Papers by Prof. Hesham Suleiman Alyousef
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law , 2024
The analysis of courtroom trials has attracted considerable scholarly attention. However, studies... more The analysis of courtroom trials has attracted considerable scholarly attention. However, studies performing SFL analysis of legal texts and speeches are rare. The up-to-date published studies handled criminal cases; yet, there is a lack of SFL studies examining civil cases like divorce and defamation. The present qualitative study utilized systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA) of the 2022 defamation trial sued by Johnny Depp’s lawyer (the plaintiff) against Amber Heard (the defendant). The SF-MDA of the transitivity system aimed to examine and compare the experiential meaning in the speeches of the plaintiff and the defendant. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) what are the differences in the plaintiff’s and defendant’s use of experiential meanings? (2) how can transitivity and multimodality aid in the experiential communicative meanings and the arrival of the final verdict in the courtroom? and (3) what were the language tactics that were manifested throughout the analysis? The plaintiff utilized material processes with the highest frequency, followed by relational and mental processes. However, the defendant made excessive use of the relational processes followed by mental and material processes. The speech of the plaintiff included more circumstances than the defendant. Some of the language techniques, used by the plaintiff and the defendant were detected.
Journal of Contemporary Language Research, 2024
Introduction: Political speech plays an important role in connecting various segments of society ... more Introduction: Political speech plays an important role in connecting various segments of society and fostering a sense of unity. This study aimed to investigate thematic structures of Christmas speeches delivered by Queen Elizabeth II.
Methodology: To meet the aim of the study, a corpus of 711 T-units was analyzed using Halliday’s (2014) thematic structure approach and Daneš’ (1974) thematic progression model.
Results: The research findings indicated that the topical theme was the most frequently utilized type, followed by a moderate usage of textual theme, while interpersonal theme was the least applied. Moreover, a predilection was shown towards unmarked themes over marked ones to enhance simplicity. The findings revealed that the predominant employed thematic pattern was the constant pattern, followed by the linear pattern to a slightly lesser degree, whereas the split pattern was scarcely utilized. The integration of these patterns yielded a harmonious flow of information and a cohesive arrangement for the textual composition.
Conclusion: The analysis of theme structure and thematic progression patterns from 2001 to 2021 revealed that the Queen exhibited a consistent pattern of theme structure usage, while the usage of thematic progression varied depending on the topics addressed in each speech. These results along with other further investigations may be beneficial in training political sciences students, future politicians and public speakers.
Journal of Studies in Applied Language, 2024
This paper illustrates the value of Engagement as a subsystem of Martin and White's (2005) Apprai... more This paper illustrates the value of Engagement as a subsystem of Martin and White's (2005) Appraisal framework in studies on IGCSE English reading assessments. The study focused on how IGCSE exam authors engage with their readers and how they construct and negotiate stances using evaluative language. The study used a mixed-method research design to examine engagement resources in four IGCSE EFL/ESL reading tests. Analysis of four IGCSE EFL and ESL reading tests using the Engagement system revealed that there are some different linguistic preferences among EFL and ESL exam makers. While both tests had a higher number of heteroglossic and 'contractive' resources, the manner in which these elements were distributed made a difference in serving each exam's purpose and type of evaluation, i.e. the engagement feature was used in EFL texts to present a more challenging text while ESL texts were considered clearer. A thorough understanding of the underlying features of engagement can help learners distinguish creative positioning, assess the impact of linguistic choices, identify the goal of writing, and comprehend underlying ideologies and values. The comparison between ESL and EFL texts indicates that closer attention to authorial presence and to problems of voice negotiation through the study of engagement resources can help in preparing EFL and ESL IGCSE exam takers to solve more effectively and can enhance their text understanding and sharpen their critical reading skills.
Journal of Research in Language & Translation, 2023
The present study focuses on the uses of heteroglossic formulations in the Arab News Journal arti... more The present study focuses on the uses of heteroglossic formulations in the Arab News Journal articles about women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia. More specifically, this study explains how journalists show their position regarding women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia and how male/female journalists engage with Saudi women’s empowerment by using the Engagement system features. Appraisal theory was employed in the present study because it focuses on interpersonal meanings that provide writers and speakers with the means to be critical, and value, reject, accept, and challenge other positions mentioned in the articles. The findings revealed that the highest number of engagement instances are specifically acknowledgment, endorsement, and contractions resources which shows that the journal admits and appreciates the other sources included in the articles. Moreover, female writers utilized more acknowledgment resources while male journalists used more endorsement and contraction resources. Thus, the authors mostly employed three engagement features to attribute other stances in their articles supporting women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia. Consequently, they are recognizing and appreciating Saudi women’s empowerment. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to investigate Saudi women’s empowerment in the Saud media. Studies on the same topic using other journals or different columns are recommended. The study contributes some understanding of interpersonal meaning in the news discourse in Saudi Arabia from the functional perspective of appraisal theory.
Journal of Contemporary Language Research, 2023
Introduction: Investigating patterns of dialogic engagement in newspaper articles can help inform... more Introduction: Investigating patterns of dialogic engagement in newspaper articles can help inform novice writers of effective writing strategies that can increase their readers' engagement and interest. The study aimed to identify the linguistic features used to engage and sustain readers' interest in sports newspaper articles and explore related research within a systemic functional linguistics framework. Methodology: A corpus of 9,000 words from 14 different sports newspaper articles was analyzed using the UAM Corpus Tool software following Appraisal Theory proposed by Martin and White (2005).
Atlantis: Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies, 2023
Novice Geography researchers need to be acquainted with the rhetorical move structure and organiz... more Novice Geography researchers need to be acquainted with the rhetorical move structure and organization of scientific research article abstracts (RAAs); yet there is a lack of studies investigating the linguistic realizations involved and their connections to the rhetorical move structure in Geography RAAs. This paper conducted a multidimensional analysis to explore phrase frames/collocations and move length and their connection to the rhetorical move structure and sequence in 190 Geography RAAs from journals indexed in the Web of Science Master Journal List. The move structure was investigated employing Hyland's (2004) move scheme, Introduction-Purpose-Method-Product-Conclusion. The results revealed that Geography RAAs have a five-move structure, consisting of three "essential" moves whose functions are to present Purpose, Methods and Results, and two "conventional" moves, whose functions are to present Introduction and Conclusion. The findings of the multidimensional analyses indicated that the moves that occurred most frequently in Geography RAAs (Purpose, Methods and Results) occupied most text space and included more phrase frames. The findings indicate the importance of combining investigations of the rhetorical move structure in a particular genre with an exploration of the linguistic realizations in each move as this may provide both researchers and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) tutors with valuable resources for understanding the rhetorical and linguistic characteristics of specific RAA types.
Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Language Sciences and Literature
s of research articles are dense in nature and require authors to pack information in a concise c... more s of research articles are dense in nature and require authors to pack information in a concise cohesive paragraph. One principle of cohesion is employing various theme types and thematic progression patterns. The study conducted qualitative contrastive analyses of these aspects in medical research article (RA) abstracts written in English by native and Saudi scholars. The findings revealed the predominance of constant and linear thematic progression patterns. Whereas the two patterns are almost equally used in the native scholars’ data, the constant pattern prevailed in the non-native scholars’ data. Non-native authors tended to simplify complex subject matter by using shorter clauses to exert less effort in processing them. They also relied on cohesive ties to achieve cohesion rather than using various thematic progression patterns. Due to the factual nature of the medical abstracts, unmarked topical and textual themes were the most used instead of interpersonal themes. Multiple t...
Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2019
Individuals’ attitudes toward computer-based testing (CBT) can either increase or decrease their ... more Individuals’ attitudes toward computer-based testing (CBT) can either increase or decrease their test anxiety level. As a result, they may be highly resistant to change or they may have different types of behavior. It is, therefore, pertinent to investigate individual students’ attitudes toward computers before administering CBT. This study investigated the effectiveness of CBT when compared to traditional paper-based testing (PBT) in terms of reducing test anxiety among Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The participants were forty undergraduate male students enrolled in a first-year preparatory EFL course at a Saudi university. The students were divided into two groups, a CBT group and a PBT group, and took the same assessment in the two test formats. The participants completed two questionnaires to examine their anxiety levels before and during each test, and to collect information regarding their prior experience with and attitudes toward either testing forma...
Sumerianz Journal of Education, Linguistics and Literature, 5(3), 58-70. , 2022
The focus of the present study is on how professional scholars argue their propositions while mai... more The focus of the present study is on how professional scholars argue their propositions while maintaining a relationship of solidarity with their readers in the discussion section of medical research articles. More specifically, it provides explanations of (1) how attitude features of effect, judgment, and appreciation are disseminated across academic medical texts published in reputable journals, (2) how different writer voices are constructed through the use of evaluative language, and (3) the assumptions that professional published writers make about the values and beliefs of their readers. Mackey and Gass (2005) Appraisal theory was employed in the present study because it focuses on interpersonal meanings that provide writers and speakers with the means to be critical, value, reject, accept, and challenge other positions. The findings revealed high instances of Appraisal resources in the discussion section of the medical texts. Thus, language played an important role and was used rhetorically to achieve argumentative goals. The interpersonal language was highly achieved through resources of engagement. The study contributes new understandings of interpersonal meaning in the professional writers' medical texts from the functional perspective of Appraisal theory. The findings may provide new directions for the development of literacy in the genre of academic research writing.
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 2022
This study employed Martin and White's (2005) appraisal framework to explore evaluative language ... more This study employed Martin and White's (2005) appraisal framework to explore evaluative language within political discourse. The study utilized a mixed-method research design to examine the features of the three types of attitude: affect, judgement and appreciation employed by Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Leslie Stahl and Norah O'Donnell in four political interviews on 60 Minutes during the 2020 presidential elections in the United States of America. The analysis revealed that Trump and Stahl employed more attitude resources of affect in their interviews, whereas Biden and O'Donnell used more attitude resources of appreciation. The findings also revealed that each of the four participants strategized the attitude types and polarity to achieve particular argumentative goals. Moreover, the analysis established a correlation between the attitudinal resources employed by the four participants and the political stance and ideology they adopted during the interviews. Finally, the findings indicate that the overall atmosphere of the interviews was highly affected by the attitudinal exchange between the interviewer and interviewee.
Journal of Language and Education, 2022
Research background: Academic writers utilize a variety of rhetorical methods to construct their ... more Research background: Academic writers utilize a variety of rhetorical methods to construct their knowledge claims through hedges and boosters. These two strategies may also be affected by disciplinary, cultural, or generic contexts. Gap in knowledge and Purpose of the study: This mixed-methods contrastive research study explored how disciplinary and cultural contexts may affect the way Arab and Anglophone writers construct and modulate knowledge claims through hedges and boosters in the results and discussion sections of 90 English research articles in three disciplines: Journalism, Law, and Political Science. Methods: Instances of hedges and boosters and their pragmatic functions in context were identified, employing Liu and Tseng's (2021) framework. This framework provides a detailed functional interpretation of the use and variation of these devices along four continuums: authorial voice, reasoning, consensus-building, and information evaluation. Findings: The results showed interesting contrasts and similarities between both groups regarding the approaches they used to define their levels of commitment and detachment in their knowledge claims. The quantitative findings revealed significant differences in hedges but non-significant differences in boosters used by both groups. The qualitative analysis revealed that hedging and boosting functions in Arab and Anglophone writers' RAs differed along the four continuums. Anglophone writers often used hedges in their writing to show humility, negotiate knowledge claims, and accommodate vagueness. These acts enabled them to sketch the realities emerging from their research. By contrast, the English-speaking Arab writers used fewer hedging strategies and demonstrated assertiveness, and assumed shared knowledge to enhance the realities constructed in their knowledge claims. Value Added: These findings can benefit ESP/EAP teachers, especially those teaching writing for publication purposes to raise postgraduate students' awareness of epistemic modality markers. A custom-made ESP/EAP course tailored to the needs of learners based on Liu and Tseng's (2021) hedging-boosting framework can be devised to develop communicative and academic strategies in English.
Discourse & Interaction, 2021
The abstract is one of the most important sections in a research article (RA) because it is the f... more The abstract is one of the most important sections in a research article (RA) because it is the fi rst section researchers read to determine whether it is relevant to their research. The abstract provides an overview or summary of the entire article. In the dentistry discipline, the RA abstract can either be structured using headings or written as a summary. However, subdisciplinary investigations of intradisciplinary (within the same discipline) variations of move structures in dentistry RA abstracts are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the prototypical rhetorical move structure realizations of 119 English RA abstracts in eight dentistry disciplines: Oral Sciences, Periodontics, Restorative Dentistry, Endodontics, Operative Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Orthodontics. It also aimed to investigate whether there are any intradisciplinary variations and/ or similarities between the eight dentistry subdisciplines in terms of move sequence and length. The fi ndings showed a lack of intradisciplinary variations in the rhetorical four-move structure (Purpose-Method-Result-Conclusion) across the eight dentistry subdisciplines. The Introduction/Background move was not present in all the dentistry subdisciplines; therefore, it is optional in fi ve subdisciplines but conventional in the Oral Sciences, Endodontics, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery subdisciplines since its occurrence exceeded 60 per cent of investigated RA abstracts of those subdisciplines. The analysis of the move lengths indicated the importance of the Methods and the Results moves in dental research discourse because each move constituted over 25 per cent of text space. The fi ndings revealed the importance of drawing learners' attention to the research gap when establishing the context for a study. Future studies may employ the proposed move-analysis model for RA abstract analyses in other academic disciplines.
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET), 2016
Although wikis have been used successfully in collaborative learning in higher education, there i... more Although wikis have been used successfully in collaborative learning in higher education, there is a lack of research investigating wikis in business module assessment tasks. Little research to date has been conducted on how wikis formatively develop international English as a second language (ESL) in business students’ academic discourse. In this case study, students ’ use of a wiki in an assessment task in the Intermediate Financial Reporting (IFR) module is examined. This study is framed by Hyland and Tse (2004) and Hyland’s (2005, 2010) models for the analysis of metadiscourse markers in IFR discourse. The findings of the interviews showed that although students collaborated and cooperated together to do the task, they favoured cooperative over collaborative learning. The linguistic analysis findings showed that the use of interpersonal metadiscourse features varied in the wiki discussion pages versus the report, indicating the students ’ awareness of their audience and the diff...
Journal of Language and Education, 2021
A research article (RA) abstract provides an overview or summary of the whole research. It is one... more A research article (RA) abstract provides an overview or summary of the whole research. It is one of the most important sections in an RA since it is the first section researchers read to decide if the article is relevant to their research or not. Researchers need to know the intradisciplinary (within the same discipline) variations and similarities in the choice of Theme and thematic progression (TP) patterns in RA abstracts in their discipline. Several studies have investigated variations and similarities in the use of Theme across disciplines. To the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of studies investigating intradisciplinary variations in the use of Theme in RA abstracts of dentistry subdisciplines. As epistemological differences exist between the various dentistry subdisciplines, it is pertinent to examine if there are intradisciplinary variations in the construction of Theme in the subfields of dentistry. The present study aims to investigate if there are any intradiscipl...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2020
In translation courses, students are asked to practice translation skills by translating a source... more In translation courses, students are asked to practice translation skills by translating a source text (ST) in a specific field. While teachers usually select texts based on topic and language accuracy, some such texts do not provide rich textual features that help students practice and improve their translation skills. This study aimed to analyze the cohesive features in business texts collected from “Investopedia” to investigate their suitability for use as STs to practice translation skills in the field of finance and administration. It was framed by Halliday’s (1978) systemic functional linguistics (SFL) approach to language and Halliday and Hassan’s (1976) cohesion analysis scheme. The findings demonstrated that the most prominent type used was lexical cohesion, followed by reference and conjunctions. Ellipses and substitution were rarely used. The findings indicated that the intensive use of lexical cohesion and the various subcategories used in these texts can help enrich the...
SAGE Open, 2021
This qualitative study examined multimodal cohesive devices in English oral biology texts by eigh... more This qualitative study examined multimodal cohesive devices in English oral biology texts by eight high-achieving Saudi English-as-a-foreign-language students enrolled in a Bachelor of Science Dentistry program. A Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) of the textual and logical cohesive devices in oral biology texts was conducted, employing Halliday and Hasan’s cohesion analysis scheme. The findings showed that students used varied cohesive devices: lexical cohesion, followed by reference and conjunctions. Although ellipsis was minimally employed in the oral biology texts, its discipline-specific uses emerged: the use of bullet points and numbered lists that facilitate recall. The SF-MDA of cohesion in multimodal semiotic resources highlighted the processes underlying construction of conceptual and linguistic knowledge of cohesive devices in oral biology texts. The results indicate that oral biology discourse is interdisciplinary, including a number of subfields...
SAGE Open, 2021
The research article (RA) abstract is the first section researchers read to determine its relevan... more The research article (RA) abstract is the first section researchers read to determine its relevance to their interests. Researchers need to possess an implicit knowledge of the rhetorical move structure and organization of this section. Unlike most scientific disciplines, political science RA abstracts are unstructured, that is, with no headings (or moves), which makes it more challenging. To the best of our knowledge, the rhetorical move structure in high readership political science RA abstracts has not been researched. This study investigated (a) the rhetorical move structure in 120 political science RA abstracts from six high-impact journals, (b) the most common move patterns, and (c) the move(s) occupying most textual space. The findings indicated the lack of obligatory moves. A move structure model for writing a political science RA abstract is proposed, comprising four conventional moves (Introduction [I]–Purpose [P]–Methods [M]–Results [R]) and two optional step/move, namely...
Open Linguistics, 2020
The study of multimodality in discourse reveals the way writers articulate their intended meaning... more The study of multimodality in discourse reveals the way writers articulate their intended meanings and intentions. Systemic functional analyses of oral biology discourse have been limited to few studies; yet, no published study has investigated multimodal textual features. This qualitative study explored and analyzed the multimodal textual features in undergraduate dentistry texts. The systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA) is framed by Halliday’s (Halliday, M. A. K. 2014. Introduction to Functional Grammar. Revised by Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 4th ed. London/New York: Taylor and Francis) linguistic tools for the analysis of Theme and Kress and van Leeuwen’s (Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge) framework for the analysis of visual designs. Oral biology discourse intertwines two thematic progression patterns: constant and linear. Although a split-rheme pattern was minimally employed, di...
Discourse and Interaction, 2021
The abstract is one of the most important sections in a research article (RA) because it is the f... more The abstract is one of the most important sections in a research article (RA) because it is the first section researchers read to determine whether it is relevant to their research. The abstract provides an overview or summary of the entire article. In the dentistry discipline, the RA abstract can either be structured using headings or written as a summary. However, subdisciplinary investigations of intradisciplinary (within the same discipline) variations of move structures in dentistry RA abstracts are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the prototypical rhetorical move structure realizations of 119 English RA abstracts in eight dentistry disciplines: Oral Sciences, Periodontics, Restorative Dentistry, Endodontics, Operative Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Orthodontics. It also aimed to investigate whether there are any intradisciplinary variations and/or similarities between the eight dentistry subdisciplines in terms of move sequence and lengt...
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Papers by Prof. Hesham Suleiman Alyousef
Methodology: To meet the aim of the study, a corpus of 711 T-units was analyzed using Halliday’s (2014) thematic structure approach and Daneš’ (1974) thematic progression model.
Results: The research findings indicated that the topical theme was the most frequently utilized type, followed by a moderate usage of textual theme, while interpersonal theme was the least applied. Moreover, a predilection was shown towards unmarked themes over marked ones to enhance simplicity. The findings revealed that the predominant employed thematic pattern was the constant pattern, followed by the linear pattern to a slightly lesser degree, whereas the split pattern was scarcely utilized. The integration of these patterns yielded a harmonious flow of information and a cohesive arrangement for the textual composition.
Conclusion: The analysis of theme structure and thematic progression patterns from 2001 to 2021 revealed that the Queen exhibited a consistent pattern of theme structure usage, while the usage of thematic progression varied depending on the topics addressed in each speech. These results along with other further investigations may be beneficial in training political sciences students, future politicians and public speakers.
Methodology: To meet the aim of the study, a corpus of 711 T-units was analyzed using Halliday’s (2014) thematic structure approach and Daneš’ (1974) thematic progression model.
Results: The research findings indicated that the topical theme was the most frequently utilized type, followed by a moderate usage of textual theme, while interpersonal theme was the least applied. Moreover, a predilection was shown towards unmarked themes over marked ones to enhance simplicity. The findings revealed that the predominant employed thematic pattern was the constant pattern, followed by the linear pattern to a slightly lesser degree, whereas the split pattern was scarcely utilized. The integration of these patterns yielded a harmonious flow of information and a cohesive arrangement for the textual composition.
Conclusion: The analysis of theme structure and thematic progression patterns from 2001 to 2021 revealed that the Queen exhibited a consistent pattern of theme structure usage, while the usage of thematic progression varied depending on the topics addressed in each speech. These results along with other further investigations may be beneficial in training political sciences students, future politicians and public speakers.
multimodal literacy and numeracy practices of seven Saudi
postgraduate students enrolled in the Master of Commerce
Accounting program at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
Specifically, it aims to investigate the interrelated dimensions of
multimodal texts, literacy and numeracy practices, and contexts.
The study employs a multidimensional framework for researching
the participants’ literacy and numeracy practices in three course
modules: Accounting Concepts and Methods, Principles of Finance,
and Management Accounting. The study includes a metadiscourse
analysis of collaborative wiki literacy practices in the Intermediate
Financial Reporting module. The framework consists of three stages
of analysis: description of literacy and numeracy requirements,
description of literacy events and participants’ actual practices and
their experiences, and a Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse
Analysis (SF-MDA) of Business texts. The analysis of the study is
primarily based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday,
1985; Halliday & Hasan, 1976; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). The
findings of the case study revealed the academic literacy and
numeracy practices students were expected to manage with in key
topics in the business modules.
The analysis of the three accounting modules and the online literacy
practices revealed the multimodal and multisemiotic nature of
accounting discourse, diversity of text type, the literacy and
numeracy practices, and features of collaborative learning. The
multiple-perspective framework has implications for the
investigation of tertiary students’ literacy practices in other
disciplines with the application of an SF-MDA of financial
statements, graphs, and mathematical symbolism.