Abstract
This paper contributes to the recently increasing literature on the role of English as the Academic Lingua Franca (ELFA) in international research publications, and the potential pros and cons this may entail for non-Anglophone scholars in different contexts. While exploring Turkish and Iraqi scholars’ attitudes to English for research publication purposes (ERPP), their research writing challenges, and the strategies they use for successful publication, which are areas still lagging far behind in the current state of research, will be the main focus. Therefore, an online questionnaire was designed in this context to investigate the experience of academicians of different academic ranks across university disciplines in both Turkey and Iraq to address such a research gap. Findings are expected to enrich the field with respect to the presumed relationship between ELFA and ‘linguistic injustice/hegemony’, problems encountered by non-Anglophone scholars in different contexts, and their strategies for successful publication through English.
الملخص
يسهم هذا البحث في الأدبيات المتزايدة حديثا حول دور اللغة الإنجليزية باعتبارها لغة التواصل المشتركة الأكاديمية (ELFA) في المنشورات و النتاجات البحثية الدولية، وكذلك عرض الإيجابيات والسلبيات المحتملة التي قد يتعرض لها الباحثين غير الناطقين باللغة الإنجليزية في مجال البحث الأكاديمي بفروعه المختلفة. بينما تحاول هذه الدراسة استكشاف مواقف اساتيذ الجامعات في كل من تركيا و العراق تجاه اللغة الإنجليزية لأغراض النشر البحثي (ERPP)، فأن هذه الدراسة تركزت حول استقصاء و معرفة تحديات كتابة الأبحاث، والاستراتيجيات التي يستخدمونها الاساتيذ المشاركين في البحث للوصول الى النشر الرصين على مستوى دولي. أن مثل هذه الدراسة تعتبر ذات اهميه في المجال الاكاديمي المقارن في علم اللغة التطبيقي حول عولمة اللغة الإنجليزية و دورها الفاعل في تدويل المعرفة على مستوى البحث العلمي. بناءا على ذلك، اعتمد الباحثون تصميم استبانة إلكترونيه باللغة الإنجليزية و العربية و التركية بغية التعرف على تجربة الأكاديميين المشاركين في تلك الاستبانة بمختلف القابهم العلمية و تخصصاتهم الجامعية في العراق و تركيا. ومن المتوقع أن تؤدي النتائج إلى إثراء هذا المجال حول دور ELFA المحتمل في "الاستبعاد اللغوي" و "الهيمنة اللغوية" على اللغات الاخرى من بين تلك اللغات العربية و التركية في إطار البحث و ما تشكله مثل هذه الظواهر من مشكلات تتعلق بالتمثيل اللغوي و الهويه الأكاديمية للباحثين غير الناطقين باللغة الإنجليزية في سياقات مختلفة، و ما هي الاستراتيجيات التي يعتمدوها لتجاوز صعوبات النشر الدولي الرصين من خلال اللغة الإنجليزية.
Acknowledgments
Our sincere thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Wolf (University of Potsdam, Germany) for devoting time to reviewing the draft of this paper. We would also like to acknowledge the invaluable remarks of Prof. Dr. Ute Smit (Universität Wien, Austria), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Will Baker (University of Southampton, UK), Dr. Elif Kemaloglu-Er (Adana Science and Technology University, Turkey) and Dr. Naeema B. Hann (Leeds Beckett University, UK) on the early version of the questionnaire. Last but not least, our thanks are due to the editors and reviewers whose constructive feedback and suggestions played an important role in developing this article.
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