Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes - Volume 4, Issue 2, 2023

Abstract

Error Analysis was developed by early Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers as a way to investigate interlanguage and better understand the second-language learning processes. While it is no longer an active branch of research in SLA, it remains a useful tool for those concerned with accuracy in language use. Given the elevated importance of accuracy in English for Research and Publication Purposes (ERPP), this may be one area where Error Analysis may continue to inform research and praxis. The high degree of language precision demanded in ERPP contexts can be a source of frustration for many engaged in scholarly publication, especially those for whom English is an additional language, such as the Japanese scientists studied in this paper. For Japanese scientists and possibly others, an empirical profile of their most frequent error patterns may help them to better deal with accuracy in research writing. With this motivation, this study applies a corpus-assisted error analysis framework to quantify sentence-level grammar errors and identify the most frequent error patterns in the research article manuscripts of Japanese scientists. A corpus of 53 research article manuscripts with 4,495 errors comprises the primary data. Additionally, two raters and a comparison of errors from scientists from six different L1 backgrounds are employed to triangulate the data and investigate the reliability and generalizability of the findings. Findings reveal that the top ten most frequent errors comprise 52.9%, or half of all errors in the corpus, and are dominated by errors with determiners and prepositions.

Abstract

This article shares the story of a locally-educated English as an additional language author who attributed her fledgling research publications in English-medium international journals to an innate interest in languages, extensive experience of text engagement and mediation, and the kindness of “strangers”. The study draws from journal entries, publication records, and correspondence with significant others over ten years, during which the author went from an undergraduate English-major student to an author’s translator and editor before trying to conduct and publish her own research in an English as a foreign language context. From an insider perspective, the personal account reflects on the confusion and struggle of a peripheral author who learnt to navigate her way towards research and publication without the ease of resource access, supervisor guidance, academic training, and support networks. Tracking how the author perceived research and scholarship along her journey, it considers the role of language as a means of academic authors’ self-cultivation and providing egalitarian access to the world of knowledge and research that transcends structural constraints. The article also critically examines the centre-periphery tension in scholarly publishing and offers implications to help engage resource-deprived, disadvantaged authors in an increasingly interconnected world of knowledge construction.

Abstract

This case study tracks a multilingual writer’s academic writing, in particular her engagement in the research article (RA) genre, over the course of four years as she moved along a trajectory from a novice graduate student to a confident disciplinary writer. The theoretical framework draws from academic literacies (Barton & Hamilton, 1998), highlighting practice and disposition (Bourdieu, 1990) as a way of understanding engagement with the RA genre. The findings, based on an analysis of interviews conducted with the participant, reveal three stages of the participant’s development in her disposition toward the RA genre, all interspersed with affect. Each stage is illustrated through examples from the interviews. The study’s longitudinal design provides a novel perspective that brings out a dynamic picture of the development of a graduate student writer. The findings are discussed in light of previous research and pedagogical implications are set out.

This article reviews Scholarly publication trajectories of early-career scholars: Insider perspectivesUS$ 109.99US$ 109.99US$ 84.99978-3-030-85783-7

This article reviews Mentoring and co-writing for research publication purposes: Interaction and text development in doctoral supervisionUS$ 158.85£ 96£ 29.59US$ 48.959780367715588