The rhetorical problems experienced by Indonesian lecturers in social sciences and humanities in writing research articles for international journals

Authors

  • Safnil Arsyad University of Bengkulu
  • Arono University of Bengkulu
  • Syahrul Ramadhan Padang State University
  • Ira Maisarah University of Bengkulu

Keywords:

Research article;, genre-based analysis, Indonesian academics, reputable international journals, Indonesia

Abstract

The publication rate of Indonesian academics in reputable international journals is far below those of neighbouring countries. This is because Indonesian academics are not familiar with the appropriate rhetorical style of English research articles although they can write academic texts in English reasonably well. This study investigated the rhetorical problems experienced by Indonesian lecturers in social sciences and humanities when writing research articles for international journals. In this study, all sections (abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion) of research article drafts written by Indonesian academics were analysed based on their rhetorical styles following the models suggested by Swales (1990, 2004), Swales and Feak (2009), Lim (2006), and Peacock (2011). The results show that Indonesian authors have significant rhetorical problems in writing the introduction, results and discussion sections but few problems with writing abstracts and the methods section. The majority of these academics fail to write a convincingly argumentative introduction and discussion because they either do not use relevant references at all or they use them in improper ways. The study concludes that Indonesian authors must learn the ideal rhetorical styles of research article introductions and discussions, especially the use of references, in order to be accepted in international journals.

Author Biographies

  • Safnil Arsyad, University of Bengkulu

    Safnil Arsyad is a professor of applied linguistics at the English Education Postgraduate Programme of the University of Bengkulu, Indonesia. His research interests are in discourse analysis of academic texts, such as research articles, essays and seminar papers. He can be contacted at: safnil@unib.ac.id.

  • Arono, University of Bengkulu

    Arono is an associate professor in the Indonesian Education Department of the University of Bengkulu, Indonesia. His research interests are in teaching methodology and material design for Indonesian language to secondary and tertiary education students.

  • Syahrul Ramadhan , Padang State University

    Syahrul Ramadhan is a professor in Indonesian language education at the Padang State University, Indonesia. His research interests are in Indonesian language teaching methods and materials design and evaluation. He can be contacted at: syahrul_810@yahoo.co.id

  • Ira Maisarah, University of Bengkulu

    Iramaisarah is an assistant professor at the English Education postgraduate program of the University of Bengkulu, Indonesia. Her research interests are in English language teaching and learning methods and materials design and evaluation. She can be contacted at iramaisarah@unib.ac.id

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Published

2020-04-05

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

The rhetorical problems experienced by Indonesian lecturers in social sciences and humanities in writing research articles for international journals. (2020). The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 116-129. https://caes.hku.hk/ajal/index.php/ajal/article/view/716