Metafunctional Practices in Medical Research Articles: A Comparative Study


  •  Nader Assadi    
  •  Mojtaba Ghassemi    
  •  Alireza Madadi    

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore any possible difference among the verb types chosen in articles written in English by the non-natives and natives. In so doing, Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (1994) was employed. 80published articles from the medical sciences field of study were chosen from among which40were written by native English writers and 40 by the non-natives. In the light of the guidelines on Experiential Metafunctions, the articles were analyzed. Then the Frequency of each common type of verb was computed. Having applied Chi-Square, the researchers found out that the native English speakers and non-native ones employ different types of verbs. According to the results, non-native English language researchers may introduce the types of the verbs based on their L1 norms. Finally it seems necessary for Language Teachers and ESP Materials developers to take into account such differences while teaching and adapting writing materials.



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