programmes in countries where English is not the dominant language and the students are EFL students studying English in a different context from ESL students, EAP studies such as this proposed research into the specific needs of particular language groups will be required to contribute to the delivery of relevant and efficient teaching programmes in English academic literacy.
Dear Eleanor
I have read your method and have suggested some changes. My main concern, which probably results from my own failure to explain myself, is the separation of macrostructural analysis (#1) and ‘the use of linguistic devices in information packaging’ (#5) – btw, these words would be meaningless to anyone at the GSE who will review your proposal. What I had envisaged was that, instead of focusing on the macrostructure, you make the macrostructural analysis itself somewhat broader to encompass the content analysis . My thought was to consider macro and content cluster analysis under one broad heading of information structuring/arrangement/organisation or something (ie, what are the major sections and what do they contain). This is because I would not expect very exciting information from a macrostructural analysis of essays of this length – the content sections would probably give you the macrostructure anyway. This would result in a blend of #1 and #5. This leaves the way open for you to look at information structuring at the sentence level (topicalisation, given/new info) if you have the time or the inclination. BUT now I do see that your essays will share similar topics so that a content analysis may be worthwhile given that there is one or a set of definitive ways that the topic might be handled and that when you marked the essays were marking to this ‘standard’. So my feeling is not to discard content analysis completely but to be open to what you might get by taking are more generalised view of text organisation ranging from the global (macro) view to the sentence (local) view. Therefore I have suggested the following changes to your text – which of course you are under no obligation to follow through.
The proposed research will use text analytical procedures which in recent years have been developed in the areas of tertiary literacy with regard to students' difficulties in producing coherent and cohesive written texts. The diagnostic procedures of Relational Rhetorical Mapping and Information structure mapping as developed by Kaldor et al (1998) will be used to investigate the organisational, rhetorical and functional features of text which reveal the writers’ language use within a framework of communicative purpose, situation, cultural background and awareness of the reader's social context. Mapping is the process which allows the analysis of both the intersentential relationships and the rhetorical function of each sentence in a text and the analysis of larger units of text. Such analysis is able to bring to light and pinpoint rhetorical relational and organisational discontinuities. The study will also draw on Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) categoristation of cohesive ties (NB. need to put them in the introduction as well)
The data will be treated as follows:-
1. each text will be analysed on a global level level to determine the intratextual organisation of information in the different genres. This will involve the mapping of larger text units (paragraphs and subsections) for their content and contribution to the overall structure of the essay (Kaldor et al 1998).
2. textual coherence will be analysed by identifying the nature of sentence relations and their rhetorical functions through the use of Rhetorical Relational Mapping. As Kaldor et al (1996:3) state, "each sentence in a cohesive and coherent text has a particular rhetorical function". Some such functions are 'exemplifying', 'contrasting', and 'justifying'.
3. cohesive devices will be identified, catalogued and analysed for their effectiveness as ties contributing to intersentential coherence. Categories of cohesive ties will be drawn from Halliday and Hasan (1976).
4. 4. lexical choices will be examined to determine the degree of departure from native speaker selection patterns with regard to readability. (This is a little bit vague and an obvious question from a reviewer would be what exactly are you looking for here. You might want to offer some sort of ‘theoretical’ approach here to – there is the distinction between general and discipline specific academic vocabulary (Susan might tell you about this), or the distinction between Graeco-Latin and everyday (Anglo-saxon) vocabulary or the mastery of ‘academic’ collocations – suggested readings :
Corson, D. (1997) The Learning and Use of Academic English Words. In Language Learning 47 (4) 671-718.
Peterson, S. L. (1998) The research writers’ phrase book: a guide to proposal writing and research phraseology. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications.
Howarth, P. (1998) Phraseology and Second Language Proficiency. In Applied Linguistics 19 (1) 24-44.
Given that you have chosen one of these frameworks you would have to mention that in the introduction to the methodology too.)
3.1 Participants
The participants are 32 Thai teachers who are currently teaching in 6 Rajahbats across north eastern and north central Thailand. These 32 teachers were born and educated in different parts of Thailand and most speak distinctive provincial dialects as well as the standard Thai dialect which is the national language. All of the participants have Master's degrees in either Thai or English language and teach a variety of disciplines which include English language, linguistics, business studies, computing studies, hospitality, French language, information systems, marketing, legal studies, finance, curriculum design, human biology, library science, economics, and mathematics.
3.2 Design
The design of the study will consist of a text analysis of 116 essays consisting of 58 expository essays and 58 argumentative essays. The expository essays will be of two subgroupings: cause and effect; and explanatory. The argumentative essays will be of the
'discuss' type.
3.3 Data Collection
The data will be examination essays of approximately 400 words collected at the end of each of the four units comprising the postgraduate diploma previously mentioned (NB: wasn’t mentioned in the bit that I read) and which are now held by the Perth university which offered this course. The essays are non-discipline specific and deal with topics which are general in character so that all students have a comparative body of knowledge to draw upon. Permission to use the data generated by these students has been granted. Permission for access to the data will be applied for when this proposal is accepted. (what is the difference between these two types of permissions?) Letters of information and request have been approved by the UWA Ethics Committee, and are attached to the back of this paper.
Hope this has been of some help
Good luckKeep in touch - Judith