A structural move analysis of research article introduction sub-genre: A comparative study of native and Iranian writers in applied linguistics

The current study aimed at finding the probable differences between the move structure of Iranian writers’ RA introduction subgenre and those of their native counterparts. Sixty (N = 60) Ra introductions taken from four journals, namely IJLLALW, IJALEL, TQ, and AL, written in English by Iranian and native writers were randomly selected. The AntMover software as well as two human coders identified and coded the moves found in the corpus. The CARS model (Swales, 2004) was used as the framework for move and step identification. The resulting move frequencies were compared. For data analysis, a set of Mann-Whitney U tests as well as several descriptive statistics were conducted. For comparison purposes, move and step percentages were also compared. Results indicated that there is a significant difference in the move frequency of RA introductions written by Iranian and native writers in applied linguistics. While both Swales (2004) and the native writers in the corpus treated all of the moves in the RA introduction subgenre as obligatory, Iranian writers treated them as optional. It was concluded that academic writing teachers need to focus on move structures and make their students move-sensitive.