English
is widely used as a major language for research writing (Grabe
& Kaplan, 1997; Hyland, 2012; Kaplan & Baldauf, 2005). However,
not all researchers (particularly non-native
English and novice researchers) can use English
efficiently for this purpose (Cho, 2004; Flowerdew, 1999). When competing with experienced native Englishresearchers
for publication, the non-native English and novice ones
are at a distinct disadvantage (Burrough-Boenisch,
2003). They sometimes feel marginalized from the
international academic community. This might be owing to
reasons for example i) writing the research article is
linguistically, culturally, and disciplinary specific (Swales,
2004) and / or ii) some
researchers might not be familiar with the lexical, grammatical, syntactical,
semantic, and pragmatic conventions regarding a research article (Kaplan
& Baldauf, 2005).
As
in many other countries, several researchers in Thailand, where English is
considered a foreign language, are also facing this problem. Presently,
Thai researchers, teachers, and graduate students are encouraged to carry out
research studies and need to have these published in international journals. However, writing the research article may be beyond their abilities. According to Kaplan and Baldauf (2005), to rectify this problem, researchers should learn the lexico-grammatical patterns associated with it. That
is why I am reviewing about the book titled ‘English for
Research Writing’
The
book is written by Kanyarat Getkham and published by Chulalongkorn University
Press. The book has been posited in several university libraries,used in numbers of English for academic purposes courses in a
lot of universities. Presently, there have rarely been
knowledge (or know-how)
about writing research, this book thusin the
writer’s own point of viewis so
beneficial toward inexperienced and novice researchers, teachers and students
that they are able to apply the knowledge in the book as powerful academic
resources for professionally crafting academic papers.
The
book is divided into 11 chapters. ChapterI
begins with how to write correct sentences which is the first step of writing a
paragraph. Chapter II explain how to use modifiers. Chapter
III show ways how to make sentences concise. Chapter IV provides empirical
numbers of evidences of sentence problems. Chapter V describes academic
stylistic features. Chapter VI exemplifies hedging often
used for writing research studies. Chapter VII shows how to use evaluative
stances. Chapter VIII explains tenses and their aspects
particularly in research reports. Chapter IX tells us how to link ideas into
paragraphs and essays. Chapter X teaches how to write an effective research
abstracts. And most importantly in chapter XI shows ways to cite other works
correctly and properly. All chapters in the book, in my opinion, are very
useful and a fundamental knowledge for researchers.
Simply
put, English is currently developing a status of world academic lingua franca, (Mauranen, 2008), with it being used as a
medium language for writing research articles. However,
not all researchers have the potential to write in English proficiently, with
numerous non-native English and novice researchers being
intimidated by the prospect (Wu, 2011). Thailand
is a non-native English speaking country where English is
not the country’s first or even the second language. Most Thai graduate students, teachers, and researchers are not
eloquent in English. They said they are not proficient
enough in English writing to write adequate research articles. In
the writer’s own opinion, and in agreement with Kaplan and
Baldauf’s (2005),
this might be because of their unfamiliarity of linguistic patterns used in the
research articles. Furthermore, academic writing is noone’s first language, topic specific, and a skill not naturally
acquired. It needs to be learned and practiced. Necessitating empirical evidences in the book helps shed light
on lexical, grammatical, syntactical, semantic, and pragmatic conventions and
their communicative functions used for writing research. These
are the objective of the writer of the book to benefit ESP/EAP
teachers, non-native English and novice researchers, and
students to understand writing correct sentences, using modifiers, making sentences
concise, avoiding sentence problems, academic stylistic features, hedging, and
so on in writing research papers.