| Abstract is an important part of academic writing. The quality of an abstract directly affects whether the writing can be selected by academic authorities. Therefore it has a significant role in international academic communication. Genre analysis is an important subject in linguistic researches. Researchers in the early stage mainly focuses their attention on the sketchy analyses of the whole discourses of academic writings. Later, Swales proposes the CARS mode and the move-step analysis. Researchers begin to make detailed analysis on introduction, result and discussion parts of academic papers. However, there are not many contrastive analyses of abstract from the perspective of cross cultures. Besides, those not many analyses are mainly focused on the genre analyses of abstract on important journals; while studies on the academic English abstracts of the English linguistics Masters at home and broad are rare. In order to reveal the characteristics and deficiencies of the academic English abstracts by linguistics Masters at home and abroad, the present study contrasts the generic structures and linguistic features of the English informative abstracts by linguistics Masters in China and the western countries.This is a quantitative study. First, two corpora were established. The data came from the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full-text Database and the China Master’s Theses Full-text Database. According to the definition of informative abstract,50English abstracts were respectively chosen at random from linguistics in the two databases. Then, the macro-and micro-structures of them were analyzed using the IMRD mode and Swales’s move-step analysis. At last, linguistic features like verb tenses, voices and the first person pronouns were explored.The findings show that:1) The structures of English informative abstracts by Chinese and the western students overall accord with the IMRD mode, which indicates that Chinese and the western students have a good grasp of the macrostructure of abstract. The move orders in the western abstracts are linear while the move orders in Chinese abstracts especially in the introduction move show complex features such as cycle, reversion and repetition, which reflects the Oriental spiral thought pattern. Meanwhile, in the method move, the frequency of each step in C2is lower than that in Cl, which, through analysis, is related to the difference of cultural traditions; Chinese students need to pay more attention to the description of experiments and approaches. It is found that frequencies of the result move in both corpora are high, indicating that both Chinese and the western students attach importance to research results. In the discussion move, SI is obligatory in both corpora, while the frequency of S2in C1is higher than that in C2.2) The Simple Present is plentifully used in both corpora, especially in the introduction move, followed by the discussion move. The Present Perfective is not frequently used but is mostly used in the introduction move. The Past is mainLy used in the method move, but due to lack of understanding the communicative purpose of this move, Chinese students do not use this tense frequently. The study also finds that the Past is used in the result move in C1. The active voice is generally used more frequently in informative abstracts than the passive voice; however, the frequency of the active voice in C1is higher than that in C2, while the frequency of the passive voice in C2is higher than that inC1. The passive voice is frequently used in the method move in both corpora; besides, the frequency of the passive voice in the result move in C2is higher than that in C1. It is also found that the western students prefer the first person pronoun Iwhile the Chinese students prefer we. These linguistic features are decided by the communicative purposes of different moves.The present study puts forward some pedagogical suggestions according to the results and discussions with the hope to help students in their English abstract wring. |
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