Intercultural Perspectives on Research Writing: (18 AILA Applied Linguistics Series)

This volume offers a fresh intercultural perspective on the discursive and rhetorical challenges non-Anglophone scholars face while writing and publishing in English for an international readership. The volume presents a wide spectrum of text-based intercultural analyses of academic texts written in L2 English. Placed in the context of a rapidly increasing role of English as the universal language of scientific and scholarly communication, the contributions attempt to explore native language influence on L2 English academic texts or, conversely, the influence of rhetorical or discursive features of English on L2 texts. Covering texts from Chinese to Lithuanian authors, the chapters in this volume offer a rich selection of lexico-grammatical, discursive and rhetorical elements analysed and compared across genres, disciplines and languages both within synchronic and diachronic perspectives. This volume will be of interest to both experienced and novice researchers in such fields as English for Academic Purposes, Intercultural Rhetoric, Genre Theory, Corpus Linguistics, and English as a Lingua Franca.

Review :
This important collection of papers makes a significant and timely contribution to research on the intercultural dimension of research writing. Its thirteen authoritative chapters deal with the major genres (research article and abstract) and provide empirical analyses within a wide range of linguistic, cultural and disciplinary contexts. Given the ever-increasing pressure to publish in English, this volume will be essential reading not only for scholars working in the field of intercultural studies, but also for EAP professionals keen to develop their knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by L2 writers of research genres. Overall, the chapters present extensive intercultural research from various fields and linguacultural backgrounds, which will allow readers to better understand the rhetorical style and discursive conventions of academic texts written in English as a Lingua Franca. This will be extremely useful for students, scholars, and teachers of English as an Additional Language and English for Academic Purposes, who will benefit from the multiple intercultural perspectives of contrastive analyses. Finally, I believe this volume will inspire and foster acceptance of more diverse rhetorical styles, discursive conventions, and intercultural insights in ELF research in academia. This book, without doubt, is a must-read, as it provides an excellent analysis of research publication genres for using sound theoretical approaches and reliable and valid sets of data with some unprecedented findings. This volume offers excellent insights into various forms of academic writing across cultures. The chapters provide in-depth perspectives on how scholars belonging to different contexts and disciplines cope with their need to communicate the results of their research at a global level by using the English language. This book makes an important contribution to the literature on Intercultural Rhetoric. For me the most important aspect of this book is the raising of awareness of how a new and vital academic English is developing. As Jenkins (2011) reminds us what is important in academic writing is clarity, effectiveness and the contextual appropriateness of the communication. She notes that “while high academic standards are vital, native-like English is not” (Jenkins, 2011: 932). For this reason alone this book deserves a place on our bookshelves.