Journals / Bartın Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi / 2026 / Volume: 14 Issue: 2

A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Direct Quotation in L2 Writing

İkinci Dilde Yazmada Doğrudan Alıntı Kullanımına İlişkin Derlem Temelli Bir Çalışma

Tuğba Çıtlak(UNIVERSITY OF TURKISH AERONAUTICAL ASSOCIATION)0000-0002-5152-3069
Hasan Sağlamel(KARADENİZ TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0002-0707-4577
Pages
—
Publication Date
2025-04-30
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The results showed that there is not a statistically significant difference between the two corpora regarding the frequency of direct quotations.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Novice writers can use direct quotations excessively, ineffectively, or unconsciously for several reasons, including inadequate knowledge of how and when to use them in academic writing.
📊
Key Findings & Data:The corpora consisted of 60 MA and PhD theses completed in Türkiye retrieved from Ulusal Tez Merkezi and 60 in the USA retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global between 2015 and 2020 in English major departments for the analysis of recent theses.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:The results showed that there is not a statistically significant difference between the two corpora regarding the frequency of direct quotations.
🔬Design:Research Article
📍Scope:2015 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Academic writing · direct quotation · corpus-based analysis

Abstract

Novice writers can use direct quotations excessively, ineffectively, or unconsciously for several reasons, including inadequate knowledge of how and when to use them in academic writing. Since the use of direct quotations in academic writing has not received due attention in previous studies, this corpus-based study sought to fill this gap in the literature by investigating the use of direct quotations and the frequency of reporting verbs introducing direct quotations. To this end, a corpus-based study was employed to observe the total number of directly quoted words and the frequency of reporting verbs used in direct quotations. The corpora consisted of 60 MA and PhD theses completed in Türkiye retrieved from Ulusal Tez Merkezi and 60 in the USA retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global between 2015 and 2020 in English major departments for the analysis of recent theses. The quotations and reporting verbs introducing those quotations were manually identified for each thesis. The number of directly quoted words was normalized per 1000 words, and a log-likelihood test was applied to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the two corpora in terms of direct quotation use. The results showed that there is not a statistically significant difference between the two corpora regarding the frequency of direct quotations. For the reporting verbs, in the USA corpus, it was revealed that there are more frequent and various reporting verbs introducing direct quotations than in the Turkish corpus, although the most frequent reporting verbs were found to be similar. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

Özet

Deneyimsiz yazarlar, akademik yazılarda doğrudan alıntıların nasıl ve ne zaman kullanılacağına dair yetersiz bilgi dahil olmak üzere çeşitli nedenlerle doğrudan alıntıları aşırı, etkisiz veya bilinçsizce kullanabilirler. Akademik yazımda doğrudan alıntıların kullanılması önceki çalışmalarda gereken ilgiyi görmediğinden, bu derlem temelli çalışma, doğrudan alıntıların kullanımını ve doğrudan alıntıları başlatan bildirme fiillerinin sıklığını araştırarak literatürdeki boşluğu doldurmayı amaçlamıştır. Bu amaçla, doğrudan alıntılanan kelimelerin toplam sayısını ve doğrudan alıntılarda kullanılan bildirme fiillerinin sıklığını gözlemlemek için derlem temelli bir çalışma yapılmıştır. Derlem, 2015-2020 yılları arasında İngilizce ana dallarında yazılmış ve Türkiye'den Ulusal Tez Merkezi’nden alınan 60 ve ABD'den ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global’ dan alınan 60 tezden oluşmaktadır. Her tez için alıntılar ve bu alıntıları başlatan bildirme fiilleri manuel olarak belirlenmiştir. Doğrudan alıntılanan kelime sayısı 1000 kelime başına normalize edilmiş ve doğrudan alıntı kullanımı açısından iki derlem arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark olup olmadığını belirlemek için log-olabilirlik testi uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar, doğrudan alıntıların frekansları açısından iki derlem arasında istatistiksel bir fark olmadığını göstermiştir. Bildirme fiilleri için ise en sık kullanılan bildirme fiillerinin benzer bulunmasına rağmen, ABD derleminde, Türkiye derlemine göre daha sık ve çeşitli doğrudan alıntıları başlatan bildirme fiillerinin kullanıldığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Pedagojik öneriler ayrıca tartışılmıştır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Çıtlak, T., Sağlamel, H. (2025). A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Direct Quotation in L2 Writing. Bartın Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, Volume: 14 Issue: 2. https://doi.org/10.14686/buefad.1339467

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (53)

  1. Amiri, F., & Razmjoo, S. A. (2016). On Iranian EFL undergraduate students’ perceptions of plagiarism. Journal of Academic Ethics, 14, 115-131. doi: 10.1007/s10805-015-9245-3
  2. Arizavi, S., & Choubsaz, Y. (2021). Citation practices in research article introductions: The interplay between disciplines and research methodologies. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 31, 383-405. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12337
  3. Balemir, S. H. (2009). The sources of foreign language speaking anxiety and the relationship between proficiency level and the degree of foreign language speaking anxiety. [Unpublished master’s thesis, Bilkent University]. Ulusal Tez Merkezi.
  4. Bao, K. (2021). Should we use it in our classrooms: An analysis of data-driven learning research. English Linguistics Research, 10(3), 66-76.
  5. Barghamadi, M., & Siyyari, M. (2021). Citation quality analysis in Iranian and international high-rank journals. Language Testing, 4, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.32038/ltf.2021.04.01
  6. Borg, E. (2000). Citation practices in academic writing. In P. Thompson (Ed.), Patterns and perspectives: Insights into EAP writing practice (pp. 26-42). Centre for Applied Language Studies.
  7. Campbell, J. L., Quincy, C., Osserman, J., & Pedersen, O. K. (2013). Coding in-depth semistructured interviews: Problems of unitization and intercoder reliability and agreement. Sociological Methods & Research, 42, 294–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124113500475
  8. Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20(1), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104
  9. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge.
  10. Conrad, S. (2000). Will Corpus linguistics revolutionize grammar teaching in the 21st century? TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 548-560. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587743
  11. Cumming, A., Yang, L., Qiu, C., Zhang, L., Ji, X., Wang, J.,. & Lai, C. (2018). Students’ practices and abilities for writing from sources in English at universities in China. Journal of Second Language Writing, 39, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.11.001
  12. Davis, M. (2013). The development of source used by international postgraduate students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(2), 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.11.008
  13. Davies, A. (2003). The native speaker: Myth and reality. Multilingual Matters.
  14. Deschacht, N., & Maes, B. (2017). Cross‐cultural differences in self‐promotion: A study of self‐citations in management journals. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(1), 77-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12162
  15. Docherty, P. (2019). An exploratory study in the use of direct quotation by L2 entry level Bachelor students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 40, 26-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.05.002
  16. Dontcheva-Navratilova, O. (2015). Cross-cultural variation in citation practices: A comparative analysis of citations in Czech English-medium and international English-medium linguistics journals. In Ramón Plo Alastrué and Carmen Pérez-Llantada (Eds.), English as a scientific and research language: Debates and discourses (pp. 185-205). Mouton de Gruyter.
  17. Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Polity Press.
  18. Fazilatfar, A. M., Elhambakhsh, S. E., & Allami, H. (2018). An investigation of the effects of citation instruction to avoid plagiarism in EFL academic writing assignments. SAGE Open, 8(2), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018769958
  19. Hunston, S. (2022). Corpora in applied linguistics (2nd Ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  20. Hyland, K. (1998). Hedging in scientific research articles (Vol. 54). John Benjamins Publishing.
  21. Hyland, K. (1999). Academic attribution: Citation and the construction of disciplinary knowledge. Applied linguistics, 20(3), 341-367. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/20.3.341
  22. Hyland, T. A. (2009). Drawing a line in the sand: Identifying the borderzone between self and other in EL1 and EL2 citation practices. Assessing Writing, 14(1), 62-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2009.01.001
  23. Jafarigohar, M., & Mohammadkhani, A. (2015). Reporting verbs in applied linguistics research articles by native and non-native writers. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(12), 2490. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0512.08
  24. Jarkovská, M., & Kučírková, L. (2020). Citation practices in EFL academic writing: The use of reporting verbs in master’s thesis literature reviews. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 571-579. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i2.29033
  25. Kafes, H. (2017). Citation practices among novice and expert academic writers. Egitim ve Bilim, 42(192). DOI: 10.15390/EB.2017.6317
  26. Kamimura, T. (2014). Citation behaviors observed in Japanese EFL students' argumentative writing. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 18(1), 85-101.
  27. Kibler, A. K., & Hardigree, C. (2017). Using evidence in L2 argumentative writing: A longitudinal case study across high school and university. Language Learning, 67(1), 75-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12198
  28. Kirszner, L. G., & Mandell, S. R. (2011). Cengage advantage books: The pocket wadsworth handbook (5th ed.). Cengage Learning.
  29. Lombardi, A. (2021). More is more: Explicit intertextuality in university writing placement exam essays. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 50, 100955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2020.100955
  30. Lee, J. J., Hitchcock, C., & Casal, J. E. (2018). Citation practices of L2 university students in first-year writing: Form, function, and stance. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 33, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.01.001
  31. Li, J. (2021). Examining EFL learners’ source text use in summary writing. Language Teaching Research, 1-24. doi: 10.1177/13621688211055887
  32. Macagno, F., & Walton, D. (2017). Interpreting straw man argumentation: The pragmatics of quotation and reporting (Vol. 14). Springer.
  33. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Sage.
  34. Monreal, C. S., & Salom, L. G. (2011). A cross-language study on citation practice in PhD theses. International Journal of English Studies, 11(2), 53-75. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2011/2/149641
  35. Mu, C. (2010). " I only cited some of his words": The dilemma of EFL students and their perceptions of plagiarism in academic writing. Journal of Asia TEFL, 7(4), 103-132.
  36. Nunkoo, R., Hall, C. M., Rughoobur-Seetah, S., & Teeroovengadum, V. (2019). Citation practices in tourism research: Toward a gender conscientious engagement. Annals of Tourism Research, 79, 102755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102755
  37. Pecorari, D. (2006). Visible and occluded citation features in postgraduate second-language writing. English for Specific Purposes, 25(1), 4-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2005.04.004
  38. Petrić, B. (2007). Rhetorical functions of citations in high-and low-rated master's theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(3), 238-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2007.09.002
  39. Petrić, B. (2012). Legitimate textual borrowing: Direct quotation in L2 student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(2), 102-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2012.03.005
  40. Pickard, V. (1995). Citing previous writers: What can we say instead of ‘say’? Hong Kong Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 18, 89-102.
  41. Rezeki, Y. S. (2018). Analysis of EFL students’ citation practices and problems in academic writing. International Journal of Educational Best Practices, 2(1), 62-72. https://doi.org/10.31258/ijebp.v2n1.p62-72
  42. Sağlamel, H. (2018). A comparison of the impact of teacher feedback within and irrespective of the English a foreign language learners’ zone of proximal development [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Karadeniz Technical University.
  43. Samuda, V. & M. Bygate (2008). Tasks in second language learning. Palgrave MacMillan.
  44. Schembri, N. (2009). Citation practices: Insights from interviews with six undergraduate students at the University of Malta. University of Reading Language Studies Working Papers, 1, 16-24.
  45. Silva, M. L. (2021). Anchoring the first-year research paper: A pilot study of FYW student citation practices. Signum: Estudos da Linguagem, 24(1), 43-61. https://doi.org/10.5433/2237-4876.2021v24n1p43
  46. Sun, Q., & Soden, B. (2022). The representation of source use in academic writing textbooks. ELT Journal, 76(4), 497-507. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab058
  47. Swales, J. M. (2014). Variation in citational practice in a corpus of student biology papers: From parenthetical plonking to intertextual storytelling. Written Communication, 31(1), 118-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088313515166
  48. Thompson, P., & Tribble, C. (2001). Looking at citations: Using corpora in English for academic purposes. Language Learning & Technology, 5(3), 91-105.
  49. Thompson, G., & Ye, Y. (1991). Evaluation in the reporting verbs used in academic papers. Applied Linguistics, 12, 365–82.
  50. Verheijen, L. (2015). The language of quoting in academic writing. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(1), 101-121. doi 10.1075/dujal.4.1.10ver
  51. Yasmin, T., Butt, I. H., & Sarwar, M. N. (2020). A comparative analysis of reporting verbs in research papers authored by Pakistani and native writers. Global Language Review, 5(1), 57-66. doi:10.31703/glr.2020(V-I).07
  52. Zhang, G. (2022). The citational practice of social science research articles: An analysis by part-genres. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 55, 101076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2021.101076
  53. Cumming, A., Yang, L., Qiu, C., Zhang, L., Ji, X., Wang, J.,. & Lai, C. (2018). Students’ practices and abilities for writing from sources in English at universities in China. Journal of Second Language Writing, 39, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.11.001