An Analysis Of The Problem-Solution Pattern In Research Article Abstracts

The Problem-Solution pattern (P-S pattern) has been explored by manyresearchers, in terms of the general pattern (Hoey, 1983), the clause relation realizingthis pattern (Winter, 1976), the grammatical and lexical signals (McCarthy, 1991) andanalysis from the corpus perspective (Flowerdew,2008). Nevertheless, no informationhas been provided as to how this pattern works with a certain genre. RA abstractsconstitute a genre in its own right which often pose a problem for SLL learners and isalso a neglected field of study. This paper explores the Problem-Solution pattern (P-Spattern) in RA abstracts from both macro and micro perspectives.The Problem-Solution Pattern was first proposed by Winter (1976) andHoey(1983) later elaborated on this pattern and applied it to various texts. TheProblem-Solution pattern was basically composed of four elements: situation,problem, response and evaluation. Winter (1976) designed a minimum discourse toexemplify this pattern:I was on sentry duty. --- SituationI saw the enemy approaching. --- ProblemI opened fire. --- ResponseI beat off the attack. --- EvaluationHoey(1983) argued that this pattern is the most common pattern of all minimumdiscourses and thus can account for a variety of text types. By observation, it is foundthat this pattern can also account for RA abstracts. The aim of this study is toinvestigate what particular features of P-S pattern the RA abstracts display and howthese features differ from the previous findings about the P-S pattern.50 RA abstracts from linguistics journals are collected and analyzed. From themacro perspective, the overall P-S pattern displayed by the RA abstracts areinvestigated and the macro-feature of each element of the P-S pattern are examined,showing its distinctive features from other genres. From the micro perspective, thetense and voice of certain elements are studied and the collocation and colligation forsome elements are also summarized.Findings suggest that the P-S pattern in the RA abstract displays features of itsown and thus provide further evidence that RA abstracts compose a genre in its ownright. At the same time, the research results also complement the research of the P-Spattern, providing more information about the pattern.The findings have implications on how RA abstracts are constructed from the functional approach and offer new ways of abstract comprehension and compositionfor learners. What's more, the research results also shed light on how vocabulary canbe taught from a top-down approach.