Writing a conference abstract in English: A challenge for non-Anglophone writers
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | With the growing internationalization of all scholarship, English indisputably performs the role of an international lingua franca, and publishing in international journals is now almost synonymous with publication in English. Since publication can be viewed as documentary evidence that the writer qualifies for membership of the target discourse community, the use of English as an additional language has become an important prerequisite for scholars who intend to present their research to an academic audience at international conferences. Conference organizers perform the role of gate-keepers who have the right to accept or refuse an abstract for a presentation and subsequent publication. Thus scholars from non-Anglophone backgrounds have to master the writing of this research-progress genre because otherwise they may risk being refused participation at conferences and publication in conference proceedings. The presentation analyses the rhetorical organization of conference abstracts written by Anglophone writers and others from countries where Slavonic languages are spoken. The findings of this corpus-based genre analysis reveal cross-cultural variation in the rhetorical structure of conference abstracts and linguistic realizations of rhetorical moves applied by abstract writers from different backgrounds. They also suggest recommendations for future conference calls and novice writers who intend to publish in English. |