Language preference in citations: a quantitative analysis of MA theses at a French-speaking university

• Autores: Natacha Buntinx
• Localización: International journal of multilingualism, ISSN 1479-0718, Vol. 20, Nº. 3, 2023, págs. 786-800
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Pluriliterate academic practices offer students who are literate in both their L1 and English the possibility of relying on sources in multiple languages. Surprisingly, there is little research on the factors playing a role in students’ choice of sources and whether this choice is related solely or partly to the language of the source. This study examines whether students from a French-speaking Belgian university use pluriliterate strategies when writing their master thesis (n = 240). The objective is to investigate to which extent the selection of sources written in English rather than in other languages depends on the language of writing and on the faculty where the thesis was submitted. This study shows that students writing in English tend to have a more pronounced preference for sources in English in their readings, with estimated proportions above 93.6% across faculties, compared with students writing in French on fairly similar topics, especially in the social sciences. For example, theses in Management have an estimated proportion of sources in English between 90.1% and 96.5% when written in English and between 35% and 61.1% when written in French. These findings highlight the need for investigations on students’ attitudes towards pluriliteracy.