Comparison-and-contrast in research articles of applied linguistics: A frame-based analysis

This article reports on a corpus-based study that examined the comparison-and-contrast markers in research articles of applied linguistics. The main argument is that comparison-and-contrast in academic writing functions as a rhetorical act that realises text organisation or dialogic contraction and as a cognitive act that fulfils representational changes and knowledge creation. Drawing upon the methodologies developed in the FrameNet project, this study retrieved and anal-ysed comparison-and-contrast markers in a corpus of 30 research articles. A total of 1285 markers in the corpus were found to evoke nine interrelated semantic frames defined in FrameNet. Altogether, these nine frames contained 12 con-ceptually distinct elements. Based on their semantic overlap and conceptual necessity, we identified three core (Com-parative_item, Dimension and Agent) and two non-core (Evaluation and Indication) frame elements and generated a comparison-and-contrast frame for research articles of applied linguistics. This frame serves as a cognitive device for understanding how comparison-and-contrast, shaped by disciplinary norms and epistemological assumptions, con-tributes to the creation and dissemination of scientific knowledge in applied linguistics. Recommendations are made about how this frame can serve as a basis for future research. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.