An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals Ejontomi Afrizon¹, Safnil Arsyad², Syafriyadin³ ¹The University of Bengkulu, Bengkulu City, Indonesia ² ³ The University of Bengkulu, Bengkulu City, Indonesia Corresponding Email: ejontomi.afrizon@mail.uinfasbengkulu.ac.id To cite this article: Afrizon, E., Arsyad, S., & Syafryadin, S. (2025). An An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals. ENGLISH FRANCA : Academic Journal of English Language and Education, 9(2 November), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.29240/ef.v9i2 November.14419 Introduction Publishing academic work in reputable peer-reviewed journals is essential. Academics from diverse fields are increasingly pressured not just to access information, but also to communicate and distribute their research outcomes and scientific advancements in English through high-impact journals. Consequently, since RAs represent the preferred medium of exchanging knowledge among members of the academic community (Flowerdew, 1999), researchers and scholars are pushed to successfully participate and meet the standard criteria and conventions of writing practices for academic and professional reasons. According to Article info: http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english Received 05 June 2025; Received in revised form 29 July March 2025; Accepted 20 August 2025 Published by Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Curup on behalf of ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-SA license. Copyright (c) 2025 Author ENGLISH FRANCA Academic Journal of English Language and Education DOI:10.29240/ef.v9i2 November.14419 pISSN: 2580-3670, eISSN:2580-3689; Vol 9, No 2, 2025, Page 199-214 Abstract. The discussion section of a research article serves to explain and highlight the importance of the study’s results in relation to the existing knowledge surrounding the research problem. This section should be given more attention since the researcher would give his ideas through his own words and sentences. Accordingly, this research attempts to discover the sentence length and pattern in the discussion section of a research article by international authors in applied linguistics published in international journals. The method used in this study was a descriptive qualitative study to discover and describe the data. The total number of articles in this study was 30 from six international accredited journals sites indexed by corpus (Q1). The first result indicated that the most frequent types were Medium and Long sentences. It may imply that the authors are willing to write efficient sentences by combining two or more simple sentences to deliver ideas more informatively. The second result indicated that the most frequent types of sentence patterns were Simple and Complex sentences. The authors tended to make simple sentences to help the readers understand the ideas and thought more easily. The authors created complex sentences to make the discussion more efficient and to avoid the redundant of the same sentences or repetition. The third result indicated that RELC articles had the highest frequency of long sentences among all five different journals. The fourth result indicated that RELC articles had the lowest frequency of simple sentences and a relatively frequent number of complex sentences among the five different journals. In comparison, GEMA articles featured the highest proportion of simple sentences and the lowest number of complex ones. In conclusion, even though the five journals are classified as Quartile 1, they still had differences. Keywords: Academic writing, Research Article Discussion, Sentence character, Applied Linguistics, International Journal mailto:ejontomi.afrizon@mail.uinfasbengkulu.ac.id http://journal.iaincurup.ac.id/index.php/english Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 200 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) Canagarajah (1996) and Flowerdew (1999), many researchers who are not native English speakers often find it challenging to publish research articles in peer-reviewed journals due to a lack of formal instruction in academic English writing. Composing research articles (RAs) is generally regarded as a complex and demanding task, particularly for novice writers. Effective publication of an RA requires well-developed writing proficiency to convey academic ideas clearly and appropriately. As noted by Cook (1990) and McCarthy (1991), the ability to comprehend and construct RAs relies on the integration of both macro- and micro-levels of the genre knowledge. At the macro level, this involves an understanding of the overall discourse structure, while the micro level focuses on the finer linguistic components, such as grammatical forms, which contribute to larger textual units like sentences and discourse segments. In essence, successful academic writing depends on a comprehensive understanding of the genre's conventions and its linguistic features, including lexico-grammatical choices, rhetorical structures, communicative purposes, and thematic content (Hyland, 2004). The extensive use of English in scientific publications means that writing styles can differ based on the authors’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds. One area of style that is less frequently addressed by scholars is sentence length. There is no consensus about how long a scientific sentence should be on average. For example Elsevier (Griffies, Perrie, & Hull, 2013) recommend an average of 12–17 words per sentence and some writing and readability experts advise between 20 and 25 words (Garner, 2000). Yet research has revealed high average sentence lengths in scientific texts, some even as high as 27.6 (Barber, cited in Gotti, 2008). Furthermore, disciplinary divides impact writing practices and shape particular communities of discourse where the researchers convey meaning by using conventions specific to their discipline (Swales, 1990). As such, examining sentence length as a stylistic feature within these communities is a worthwhile area of research. The discussion is one of the most important sections in a research article (RA) as it demands authors to express their thoughts in their own words. In summary, this section and two others are used to orient readers with main topics in the paper so this section must be written more explicitly to fully understand the research article. Additionally, this is the part where researchers highlight how their findings contribute to existing knowledge. It is also where they interpret the significance of their results and explain why those outcomes occurred as they did (Hess, 2004; Hagin, 2009). According to Branson (2004) and Thyer (2008), the discussion is the appropriate place for authors to analyze, interpret, and reflect on each aspect of their research questions. The discussion section is also viewed as the most difficult-to-write but the most essential part of a research article (RA). The structure of this section may play an important role in acceptance or rejection of the article. Even if the data are strong, a paper may be rejected for poor or erroneous analysis. Structuring the argument around the central point enables readers to understand how the study is relevant both within their own work and in terms of that broader context. "Belcher said an RA's quality is measured based on how good the discussion section is. All in all, this section should be taken carefully in a way that matches the discourse of a particular field and discipline. This section is also where researchers clarify the reasons behind their findings and explore their implications (Hess, 2004; Hagin, 2009). According to Branson (2004) and Thyer (2008), it is in the discussion section that authors are expected to interpret and summarize their results, addressing each point raised in their research questions. Nevertheless, many authors and postgraduate students, particularly those in Bengkulu, continue to encounter significant challenges when trying to publish their research articles (RAs) in English, especially in peer-reviewed international journals. This issue is notably evident among graduate students in applied linguistics, who struggle for several reasons. Firstly, they need to grasp how to align with the general structure of academic writing and Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 201 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) utilize specific phrases and vocabulary typically used within their academic fields and discourse communities. Secondly, there is still a limited amount of research examining the linguistic characteristics found in applied linguistics articles published in international journals. As a result, developing strong reading and writing skills in English is essential—not only for novice writers in general but also for graduate students—to successfully complete academic writing tasks in a university environment. Arsyad (2013) carried out a study on the rhetorical style used in the discussion sections of research articles, titled “A Genre-Based Analysis on Discussion Section of Research Articles in Indonesian Written by Indonesian Speakers.” His findings revealed that, in most cases, the results and discussion were combined into a single section labeled “Hasil Penelitian dan Pembahasan” (Research Results and Discussion). The analysis showed that the most common rhetorical moves in the discussion sections of research articles written in Indonesian within the social sciences and humanities fields were Move 2 (stating results) and Move 1 (providing background information). Similarly, Mutinda (2016) conducted a study focused on the discussion sections, titled “Rhetorical Structure of The Results and Conclusion Sections in Selected Journals of Applied Linguistics.” According to Mutinda, the frequency of rhetorical moves in the results and discussion sections was comparable. The sections typically featured Move 2 (Presenting results) and Move 3 (Commenting on results), with Move 2 being the most prominent in the results section and Move 3 dominating in the discussion section. Despite both sections containing six rhetorical moves, Mutinda observed that each section emphasized different communicative purposes. Based on the previously mentioned studies, it appears that the topic of sentence character—specifically sentence length and pattern—in discussion sections has received limited scholarly attention, resulting in a scarcity of research on this area. This article aims to explore the sentence length and structural patterns found in the discussion sections of research articles written by international authors in the field of applied linguistics and published in international journals. From a pedagogical perspective, the findings are expected to support the teaching and training of graduate students and early-career researchers in crafting discussion sections that align with the linguistic conventions of their academic communities. A lot of studies have focused on the rhetorical style and linguistic features of journal articles (AJ) written by Indonesian researchers in both Indonesian and English, and published in local as well as international journals. Researchers such as Safnil (2001), Adnan (2009), Arsyad (2013a, 2013b), Arsyad and Wardhana (2014), and Arsyad and Arono (2016) have contributed to this area. The findings from these studies are particularly valuable in guiding Indonesian authors on how to adapt their research articles for publication in reputable national and international English-language journals. Numerous studies and considerable effort have been dedicated to examining the linguistic features of scientific writing in the natural sciences, particularly within the scope of applied linguistics. According to Deveci (2019), significant attention has been paid to scientific research in the sciences. In contrast, there is a noticeable lack of research in the social sciences, including specific areas like English education. One underexplored area is the sentence structure used in the discussion sections of research articles. Consequently, limited studies have focused on this aspect in the social sciences, resulting in restricted access to relevant references. To fill this gap, the present study aims to analyze the sentence length and pattern in the discussion sections of research articles. This study was guided by three research problems: 1. What are the classifications of sentence length found in Applied Linguistics research articles discussed by international authors published in an international journal? 2. What are the sentence patterns found in the research articles' discussion section by international authors in Applied Linguistics published in an international journal? Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 202 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) 3. What are the differences among the five journals in terms of sentence length found in the Applied Linguistics research articles discussion section by international authors published in international journals? 4. What are the differences among the five journals in terms of sentence patterns found in the Applied Linguistics research articles discussion section by international authors published in international journals? Theoretical Framework Academic Writing Academic writing plays a crucial role in shaping and clarifying thought. It is a key stage in the research process, allowing scholars to document their reasoning, experiences, observations, experiments, and other efforts aimed at addressing a specific scientific problem. According to John Swales (2020), Ken Hyland (2021), Martin & Rose (SFL-based genre theory), Academic writing consists of structured genres (e.g., essays, reports, research articles), each with specific communicative purposes and conventions. Within this perspective, academic writing is viewed not merely as a set of grammatical or stylistic rules, but as a social and communicative practice governed by specific rhetorical conventions. Recent developments in academic writing emphasize the integration of multimodal elements such as visuals, hyperlinks, and digital tools, which significantly reshape how meaning is constructed in scholarly contexts. Key theorists such as Mary Lea (2020), Rodney Jones (2021), and Signe Haagerup (2023) have highlighted the shift from viewing academic writing as solely linguistic to recognizing it as a multimodal and socially situated practice. Jones (2021), for instance, explores how digital discourse reshapes academic communication, while Lea (2020) revisits academic literacies to account for the affordances of digital media. Haagerup (2023) further advances this perspective by examining how students engage with multimodal academic tasks in hybrid learning environments. Research Article A research article (RA) is a form of academic writing through which researchers present the outcomes of their studies. It follows a structured format to make the content clear and accessible to its intended audience within a specific academic field. Researchers compose these articles intending to publish their findings. "Writers need to navigate the rhetorical moves that signal novelty, significance, and alignment with disciplinary expectations (Swales, 2020). Scholars highlight the importance of understanding genre conventions across disciplines. The IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) structure remains dominant but is adapted flexibly depending on discipline (Swales, 2020; Hyland, 2021). Research Article Discussion Section The discussion section of a research article aims to interpret and highlight the importance of the study’s findings concerning existing knowledge about the research problem. In this section, researchers place their results within a broader context, explaining how their findings address the research questions and how they relate to previous studies or relevant literature. Sentence Length A sentence is a complete group of words that usually includes a subject and a predicate and serves to express a statement, question, command, or exclamation. It generally consists of a main clause and may also include subordinate clauses. Sentence length refers to how many words are in a sentence and plays an important role in ensuring your ideas are communicated clearly. Very short, choppy sentences can be unpleasant to read, while overly long sentences may confuse readers. Sentence length is commonly categorized into five Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 203 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) types: Staccato (1–2 words), Telegraphic (fewer than 5 words), Short (5–10 words), Medium (15– 20 words), and Long (30 or more words). Sentence Pattern Sentence pattern refers to a group of words consisting of one or more clauses to form a meaning. A clause is defined as a grammatical unit that consists of a subject paired with a verb. A clause that can function independently is known as an independent clause, while one that cannot stand alone is referred to as a dependent clause. According to Signe Haagerup (2023), especially for multilingual writers, sentence variety is crucial for developing voice and academic identity, while repetitive or overly simple syntax signals novice writing. This supports the need for diverse sentence structures to elevate writing and develop a more academic, fluent style. Deveci (2019) classified sentence patterns into four categories, namely: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and complex-compound sentences, which every sentence pattern describes a different way to combine clauses, as can be seen below: 1. A simple sentence has one independent clause. Example: Another study found move 1 in each paragraph. 2. A compound sentence is characterized by the presence of two or more independent clauses that are linked through coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet. For instance, Turkish researchers experienced a sense of disadvantage when composing academic texts in English because they were required to devote an excessive amount of time to refining their manuscripts. 3. A complex sentence consists of a single independent clause accompanied by one or more dependent clauses, which cannot function as complete sentences on their own. These dependent clauses may take the form of relative clauses, adverbial clauses, or noun clauses. As noted by Newell (2014), such authors are frequently instructed during the publication process to reduce the length of their sentences. 4. A compound–complex sentence combines multiple independent clauses with at least one dependent clause within a single structure. While producing such sentences accurately demands considerable practice, they are capable of conveying dense and nuanced information and are therefore widely employed in academic discourse. Example: In the present study, the data show a constructive response that there are more and more schools that are beginning to be aware of the vital role of English teachers and their education as the critical variables influencing the teaching quality and students’ success in attaining learning outcomes. Material and Method This study used a mixed-method approach. Quantitative data are presented to indicate the frequency of occurrences, while qualitative data are used to describe, explain, and elaborate on the findings. The identification of sentence length and patterns in the discussion sections of research articles was carried out by using the steps outlined by Deveci (2019), which involve analyzing sentence length and sentence patterns within the discussion section. The findings were primarily presented through descriptive explanations. The researcher used percentage analysis to discover the dominant pattern, which is impliedly in line with the research questions. “Linguistic pattern distribution becomes more interpretable when presented as a percentage rather than absolute frequency” (Hyland, 2021). Quantifying sentence types and lengths in percentages (e.g., "40% of sentences are complex") gives a clearer understanding of dominant patterns than raw frequencies, which may be misleading in unequal corpora. “Understanding the prevalence of certain structures in academic writing requires proportion-based analysis rather than mere counts” (Swales & Feak, 2019). Percentage analysis helps reveal dominant sentence structures (e.g., whether authors prefer compound-complex sentences in Discussions), which is vital for stylistic and rhetorical analysis in applied linguistics. This study utilized both a checklist and a documentation Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 204 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) method. The data collection preceded the processes of analysis, identification, calculation, and ultimately, discussion. The researcher concentrated on examining sentence length and patterns within the discussion sections of research articles authored by international scholars in the field of applied linguistics and published in globally recognized journals. The corpus of this research involved thirty articles from international accredited journals indexed by SCOPUS (Q1). Research articles by international authors were taken from five journals, namely 3L (Language, Linguistics, Literature), IJES (International Journal of English Studies), GEMA online (Journal of Language Studies), RELC (Regional Language Centre), and Asian TEFL. Six articles were taken from each journal. This research uses a checklist as the instrument, which consists of five categories of sentence length (staccato, telegraphic, short, medium, and long sentence patterns) and four categories of sentence patterns (simple sentence, compound sentences, complex sentence, and complex-compound sentence). This study involved several stages to identify sentence length and patterns. The first step was collecting the data, in which the researcher gathered 30 research articles from six well- regarded international applied linguistics journals indexed in SCOPUS, selecting six articles from each journal. The second step involved reading the articles thoroughly to understand their structure and to determine the main sections. This helped the researcher become familiar with the format of the articles. The third stage focused on identifying linguistic features by examining the discussion sections, analyzing sentence lengths and patterns based on the sentences within each paragraph. The analysis followed the procedures outlined by Deveci (2019). In the fourth stage, the average sentence length in the discussion sections was calculated using an online tool from http://countwordsworth.com/wordspersentence, which accurately recognized sentence- ending punctuation (Deveci, 2019). The results were entered into Excel and processed using built-in formulas. The fifth and final stage involved validating the analysis by engaging an independent rater to verify the accuracy of the text analysis. Table 1. Distributions of research articles used in the study No. International Journals Code Quartile Value Number of Articles 1 Asia TEFL AT Q1 6 2 Language, Linguistics, Literature, 3L Q1 6 3 GEMA online journal of language study GEMA Q1 6 4 International Journal of English Studies IJES Q1 6 5 Regional Language Centre RELC Q1 6 Total 30 Results and Discussion Result This section presents the results and discussion of the research based on analyzing the sentence character, namely sentence length and sentence pattern, in the discussion section of Applied Linguistics Research Articles by international authors published in an international journal. The result of Cohen's Kappa value is an average between 0,61 to 1,00, which can be concluded that the data agreement between the researcher and co-researcher is excellent. As it has high reliability, the researchers continued the next step of the research. Sentence Length Analysis Result http://countwordsworth.com/wordspersentence Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 205 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) Research question number 1 asked about the classification of sentence length found in Applied Linguistics research articles discussed by international authors published in an international journal. The result was summarized in Table 2 below: Table 2. Frequency of Sentence Length in RA discussion No Classification Frequency Percentage 1 Long (more than thirty words) 307 60% 2 Medium (fifteen to twenty words) 160 31% 3 Short (five to ten words) 45 8,8% 4 Telegraphic (less than five words) 1 0,2% 5 Staccato (one or two words) 0 0% Table 2 showed that the most frequent type of sentence length found in the RAs' discussions was long sentences. As can be seen from the table, long sentences were found in 307 (60%) of all journal articles. The second most frequent type of sentence length found in the RAs' discussion was medium sentences. Medium sentences were found in 160 (31%) of all journal articles. The third most frequent type of sentence length found in the RAs was Short sentences. Short sentences were found in 45 (8,8%) of all journal articles. Telegraphic is 1 (0,2) found in all journal articles. Below are the extracts of each classification found in the articles: (P3-S3)“Concerning this, the present study agrees with Zein (2017a, 2017b) and Butler (2005) who posit that EYL teachers should be given adequate training on properly integrating language skills to help them learn how to be creative in their approach and understand children's differential psychology in order to design methodological courses aimed to foster child-friendly pedagogy.” (AT-07) (P2-S2)“As we hope to have shown, the study begins with a textual analysis of a frequency list of empirically-based selection of salient words occurring more than 50% of the corpus.” (GEMA-21) (P6-S2) While having a high frequency of use of certainty markers in the news is beneficial, writers should also be cautious in not overdoing it, as the overuse of certainty markers may make the writers come across as aggressive writers (Williams, 2007). (3L- 03) The above extracts belong to Long sentence classification. Extract 1 has two subjects (study and EYL teachers) and several verbs (agree, posit, should be given, help, learn, understand, design, aim, and foster) consisting fifty five words. Extract 2 has a subject (study) and a verb (begin) consisting of thirty-one words, and extract 3 has a subject (writers) and several verbs (should be, make, come) consisting of more than thirty words. (P2-S1)“There is a correlation between English spelling difficulties and linguistic awareness of Iranian EFL students in Malaysia.” (3L-02) (P5-S3)“Some of them have also noted that student-centered activities like peer review have boosted student autonomy and self-revision.” (IJES-25) (P8-S3)“The taxonomy poses important implications for supporting teacher educators’ professionalism, motivation, autonomy, and sense of self-efficacy.” (RELC-13) Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 206 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) The above extracts belong to Medium sentence classification. Extract 4 has a subject (there) and a verb/to be (is) consisting of seventeen words. Extract 5 has two subjects (some of them and student-centered) and two verbs (noted and have boosted), consisting of nineteen words. Extract 6 has a subject (the taxonomy) and a verb (poses) consisting of sixteen words. (P3-S1)“English and Arabic teachers agreed that parental involvement was inadequate.” (3L-01) “(P1-S3) Many such -oons entered via French, the language of fashion (IJES-26) (P3-S14)“Another significant variation was observed in Move 3.” (GEMA-19) The above extracts belong to Short sentence classification. Extract 7 has a subject (English and Arabic teacher) and a verb (agreed) consisting of ten words. Extract 8 has a subject (-oons) and a verb (entered) consisting of ten words. Extract 9 has a subject (variation) and a verb (was observed) consisting of eight words. Sentence Pattern Analysis Result Research question number 2 asked about what sentence patterns are found in the articles' discussion section by international authors in the Applied Linguistics published in an international journal. The result was summarized in Table 3 below : Table 3. Frequency of Sentence Pattern in RA discussion No Classification Frequency Percentage 1 Simple Sentence 274 30% 2 Complex Sentence 270 29,6% 3 Compound Complex Sentence 251 27,5% 4 Compound Sentence 117 12,9% N=912 N=100% Table 3 showed that the most frequent type of sentence patterns found in the RAs' discussion was Simple sentences. As can be seen from the table, the most frequent type of sentence patterns found in the RAs' discussion was Simple Sentences with 274 (30%). The second most frequent type of sentence patterns found in the RAs' discussion was Complex sentences with 270 (29,6%). The third most frequent type of sentence patterns found in the RAs' discussion was Compound-complex sentences with 251 (27,5%), and the last was Compound sentences with 117 (12,9%). Below are the extracts of each classification found in the articles : (P1-S3)“In this regard, they could play active roles in successfully scaffolding and facilitating the learning process.” (3L-01) (P2-S2)“Almost half of the respondents (46.02%) pursued English Education in their undergraduate study.” (AT-07) (P1-S2)“As for their own Chinese accent, it was rated amongst the first three accents (2003: 132)” (IJES-27) The above extracts belong to Simple sentence classification. Extract 11 has one independent clause. The sentence “In this regard, they could play active roles in successfully Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 207 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) scaffolding and facilitating the learning process” has a subject (they), a verb (play), and an object/adverb (in successfully scaffolding and facilitating the learning process) considered as one independent clause. Extract 12 has one independent clause. The sentence “Almost half of the respondents (46.02%) pursued English Education in their undergraduate study” has a subject (respondents), a verb (pursued), and an object/adverb (English Education) considered as one independent clause. Extract 13 also has one independent clause. The sentence “As for their own Chinese accent, it was rated amongst the first three accents” has a subject (It), a verb (rated), and an object/adverb (accents) considered as one independent clause. (P1-S7)“Concerning the length of time and frequency of English learning, some schools admit that they allocate two to three times a week for the lesson.” (Asian TEFL- 01) (P1-S3)“The findings revealed that diglossia had an effect on the late development of oral language among the participants.” (GEMA-23) (P1-S2)“For one thing, it is clear that most of the identified factors fit in well with the causes of boredom outlined earlier in the article and deriving from theories proposed in the field of educational psychology.” (RELC-16) The above extracts belong to Complex sentence classification. Extract 14 has one independent clause and one dependent clause. The sentence “Concerning the length of time and frequency of English learning, some schools admit” has a subject (schools), a verb (admit) considered as an independent clause. The sentence “they allocate two to three times a week for the lesson” has a subject (they), a verb (allocate), and an object/adverb (two to three times a week for the lesson) considered as a dependent clause. Extract 15 has one independent clause and one dependent clause. The sentence “The findings revealed” has a subject (Findings), verbs (revealed), considered an independent clause. The sentence “diglossia had an effect on the late development of oral language among the participants” has a subject (diglossia), a verb (had), and an object/adverb (effect) considered as a dependent clause. Extract 16 has one independent clause and two dependent clauses. The sentence “For one thing, it is clear” has a subject (It), verb/to be (is), considered an independent clause. The sentence “most of the identified factors fit in well with the causes of boredom outlined earlier in the article and deriving from theories proposed in the field of educational psychology” has a subject (identified factors), a verb (fit), and an object/adverb (cause) considered as the first dependent clause. The sentence “theories proposed in the field of educational psychology” has a subject (theories) and a verb (proposed) considered as the second dependent clause. (P1-S4)“In its implementation, many schools have English teaching as an extracurricular activity, which is obligatory for all students, some others keep it as a local content subject, and a few put it in the group of school content subjects.” (Asian TEFL- 01) (P6-S2)“Drawing on the discussion of Freeman et al. (2019) of what counts as knowledge in ELT, the participants’ selected funds and sources of knowledge indicate that the ELT community expects that ELTE programs prepare future teachers who are proficient L2 users who also possess linguistic knowledge about English and whose practice is contextually situated. (RELC- 01) (P4-S3)“Even if some of them were exposed to other English accents, the most possible scenario for them was either to regard the other different English accents, such as the mentioning of Indian English, Japanese English, and Pakistani English by the respondents in Q31, as negative examples to further boost their beliefs in the pursuit of Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 208 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) NES accents, or to treat them as cases of exceptions which from the respondents’ perspectives were unlikely to be encountered in the future.”(GEMA-24) The above extracts belong to Compound-Complex sentence classification. Extract 17 has three independent clauses and one dependent clause. The sentence “In its implementation, many schools have English teaching as an extracurricular activity has a subject (schools), a verb (have), and an object/adverb (extracurricular activity), considered as the first independent clause. The sentence “which is obligatory for all students” has a subject (which refers to the English teacher as an extracurricular activity) and a verb (is) considered as a dependent clause. The sentence “some others keep it as a local content subject” has a subject (others), a verb (keep), and an object (a local content subject) considered as the second independent clause. The sentence “and few put it in the group of school content subjects” has a subject (few), a verb (put), and an object (it) considered as the third independent clause. Extract 18 has three independent and three dependent clauses. The sentence “the participants’ selected funds and sources of knowledge indicate that” has a subject (the participants’ selected funds and sources of knowledge) and a verb (indicate) considered as the first independent clause. The sentence “the ELT community expects” has a subject (the ELT community) and a verb (expects), considered as the second independent clause. The sentence “ELTE programs prepare future teachers” has a subject (ELTE programs) and a verb (prepare) considered as the third independent clause. The sentence “who are proficient L2 users” has a subject (who refers to future teachers) and a verb/to be (are) considered as the first dependent clause. The sentence “who also possess linguistic knowledge about English” has a subject (who refers to future teachers), a verb (possess), and an object (linguistic knowledge about English) considered as the second dependent clause. The sentence “whose practice is contextually situated” has a subject (whose refers to future teachers’ practice) and a verb (is contextually situated) considered as the third dependent clause. Extract 19 has two independent clauses and one dependent clause. The sentence “even if some of them were exposed to other English accents” has a subject (some of them), a verb (were exposed), and an object (to other English accents) considered as the first independent clause. The sentence “the most possible scenario for them was either to regard the other different English accents, such as the mentioning of Indian English, Japanese English, and Pakistani English by the respondents in Q31” has a subject (the most possible scenario), a verb/ to be (was), and objects (the other different English accents, such as the mentioning of Indian English, Japanese English, and Pakistani English by the respondents in Q31) considered as the second independent clause. The sentence “the respondents’ perspectives were unlikely to be encountered in the future” has a subject (the respondents’ perspectives), a verb (were unlikely to be encountered) an object (in the future) considered as a dependent clause. (P1-S6)“Many schools start from the first-grade level, but not a few of them begin later from the second, third, or fourth grade. “ (Asian TEFL-01) (P3-S4)“Hence, even though the learners were able to write better quality revised drafts and new narrative paragraphs, they were not able to develop improved descriptive paragraphs at the end of the course.” (IJES-01) (P2-S1)“The participants demonstrated not only awareness of disciplinary knowledge but also dimensions such as reflection to understand the complexity of their situated practice and language teacher education pedagogy.” (RELC-13) The above extracts belong to Compound sentence classification. Extract 20 has two independent clauses. The sentence “many schools start from the first-grade level” has a Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 209 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) subject (schools), verbs (start), and object/adverb (first-grade level) considered as the first independent clause. The sentence “but not a few of them begin later from the second, third, or fourth grade” has a subject (a few of them), a verb (begin), and objects (from the second, third, or fourth grade) considered as the second independent clause. Extract 21 has two independent clauses. The sentence “Hence, even though the learners were able to write better quality revised drafts and new narrative paragraphs” has a subject (the learners), a verb/to be (were able to write), and objects (to write better quality revised drafts and new narrative paragraphs) considered as the first independent clause. The sentence “they were not able to develop improved descriptive paragraphs at the end of the course” has a subject (they), a verb (were not able to develop), and an object (improved descriptive paragraphs) considered as the second independent clause. Extract 22 has two independent clauses. The sentence “parents were enthusiastic about their children learning” has a subject (parents), a verb/ to be (were), and an object (about their children learning), considered as the first independent clause. The sentence “but they failed to translate their enthusiasm into real, practical support for their children’s education” has a subject (they), a verb (failed to translate), and objects (their enthusiasm into real, practical support for their children’s education) considered as the second independent clause. The differences among the five journals in terms of sentence length are found in the Research Article Discussion. Research question number 3 asked about the differences among five journals in terms of sentence length found in the Research Article Discussion. The result was summarized in Table 4: Table 4. The Differences among Five Journals in Terms of Sentence Length No. Sentence Length Articles (N=30) Sentences Length Table 4 showed that GEMA and RELC had the highest frequency of Long sentences compared to the other three journals. GEMA had 71 Long sentences, RELC had 73 Long sentences, while 3L had 48 Long sentences, IJES had 64 Long sentences, and AT had 51 Long sentences. In contrast, RELC had the fewest short sentences compared to the other journals. Medium sentences were found the most in GEMA and the least in RELC. Table 6 also showed the average sentence lengths of the sentences found in the Research Article Discussion in terms of the number of sentences per section. As can be seen from the table, 3L was found as the lowest average sentence length with the total number of sentences 4.463 with an average of 744, while the highest average sentence length was found in GEMA with the total number of sentences 8.678 with an average of 1.446. 3L IJES AT GEMA RELC 1 Long 48 64 51 71 73 2 Medium 34 39 32 40 18 3 Short 7 12 13 8 5 4 Telegraphic 1 - - - - 5 Staccato - - - - - Total of 4.463 5.520 4.784 8.678 5.053 Average 744 920 792 1446 842 Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 210 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) The difference among the articles in the five different journals in terms of sentence length Research question number 4 asked about the difference among the articles in the five different journals in terms of sentence length. The result was summarized in Table 5: Table 5. The Differences among Five Journals in Terms of Sentence Pattern No. Sentence Articles (N=30) Sentence Sentence Sentence Table 5 shows the frequency and percentage of sentence patterns found in each journal in the corpus of the study. As can be seen from the table, GEMA had the greatest number of Simple sentences compared to other journals. In GEMA, simple sentences were found 86, 63 in IJES journal articles, 54 in AT journal articles, 86 in GEMA journal articles, and 34 in RELC journal articles. Meanwhile, RELC and 3L had a great number of Complex sentences compared to other journals. In 3L, Complex sentences were found 65 in, 62 in RELC, while 38 in IJES, 61 in AT journal articles, and 49 in GEMA journal articles. Compound-Complex sentences were found the most in RELC journals (62) and the least in IJES (42). Compound sentences were found the most in GEMA (29) and the least in AT (17). In addition, RELC and AT had a similar number of Complex sentences and Complex-Compound sentences. Compared to other sentence patterns, Complex and Complex-Compound were found in almost the same number in RELC and AT. Discussion The first objective of this research is to find the classification of sentence length found in Applied Linguistics research articles discussed by international authors published in international journals. The result shows that the dominant types of sentence length are Long and Medium sentences. This is probably because the authors tended to use many words that are more than five words in a sentence in the discussion section to deliver thoughts and ideas more informatively. In addition, it may also imply that they are willing to write efficient sentences by combining two or more simple sentences. Efficient sentences lead to clear communication. Schimel (2021) emphasizes that effective scientific writing must guide the reader smoothly through ideas, and sentence clarity is essential. He notes that when sentence structure aligns with reader expectations, comprehension improves significantly. Hyland (2022) reaffirms that academic writing often demands elaboration and careful justification, which naturally results in longer sentence structures. However, he cautions that excessive length without coherent patterning leads to reader fatigue. Furthermore, it is necessary to bear in mind that the importance of sentence length to be efficient is crucial in academic research articles, especially in the discussion section. Besides, it is also important to note that long sentences could be confusing in terms of understanding the meaning if the pattern is not well- used in a sentence. However, according to research regarding sentence length done by Deveci (2019), long sentences in education RAs may be acceptable as long as the meaning Pattern 3L IJES AT GEMA RELC 1 Simple 37 63 54 86 34 2 Complex 65 38 61 49 62 Compound 3 Complex 45 42 53 49 62 Sentence 4 Compound 20 26 17 29 25 Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 211 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) is not obscured. Authors may select to vary lengths as a way of establishing a voice in their writing, which ought to be respected and encouraged. The second objective of this research is to find the classification of sentence patterns in the research articles' discussion section found in Applied Linguistics by international authors published in international journals. The result showed that the most frequent types are Simple and Complex sentences. The result implies that Simple sentences are easy to read and to write, with only one subject, one verb, and one optional object. So the authors tend to make simple sentences in order to help the readers understand the ideas and thoughts more easily. Moreover, the author tended to be direct and concise with the information provided. So, this is possible that a simple sentence appears with a great quantity in the discussion section. On the other hand, the result also implied that Complex sentences are the dominant type, probably because Complex sentence is aimed at achieving the efficiency of the text by combining two or more sentences. The authors created complex sentences to avoid the redundant of the same sentences or repetition. Academic writing demands discipline-specific conventions that include clarity of expression and avoidance of lexical ambiguity. Writers are expected to define terms and arguments explicitly (Lea, M. (2020)). Thus, this finding is in line with the result of research by Deveci (2017) indicates that language learners use complex sentences more frequently than other sentence patterns to display the ability to write. On the other hand, the International authors in Applied Linguistics published in international journals use the least of compound sentences in the discussion section. It is probably because in the discussion of the research article, they need to convey a lot of pieces of information, including supporting ideas, without causing any confusion, that probably caused by compound and compound-complex sentences. Moreover, the international authors combine many words to create available information of research and pieces of literature, so they use various sentences. Sentence pattern is used to reflect the author’s thinking in the discussion section. “Authors in academic contexts exercise agency through their linguistic choices, particularly in how they structure sentences to express interpretation or evaluation of findings.” (Haagerup, S. (2023)). Furthermore, using a variety of sentence structures—such as simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences—reflects a strong and effective writing style. The third objective of this research is to find the differences among five journals in terms of sentence length found in the Research Article Discussion. The result shows that RELC has the highest frequency of long sentences among the five different journals. This is probably because the authors of the articles published in RELC prefer writing long sentences compared to short and medium sentences. The authors had a lot of ideas and information to be conveyed, which cannot be put in short and medium sentences, but in long sentences. Furthermore, they wrote long sentences to make the sentences more efficient by combining more than one independent clause and phrase. It might also mean that the RELC journal is better than the other four journals in terms of writing sentences. This is supported by the SJR (Scientific Journal Ranking) value. RELC has 0.78, which is the highest value, indicating that this journal article has the best quality among compared to the four other journals. In addition, RELC also gets 1.7 seen in the view of citation per document in the two recent years, which was the most frequent citations among the other four journals. This value implies that many authors around the world cited more articles from RELC. It may also mean that the potential authors of RELC are the expert members, while the other journals are probably the new authors. The highest average sentence length is found in GEMA, with a total number of sentences of 8.678, with an average of 1.446. This is probably because the authors of the article published in GEMA preferred writing simple sentences to complex sentences. The fourth objective of this research is to find differences among five journals in terms of sentence patterns found in the Research Article Discussion. The result shows that RELC has the highest frequency of complex sentences among the five different journals. This is probably because authors have a great number of ideas and information to convey that they cannot put Ejontomi Afrizon et. al., 2025 An Analysis of Sentence Length and Pattern of Research Article Discussion Section by International Authors in Applied Linguistics Published in International Journals 212 | Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 0 2 5 (199 -214) in a simple sentence. When they put many ideas and thoughts in simple sentences, then it would influence the total number of words and sentences. Meanwhile, the total sentences in articles was limited. As a solution to that problem, they created complex sentences to avoid redundancy of the same sentence or repetition and to achieve the efficiency of the writing. In contrast, GEMA has the highest frequency of simple sentences. Unlike RELC, the authors of the article published in GEMA preferred writing simple sentences to complex sentences. This was probably because, in terms of the SJR (Scientific Journal Ranking) value, RELC is higher even though both are classified as a Quartile 1 Journal. Conclusion Based on the result, first, it was found that the 30 discussion research articles of the six journals in the discipline of Applied Linguistics by international authors published in international journals did not use Staccato but Telegraphic, Short, Medium, and Long types of sentences. The most frequent types were the Medium and Long types of sentence. 3L was found as the lowest average sentence length, with the total number of sentences 4.463, with an average of 744, while the highest average sentence length was found in GEMA, with the total number of sentences 8.678, with an average of 1.446. Second, it was found that the 30 discussion research articles of the six journals in the discipline of Applied Linguistics by international authors published in international journals used all of the Sentence Pattern Classification. The most frequent types or classifications were Simple and Complex sentences. Third, even though the five journals are classified as Quartile 1, they still had differences. It was found that RELC had the largest number of long sentences among the five different journals. The reason was that RELC is a reputable international journal with the best quality among the other four journals. This was seen from the view of the SJR (Scientific Journal Ranking) value, RELC had 0.78, and RELC also got 1.7 for citations per document in the two recent years, which was the most frequent citations among the other four journals. Fourth, similarly, even though the five journals are classified as Quartile 1, they still had differences. It was found that RELC had the smallest number of simple sentences and a relatively large number of complex sentences among the five different journals. In contrast, GEMA had the biggest number of simple sentences and a relatively small number of complex sentences. This is in line with the previous finding, which indicated that RELC had the largest number of Long sentences. The longer the sentence the authors made, the more complex the sentences would be. Acknowledgement The researcher extends sincere gratitude to all individuals and organizations who supported this research, including those who provided financial assistance. References Akın, G. 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