Article published in:
Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 4:1 (2015) ► pp. 101–121

The language of quoting in academic writing

| Radboud University Nijmegen

Because quotation is a fundamental aspect of academic texts, this corpus study examines the language of quoting in (L2) academic writing. To find out whether there are subtle linguistic differences in the use of quotation by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and professional academics who are native speakers of English (NSE), I compare two corpora of scholarly writings: one by upper intermediate and advanced EFL students and one by NSE experts. 1201 Quotes were extracted from the writings and examined for a broad range of lexico-grammatical features relevant to using quotes, including introductions to quotes, lexical items in introducing quotes, ‘special’ quotes, and punctuation surrounding quotes. The findings make clear that EFL students and NSE experts differ significantly on various points in their language of quoting. Making students aware of these differences could make their academic writing more professional, native-like, and sophisticated.

Keywords: English as a foreign language (EFL), native speakers of English (NSE), academic writing, quotation, advancedness
Published online: 17 August 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.4.1.10ver
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