Knocking at the doors: gate keepers and authors in research writing, a study of writing practices in the journal Acta Tropica.

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Knocking at the doors gate keepers and authors
in research writing, a study of writing practices
in the journal Acta Tropica.

• Chris Tribble
• King's College, London University
• christopher.tribble_at_kcl.ac.uk / www.ctribble.co.uk

2
overview

• Is the notion of a NS model useful in teaching
  writing?
• an example
• an attempt to extend the study

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some connections for the seminar

• Ramesh Krishnamurthy the issue of which model
  to present to learners
• Paul Thompson clusters and collocates of
  clusters

4
some initial questions

• What are the most appropriate examplar texts to
  use in academic instruction?
• How important is the mother tongue status of the
  writers of these examplars?
• What criteria should be applied when selecting
  exemplars?
• What is the best way to use these exemplars in
  writing instruction?

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native speaker or lingua franca?

• Is this statement true? Is it useful?
• "in spite of the majority of non-native
  speakers or the non-inner-circle countries, many
  of whom use the language actively and regularly
  in institutional frameworks, the native speakers
  of the inner-circle countries retain the hold to
  the yardstick of linguistic correctness." (Ammon
  2000 112)

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expert, not native

• in the context of genre informed language
  teaching if teachers can choose relevant
  exemplars on the basis of the writers' expertise
  rather than on the basis of the accidental
  criterion of mother tongue status, Ammon's
  concern about fairness and unfairness becomes
  irrelevant, and students get the educational
  programmes that they need. Win, win. (Tribble
  2006)

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writing in the sciences preliminary study

• small collection of published research articles
  in biomedical science (from one year 2004)
• additional resources Wordsmith Tools v5 /
  research article collection British National
  Corpus

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Acta Tropica, 2004

• Acta Tropica (Elsevier)
• biomedical and health sciences with particular
  emphasis on topics relevant to human and animal
  health in the tropics and the subtropics
• Editors Swedish Latvian (2004)
• Editorial board 23 - 9 from English speaking
  countries
• Eight articles in the study
• 36 authors
• 29 from "outer-circle" countries (Kachru 1989)

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Acta Tropica, 2004 authors
Authors Country Authors Country
6 Brazil. 1 France
4 Argentina 1 Switzerland
3 Kenya 2 USA
3 Central African Republic 2 Australia
3 Cameroon 3 India
3 Venezuela
2 China
2 Germany
1 Argentina
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the structure of expertise

• specialist lexis / noun phrase structure
• theme / rheme structure
• discourse structure
• and some anomolies

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linguistic competence low frequency lexis
noun phrase structure
Cystic echinococcosis in Argentina evolution of
metacestode and clinical expression in various
Echinococcus granulosus strains Eduardo A.
Guarneraa, Alberto Parrab, Laura Kamenetzkya,
Gustavo Garcíac and Ariana Gutiérreza
ABSTRACT Echinococcus granulosus hydatid cysts
were examined in 41 patients from Neuquén and
Tucumán provinces in Argentina. Sequencing of the
mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1
(CO1) revealed in 19 patients common sheep strain
(G1), in 6 patients Tasmania sheep strain (G2),
in 1 patient cattle strain, and in 15 patients
camel strain (G6) 175 words in the original /
lexical density 114.5 (Halliday 1989)
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linguistic competence thematic structure

• S1 Echinococcus granulosus hydatid cysts were
  examined in 41 patients from Neuquén and Tucumán
  provinces in Argentina. S2 Sequencing of the
  mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1
  (CO1) revealed in 19 patients common sheep strain
  (G1), in 6 patients Tasmania sheep strain (G2),
  in 1 patient cattle strain (G5), and in 15
  patients camel strain (G6). S3 In Argentina
  the only known is the domestic cycle that affects
  dogs and herbivorous, including ovine, swine,
  cattle and goats. S4 These strains produced a
  total of 58.6 of primary liver infections, 29.2
  primary in lung, 2.4 primary in spleen and 9.8
  were multiorgan abdominal infections.
• S5 The metacestode was classified using the
  evolutive stages proposed by WHO-IWGE (from CE1
  to CE5). S6 We estimated that CE1 cyst has a
  duration of about 22 years, CE2 of 14 years, CE3
  of 10 years, CE4 of 19 years and CE5 was not
  determined. S7 The active types CE1 and CE2
  reached 75 of all cases from all strains.

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linguistic competence specialist terms
(extracted via WST Keywords)
mosquitoes infection liver cysts infected spleen trop mortality schistosomiasis malaria laboratory height parasite falciparum larvae mosquito infections brucei bacillus granulosus quinquefasciatus teknar trypanosoma leishmaniasis dosages mean amphotericin instars oocyst vivax
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linguistic competence lexical knowledge (MI3)
WORD 1 WORD 2
diplonychus indicus
polymerase chain
chain reaction
pentavalent antimonials
peripheral branches
improve accuracy
diptera culicidae
egg rafts
polymerase reaction
triatoma infestans
WORD 1 WORD 1 WORD 2
branch wall
carried out
target organisms
lethal doses
received revised
oblique view
pupal recruitment
grass thatched
grass thatch
grass hut
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linguistic competence discourse expertise
MOVE TEXT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
title x x x x x x x x
authors x x x x x x x x
abstract x x x x x x x x
introduction x x x x x x x x
case_studies x
subjects_and_methods x
materials_and_methods x x x x x x
results x x x x x x x x
discussion x x x x x x x x
acknowledgements x x x x x x
references x x x x x x x x
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a contrastGuardian 2007 lexis noun phrase
structure
The vaccine contains a weakened virus that
stimulates immunity against the "wild" virus,
which can cause paralysis. On rare occasions, the
vaccine virus can mutate to a more dangerous
form, spread from person to person and cause a
paralytic infection. This phenomenon, only
recognised in the past decade, has caused
outbreaks in 10 countries since 2000. This year,
7 of all polio cases worldwide were caused by
vaccine-derived virus. 14.5
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Guardian (2007) MI3
Word 1 Word 2 Word 1 Word 2
CLIMATE CHANGE YEAR OLD
AL QAIDA ZANU PF
LOS ANGELES AT LEAST
HUMAN RIGHTS SINN FEIN
TONY BLAIR WAL MART
WILL BE GORDON BROWN
HAD BEEN SUU KYI
YEARS AGO NEW YORK
HONG KONG SUCH AS
GLOBAL WARMING RATHER THAN
SAUDI ARABIA THERE IS
MIDDLE EAST SRI LANKA
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moving towards pedagogy top "discourse" word in
AT wordlist
Verbs co-occuring with "study"
ltPgtltSgtThis study was conducted in Mbita Point, Suba District, western Kenya in ltPgtltSgtThis study has shown that the natural fluctuations in indoor environmental ltPgtltSgtOur study suggests that using wild type parasites in a natural set up is l ltPgtltSgtThe results of our studies also demonstrate the possibility that some wild ltPgtltSgtIn conclusion, our study has shown that the development of ookinetes and o
conduct / demonstrate / detect / determine /
perform / provide / report / show / suggest
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expert writers in AT

• can select and control and combine the technical
  and subtechnical lexis essential to the
  construction of knowledge in the disciplinary
  area
• can select and control the grammar of extended
  noun phrases (particularly noun-noun
  pre-modification and of phrase post-modification)
  
• can control theme / rheme structures in order to
  foreground discoursally significant information.
• can control macro-structure in order to meet
  reader expectations within a disciplinary culture

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the NNS issue - systematic or local patterns?
4. One of the characteristics of malaria parasite extrinsic cycle is its tem missing article
7. The experiments were conducted under live microhabitats described as (1 collocation in preferred
13. For enumeration of ookinetes, batches of live mosquitoes per experimental missing article
19. For the experiments done in the natural unregulated real village houses, a style - conducted or carried out more likely
21. Our study suggests that using wild type parasites in a natural set up is l style - in natural conditions more likely
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a conclusion?

• The critical point is that these local problems
  don't really matter. Editors and peer reviewers
  have accepted the articles for publication
  because they are good science, and meet the
  standards for clear expression and formal
  structure set by the journal. As we have seen,
  the texts are systematically remarkably
  harmonious. Local instances of infelicity,
  concord error, and the like remain that ? local.
  Critically, they are not treated as reason for
  disallowing these texts as contributions to a
  specific genre. They might be less acceptable if
  the texts were being submitted to a literary
  publisher ? but this is precisely the point.
  They are research articles ? not elegant
  belles-lettres essays. Teachers wanting to
  present consistent models of how the language
  works at clause or phrase level will still need
  to refer to the grammars and lexicons which are
  either required in national education systems, or
  which they find most useful for their students in
  their own professional judgement

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extending the study

• larger text collection (1,101,749 words)
• ethnographic study
• but hereby hangs a tale

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some simple differences

• more articles, more words
• 1989/1991 (162 articles / 572,751 words)
• 2007 (102 articles / 528,998 words)
• and some curious contrasts

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keywords past forms
Key word 1989-91 Key word 2007
INFECTION MALARIA
WERE INFECTION
INFECTED WERE
TRYPANOSOMES CRUZI
CONGOLENSE INFECTED
PARASITES PARASITE
MALARIA PARASITES
MICE SAMPLES
PARASITE TREATMENT
INFECTIONS MICE
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clusters and key-clusters

• Clusters are words which are found repeatedly
  together in each others' company, in sequence.
  They represent a tighter relationship than
  collocates, more like multi-word units or groups
  or phrases. (I call them clusters because groups
  and phrases already have uses in grammar and
  because simply being found together in software
  doesn't guarantee they are true multi-word
  units.) Biber (2000) calls them "lexical
  bundles". (Scott, 2004)

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clusters in AT (set 2) frequency
Cluster func. freq. texts
IN THE PRESENT STUDY text 208 127
RECEIVED IN REVISED FORM admin 188 188
IN THE PRESENCE OF text 177 82
ON THE OTHER HAND text 159 121
INFECTED WITH T CONGOLENSE content 118 24
AN GAMBIAE S L content 116 11
FOR THE PRESENCE OF text 112 67
FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF text 110 61
THE END OF THE text 101 54
WERE FOUND TO BE text 95 61
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in the present study
azar risk (Bern et al., 2005). In the present
study, however, higher li tinguishes species B,
C and E. In the present study, the differences
in at VDIV (Ohashi et al., 1992). In the present
study, the ISS1 and ISS2 ome of respective
populations. In the present study we demonstrate
that evels have a circadian rhythm. In the
present study, they were measured scussion 4.1.
Thyroid function In the present study, signs and
symptoms de (Dissanayake et al., 1992). In the
present study we assayed a recomb 1997
Ferragut et al., 1998). In the present study, we
monitored IgG-T Z and (3-d-glucan demonstrated
in the present study seems to be in a go
Luzna-Lyskov et al., 2000). In the present
study, we showed that tre binant fusion protein
was used in the present study. Briefly, DNA
seque 1997 Hrckova et al., 2007). In the
present study, the effect of comb most important
exposure factor in the present study. In
conclusion, ou nd IgG4 isotypes were observed
in the present study. Indeed, high level ntense
mosquito bite exposure. In the present study, no
direct estimate ical conditions. 4. Discussion
In the present study, we detected IgE an n more
than 9 of mature eggs. In the present study,
COPT was the serol ong the retinoids
investigated in the present study, it seems that
9cis l.,1999a,b, 2000, 2003, 2005). In the
present study too, at least four equently
induce growth arrest. In the present study we
demonstrated tha ween the rural and urban areas
in the present study. In conclusion, CE
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Acta Tropica clusters - detail

• PAST_adv (1) In the present study with
  Trypanosoma b. gambiense isolates, a few
  modifications were introduced.
• PAST_adv (1) In the present study we demonstrated
  that cis-DDP induced a stage dependent cell cycle
  arrest being the promastigotes and axenic
  amastigotes blocked at the S and G2 phase,
  respectively.
• PAST_adv (2) However, it should be noted that the
  dosages of SP and chloroquine reported in the
  present study were based on self-report by the
  respondents
• PAST_pm (2) Temperatures in the mosquito cages in
  the present study were maintained at a mean
  minimum of 24C
• PRES_adv (2) Thus, among the retinoids
  investigated in the present study, it seems that
  9cisRA is the best JH-mimic tested.

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BNC clusters (detail)

• PRES_adv (1) In the present study we go beyond
  this result by making controlled B I -B II
  transitions involving most of the dinucleotide
  junctions of the dodecamer and discussing both
  the energetic and conformational aspects of such
  transitions
• PRES_adv (2) Extrapolating these results to human
  diets, the lowest calcium concentration used in
  the present study (25 micromol/g) reflects a
  daily intake of calcium of about 12.5 mmol (500
  mg)
• PRES_adv (2) There would, however, have been at
  least two problems with using this method in the
  present study.
• PRES_pm (2) The percentages of children in the
  present study who had detectable neutralising
  antibody against poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3
  after three doses of OPV are similar to
  percentages reported from other developing
  countries

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Acta Tropica typology
TEXT Time
PAST_adv Count 74 63.79
PAST_pm Count 5 4.31
PAST_total 79 68.1
PRES_adv Count 28 24.14
PRES_pm Count 8 6.90
PRES_total 36 31.04
NF_Count 1 0.86
Grand Count 116  
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BNC academic articles (mainly Lancet) typology
TEXT Time
PRES_adv Count 18 22.58
PRES_pm Count 4 58.06
PRES_total 22 80.64
PAST_adv Count 7 6.45
PAST_pm Count 2 12.90
PAST_total 9 19.35
Grand Count 31
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an ELF model?

• There is a strong past tense association with an
  important discourse organising cluster such as
  "in the present paper".
• The past form were is a keyword in the AT corpus.
  
• Is there an emerging ELF norm which accepts this
  variant as a predominant form?
• If this is the case, which instances of language
  in use should constitute acceptable models for
  use in English language instruction?

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choosing the right exemplar

• In the present study, none of the samples from
  healthy controls was found to be positive for
  anti-hydatid antibody response.
• The presence of microfilariae in blood was
  independent of subject age in the present study.
• In the present study, we monitored IgG-TES
  immuno-complexes, levels of which increased
  rapidly within 14 days p.i. and persisted in the
  similar concentrations in the sera of control
  mice.
• Temperatures in the mosquito cages in the present
  study were maintained at a mean minimum of 24C
  and a mean maximum of 28C
• In the present study too, at least four species
  of human protozoan parasites E.
  histolytica/dispar, E. coli, G. lamblia,
  Cryptosporidium sp. were detected in various fly
  species collected.
• Such analysis was not feasible in the present
  study

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and a way forward?

• Writing pedagogy then becomes a process which
  shifts from teacher-led to student-led analysis
  and description of expert performances, to
  student production of texts based on their work
  as disciplinary apprentices, and finally to their
  informed critiquing of these apprentice texts.
  At each stage in this process, with the teacher's
  support, students are forming hypotheses about
  the nature of the texts they are engaging with
  and the texts they are producing, and working
  towards the acquisition of the linguistic
  expertise that will be necessary if they are to
  establish full professional expertise within
  their profession.
• (Tribble, 2006)

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A hanging tale

• The following suggestion was made to the editors
  of Acta Tropica
• to clarify emerging models for lingua franca
  writing in the sciences, by
• assessing the extent to which English language
  use in Acta Tropica has changed over time
• describing and accounting for the impact of
  linguistic input in the peer reviewing and
  editorial processes (guidelines / peer review
  feedback / author response)
• profiling the extent to which language use in
  Acta Tropica varies in comparison with other
  large populations of edited text in English

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a hanging tale 1

• Dear Dr Tribble,
• I am the publisher responsible for Acta Tropica
  and other Parasitology journals within the Life
  Sciences division at Elsevier.
• Your request to use Acta Tropica as a basis for
  your study into language usage in scientific
  communication has been passed onto me from Prof.
  XXX.
• I have discussed this with the Director of
  Publishing within my area, but I am sorry to say
  that we will not be able to approve your request.
• I do apologise for the inconvenience that this
  may cause.
• With best regards,

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a hanging tale 2

• Dear Dr. Tribble,
• Thank you for your interest in our journal Acta
  Tropica with regard to developments in English
  language use. As my colleague Mr. XX has informed
  you, unfortunately the journal will not
  participate in the research that you will be
  doing in this area due to the privacy and time
  constraints of their editors and reviewers. I
  would be more than happy to put you in touch with
  other colleagues at Elsevier who have experience
  working with the increasing influx of non-native
  English scientific article submissions and some
  initiatives that Elsevier has developed to adapt
  to these changes. Also, you can find quite a bit
  of information and guidelines on our website
  www.elsevier.com, for example here you can find
  the guidelines for authors
• http//www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.autho
  rs/howtosubmitpaper
• for submitting a paper to an Elsevier journal.
• If you would be interested in speaking with my
  colleagues, please do not hestitate to contact
  me. I hope that we can support you in your
  research in a relevant and meaningful way.

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So what next?

• studies of emerging micro genres

Cluster freq. text
THIS WORK WAS SUPPORTED 83 83
WORK WAS SUPPORTED BY 80 80
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO 75 75
WAS SUPPORTED BY THE 72 72
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and further studies

• a bigger collection (now over 2 million words and
  rising)
• and (somehow) an account of literacy practices in
  a narrow discourse community?

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References

• Ammon, U., (2000) "Towards more fairness in
  international English linguistic rights of
  non-native speakers?" in Phillipson, R. (ed.)
  Rights in language. London Lawrence and Erlbaum
  111-116
• Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and
  E. Finegan, (2000) Longman Grammar of Spoken and
  Written English, Harlow Addison Wesley Longman
• Halliday, M.A.K., (1989) Spoken and written
  language, Oxford Oxford University Press
• Scott, Mike. 1999. Wordsmith Tools version 4.
  Oxford Oxford University Press.
• Scott, M. and C.Tribble (2006) Textual
  Patterns Key words and corpus analysis in
  language education, Amsterdam/Philadelphia John
  Benjamins
• Tribble, C. (2006) "Written in, written out who
  sets the standards for academic writing?" in
  Usó-Juan, E., and A. Martínez-Flor (eds) Current
  trends in learning and teaching the four skills
  within a communicative approach, Berlin Mouton
  de Gruyter pps 447-471