The Effect of Genre-Based Mentoring on Rhetorical Quality of Research Article Drafts by Indonesian Lecturers in Social Sciences and Humanities

Abstract

Indonesian scholars in social sciences and humanities are far behind scholars in sciences and engineering in international journal publication and their unfamiliarity with English rhetorical style has been blamed as the main cause. The purpose of this study is to improve the rhetorical quality of research article drafts written by Indonesian university lecturers in social sciences and humanities. Using genrebased method, a group of 20 lecturers were mentored to improve the rhetorical quality of their research article abstracts, introductions, methods and discussions and their drafts were evaluated following the frameworks suggested by Swales (1990), Swales et al., (2009), Peacock (2011) and Lim (2006. The results show that the rhetorical quality of the lecturer's article drafts satisfactorily improved in terms of the rhetorical moves and steps, the way they justify their research project and the number of references they use in their drafts. This implies that genre-based mentoring is effective enough to improve the ability of lecturers in writing research articles to be published in reputable international journals.

Previous studies have several limitations …: Indonesian Doctoral Students’, Indonesian Academics’, and International Authors’ Research Gap Strategies in ELT Research Article Abstracts and Introductions

“…We do agree that sharing knowledge through the medium of publications is important, especially to navigate students' expertise, foster interaction in discourse community memberships, train students to search for innovations, and increase scientific autonomy and credibility as future researchers (Behnam & Zamanian, 2013;Hyland, 2011;Horta & Santos, 2016;Kwan et al, 2012;Tanko, 2017;Yasmin and Mahmood, 2017). Considering the importance of RA publications, universities in Indonesia have provided several programs, such as workshops and short courses about writing RAs for publications, to assist students in writing RAs for publication in international journals (Arono & Arsyad, 2019). The curriculum developers have also provided several courses in which the objectives demand the students to produce RAs.…”

“…Moreover, researchers, who focus on genre analysis of RAs, have also been in the limelight because their reports contribute to the advancement of knowledge, particularly in writing RAs (Ankomah & Afful, 2019;Hu & Liu, 2018;Irawati, Saukah, & Suharmanto, 2018;Kawase, 2018;Keshavarz, Atai, & Barzgar, 2007;Parnawati, Basthomi, & Ruslan, 2017;Rahman, Darus, & Amir, 2017;Rochma, Triastuti, & Ashadi, 2020;Samraj, 2005;Swales, 1990;Swales, 2004;Tanko, 2017). However, in the context of non-native English countries, such as Indonesia, understanding the rhetorical style of English RA is still lacking (Arono & Arsyad, 2019;Arsyad, Purwo, Sukamto, & Adnan, 2019, Khany, Aliakbari, & Mohammadi, 2019Su & Wood, 2012;Yonezawa, 2015). Moreover, acquiring acceptance for publication in international journals is not as easy as falling off a log.…”

“…In response to a call for studies focusing on authors' research gap strategies in other disciplines (Lim, 2012) and considering what has been barely explored in the current body of knowledge, this study investigated Indonesian doctoral students' strategies for presenting research gaps in their ELT RA abstracts and introductions. Although they have mastered English both in oral and written communication, the majority of non-native English authors still have problems in writing English RAs, particularly in proposing novelty in their research (Adnan, 2009;Arono & Arsyad, 2019;Arsyad, Purwo, Sukamto, & Adnan, 2019;Basthomi, 2007;Flowerdew, 2001). Furthermore, since English RAs published in international journals can be used as guidelines for students in writing RAs (Alamri, 2020;Futasz, 2006;Khany & Tazik, 2010), in this study, the Indonesian doctoral students' research gap strategies were also compared to the strategies used by Indonesian academics and international authors whose ELT RAs had been published in high-quality, peer-reviewed international journals.…”

The authors’ research gap strategies in ELT research article introductions: Does Scopus journal quartile matter?

“…In social science disciplines, for instance, previous studies have dealt with some aspects in research article introductions (RAIs), such as authors' moves and steps (Afshar et al, 2018;Deveci, 2020;Farnia & Barati, 2017), justifications of research projects (Chen & Li, 2019), and quotations (Arsyad & Adila, 2018;Sirijanchuen & Gampper, 2018). However, although the investigations give meaningful insights particularly in improving the quality of authors' RAIs that can reach the expectation of international discourse communities (Sheldon, 2011), some previous studies indicate that authors still encounter problems in writing RAIs (Adnan, 2009, Arono & Arsyad, 2019Arsyad et al, 2019;Wannaruk & Amnuai, 2015;Zainuddin & Shaari, 2017).…”

Basic School Teachers’ Formative Assessment Practices: Influence of Demographic Variables

“…Taylor (2017) defines formative assessment as the feedback from learners used to promote learning and that it is a method of providing a clear image of where learners need to reach their goals in learning. Formative assessment is entrenched in the teaching and learning process, which is used to adjust the teaching strategies or techniques to meet educational needs and standards (Rivai et al, 2019). To Anwar (2019), formative assessments are considered a means of ensuring deeper learning and understanding.…”