The Use of Reporting Verbs by Native and Non-native English Writers in Applied Linguistics and Engineering

This paper explores the behavior of reporting verbs (RVs) in research articles written by native (NES) and non-native English-speaking (NNES) scholars in the field of applied linguistics and engineering. A corpus of 963,396 words was compiled from journals published in Korea and overseas. An analysis was performed focusing on the type and token, citation forms, tense, and stance of RVs. Some significant findings are as follows: 1) the NES and NNES texts were similar in the token and type frequency of the RVs except for the NNES writers’ overuse of ‘according to.’ 2) the NNES text diverged from the NES text in utilizing tenses, linking tenses and citation forms, and expressing stance with RVs. 3) the applied linguistics texts contained more RVs in quantity and diversity than the engineering texts. 4) the two disciplines differed in the way they interacted with their readers. The engineering articles employed RVs with a more neutral tone while the applied linguistics articles RVs with a stronger authorial tone. Our findings indicate that the use of RVs is an outcome of complex interaction of various factors including disciplinary culture, writers’ strategic choice, and writers’ experience with the English language.