Some differences have been observed in the writing in English of Finnish and native-speaker writers. One difference has been noted in the use of phrases which help guide the reader through the article and make the text easier to follow. The possibly more frequent use of such phrases in English texts reflects what is referred to as “writer-responsible orientation”, where the writer leads the reader explicitly through the text, as opposed to a “reader-responsible orientation”, where the writer relies on the reader’s ability to make sense of the message. Anglo-American readers tend to expect that writers take responsibility for making their message clear to readers, guiding them to notice what the writer deems to be important and convincing the readers to accept the writer’s claims. These phrases may take the form, for example, of
- previews of what is to follow later in a text,
- explanations of what topics the text will not cover,
- summaries of significant topics that have already been discussed,
- signals of the writer’s commitment or caution towards a claim
- explicit instructions about where readers can find illustrations or data presented in tables or figures.
The use of such devices, however, varies from one discipline to another and from one part of a journal article to another.
Another area of difference can be noted in the approach to argumentation. For example, it has been observed that, when reporting the main results of a study, Anglo-American writers have a tendency to begin with the results, followed by supporting explanation.
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