EFFECT OF JOURNAL CATEGORY ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHRASE-FRAMES: A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ARTICLES

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of journal category on the distribution of phrase-frames (PFs) within quantitative research articles.  Employing a corpus-based methodology, the study collected a corpus of approximately 3 million words from research articles that covered eleven different artistic and scientific fields. The study utilized an established phrase-frames list for the analysis (Lu et al., 2018). The distribution of functional phrase-frames; referential phrase-frames (REF_PFs), discourse phrase-frames (DISC_PFs), and stance phrase-frames (STNC_PFs), was examined within experimental and correlational research designs across W, X, and Y journal categories. The statistical findings of the study showed that referential phrase-frames dominated the corpus, followed by discourse phrase-frames and subsequently stance phrase-frames. Further findings revealed significant variations that emerged across journal categories. A Kruskal-Wallis H test and post-hoc analysis were conducted to analyze the differences within journal categories. According to the pairwise analysis, only one pair W-Y category showed differences in the distribution of REF_PFs, while the other two subcategories of phrase-frames (DISC_PFs and STNC_PFs) showed no variations. This study provides insights into academic writing, particularly in the context of research articles, and offers implications for EAP students and teachers. Additionally, it advances the study of phraseology by providing a deeper understanding of academic writing in arts and sciences.