5.3.3 A Comparison with Findings in Previous Studi...
In this section，we compare the findings of the present study with that of previous research.The present study found that American and New Zealand students tend to give more details on method than their peers in China when reviewing their own studies or those of others.Similarly，Dong and Xue（2010）noted a difference when comparing 10 Linguistics RA Abstracts written by native speakers of English and 10 by Chinese writers in English.They analysed the Abstracts using the IMRD structure and found that native English speakers introduce Method，Result and sometimes include some Discussion in their Abstract while half of the Chinese writers only use the Introduction move and omit Method，Result and Discussion.Loi and Evans（2010）examined RA Introductions from Educational Psychology and found that the Chinese writing lack explicitness and are reader-responsible since the writers tend to give fewer details.Loi and Evans propose that the social expectation for reserved behaviour，hanxu（涵蓄）may be used to explain the implicit style of Chinese writing.
The findings of the present study show that Chinese students review far fewer empirical studies than students in America and New Zealand.Huang,Xu,and Yang(2010)examine 10 RA Introductions written by native speakers of English located in America,10 RA Introductions written in Chinese by Chinese,and 10 RA Introductions written in English by Chinese located in China and find that Chinese writers,no matter whether writing in Chinese or English,use fewer references than American writers.They suggest that this may be related to the fact that Chinese scholars have limited access to academic databases compared with their peers in America.
Apart from the similar findings，the present study also has two discoveries that differ from previous research.Loi and Evans（2010）find that Chinese writers avoid highlighting the values of their research，while the present study finds more Chinese writers（21/30）claiming contribution of their study than New Zealand（16/30）and American students（11/30）.However，Loi and Evans examines research articles written by Chinese academics whereas the present study looks at Master’s Theses written by Chinese students.The former are established member of the Chinese academic community while the latter are newcomers.In addition，most of the Chinese Master’s students sampled in the present study are in their early 20s.Therefore，the difference might be related to the culture of the younger and older generation，that is，the Chinese young generation（most of them were born in 1980s），have their distinct values，beliefs，norms and behaviours compared with the older generations.Atkinson（2004）and Connor（2008）also suggest that youth culture may influence the style of writing.As Loi and Evans suggested，the Chinese academics who avoid highlighting their studies may follow the Confucian principle of gong（恭，humility）.The young generation，who are rebellious and confident，may not be shy in promoting their study.
Another difference between the findings of the present and previous research lies in the step of Indicating Gaps.Loi and Evans(2010)and Huang et al.(2010)found that Chinese academics,compared with their peers in America or native speakers of English,are reluctant to point out the gaps in previous studies.Loi and Evans attribute Chinese writers’avoidance of taking critical stances to the Confucian principle of
zhong yong（中庸，the constant mean），which suggests being moderate，and avoiding taking things to extremes.In fact，researchers examining other languages，such as Turkish（Candarli，2012），Portuguese（Hirano，2009）and Persian（Yaghoubi-Notash，2012），also find that non-native English speakers avoid pointing out gaps directly.Similar with Loi and Evans，the researchers attribute non-native English speakers’avoidance of taking a critical stance to cultural traditions such as their face-saving strategy（Candarli，2012），avoidance of confrontation（Hirano，2009），or the Persian cultural tradition of not finding a“chink in their armour”（i.e.not questioning their peers）.However，it is hard to say that native English speakers have less concern when it comes to face-saving，since the Anglo-European culture also has this expectation of being polite and avoiding face threatening behaviours.Candarli（2012）contends that the competition in English speaking academic communities is fiercer than non-English speaking communities，and thus researchers in English speaking communities need to point out gaps and fight their corner.Kanoksilapatham（2007）found that although there is not much difference in the frequency of the step of pointing out gaps，Thai writers，compared with English writers，are reluctant to give negative comments on previous studies.She suggests that the reluctance of Thai writers is related to the modesty and humility of the Buddhism doctrine，as well as the culture of respecting elders in the“close-knit”Thai society（p.199）.
Unlike previous research,the present study found no difference in this step between Chinese students and their peers in New Zealand and America.This again may be related to the culture of younger generation.The young scholars were born and grown up in a more globalized era and therefore may have formed a less traditional view of social behaviours.The education that they received may also be different from that of the older generations.In addition,they may have been introduced to the English genre conventions and understand the expectations for an English thesis.
【注释】
[1]“Meditation”is a translation from the Chinese words“静观”and/or“玄览”，which means to think or reflect quietly and deeply.It is different from the meditation practice of Buddhists.