Author stance in theme position:
disciplinary variation in a corpus of
assessed UG student writing
Paul Wickens
BAWE Project
ESRC RES-000-23-0800
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The British Academic Written English Corpus
 Part of the ongoing ESRC-funded project An investigation of genres of assessed
writing in British Higher Education (RES-000-23-0800 )
 Collaboration between Oxford Brookes, Warwick and Reading Universities
 Collection of 3,000-3,500 student assignments at Undergraduate and Masters
level – all marked >60% (Merit and Distinction)
 Four disciplinary groupings:
 Arts & Humanities
 Medical & Life Sciences
 Physical Sciences
 Social Sciences
Westminster Institute of Education
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Data
Departments:
•English studies
•Anthropology
Texts
•21 assignments per department
•Across 3 years of UG programme
•Designated by contributors as essays
Interviews
•3 members of staff per department
•Semi-structured (30-45 mins, recorded)
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Thematic choice, stance
and disciplinary variation
“The literacy practices of a disciplinary community embody
different orientations to knowledge constructions […] The initial
constituent of the clause appears to have particular significance
in the way it reflects the writer's beliefs and values, and thus
provides an indicator of disciplinary difference in professional
academic writing.” (North 2005a: 435)
Aims:
 investigate disciplinary differences and/or similarities in the thematic choices of
students’ academic writing.
 explore reasons why student writing within the disciplines shows different or
similar tendencies in terms of ‘point of departure of the message’.
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Analytical Framework
 T-unit: "an independent clause together with all hypotactically related clauses which are
dependent on it" (Fries 1994: 229)
 Topical theme: typically fills a participant role within the clause and is most commonly
found to be the grammatical subject (or the subject of the main proposition)
 Orienting theme: the elements preceding the topical theme
 Textual – makes "explicit the way the clause relates to the surrounding discourse"
(Halliday 2004: 83)
 Experiential – may contain fronted hypotactic clauses and “experiential elements which
do not fill participant roles (mainly circumstantial adjuncts)" (North 2005a: 438)
 Interpersonal – typically expresses the speaker's "own angle on the matter in
hand" (Halliday 2004: 84) Includes modal adjuncts, projection and Interpersonal metaphor.
Orienting theme
Textual
…and
Experiential
in order for practice to
be changed accordingly
Topical theme
Rheme
Of course
passion, an emotion,
cannot be said to physically flow…
it is important that
the results
are trustworthy.
Interpersonal
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An overview of orienting themes across disciplines
Orienting theme
English studies
Textual
Experiential
Interpersonal
20
20
12
22
24
20
1943 t-units
Anthropology
2136 t-units
per 100 t-units
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Interpersonal themes in the BAWE material
Examples
1) Modal adjunct
Clearly, force is essential to the complete turn around of rebellious individuals in
1984, (BAWE3003c)
2) Interrogative / inversion
Does this leave the individual with any hope?
(BAWE3003c)
3) Imperative
Consider the use of plastic gears for one stage of speed reduction.
(BAWE0023e)
4) Personal projecting clause
Furthermore, Milton (1999) argues that the present archaeological; record does
not show evidence of cooked or roasted bones. , (BAWE3016b)
5) Non-personal projecting clause
It is possible that this is more than a criticism of the Bible itself but of the
“canonizing process”, which Ostriker also argues has “throughout history rested,
not accidentally but essentially, in the silencing of women.” (BAWE3006k)
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Interpersonal themes per 100 t-units
Interpersonal theme
English
Studies
Anthropology
personal projecting clause
4.8
8.1
non-personal projecting
clause
3.5
7.8
modal adjunct
3.1
2.9
interrogative/ inversion
imperative
0.5
0.8
0.1
Total
11.9
19.7
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Interpersonal themes: Projection
Muir (2004) states that
Non-self
Researchers have shown that
Personal
I propose that
I believe
Self
Projection
Non-self
Nonpersonal
External
it is claimed for instance that
Internal
The graph shows that
Self
it is clear that
There is a possibility that
Adapted from Wickens 2001
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Interpersonal themes: projection
English Studies
Anthropology
Non-self
3.9
7.8
Self
0.9
0.3
total
4.8
8.1
Personal
per 100 t-units
Non
Personal
English Studies
Anthropology
Non-Self
2.4
3.8
Self
1.1
4.0
total
3.5
7.8
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Personal Projection
Non
Self
English Studies
Anthropology
3.9
7.5
Makdisi suggests that
John Blades argues that
John Blades notes that
critic David Carroll states that
Eagleton is therefore just in stating that
Orwell believed that
Boyd and Silk suggest that:
Semaw (1997) points out that
Richard Klein emphasizes that
Tim Ingold argues that,
Ingold conversely concludes that
He claims for instance that
Examples
Examples
0.9
Self
I propose that
I believe
I think ultimately
I would suggest that
0.3
I don’t think
I concur that
We can fairly safely say that
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Non-Personal Projection
English Studies
Anthropology
Non-Self
2.4
3.8
external
0.7
3.0
feminist readings of the Bible, and
indeed Atwood’s novel itself,
demonstrate that
Structuralist principals dictate that
internal
It has been suggested
It is widely agreed that
The study found that
It can be regularly observed through the past
works of Social Anthropology that
1.7
0.8
These actions suggest
This example shows that
This symbolises that
This quote shows that
This passage also suggests that
These results seem to indicate that
The absence of inverted commas in his
responses suggests that
Self
1.1
It seems that
it is clear
it is natural that
4.0
There is no doubt that
It seems fair to say that
it is unlikely
It appears that
it is not surprising that
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Mediated or second order learning
‘Disciplinary Literature’
Textbooks
Research Literature
Student Writing
‘Object of Study’
Laurillard claims that ….
Teaching in HE is “… a rhetorical activity, seeking to persuade students to
change the way they experience the world (and to) enable students to
learn the descriptions of the world devised by others. (…) It is
mediated learning, allowing students to acquire knowledge of someone
else’s way of experiencing the world. “
Laurillard (1993) p28-29
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Anthropology
•
Literature as point of departure: Personal + Non P (ext) NonSelf
• arguments / debates in the literature
Orienting
topical
using meat to supply
Concurrently, Katherine
Milton (1999) suggests essential amino-acids
and many required
that,
Rheme
frees space in the gut for
(high energy i.e. USO)
plant foods (p11).
micronutrients
In reply, proponents of
the USO’s hypothesis
and especially
Richard Wrangham,
argue that if cooked,
tubers
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could fulfil all the dietary
requirements.
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Anthropology
• Limited use of explicit self (P Self) (I think) - 0.3 per 100 t-units
• Greater use of implicit self (NP Self) (It seems that) 4 per 100 t-units
It is evident that
the debate
is not over.
There is no
doubt that
an arboreal
niche
accounts for many
characteristics specific to
primates,
but
evidence
divides itself between the
two hypotheses.
Example
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English Studies
• Fewer Interpersonal themes (twice as many Textual and Experiential)
• Extensive referencing and quotation exists but less projection than
Soc Science discipline (Anthropology): literature is not key point of
departure
• Integrated into main clause (use of numerical index system)
The way in the Romantic poets ‘revolutionised’ such rational and
structured ideas is abundantly evident in William Wordsworth and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads, “arguably the most
important single volume of the romantic period” which “signalled a
literary revolution.” [1]
[1] Duncan Wu Romanticism: An Anthology Second Edition (Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing, 1998) p.189
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In both novels the dystopic totalitarian regimes purport ways of living in a
disturbingly collective manner. In the world of ‘1984’ the distortion of reality
by the omnipresent Big Brother creates a society absent of purpose and
without the freedom of individual choice. In The Handmaid’s Tale the
abundance of biblical imagery, and allusion to various narratives of the
Bible generates a harrowing image of a futuristic patriarchal society, which
legitimates the humiliation and enslavement of women with literal
interpretations of scripture. However, what I would also argue as a key idea
in both novels, and also feminist hermeneutics, is the importance of the
preservation of the individual self within the larger, collective body. In
particular, feminist readings of the Bible, and indeed Atwood’s novel
itself, demonstrate that the voices of these individuals should not, and
will not, remain silenced.
• Orienting themes: experiential Circumstances relating to object of study: the text
• Literature or personal stance not often the point of departure
• Stance is not explicitly attributed but it is averred (Sinclair , see Charles 2006)
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In conclusion, I have argued that Heart of Darkness
represents the modern journey to Foucault’s argument
that the objective authorial figure is dead, and Morvern
Callar illustrates the outworking of the theory. The Modern
subject fails in their search to find order and stability in the
world and is left darkly disillusioned and empty. The
Postmodern subject seeks to fulfil the ‘self’ in a desperate
conquest to find meaning and identity, a search that has
become helplessly subjective. The individual, if Foucault is
right, is left to act alone in a bleak world that has become
incommunicative, de-stabilised and seemingly
meaningless, despite their inner need for communication,
order and morality.
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Interviews: English Studies
“Develop them as reflective readers”. Close readings of the literary
texts
• Spark of independence / originality - real engagement
• independence of voice, willingness to tackle critics head-on
• Dislike dependence on other writers/critics
• Primary focus of essay: to establish structure / develop argument
• Clarity of argument,
Referring to the academic Literature
• ability to debate - no second reading "irritates me" (3rd yr level)
• “By the third year you expect them to engage with the debates in
the field and make their standpoint on the basis of what they
understand about the field in general. So it's about carrying the
reading lightly, selectively, critically..”
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Interviews: Anthropology
‘traditional essay’
• a good tool to: show understanding; how much reading they
have done
“… want more in-depth, more understanding… more evidence
of them reading for their degrees - ‘synthesis’ would be a
good word”.
• Theoretical framework should be used in the essay
• Structure
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• Averral and Attribution need to be understood
within the context of the discipline
• Interplay is important between them
• Tendencies not absolutes (not prescriptions for
EAP) - much variation and the issue of saliency v.
frequency
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References
Charles, M. 2006. The Construction of Stance in Reporting Clauses: A Cross-disciplinary Study of Theses
Applied Linguistics 27/3. 492-518.
Fries, P. H. 1994. On Theme, Rheme and Discourse Goals. In Coulthard, M. (ed.) Advances in Written Text
Analysis. London/ New york: Routledge.
Halliday, M.A.K. 2004. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 3rd edition, revised by C.M.I.M.
Matthiessen. London: Arnold.
Hyland, K. 2005. Stance and engagement: a model of interaction in academic discourse. Discourse
Studies 7 (2). 173-192.
Laurillard, D. (1993). Rethinking University Teaching - a Framework for the Effective Use of Educational
Technology. London: Routledge.
Mauranen, A. 1993. Theme and Prospection in Written Discourse. In Baker, M., G. Francis and E. TogniniBonelli (eds.) Text and Technology. In Honour of John Sinclair. Philadelphia / Amsterdam: John
Benjamins Publishing Company. 95-114.
Nesi, H., S. Gardner, R. Forsyth, D. Hindle, P. Wickens, S. Ebeling, M. Leedham, P. Thompson, and A.
Heuboeck. 2005. Towards the compilation of a corpus of assessed student writing: An account of work
in progress. In Danielsson, P. and M. Wagenmakers (eds.) Proceedings from The Corpus Linguistics
Conference Series, Vol. 1, no. 1. http://www.corpus.bham.ac.uk/PCLC/
North, S. 2005. Disciplinary variation in the use of theme in undergraduate essays. Applied Linguistics
26/3. 431-452.
Wickens, P. 2001. Computer Based Learning and Changing Legal Pedagogic Orders of Discourse in UK
Higher Education: A Comparative Critical Discourse Analysis of the TLTP materials for Law” PhD
Dissertation, University of Warwick;
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