Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Is academic writing less passivized? Corpus-based evidence from research article abstracts in applied linguistics over the past three decades (1990–2019)

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The passive voice is an essential construction for packaging information. Previous studies observed a trend that academic writing in the late half of the twentieth century witnesses a noticeable decline in the use of the passive voice. Unfortunately, indications of such trend in current academic writing are suggestive and diachronic investigation of passivization in the part-genre of research article abstracts receives little attention. To further attest the trend regarding passivization, this study tracks the evolution of passive uses as well as its relation with active uses initiated by personal pronouns in research article abstracts in applied linguistics. To this end, qualitative and quantitative analysis were conducted on a self-built corpus of 2707 abstracts published in four authoritative applied linguistics journals between 1990 and 2019. The abstracts were grouped into single- and co-authored ones using a self-compiled Visual Basic for Application Excel program and the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS Statistics 17.0. It is found that the occurrence of the passive voice displays an overall declining trend and a significantly negative correlation with the incidence of personal pronoun active uses over the three decades, particularly in co-authored abstracts. Surprisingly, a synchronous dwindle is also detected in the occurrence of personal pronoun active uses in co-authored abstracts, particularly in the latest decade. These findings suggest a shift towards an increasingly informational, efficient and reader-friendly style in abstract writing and give implications to academic writing and English for Academic Purposes instruction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. This regular expression retrieves both passives where the auxiliary BE is located adjacent to the past participle, and those where there is interceding negation and/or adverbs.

  2. Insignificant statistical results are not presented in this article in order to save space.

  3. The source of this abstract example: Cheng and Ching (2018).

  4. The source of this abstract example: Chen and Baker (2016).

References

  • American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American psychological association (6th ed.). APA Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, D. (1996). The philosophical transactions of the royal society of London, 1675–1975: A sociohistorical discourse analysis. Language in Society, 25(3), 333–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, D. (1999). Scientific discourse in sociohistorical context: The philosophical transactions of the royal society of London, 1675–1975. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banks, D. (2008). The development of scientific writing: Linguistic features and historical context. Equinox.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banks, D. (2017). The extent to which the passive voice is used in the scientific journal article, 1985–2015. Functional Linguistics, 4(1), 12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bazerman, C. (1988). Shaping written knowledge: The genre and activity of the experimental article in science. University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biber, D. (1988). Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, genre and style. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Biber, D., & Finegan, E. (1989). Drift and the evolution of english style: A history of three genres. Language, 65, 487–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biber, D., & Gray, B. (2016). Grammatical complexity in academic English. Linguistic change in writing. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bondi, M., & Lorés Sanz, R. (2014). Abstracts in academic discourse: Variation and change. Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2018). The effective scientist: A handy guide to a successful academic career. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Çakır, H. (2016). Native and non-native writers’ use of stance adverbs in english research article abstracts". Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 6(2), 85–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao, Y., & Xiao, R. (2013). A multi-dimensional contrastive study of English abstracts by native and nonnative writers. Corpora, 8(2), 209–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (2006). Cambridge grammar of English. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y. H., & Baker, P. (2016). Investigating criterial discourse features across second language development: lexical bundles in rated learner essays, CEFR B1, B2 and C1. Applied Linguistics, 37(6), 849–880. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amu065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, W., & Ching, T. (2018). ‘Not a guarantee of future performance’: The local grammar of disclaimers. Applied Linguistics, 39(3), 263–301. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amw006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coffin, C., Curry, M. J., Goodman, S., Hewings, A., Lillis, T., & Swann, J. (2003). Teaching academic writing: A toolkit for higher education. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz-Redondo, M. (2021). A critical analysis of the use of passives and relative clauses in freshwater ecology research articles. Revista De Lenguas Para Fines Específicos, 27(1), 140–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ding, D. D. (1998). Rationality reborn: Historical roots of the passive voice in scientific discourse. In J. T. Battalio (Ed.), Essays in the study of scientific discourse: Methods, practice, and pedagogy (pp. 117–135). Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ding, D. D. (2002). The passive voice and social values in science. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 32(2), 138–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumin, L. (2010). Changes in the use of the passive voice over time: A historical look at the American Journal of Botany and the changes in the use of the passive voice from 1914–2008. Stillwater, OK: Oklahoma State University PhD dissertation

  • Evans, K. (2015). Even scientists should avoid the passive voice. Retrieved Oct 7, 2021, from http://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/what-is-the-passive-voice-3

  • Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and power (2nd ed.). Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillaerts, P., & Van de Velde, F. (2010). Interactional metadiscourse in research article abstracts. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9(2), 128–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, S., & Graddol, D. (1997). Redesigning english. new texts, new identities. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, A. G., Harmon, J. E., & Reidy, M. (2002). Communicating science: The scientific article from the seventeenth century to the present. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hundt, M., Denison, D., & Schneider, G. (2012). Relative complexity in scientific discourse. English Language and Linguistics, 16(2), 209–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hundt, M., & Mair, C. (1999). “Agile” and “Uptight” Genres: The corpus-based approach to language change in progress. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 4(2), 221–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hundt, M., Schneider, G., & Seoane, E. (2016). The use of the be-passive in academic Englishes: Local versus global usage in an international language. Corpora, 11(1), 29–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyland, K. (2001). Humble servants of the discipline? Self-mention in research articles. English for Specific Purposes, 20, 207–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyland, K. (2015). Genre, discipline and identity. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 19, 32–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyland, K., & Jiang, F. (2017). Is academic writing becoming more informal? English for Specific Purposes, 45, 40–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inzunza, E. (2020). Reconsidering the use of the passive voice in scientific writing. The American Biology Teacher, 82(8), 563–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, F., & Hyland, K. (2017). Metadiscursive nouns: Interaction and cohesion in abstract moves. English for Specific Purposes, 46, 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khedri, M., Heng, C. S., & Ebrahimi, S. F. (2013). An exploration of interactive metadiscourse markers in academic research article abstracts in two disciplines. Discourse Studies, 15(3), 319–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lafuente Millán, E. (2010). ‘Extending this claim, we propose…’ The writer’s presence in research articles from different disciplines. Ibérica, 20, 35–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leech, G., Hundt, M., Mair, C., & Smith, N. (2009). Change in contemporary English: A grammatical study. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leong, A. (2020). The passive voice in scientific writing through the ages: A diachronic study. Text & Talk, 40(4), 467–489.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Leong, P. A., Toh, A. L. L., & Chin, S. F. (2018). Examining structure in scientific research articles: A study of thematic progression and thematic density. Written Communication, 35(3), 286–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Z. (2021). Authorial presence in research article abstracts: A diachronic investigation of the use of first person pronouns. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 51, 100977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindeberg, A. C. (2004). Promotion and politeness: Conflicting scholarly rhetoric in three disciplines. Abo Akademi University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mair, C., & Leech, G. (2006). Current change in english syntax. In B. Aarts & A. MacMahon (Eds.), The handbook of English linguistics (pp. 318–342). Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Millar, N., Budgell, B., & Fuller, K. (2013). ‘Use the active voice whenever possible’: The impact of style guidelines in medical journals. Applied Linguistics, 34(4), 393–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mu, C. A. (2021). Multidimensional contrastive analysis of linguistic features between international and local biology journal english research articles. Scientometrics, 126, 7901–7916. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04102-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pho, P. D. (2008). Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies, 10(2), 231–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seoane, E. (2006). Changing styles: On the recent evolution of scientific British and American english. In C. Dalton-Puffer, D. Kastovsky, N. Ritt, & H. Schendl (Eds.), Syntax, style and grammatical norms: English from 1500–2000 (pp. 191–211). Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seoane, E. (2013). On the conventionalisation and loss of pragmatic function of the passive in late modern english scientific discourse. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 14(1), 70–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seoane, E., & Hundt, M. (2017). Voice alternation and authorial presence: variation across disciplinary areas in academic english. Journal of English Linguistics, 46(1), 3–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seoane, E., & Loureiro-Porto, L. (2005). On the colloquialization of scientific British and American english. ESP across Cultures, 2, 106–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seoane, E., & Williams, C. (2006). Questions of style. Legal drafting manuals and scientific style manuals in contemporary English. Linguistica e Filologia, 22, 115–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarone, E., Dwyer, S., Gillette, S., & Icke, V. (1998). On the use of the passive and active voice in astrophysics journal papers: With extensions to other languages and other fields. English for Specific Purposes, 17(1), 113–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(97)00032-X

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, M. A., Vylomova, E., McGrath, M. J., & Haslam, N. (2021). More confident, less formal: Stylistic changes in academic psychology writing from 1970 to 2016. Scientometrics, 126, 9603–9612. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04166-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao, R., McEnery, T., & Qian, Y. (2006). Passive constructions in english and Chinese: A corpus-based contrastive study. Languages in Contrast, 6(1), 109–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Table 1 is reprinted and slightly modified from Journal of English for Academic Purposes, vol.51, 100977, Li, Zhijun, Authorial presence in research article abstracts: A diachronic investigation of the use of first person pronouns, Table 1, Copyright (2021), with permission from Elsevier. The minor modification mainly goes to the number of words as this study used the word counting function of Microsoft Word while that study used the word counting function of AntConc. This work was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant Number 21BYY091], and Special Project on Overseas Chinese Studies of Huaqiao University (Grant number HQHRYB2020-03).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Foreign Languages, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, Fujian, China

    Zhijun Li

Authors
  1. Zhijun Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhijun Li.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author has no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, Z. Is academic writing less passivized? Corpus-based evidence from research article abstracts in applied linguistics over the past three decades (1990–2019). Scientometrics 127, 5773–5792 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-022-04498-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-022-04498-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation