A cross-disciplinary genre analysis of conference presentations by novice and expert presenters
The academic conference presentation is a specialised form of public speaking and a challenging task due to its real-time delivery to an expert audience (Heino, Tervonen & Tommola, 2002). According to Seliman (1996) academic conference presentations are of great significance because they offer more up-to-date information than written versions; they are considered an important component of the research cycle and constitute a key academic genre (Hyland, 2009). To date, the extensive and rapidly growing body of literature on the language of research reporting has been mainly concentrated on reporting on the written form (e.g., research articles, theses, essays, or proposals) and the spoken form of research reporting, such as academic conference presentations, has received little attention. This study provides a macro-level description (i.e., the rhetorical Move structure) and a micro-level description (i.e., the use of Metadiscourse) of conference presentations in two disciplines: Applied Linguistics and Computing. It also explores differences in the delivery of conference presentations with respect to the aforementioned macro and micro-level features by novices (postgraduate students) and experts (faculty members) in the two disciplines. The analysis is informed by the theory of genre analysis as developed by Swales (1990). Accordingly, a Move is defined as a rhetorical unit that performs a communicative function. The study adopts the Move model developed by Seliman (1996) to investigate academic conference presentations, and Hyland’s (2005) Metadiscourse model is used to investigate the use of Metadiscourse. The study employs a self-built corpus comprising 30 conference presentations (Applied Linguistics n=15; Computing n=15) collected from international conferences through audio and video recordings. Within each discipline, eight presentations were delivered by novices and seven by experts. The presentations were transcribed and analysed with NVivo 12 (Moves and Steps), and AntConc 4.0.7 (Metadiscourse markers). The findings reveal some cross-disciplinary differences in the use of rhetorical Moves and Steps in the different sections of the presentations and differences according to the level of expertise (novices/experts). The study has pedagogical implications for teaching the structure, organisation, and delivery of conference presentations.
Move Analysis, Metadiscourse, Conference presentation, Novice presenters, Expert presenters, Genre Analysis
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