Native and non-native English scholars publishing research internationally: A small-scale study on authorial (in)visibility
Issue: Vol 4 No. 2 (2007) JAL Vol 4, No 2 (2007)
Journal: Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice
Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics
Abstract:
This paper presents a small collection of case reports which seek to explore the rhetorical resources used by native (North-American) and non-native English (Spanish) scholars when publishing research in international journals. The interview protocols enquired into the pressure on scholars to publish internationally, their adherence to rhetorical conventions in the transmission of knowledge, and their awareness of being persuasive when addressing an international readership. Complementing the interview data, textual analysis was used to quantify a sample of linguistic features and interpret them as rhetorical devices that writers use to construct new knowledge, evaluate research processes and highlight research outcomes. Although the two groups of informants made similar observations in the interviews, the textual analysis revealed several intercultural differences as regards the degree of authorial visibility/ invisibility in the texts. While advocating the maintenance of cultural diversity in academic prose, implications of whether non-native English writers should adopt Anglophone conventions or rather retain their culture-specific rhetorical styles when publishing internationally are also discussed.
Author: Carmen Pérez-Llantada
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