An analysis of the evaluation contexts in academic discourse

Xiaoyu Xu; Hilary Nesi

doi:10.1186/s40554-016-0037-x

An analysis of the evaluation contexts in academic discourse

Xiaoyu Xu, Hilary Nesi

College of Arts & Society

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Abstract

This paper develops a new framework to examine the use of ‘evaluation resources’ in research discourse. In previous studies of evaluative resources, two distinct, although interwoven, types of context have been identified: 1) the real world where evaluation resources are used to describe situations, and 2) the research world studying the real world, where they are used to engage readers and open up debate. In this paper, we will propose three context types: 1) the research world, where the choice of evaluation must be affected by the writer’s argumentative intention, 2) the real world where the choice of evaluation is affected by the writer’s argumentative intention, and 3) the real world where the choice of evaluation is not affected by the writer’s argumentative intention. This distinction helps us identify more rigorously those evaluative resources that are relevant to arguments. It will also enable us to explore and quantify the way evaluation functions across contexts.

Original language	English
Article number	2
Journal	Functional Linguistics
Volume	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-016-0037-x
Publication status	Published - 21 Jan 2017

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Keywords

Academic writing
Research space
Real world
Research world
Planes of discourse
Appraisal theory

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10.1186/s40554-016-0037-xLicence: CC BY

Analysis combFinal published version, 0.99 MBLicence: CC BY

Hilary Nesi
- Research Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities - Professor in English Language
Person: Teaching and Research

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title = "An analysis of the evaluation contexts in academic discourse",

abstract = "This paper develops a new framework to examine the use of {\textquoteleft}evaluation resources{\textquoteright} in research discourse. In previous studies of evaluative resources, two distinct, although interwoven, types of context have been identified: 1) the real world where evaluation resources are used to describe situations, and 2) the research world studying the real world, where they are used to engage readers and open up debate. In this paper, we will propose three context types: 1) the research world, where the choice of evaluation must be affected by the writer{\textquoteright}s argumentative intention, 2) the real world where the choice of evaluation is affected by the writer{\textquoteright}s argumentative intention, and 3) the real world where the choice of evaluation is not affected by the writer{\textquoteright}s argumentative intention. This distinction helps us identify more rigorously those evaluative resources that are relevant to arguments. It will also enable us to explore and quantify the way evaluation functions across contexts. ",

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AB - This paper develops a new framework to examine the use of ‘evaluation resources’ in research discourse. In previous studies of evaluative resources, two distinct, although interwoven, types of context have been identified: 1) the real world where evaluation resources are used to describe situations, and 2) the research world studying the real world, where they are used to engage readers and open up debate. In this paper, we will propose three context types: 1) the research world, where the choice of evaluation must be affected by the writer’s argumentative intention, 2) the real world where the choice of evaluation is affected by the writer’s argumentative intention, and 3) the real world where the choice of evaluation is not affected by the writer’s argumentative intention. This distinction helps us identify more rigorously those evaluative resources that are relevant to arguments. It will also enable us to explore and quantify the way evaluation functions across contexts.

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KW - Research space

KW - Real world

KW - Research world

KW - Planes of discourse

KW - Appraisal theory

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ER -

An analysis of the evaluation contexts in academic discourse

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Hilary Nesi

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