Title: A Study of Reporting Features of Evaluative-that Clauses in MA Thesis Abstracts by Chinese EFL Learners

Abstract: This paper examines the reporting features of evaluative-that clauses by comparing the abstracts of MA theses by Chinese EFL learners and international journal articles. It was found that Chinese EFL learners and experts tended to use abstract subjects as well as the combination of abstract subjects and research verbs in order to reduce author’s voice and increase the objectivity of the discourse. Compared with experts, Chinese EFL learners rarely used the combination of abstract subjects and discourse verbs along with negative reporting verbs. In addition, Chinese EFL learners overused the combination of concealed subjects and research verbs, as well as positive reporting verbs in the master’s theses. Learners sometimes misused reporting verbs with different evaluations, which reveals that learners as novices lack the awareness and ability to use reporting verbs appropriately in academic writing. This study broadens the research scope of evaluative-that clauses and concludes with pedagogical guidance for academic writing.

Keywords: abstract, evaluative that -clauses, self-sourced reporting clauses, other-sourced reporting clauses

Authors: Yingliang Liu, Professor, The School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China; Fengshuang Du, The School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China; Yuyu Pei, The School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.