A Data-based Contrastive Study On The Use Of Reportings In English M.A. Theses By Chinese And American Postgraduates

The reporting of words and thoughts is a common phenomenon in academic field. The use of it can establish connections with previous studies, create research background and intensify the credibility of a paper so scholars have paid great attention to it. Although scholars in academic area have done many researches on reportings, related studies have indicated researches on the use of reportings in academic field, especially those among different English learners, are far from enough. Thus, this study aims to explore the features and similarities and differences of the use of reportings in English M.A. theses by Chinese and American postgraduates through actual data observation and analysis.To solve this problem, this paper adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods. The use of quantitative methods is to know the quantitative features of reportings used in English M.A. theses by Chinese and American postgraduates in terms of frequency and distribution, while qualitative methods are to know the detailed use of reportings with the focus on the patterns used for reporting signals and messages.The results showed that Chinese and American postgraduates had their own preferences in the use of reportings in their English M.A. theses, and there were both similarities and differences in the use of reportings.With regards to the general use of reportings, there were no significant differences found in English M.A. theses by Chinese and American postgraduates. Both corpora used different types of reportings for various purposes. In terms of the overall distribution in M.A. theses, reportings had the same distributional features in both English M.A. theses by Chinese and American postgraduates. Specifically, as to the total number of reportings used in English M.A. theses, those in the Chinese corpus was higher than those in the American corpus. Reportings in both corpora were most used in “Literature Review”, with the followers of “Results & Discussion”, “Introduction” and “Methodology”, and least in “Conclusion”. But differences were found in the detailed distribution of reportings in different parts of M.A. theses by Chinese and American postgraduates. Particularly, reportings used in “Literature Review” and “Results & Discussion” parts of English M.A. theses by Chinese postgraduates were higher than those in the corresponding sections of theses by American postgraduates, whereas reportings used in “Introduction”, “Methodology”, and “Conclusion” parts of English M.A. theses by American postgraduates were all higher than those in the corresponding parts of theses by Chinese postgraduates.As to the detailed use of reportings, especially patterns used for reporting signals and messages, Chinese and American postgraduates shared a lot in common while some differences remained.Specifically, in terms of the patterns used for reporting signals, both corpora employed reporting verbs, reporting adjuncts, reporting nouns, reporting adjectives and the inverted commas, among which reporting verbs were used most frequently whereas reporting adjectives were used least. No significant differences were presented in the use of such patterns for reporting signals in the two corpora as reporting verbs, reporting nouns, reporting adjectives and the inverted commas, but there were significant differences in the use of reporting adjuncts.In terms of the patterns used for messages, both Chinese and American postgraduates applied similar patterns to their paper writing, involving nominal phrases, that-clauses, prepositional phrases, main clauses, to-infinitive clauses, quotation, wh-clauses and-ing clauses. In these patterns, nominal phrases and main clauses were preferred by Chinese postgraduates as patterns to report messages in their paper writing; while American postgraduates tended to prefer such patterns as that-clauses, prepositional phrases, quotation, wh-clauses and-ing clauses to report messages. No significant differences were presented in the use of nominal phrases, that-clauses, prepositional phrases, wh-clauses and-ing clauses as patterns to report messages in the two corpora, but differences were presented in using main clauses, to-infinitive clauses, and quotation as patterns to report messages.The results of the study showed native and non-native English learners had their own preferences in the use of reportings in their English M.A. theses, so it helps to have a better understanding of their preferences and similarities and differences of reportings used in their papers. Besides, it may provide some reference for foreign language teaching and learning.