I argue that or it is suggested that: a corpus-informed investigation on stance establishment in academic writing

Abstract

While previous studies have generally highlighted the challenge of clearly and appropriately conveying a stance in academic writing among non-native speaking students, less investigation has been attempted on how Chinese-EFL students combine different stance-reviewing language resources to express their position in comparison with their more proficient native-speaking counterparts. Drawing on Hunston’s (2000) averral framework and Hyland’s (2002) reporting verb taxonomy, this investigation aimed to explore the interplay between the reporting source and the reporting verb in academic prose as in I argue that or It is suggested that - in two distinct corpora: 1) 614 written assignments by less proficient Chinese EFL students at a community college in Hong Kong, and 2) 169 essays receiving a distinction by proficient native-speaking students in three universities in the UK (from The British Academic Written English Corpus, BAWE). Analysis suggests that the Chinese EFL students overused first person I, and overlooked ‘mitigated’ expressions of self-mention (such as it is argued that) and the potential of reporting verbs argue and suggest to successfully involve the reader to advance an argument and establish a stance. In view of this issue, teaching recommendations will be offered on how to use learner corpora to enhance students' awareness of not only the nuances of the reporting source and the reporting verb, but also the subtleties of promoting a reader engagement in academic writing.