Genre analysis of thesis and dissertation abstracts in linguistics written by students in Thailand and students in England

Abstract

This study analyzes the structural organization of thesis and dissertation abstracts in linguistics written by students in Thailand and students in England. The data employed in this study consists of 35 abstracts from different universities in Thailand and 35 abstracts from different universities in England. Swales’ move analysis is used as a framework for the analysis. The data is examined in 5 aspects: the frequency of moves and steps, the sequence of moves, the repetition of moves, move embedding, and the generality and specificity of moves. The results show that the moves employed by students in Thailand and in England are quite similar while the steps used are quite different. The major disparity is the tendency for Thai students to omit ‘Move 1: Background.’ Secondly, Thai students tend to follow the conventional sequence of moves while English students do not. The repetition of moves and move embedding are found to be particular characteristic of the English abstracts. Finally, Thai abstracts seem to place emphasis on ‘Move 4: Results’ and ‘Move 3: Methodology’ whereas the English ones place more emphasis on ‘Move 4: Results’ and ‘Move 2: Presenting the Research'. The findings from this study can be beneficial to both the field of linguistic study, World Englishes, as well as the ELT (English Language Teaching), particularly the ESP (English for Specific Purposes). Hopefully, the results from this study can contribute to some understanding, not only of the differences in writing between the two discourse communities in examination, but also of the particulars and the universals of language as well.