Corpus-based Genre Analysis of Establishing a Niche in Korean EFL Postgraduate Students’ Research Articles

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper explores a rhetorical move, ‘establishing a niche,’ in the introduction and literature review sections of the Applied Linguistics research articles (RAs) in English written by Korean EFL postgraduates, compared with English and Korean RAs written by L1 scholars, respectively. The analysis of niche establishment (NE) with a framework adapted from the Swales’ CARS model revealed that Korean EFL postgraduates shared an understanding of the genre?specific functions of the two sections with the English and Korean L1 scholars: the high frequency of NEs in the introductions, preference of gap?indication as an NE strategy in the introductions including as the first NE step, a relatively large percentage following tradition in the literature reviews, and dominance of review of existing research prior to NE steps. However, they did not establish a niche and elaborate NEs consecutively as frequently as the English L1 scholars. Like the Korean L1 scholars, Korean EFL postgraduates favored the following of tradition in the literature reviews and often stated local educational problems. The results suggest the Korean EFL postgraduates’ NE strategies are attributable to the impact of RA languages and genre?specific features, L1 traits, and RA roles in the academic community of the field.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• I. INTRODUCTION
• II. NICHE ESTABLISHMENT IN ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLES
• III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
• V. CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES