AUTHOR=Deng Liming , He Ping 

TITLE=“We may conclude that:” a corpus-based study of stance-taking in conclusion sections of RAs across cultures and disciplines

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1175144

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1175144

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Research article conclusion is an important sub-genre in academic community. This study aims to compare the use of stance markers in English and Chinese research articles conclusions and investigate how stance markers may vary in soft and hard sciences. Based on Hyland’s stance model, an analysis of stance markers over twenty years was made in two corpora, which were compiled with 180 research articles conclusions in each language from four disciplines. It was found that English writers and soft science writers tended to make statements more tentatively by hedges and craft their persona more explicitly through self-mentions. However, Chinese writers and hard science writers made their claims with more certainty by boosters and showed their affective attitude more frequently through attitude-markers. The results reveal how writers from different cultural background construct their stance and also unveil the disciplinary differences involved in stance taking. It is hoped that this corpus study will inspire future research on stance taking in conclusion section and also help cultivate writers’ genre awareness.