Abstract
Genre analysis is today’s dominant approach for textual analysis, especially in the ESP learning and teaching profession. Adopting this approach, the present study compares the Introduction chapters of MA theses in ELT (English Language Teaching) written by Thai students to those written by American university students based on the move-step analysis. Two sets of corpora comprise 30 TSI (Thai student Introduction) and 30 ASI (American student Introduction) Introduction chapters from the theses that followed the traditional five-chapter pattern or ILrMRD. All the TSI and ASI datasets were purposively collected from two electronic databases of graduate theses and dissertations, publicly known ThaiLis Digital Collection and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. These were subsequently analyzed using genre analysis approach. The modified CARS model introduced by Bunton (2002) guides the move-step analysis. To ensure the coding reliability and consistency, the coding analysis of a subset of the entire datasets between the researcher and an expert coder was checked, and the coding agreement was at a highly satisfactory level. The findings demonstrated that both Thai and American MA students followed the moves and steps proposed in the framework to construct their Introduction chapters rhetorically. Both similarities and differences were discovered in the Introduction chapters investigated, in terms of the communicative purpose, the frequency of move-step occurrences, and the move-step classification. Pedagogical implications drawn from the present study are useful for EAP practitioners and research writing instructors, allowing ESL/EFL teachers to equip their graduate students with an appropriate rhetorical outline for thesis Introduction composition.
Highlights
Academic English writing, especially in the scenario of EFL/ESL, still has been receiving a great deal of attention from teachers and, learners of EFL/ESL
The present study compares the Introduction chapters of MA theses in ELT (English Language Teaching) written by Thai students to those written by American university students based on the move-step analysis
The findings demonstrated that both Thai and American MA students followed the moves and steps proposed in the framework to construct their Introduction chapters rhetorically
Summary
Academic English writing, especially in the scenario of EFL/ESL, still has been receiving a great deal of attention from teachers and, learners of EFL/ESL. As a matter of fact, even though the increase in academic English use is currently prominent, EFL/ESL or so called NNS (non-native speaker) learners, especially graduate students, still have been confronting repeated and prolonged problems on how to successfully compose a good piece of academic English work in academic institutions (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996). All graduate students are assigned a lot of academic writing tasks required throughout the programs in which they are participating (Swales & Feak, 2012). Upon their academic writing tasks, they are required to produce their works in an adequate organization and style, together with appropriate complexity and academic writing skills to meet satisfactory standard expected by their institutions. The pressing needs to find out effective solutions to tackle such problems require useful hands from ESP/EAP and genre analysis approaches
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