Stance taking through that-clauses in research article abstracts: Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary practices in translated and non-translated English

This corpus-based study provides cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary insights into stance-taking expression through controlling words in that -clauses within the English as lingua franca (ELF) academic context. It compares translated (from Chinese) and non-translated ELF discursive practices in research article abstracts (RAAs) in applied linguistics (AL) and medical sciences (MS), focusing on the frequency, semantic classes (communication, certainty, likelihood, and attitude), and diversity of controlling words. The results reveal a shared preference for verb forms of controlling words across disciplines and practices, along with a consistent disciplinary convention of higher frequency of that -clauses in AL than MS within each discursive practice. Further analysis indicates that translated discourses exhibit a higher frequency of that -clauses in both disciplines and rely on certain words indicating certainty or communication, suggesting cross-cultural constraints in translated practices. However, these constraints manifest differently in the two disciplines compared to their non-translated counterparts. Scholars in non-translated practices prefer communication and certainty words, a preference seen only in translated AL, not in MS. Additionally, lexical diversity of these controlling words shows minimal differences between translated and non-translated ELF practices in AL, but significant divergences in MS. These findings can inform literacy brokers and English for research publication instructors, enhancing multilingual academic communication. • Translated RAAs use more that -clauses than ELF RAAs in soft and hard disciplines. • Translated applied linguistics RAAs show little divergence from ELF RAAs. • Translated medical sciences RAAs diverge significantly from ELF RAAs. • Translated RAAs across disciplines show similar reliance on certain controlling words.