Rethinking Reader and Writer Responsibility in Academic English
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Ian MacKenzie
Ian MacKenzie teaches English and translation in the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of the University of Geneva. He is the author of
English as a lingua franca: Theorizing and teaching English (2014),Paradigms of reading: Relevance theory and deconstruction (2002), and several English language teaching coursebooks.
Abstract
There is a growing perception that English used as a lingua franca does not need to resemble English as a native language, but can include a great deal of lexicogrammatical variation. However, a more fundamental matter is whether research articles written in English need to conform to the dominant linear, deductive, ‘Anglo’ pattern of text organization, or whether non-native English speakers should be free to transfer rhetorical patterns from their L1s into English, such as, e.g., an inductive, indirect, end-weighted form of argumentation, perhaps with a less-assertive conclusion. Hinds (1987) describes the latter style of writing as “reader-responsible,” as opposed to the “writer-responsible” Anglo-American style, arguing that it requires a great deal more inferential work on the part of the reader. Yet from a relevance theory perspective it appears unlikely that a culture would choose to impose unnecessary additional processing effort on readers. The perception of difficulty is an etic perspective: analysts from “writer-responsible” cultures imagine the processing effort that would be necessary in their culture to make sense of “reader-responsible” texts. Indirect, inductive rhetorical styles do not cause problems for readers accustomed to them. Given that most academic writing in English is for an international audience, non-native English-speaking researchers – and indeed native English speakers too – should be free to adopt a range of styles, or some sort of heterogeneous hybrid, depending on their perceptions of their readers’ expectations. A further issue is whether researchers who have reservations about ‘Anglo’ styles of writing, e.g. in the social sciences or literary and cultural theory, should encourage non-native English speakers to imitate the noun-heavy, nominalized, passivized, syntactically-complex style dominant in these fields.
About the author
Ian MacKenzie teaches English and translation in the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of the University of Geneva. He is the author of English as a lingua franca: Theorizing and teaching English (2014), Paradigms of reading: Relevance theory and deconstruction (2002), and several English language teaching coursebooks.
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Note from the Editors
- Rethinking Reader and Writer Responsibility in Academic English
- When and How Students Take the Reins: Specifying Learner Initiatives in Tutoring Sessions with Preschool-Aged Children
- Intercultural Communication Systems and Discourses of Cultural Identity
- Nine Types of Turn-taking in Interpreter-mediated GP Consultations
- River-Crabbed Shitizens and Missing Knives: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Trends in Chinese Language Use Online as a Result of Censorship
- Towards a Model of Advanced Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition: An Investigation of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention by Taiwanese English Majors
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Note from the Editors
- Rethinking Reader and Writer Responsibility in Academic English
- When and How Students Take the Reins: Specifying Learner Initiatives in Tutoring Sessions with Preschool-Aged Children
- Intercultural Communication Systems and Discourses of Cultural Identity
- Nine Types of Turn-taking in Interpreter-mediated GP Consultations
- River-Crabbed Shitizens and Missing Knives: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Trends in Chinese Language Use Online as a Result of Censorship
- Towards a Model of Advanced Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition: An Investigation of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention by Taiwanese English Majors
