A Comparative Analysis of Rhetorical Moves in Research Article Discussions of Thai Undergraduates and Internationally Published Thai Writers

Abstract

Writing academic research articles, especially the discussion sections, often poses significant challenges for novice authors since they are required to adhere to specific rhetorical conventions such as employing effective rhetorical moves to structure arguments and present research findings and implications. This study was conducted to: 1) investigate the rhetorical moves used in the research article (RA) discussions by Thai undergraduate student writers and internationally published Thai writers, and 2) analyze the patterns of rhetorical moves employed in the RA discussions by Thai undergraduate students and internationally published authors. The data were collected from a sample of 40 applied linguistics research articles, comprising 20 articles authored by Thai undergraduate writers published in national journals and conference proceedings, and 20 articles authored by Thai academics published in international journals. The findings revealed that both groups of writers employed all types of RA discussion moves, primarily when commenting on results. While undergraduate student writers mostly adhered to some of the obligatory moves when commenting on results and applied other moves to a limited extent, internationally published writers demonstrated a broader range of moves, most notably when comparing results to literature and showing examples of results. The differences in the use of rhetorical moves between undergraduate and internationally published writers suggest that learning and applying rhetorical moves and academic discourse structures could significantly improve the academic writing capabilities of both new and experienced writers, enabling them to effectively communicate ideas to international audiences.