University Students' Beliefs about Learning English and French in Lebanon

A Genre Analysis of a Research Paper Abstract and Introduction

General

The general purpose of the report was to "explore the beliefs about language learning of Lebanese English as a foreign language students" using the targeted languages of English and French for comparison. The intended audience would be the academic community stakeholders concerned with the second language acquisition process and the relationship of culture to that process. The reader expectations would be to find out how the attitudes of Lebanese students differ in their perceptions of English and French, both in terms of usefulness and ease of learning. The source of the text is the Science Direct database, however, the original publisher of the document was the American University of Beirut. In terms of the data employed, the author collected information from 284 students following an adapted version of "Horwitz's 'Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory.'" (Diab p. 80).

Abstract

The Abstract employed is of a atypical length and follows the general attributes of Hyland's move structure classification. In this capacity, though it clearly has an introduction, methods, results and discussion, it does not specifically articulate them. The introduction first states what the project did, "This study explored...." (Diab, p. 80). The methods are stated as "A modified version of.....was administered to 284 students in three universities" (p. 80). The results were articulated by the statement, "Findings revealed that the students....." (Diab, p. 80). Similarly, the discussion commences with the following statement, "Notably, the students' beliefs...." (p. 80). After the introductory discussion statement, the Abstract continues with additional information typical of the discussion portion of an Abstract.

Though the Abstract is detailed, it is not overly detailed. The methods employed are articulated, however, if the reader was not familiar with the Horwitz language inventory, they would not exactly understand how the study took place. For an Abstract, however, this is sufficient information that is clarified at later portions in the work. In general, the accepted length of a typical Abstract is 100 words. This particular Abstract is 201 words, which makes nearly double the length of a typical Abstract. This does not necessarily detract from the study, as the information provided in the Abstract is useful and it does follow the essence of content related to conventional Abstracts. Had the author employed jargon or other abbreviated terminology, it is possible that some of the content could have been eliminated from the Abstract making it a smaller size. However, the choice of the researcher to not employ jargon makes the overall understanding of Abstract more accessible to readers who may not be familiar with prior work in the field.

Generic Structure of the Introduction

The generic structure of the introduction clearly follows the CARS model by establishing research territory, introducing previous studies, establishing a niche and occupying the niche. Building the study on the widely held academic belief that language teachers and researchers place much of the importance of second language acquisition on the role of the learner, the introduction moves on to cite work from Horwitz (1987), Park (1995), Wenden (1986), Yang (1992), Truitt (1995), Young (1991) and others. Many of the innate characteristics of Horwitz's work, which were not included in the Abstract, were articulated in the introduction. The niche that is established and ultimately occupied is characterized by the researcher as follows, "In spite of the growing number of studies......no study has yet explored the beliefs about language learning of Lebanese EFL students" (p. 81). The identification of how this particular study occupies this niche is demonstrated through the clearly established parameters of the research questions. Diab articulated the research questions framing the research base as follows, "What are the beliefs....," "How do the beliefs about....," and "Are there any statistically significant differences...." (p. 81).

Referencing and Style

The referencing style followed by Diab appears to be a fairly consistent APA type of in text citation system. So deviation from the newest APA handbook are noted, and this could be attributed to the 2005 publishing date, it appears that some of the slight variance is intended and likely a product of standards outlined for the American University of Beirut. Regardless of the slight differences, however, the style is clearly APA in nature and it is easy to follow where the citations came from. The language style, though simplistic, is academic in that it is free from contractions and no declaration is left without literature or original data to back up the statements. The tense of the articles and those cited follow the proper established present and past tense when referring to past articles and the current study.

Conclusions

Diab's University students' beliefs about learning English and French in Lebanon study, follows what can be considered a typical patter of a research paper Abstract and Introduction. Though the Abstract is double the typical length of most Abstracts, the content, wording and citation methods of both sections are what one would come to expect from peer reviewed academic research. Using a proven methodology, the author establishes a niche and demonstrates how this particular study occupies this niche that has not yet been explored fully in published academic literature related to the subject.

References

Diab, R. L. University students' beliefs about learning English and French in Lebanon. American University of Beirut. (34), 80-96.