Knocking at the doors: gate keepers and
authors in research writing, a study of
writing practices in the journal Acta Tropica.
Chris Tribble
King's College, London University
christopher.tribble@kcl.ac.uk / www.ctribble.co.uk
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
overview
 Is the notion of a NS model useful in teaching
writing?
 an example
 an attempt to extend the study
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
some connections for the seminar
 Ramesh Krishnamurthy – the issue of which model to
present to learners
 Paul Thompson – clusters and collocates of clusters
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
some initial questions
 What are the most appropriate examplar texts to use
in academic instruction?
 How important is the mother tongue status of the
writers of these examplars?
 What criteria should be applied when selecting
exemplars?
 What is the best way to use these exemplars in
writing instruction?
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
native speaker or lingua franca?
 Is this statement true? Is it useful?
"…in spite of the majority of non-native speakers or
the non-inner-circle countries, many of whom use
the language actively and regularly in institutional
frameworks, the native speakers of the inner-circle
countries retain the hold to the yardstick of linguistic
correctness." (Ammon 2000: 112)
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
expert, not native …
 [in the context of genre informed language
teaching]… if teachers can choose relevant
exemplars on the basis of the writers' expertise rather
than on the basis of the accidental criterion of mother
tongue status, Ammon's concern about fairness and
unfairness becomes irrelevant, and students get the
educational programmes that they need. Win, win.
(Tribble 2006)
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
writing in the sciences: preliminary study
 small collection of published research articles in
biomedical science (from one year – 2004)
 additional resources: Wordsmith Tools v5 / research
article collection + British National Corpus
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
Acta Tropica, 2004
 Acta Tropica (Elsevier)
 biomedical and health sciences with particular emphasis on
topics relevant to human and animal health in the tropics and
the subtropics
 Editors: Swedish + Latvian (2004)
 Editorial board 23 - 9 from English speaking countries
 Eight articles in the study
• 36 authors
• 29 from "outer-circle" countries (Kachru 1989)
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
Acta Tropica, 2004: authors
Authors Country
Authors
Country
6
Brazil.
1
France
4
Argentina
1
Switzerland
3
Kenya
2
USA
3
Central African Republic
2
Australia
3
Cameroon
3
India
3
Venezuela
2
China
2
Germany
1
Argentina
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
the structure of expertise
 specialist lexis / noun phrase structure
 theme / rheme structure
 discourse structure
 … and some anomolies
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
linguistic competence:
low frequency lexis & noun phrase structure
Cystic echinococcosis in Argentina: evolution of metacestode and
clinical expression in various Echinococcus granulosus strains
Eduardo A. Guarneraa, Alberto Parrab, Laura Kamenetzkya, Gustavo
Garcíac and Ariana Gutiérreza
ABSTRACT
Echinococcus granulosus hydatid cysts were examined in 41 patients
from Neuquén and Tucumán provinces in Argentina. Sequencing of the
mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) revealed in 19
patients common sheep strain (G1), in 6 patients Tasmania sheep strain
(G2), in 1 patient cattle strain, and in 15 patients camel strain (G6)…
175 words in the original / lexical density 1:14.5 (Halliday 1989)
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
linguistic competence: thematic structure
 [S1] Echinococcus granulosus hydatid cysts were examined in 41
patients from Neuquén and Tucumán provinces in Argentina. [S2]
Sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1
(CO1) revealed in 19 patients common sheep strain (G1), in 6 patients
Tasmania sheep strain (G2), in 1 patient cattle strain (G5), and in 15
patients camel strain (G6). [S3] In Argentina the only known is the
domestic cycle that affects dogs and herbivorous, including ovine,
swine, cattle and goats. [S4] These strains produced a total of 58.6%
of primary liver infections, 29.2% primary in lung, 2.4% primary in
spleen and 9.8% were multiorgan abdominal infections.
 [S5] The metacestode was classified using the evolutive stages
proposed by WHO-IWGE (from CE1 to CE5). [S6] We estimated that
CE1 cyst has a duration of about 22 years, CE2 of 14 years, CE3 of 10
years, CE4 of 19 years and CE5 was not determined. [S7] The active
types CE1 and CE2 reached 75% of all cases from all strains.
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
linguistic competence: specialist terms
(extracted via WST Keywords)
mosquitoes
infection
liver
cysts
infected
spleen
trop
mortality
schistosomiasis
malaria
laboratory
height
parasite
falciparum
larvae
mosquito
infections
brucei
bacillus
granulosus
quinquefasciatus
teknar
trypanosoma
leishmaniasis
dosages
mean
amphotericin
instars
oocyst
vivax
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
linguistic competence: lexical knowledge (MI3)
WORD 1 WORD 2
WORD 1 WORD 2
diplonychus indicus
branch
wall
polymerase chain
carried
out
chain reaction
pentavalent antimonials
target
organisms
lethal
doses
peripheral branches
received
improve accuracy
oblique
diptera culicidae
pupal
recruitment
egg rafts
grass
thatched
grass
thatch
grass
hut
polymerase reaction
triatoma infestans
revised
view
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
linguistic competence: discourse expertise
MOVE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
title
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
authors
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
abstract
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
introduction
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
TEXT
x
case_studies
x
subjects_and_methods
materials_and_methods
x
results
x
discussion
x
acknowledgements
x
references
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
x
x
x
a contrast
Guardian 2007: lexis & noun phrase structure
The vaccine contains a weakened virus that stimulates
immunity against the "wild" virus, which can cause
paralysis. On rare occasions, the vaccine virus can
mutate to a more dangerous form, spread from person to
person and cause a paralytic infection. This phenomenon,
only recognised in the past decade, has caused outbreaks
in 10 countries since 2000. This year, 7% of all polio cases
worldwide were caused by vaccine-derived virus.
1:4.5
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
Guardian (2007) MI3
Word 1 Word 2
CLIMATE CHANGE
AL QAIDA
LOS ANGELES
HUMAN RIGHTS
TONY BLAIR
WILL BE
HAD BEEN
YEARS AGO
HONG KONG
GLOBAL WARMING
SAUDI ARABIA
MIDDLE EAST
Word 1 Word 2
YEAR OLD
ZANU PF
AT LEAST
SINN FEIN
WAL MART
GORDON BROWN
SUU KYI
NEW YORK
SUCH AS
RATHER THAN
THERE IS
SRI LANKA
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
moving towards pedagogy:
top "discourse" word in AT wordlist
Verbs co-occuring with "study"
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
<P><S>This study was conducted in Mbita Point, Suba District, western Kenya in
<P><S>This study has shown that the natural fluctuations in indoor environmental
<P><S>Our study suggests that using wild type parasites in a natural set up is l
<P><S>The results of our studies also demonstrate the possibility that some wild
<P><S>In conclusion, our study has shown that the development of ookinetes and o
conduct / demonstrate / detect / determine / perform /
provide / report / show / suggest
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
expert writers in AT:
 can select and control and combine the technical and
subtechnical lexis essential to the construction of
knowledge in the disciplinary area
 can select and control the grammar of extended noun
phrases (particularly noun-noun pre-modification and
of phrase post-modification)
 can control theme / rheme structures in order to
foreground discoursally significant information.
 can control macro-structure in order to meet reader
expectations within a disciplinary culture
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
the NNS issue - systematic or local patterns?
4. One of the characteristics of malaria
parasite extrinsic cycle is its tem …
missing article
7. The experiments were conducted under
live microhabitats described as: (1 …
collocation: in preferred
13. For enumeration of ookinetes, batches of missing article
live mosquitoes per experimental …
19. For the experiments done in the natural
unregulated real village houses, a …
style - conducted or
carried out more
likely
21. Our study suggests that using wild type
parasites in a natural set up is l …
style - in natural
conditions more
likely
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
a conclusion?
The critical point is that these local problems don't really matter.
Editors and peer reviewers have accepted the articles for
publication because they are good science, and meet the
standards for clear expression and formal structure set by the
journal. As we have seen, the texts are systematically
remarkably harmonious. Local instances of infelicity, concord
error, and the like remain that  local. Critically, they are not
treated as reason for disallowing these texts as contributions to
a specific genre. They might be less acceptable if the texts
were being submitted to a literary publisher  but this is
precisely the point. They are research articles  not elegant
belles-lettres essays. Teachers wanting to present consistent
models of how the language works at clause or phrase level will
still need to refer to the grammars and lexicons which are either
required in national education systems, or which they find most
useful for their students in their own professional judgement…
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
extending the study
 larger text collection (1,101,749 words)
 ethnographic study
 but hereby hangs a tale …
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
some simple differences
 more articles, more words
 1989/1991 (162 articles / 572,751 words)
 2007 (102 articles / 528,998 words)
 and some curious contrasts…
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
keywords: past forms
Key word 1989-91
Key word 2007
INFECTION
MALARIA
WERE
INFECTION
INFECTED
WERE
TRYPANOSOMES
CRUZI
CONGOLENSE
INFECTED
PARASITES
PARASITE
MALARIA
PARASITES
MICE
SAMPLES
PARASITE
TREATMENT
INFECTIONS
MICE
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
clusters and key-clusters
 Clusters are words which are found repeatedly
together in each others' company, in sequence. They
represent a tighter relationship than collocates, more
like multi-word units or groups or phrases. (I call them
clusters because groups and phrases already have
uses in grammar and because simply being found
together in software doesn't guarantee they are true
multi-word units.) Biber (2000) calls them "lexical
bundles". (Scott, 2004)
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
clusters in AT (set 2): frequency
Cluster
func.
freq.
texts
IN THE PRESENT STUDY
text
208
127
RECEIVED IN REVISED FORM
admin
188
188
IN THE PRESENCE OF
text
177
82
ON THE OTHER HAND
text
159
121
INFECTED WITH T CONGOLENSE content
118
24
AN GAMBIAE S L
content
116
11
FOR THE PRESENCE OF
text
112
67
FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF
text
110
61
THE END OF THE
text
101
54
WERE FOUND TO BE
text
95
61
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
in the present study
azar risk (Bern et al., 2005).
tinguishes species B, C and E.
at VDIV (Ohashi et al., 1992).
ome of respective populations.
evels have a circadian rhythm.
scussion 4.1. Thyroid function
de (Dissanayake et al., 1992).
1997; Ferragut et al., 1998).
Z and (3-d-glucan demonstrated
; Lu´zna-Lyskov et al., 2000).
binant fusion protein was used
1997; Hr^ckova et al., 2007).
most important exposure factor
nd IgG4 isotypes were observed
ntense mosquito bite exposure.
ical conditions. 4. Discussion
n more than 9% of mature eggs.
ong the retinoids investigated
l.,1999a,b, 2000, 2003, 2005).
equently induce growth arrest.
ween the rural and urban areas
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
in
In
in
In
in
in
In
In
In
in
In
In
in
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
present
study, however, higher li
study, the differences in
study, the ISS1 and ISS2
study we demonstrate that
study, they were measured
study, signs and symptoms
study we assayed a recomb
study, we monitored IgG-T
study seems to be in a go
study, we showed that tre
study. Briefly, DNA seque
study, the effect of comb
study. In conclusion, ou
study. Indeed, high level
study, no direct estimate
study, we detected IgE an
study, COPT was the serol
study, it seems that 9cis
study too, at least four
study we demonstrated tha
study. In conclusion, CE
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
Acta Tropica clusters - detail
 PAST_adv (1) In the present study with Trypanosoma b.
gambiense isolates, a few modifications were introduced.
 PAST_adv (1) In the present study we demonstrated that cisDDP induced a stage dependent cell cycle arrest being the
promastigotes and axenic amastigotes blocked at the S and G2
phase, respectively.
 PAST_adv (2) However, it should be noted that the dosages of
SP and chloroquine reported in the present study were based
on self-report by the respondents…
 PAST_pm (2) Temperatures in the mosquito cages in the
present study were maintained at a mean minimum of 24^C …
 PRES_adv (2) Thus, among the retinoids investigated in the
present study, it seems that 9cisRA is the best JH-mimic tested.
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
BNC clusters (detail)
 PRES_adv (1) In the present study we go beyond this result by
making controlled B I -B II transitions involving most of the
dinucleotide junctions of the dodecamer and discussing both the
energetic and conformational aspects of such transitions
 PRES_adv (2) Extrapolating these results to human diets, the
lowest calcium concentration used in the present study (25
&micromol/g) reflects a daily intake of calcium of about 12.5
mmol (500 mg)
 PRES_adv (2) There would, however, have been at least two
problems with using this method in the present study.
 PRES_pm (2) The percentages of children in the present study
who had detectable neutralising antibody against poliovirus
types 1, 2, and 3 after three doses of OPV are similar to
percentages reported from other developing countries…
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
Acta Tropica: typology
TEXT
Time
%
PAST_adv Count
74
63.79
PAST_pm Count
5
4.31
PAST_total
79
68.1
PRES_adv Count
28
24.14
PRES_pm Count
8
6.90
36
31.04
1
0.86
PRES_total
NF_Count
Grand Count
116
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
BNC academic articles (mainly Lancet):
typology
TEXT
Time
%
PRES_adv Count
18 22.58
PRES_pm Count
4 58.06
PRES_total
22 80.64
PAST_adv Count
7
PAST_pm Count
2 12.90
PAST_total
9 19.35
Grand Count
31
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
6.45
an ELF model?
 There is a strong past tense association with an
important discourse organising cluster such as "in the
present paper".
 The past form were is a keyword in the AT corpus.
 Is there an emerging ELF norm which accepts this
variant as a predominant form?
 If this is the case, which instances of language in use
should constitute acceptable models for use in
English language instruction?
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
choosing the right exemplar
 In the present study, none of the samples from healthy controls
was found to be positive for anti-hydatid antibody response.
 The presence of microfilariae in blood was independent of
subject age in the present study.
 In the present study, we monitored IgG-TES immunocomplexes, levels of which increased rapidly within 14 days p.i.
and persisted in the similar concentrations in the sera of control
mice.
 Temperatures in the mosquito cages in the present study were
maintained at a mean minimum of 24^C and a mean maximum
of 28^C
 In the present study too, at least four species of human
protozoan parasites: E. histolytica/dispar, E. coli, G. lamblia,
Cryptosporidium sp. were detected in various fly species
collected.
 Such analysis was not feasible in the present study
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
and a way forward?
Writing pedagogy then becomes a process which shifts from
teacher-led to student-led analysis and description of expert
performances, to student production of texts based on their
work as disciplinary apprentices, and finally to their informed
critiquing of these apprentice texts. At each stage in this
process, with the teacher's support, students are forming
hypotheses about the nature of the texts they are engaging
with and the texts they are producing, and working towards
the acquisition of the linguistic expertise that will be
necessary if they are to establish full professional expertise
within their profession.
(Tribble, 2006)
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
A hanging tale…
The following suggestion was made to the editors of
Acta Tropica:
 to clarify emerging models for lingua franca writing in
the sciences, by:
 assessing the extent to which English language use in Acta
Tropica has changed over time
 describing and accounting for the impact of linguistic input
in the peer reviewing and editorial processes (guidelines /
peer review feedback / author response)
 profiling the extent to which language use in Acta Tropica
varies in comparison with other large populations of edited
text in English
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
a hanging tale #1
Dear Dr Tribble,
I am the publisher responsible for Acta Tropica and other
Parasitology journals within the Life Sciences division at
Elsevier.
Your request to use Acta Tropica as a basis for your
study into language usage in scientific communication has
been passed onto me from Prof. XXX.
I have discussed this with the Director of Publishing
within my area, but I am sorry to say that we will not be able
to approve your request.
I do apologise for the inconvenience that this may cause.
With best regards,
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
a hanging tale #2
Dear Dr. Tribble,
Thank you for your interest in our journal Acta Tropica with regard to
developments in English language use. As my colleague Mr. XX has informed
you, unfortunately the journal will not participate in the research that you will be
doing in this area due to the privacy and time constraints of their editors and
reviewers. I would be more than happy to put you in touch with other
colleagues at Elsevier who have experience working with the increasing influx
of non-native English scientific article submissions and some initiatives that
Elsevier has developed to adapt to these changes. Also, you can find quite a
bit of information and guidelines on our website www.elsevier.com, for example
here you can find the guidelines for authors:
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/howtosubmitpaper
for submitting a paper to an Elsevier journal.
If you would be interested in speaking with my colleagues, please do not
hestitate to contact me. I hope that we can support you in your research in a
relevant and meaningful way.
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
So what next?
 studies of emerging micro genres
Cluster
freq.
text
THIS WORK WAS SUPPORTED
83
83
WORK WAS SUPPORTED BY
80
80
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO
75
75
WAS SUPPORTED BY THE
72
72
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
and further studies…
 a bigger collection (now over 2 million words and
rising)
 and (somehow) an account of literacy practices in a
narrow discourse community?
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University
References
 Ammon, U., (2000) "Towards more fairness in international English:
linguistic rights of non-native speakers?" in Phillipson, R. (ed.) Rights in
language. London: Lawrence and Erlbaum : 111-116
 Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan, (2000)
Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Harlow: Addison
Wesley Longman
 Halliday, M.A.K., (1989) Spoken and written language, Oxford: Oxford
University Press
 Scott, Mike. 1999. Wordsmith Tools version 4. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
 Scott, M. and C.Tribble (2006) Textual Patterns: Key words and
corpus analysis in language education, Amsterdam/Philadelphia John
Benjamins
 Tribble, C. (2006) "Written in, written out: who sets the standards for
academic writing?" in Usó-Juan, E., and A. Martínez-Flor (eds) Current
trends in learning and teaching the four skills within a communicative
approach, Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter pps: 447-471
Chris Tribble, King's College, London University