a

scope of the study, significance of the study, research

questions and an overview of the structure of the thesis

Even if the theses are written in English, there are

differences in the way the introductions are written in

universities in Vietnam and in Australia For years, Australia

is a country whose educational environment has attracted a

great number of Vietnamese students Therefore, in order to

help Vietnamese students to undertake research or write a

thesis in Australian universities with less trouble and less

confusion, it is necessary to carry out research on this issue

Moreover, research on the differences and similarities

between English Language Master’s Theses (ELMTs) in

Vietnam and Australia will help to promote training in

Masters of Arts in Linguistics in Vietnam to an international

level in order to achieve a global educational standard

This study is part of a larger study that aims to analyze

the discourse features of the introductions of master’s

theses written in Englishin the field of linguistics in

Vietnam and in Australia Due to space limitations, this

particular study is limited to describing the discourse

features of the introductions of the theses in terms of their

syntactic and lexical features in order to illustrate the

potential differences in writing theses in different regions

even when the same language is used.The syntactic and

lexical aspects are less obvious than the layout and

structure, but research into other types of documents

suggests that differences exist [9], hence they form the

focus of the current study

2 Theoretical Background

2.1 Discourse analysis

Brown and Yule [2, p.iii] describe discourse as“language in use” and remark that “the term discourse analysis has become to be used with a wide range of meanings which cover a wide range of activities at the intersection of many disciplines from sociolinguistics, psychological linguistics to computational linguistics” Based on concepts proposed by Salkie [10, p ix], Cook [5, p 156] argues that discourse is “stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposeful” Furthermore, Nunan [7, p 5] asserts “Discourse can be defined as a stretch of language consisting of several sentences which are perceived as being related in some way Sentences can be related not only in terms of the ideas they share, but also in terms of their functions”.In conclusion, all the above concepts of discourse have mentioned the application of language Hence, recently discourse analysts have tended to base their research on observing language usage during conversations in sequences of sentences The analysis of discourse is, necessarily, the analysis of language in use As such, as Brown and Yule argue, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes

or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human relationships [2, p 1]

2.2 Cohesion

Cohesion can be thought of as all the syntactic and lexical links that connect one part of a text to another This consists of the use of synonyms, lexical sets, pronouns, verb tenses, time references, grammatical reference, and so forth

to help to sequence a text and link ideas and arguments in the text Halliday suggests that a text “has texture and this is what distinguishes it from something that is not a text… The texture is provided by the cohesive relation” [6, p.2] Cohesion refers to the explicit linguistic devices that are expressed partly through the syntax and partly through the vocabulary In other words, cohesion consists of syntactic cohesion and lexical cohesion While the term may be used

in a much broader sense as well, in the context of the current study, the focus is on these two main elements

3 Method

3.1 Data Collection

The introduction texts analyzed in this study are taken from a total of 30 ELMTs in Vietnam (15) and in Australia (15) on topics related to linguistics All theses are written

in English and include a chapter entitled “Introduction” ranging in length from 700 - 1400 words Thesis

102 Tran Thi Ngoc Phuong introduction samples are those in the library of, University

of Foreign Language Studies, the University of Danang

and the University of Foreign Language Studies, Vietnam

National University, Hanoi or published online A total of

15 master’s theses are obtained from Australian

universities in the field of linguistics through the thesis

collection of The University of Queensland and through

contacting both teachers and students directly in Australia

Authors of all theses in Vietnam are Vietnamese while

authors of theses in Australia are varied in their native

languages including English, Chinese, Indonesian,

Swedish and Vietnamese

3.2 Data Analysis

After collecting the data, these are categorized and

divided into Australiansources and Vietnamese sources

The introductions are analyzed in terms of the syntacticand

lexical features using both both qualitative and quantitative

methods.For lexical choice, software named AntConc is

used to count the tokens (the total number of words), and

look inside that for the types (the number of repeated

words) From this, it is possible to identify the range of

words being used (type-token ratio) and the most

frequently used words in the theses

4 Results & Discussion

4.1 Syntactic Features

In this part, we would like to investigate some syntactic

devices used in Australian thesis introductions

(A-ELMTIs) and Vietnamese thesis introductions

(V-ELMTIs), particularly passive voice and sentence types

4.1.1 Voice in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs

In English, the passive voice is a syntactic form in

which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb,

where the passive sentence emphasizes the process rather

than who is performing the action [14] Quirk [9] suggests

that the passive voice is more commonly used in

informative than in imaginative writing The get-passive

often reflects an unfavorable attitude towards the action

[7] Fortunately, only be-passive is found in our data as can

be found in the examples in Vietnamese thesis #14 [V-14]

and Australian thesis #4 [A-4]:

(1) The fact that little research has been done on

discourse features of AdEs and little instruction has been

given about it in academic writing course in Vietnam

creates a need to have research on it [V-14]

(2) It was also found that the teacher tended to perceive

the classroom environment that was more positive than

they perceived as actually being the case [A-4]

Two types of passive voice are investigated in the study;

passive with purpose and passive without purpose In this

paper, passive voice with purpose is a specific passive

voice used when talking about the aims and objectives or

placing the emphasis on the goal (e.g., I was fined 500.000

VND for speeding) Meanwhile, passive voice without

purpose is a general passive voice which moves the

emphasis from who is performing the action to the object

or the process (e.g., It is believed that the rising oil price

will have a huge impact on food prices)

Table 1 Distribution of Passive Voice in A-ELMTIs

and V-ELMTIs

Passive Voice

A-ELMTIs V-ELMTIs Occurrence % Occurrence % With

purpose 36 11.4 54 18.6 Without

purpose 279 88.6 237 81.4 Total 315 100 291 100

The rate of using passive voice for purpose in A-ELMTIs and V-A-ELMTIs is quite modest, accounting for 11.4% and 18.6% respectively As observed and analyzed from the data, the majority of cases of passive voice with purpose are used to point out the aims or purposes to conduct the theses which are considered as an essential requirement for any author For example:

(3) This study was aimed at developing and then observing the use of a computerized simulation as a language teaching tool which is designed to help learners

to maintain motivation through their language study through involving them in meaningful interactions, thus encouraging learners to continue with their language studies [A-1]

(4) The study is expected to investigate and describe syntactic features, lexical features and cohesive devices used in this type of discourse [V-7]

Meanwhile, in some cases, in order to write the introduction, authors tend to use the passive voice without purpose to emphasize the objects or certain things mentioned That is also the reason for this kind of passive voice to be used very frequently in both ELMTIs, reaching 88.6% and 81.4% respectively For example:

(5) Action Research is also different to empirical research which tends to be done by a researcher on “subjects” who have little to do with the research process [A-7]

(6) Issues of personal, social, and cultural identity were challenged every day [A-6]

(7) This absence of the mentioned above factors in identifying and recognizing the information organizing devices and the relationships between portion of pieces of information will be compensated by resorting the linguistic materials [V-10]

(8) This thesis is predicted to help learners and users of English understand and use tautologies properly [V-13]

To sum up, in the current study, the passive voice is used predominantly to focus on the object rather than the goal or the performer of the action, which is a technique used quite regularly in academic writing

4.1.2 Sentence Types

According to Thorne [12], sentence type includes four categories; simple sentences (consisting of one independent clause), complex sentences (containing one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses), compound sentences (containing two or more independent clauses joined together by a coordinator, conjunctive adverb or semicolon) and compound-complex sentences (a

ISSN 1859-1531 - THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NO 6(103).2016 103 combination of two or more independent clauses and one

or more dependent clauses)

Table 2 Distribution of Sentence Types in A-ELMTIs

The results show that compound-complex sentences

appear to be used rather modestly in A-ELMTIs,

(i.e 11.7% and 13.0% respectively),and simple and complex

sentences are frequently used It is quite surprising, however,

that complex sentences are the most preferred in A-ELMTIs

than simple ones, and that they account for the highest

percentage of 48.2% while simple sentences make up a

markedly smaller percentage of 27.1%

Table 3 Distribution of Sentence Types in V-ELMTIs

In contrast, in V-ELMTIs, compound and

compound-complex sentences appear with modest percentages

(i.e 10.9% and 9.4% respectively),and simple sentences

are the most preferred in V-ELMTIs, making up the highest

percentage of 45.2% with complex sentences still

accounting for a comparatively large proportion of 34.5%

4.2 Lexical Choice

Alo [1] defines lexis as “…the level of linguistic analysis

and description concerned with the way in which the

vocabulary of a language is organized” In linguistics, Yeibo

[13] describes lexis as the storage of language in our mental

lexicon as prefabricated patterns that can be recalled and

sorted into meaningful speech and writing Thus, lexis, as a

concept, has a distinct identity from other traditional levels

of linguistic study or interpretation, as it refers specifically

to the word-stock of a language from which writers and

speakers make choices for self-expression according to their

purpose or intended meaning.For the purpose of this study,

the following linguistic indicators defined by Swales and

Feak [11] are used in the analysis: contrastive terms

(i.e however; yet; while/ meanwhile; but; although;

nevertheless), quantifiers and quasi-negatives (i.e limited;

few; little) and negatives (none of; not been; no)

4.2.1 Contrastive terms

A concordance search is conducted and examined to

determine the role of contrastive terms in the establishment

of opposite statements, as listed in the table below

Table 4 Contrastive Termsused in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs

Contrastive

Terms

A-ELMTIs V-ELMTIs Occurrence % Occurrence % But 28 33.7 35 50

However 23 27.7 16 22.8 Although 6 7.2 7 10 While/ meanwhile 24 28.9 8 11.4 Yet 2 2.4 2 2.9 Nevertheless 0 0 2 2.9 Total 83 100 70 100

A significantly high usage of “but” is found in both A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs, making up 33.7% and 50% respectively “But” usually signals two types of contrast: (i) “denial-of-expectation” (what is expected after a reading of the first conjunct turns out not to be true from a reading of the second); and (ii) the “marker of semantic contrast” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, [3])

“However” is another contrastive term used frequently in

both ELMTIs with 23 instances (27.7%) in A-ELMTIs and

16 cases (22.8%) in V-ELMTIs, but this word alone does not guarantee a clear indication of the gap between issues With nearly the same number of examples in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs (6 cases and 7 cases respectively),

“although” seems to be a popular choice after “but,

however, while” for the expression of knowledge when the authors want to hedge the weaknesses identified in the already used research and point out what need to be studied There is insufficient space to provide examples of all of the sentences types, but two of the more notable

expressions are “yet” and “nevertheless” There are only two cases each for A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs for “yet”,

and an example of each is given below

(9) It is interesting that people use incomplete sentences in conversations and even in written texts, yet they are still successful in communication; and that a set of separate sentences put together can make sense while correct sentences connected by lots of cohesive devices cannot [V-11]

(10) Language loss research may be conducted in a variety of way It may be studied in its sociocultural, political, pedagogical or psycholinguistic context; yet all aspects will deal with the competence-performance dichotomy as expressed in Chomsky’s model… [A-15]

Two clear-cut cases of the use of “nevertheless” are found in V-ELMTIs while no cases are found in A-ELMTIs to express opposing ideas as in the following examples

(11) Nevertheless, the study of culture, especially cross-culture, is not recognized well enough in Vietnam [V-6] (12) Especially, all risks of medicine are enumerated in advertisements so as to help people avoid unexpected reactions and allergies Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to express medical terms in simple ways without changing their meanings [V-9]

The reason for the lack of use of this expression in the Australian theses is not clear, but it could simply be a result

of the sample size in the current study

4.2.2 Quantifiers and quasi-negatives

According to Swales and Feak [11, p.258], the “most common way to indicate a gap is to use a ‘quasi-negative’ subject” Quantifiers, such as the following, could be

104 Tran Thi Ngoc Phuong helpful in pointing out the shortcomings of the previous

research and thus preparing ground to accommodate the

current work “Few” and “little”, although not

morphologically negative, are negative in meaning and in

syntactic behavior There is a different trend in using

quantifiers and quasi-negatives in A-ELMTIs and

V-ELMTIs, as shown in the table below:

Table 5 Quantifiers and quasi-negatives used in A-ELMTIs

and V-ELMTIs

Quantifiers

and

quasi-negatives

A-ELMTIs V-ELMTIs Occurrence % Occurrence %

Limited 4 26.7 5 41.7

Few 8 53.3 0 0

Little 3 20 7 58.3

Total 15 100 12 100

In particular, while “few” with a 53.3% occurrence

seems to be at the top in A-ELMTIs, “Little” which is

found with a 58.3% occurrence seems to be at the top in

V-ELMTIs, no cases of “little” are found in the

A-ELMTIs Using “limited” is one way to show that other

investigators’ work or the scope of the thesis has been

limited in certain ways or to certain areas, and thus it is

intended to be encompassed by the present research The

word “limited” appear four times in A-ELMTIs and five

times in V-ELMTIs Some examples of usage from the

sample are given below:

(13) Of the relatively few studies that have specifically

addressed the role of written autobiographical narrative,

Pavlenko’s (1998; also Pavlenko&Lantolf, 2000) research

is most relevant to mine [A-11]

(14) Many studies regarding the speech act of request,

giving and receiving compliments, promising or

addressing terms and so on have been carried out in

Vietnam and in other interlanguage of English learners of

different language backgrounds, but little attention is paid

to the speech act of complaining [V-4]

(15) However, research on the topic of language

chunks is limited, particularly compared with studies in

syntax, phonology, discourse and other aspects of second

language acquisition (SLA) [A-14]

The role of limiting the scope of the respective areas

being described is very clear from the above examples It

can be contrasted with the following section

4.2.3 Negatives

The third category of the linguistic indicators studied in

this data analysis is negatives As Celce-Murcia and

Larsen-Freeman [3, p.196] explain,“The chief use of

negatives is directed at a proposition already in the

discourse” and they are used more to respond than to

initiate They further elaborate that one might assume that

the negative would receive prominent stress whereas it is

reduced to mitigate the disagreement, presumably in the

interest of maintaining social harmony Negatives are

generally known to be used for pinpointing something

which is either faulty or has not been paid sufficient

attention to One would then assume the use of negatives

as a natural choice to pave the way for one’s own work Contrary to this speculation, the tendency of the usage of negatives is lower here when compared to that of conjunctions and quantifiers/quasi-negatives, as shown in the following table

Table 6 Negatives used in A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs

Negatives A-ELMTIs V-ELMTIs

Occurrence % Occurrence %

Not been 2 100 3 100

Total 2 100 3 100

“None” and “no” do not appear in any of the thesis introductions, while “not been” occurs twice in A-ELMTIs and three times in V-ELMTIs For example:

(16) There have not been a great number of computerised simulations documented to date, but the reactions of learners to the ones that have been utilised have been very positive so far [A-1]

(17) In other words, complaining in an area that has not been researched much [V-4]

It might be thought that the use of “none” and “no” are

too definitive, indicating that there are absolutely no examples of research that have been conducted before In both of the examples above, “not been” has been softened through the use of “a great number” and “much” respectively, suggesting that there are studies that have been carried out before, although these may not necessarily

be described in the introduction

5 Conclusion This study describes an analysis of the syntactic and lexical features of master’s thesis introductions written in English in Australia and Vietnam to identify if differences exist in ELMTIs written in these two different environments With regard to syntactic features, it is evident that the largest differences are in the usage of simple and compound sentences Simple sentences are used with far greater frequency in V-ELMTIs than in A-ELTMIs, whereas there is more use of complex sentences

in A-ELTMIs With regard to lexical choice, both ELMTIs

in Australia and Vietnam use a specific number of

“contrast terms”, “quantifiers and quasi-negatives” as well

as “negatives” to express opposite statements among related issues In particular, A-ELMTIs use a higher proportion of “contrast terms” and “quantifiers and quasi-negatives” than those in V-ELTMIs, namely “contrast terms” and “negatives”, which are used at a very low rate

in both

Thesis writing is a specialized form of writing requiring knowledge of not only vocabulary and syntax but also of discourse features While similar findings appear in other types of documents [9], it should be pointed out that the purpose is not to distinguish ELMTIs from other genres, but rather to shed light on thesis introductions written in English

in different environments.Through investigating the discourse features of A-ELMTIs and V-ELMTIs, learners of

ISSN 1859-1531 - THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG, JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NO 6(103).2016 105 English who intend to pursue a master’s degree in English

linguistics can gain a better understanding of how to write

their theses and of the potential variations that might exist It

is hoped the research can contribute to our knowledge of

typical discourse features in writing of this kind

REFERENCES [1] Alo, M (1995), Applied English Linguistics: An Introduction,

Port-Harcourt Aeddy Link

[2] Brown, G &Yule, G (1983), Discourse Analysis, Cambridge

University Press

[3] Celce-Murcia, M & D Larsen-Freeman (1999), The

GrammarBook, 2nd ed Boston: Heinle and Heinle

[4] Choudara, R &Kono, Y (2012) Beyond more of the same: The top

four emerging markets for international student recruitment World

Education News & Reviews, 25 (9) Retrieved from

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2187362

[5] Cook, G (1998), Discourse, Oxford University Press, Oxford [6] Halliday, M.A.K & Hasan, R (1989), Language, context, and text Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

[7] Nunan, D (1993), Introducing Discourse Analysis, Penguin English [8] Pennycook, A (2013) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language Routledge, New York

[9] Quirk, R et al (1985), A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London: Longman

[10] Salkie, R (1995), Text and Discourse Analysis, Routledge, London

& New York

[11] Swales, J.M & C Feak (2004), Academic Writing for Graduate Students Essential Tasks and Skills, 2nd ed Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press

[12] Thorne, S (1997), Mastering Advanced English Language, Macmillan press

[13] Yeibo, E (2011), “Patterns of Lexical Choices and Stylistic

Function in J.P Clark-Bekederemo’s Poetry”, International Journal

of English Linguistics, 1 (1), 138

[14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice#Usage_and_style

(The Board of Editors received the paper on 05/10/2015, its review was completed on 20/01/2016)