Examining syntactic and lexical features of the introduction of M.A. theses in English Linguistics in Vietnam and Australia

Thi Ngoc Phuong Tran1,
1 Danang University of Foreign Languages

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Abstract

Based on discourse analysis theories, this study focused on describing and analyzing typical discourse features of English language master thesis introductions in Australia (A-ELMTIs) and those in Vietnam (V-ELMTIs) in terms of syntactic and lexical features. With regard to syntactic features, simple sentences were used with far greater frequency in V-ELMTIs than in A-ELTMIs, whereas more complex sentences were found in A-ELTMIs. Lexically, A-ELMTIs used a higher proportion of “contrast terms” and “quantifiers and quasi-negatives” than that of V-ELTMIs, namely “contrast terms”, and there was little presence of “negatives” in both.

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References

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