چکیده:
Understanding how to structure the “Statement-of-the-Problem” (SP) section
of a thesis is necessary for EFL students to develop a logical argumentation for
a problem statement. This study intended to compare Move structures of SP
sections of theses written by native speakers of Persian (NSPs) and English
(NSEs). To this end, 100 SP sections (50 SP sections written by NSEs and 50
written by NSPs) of theses in the field of English language teaching (ELT)
were selected and analyzed by the researchers based on Swales' (1990, 2004)
CARS models. The analysis of the data revealed that Move structures of SP
sections of the two corpora were similar. In both corpora, the three Moves of
“Establishing a territory”, “Establishing a niche”, and “Presenting the present
work” were considered obligatory. There were some differences in the Steps
and many Move pattern variations in the two corpora. The results can broaden
the understanding of the nature and function of this genre and can have
important implications for EFL instructors.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"(رجوع شود به تصویر صفحه) Move 1 is narrowed down to reach partial goals through "Topic generalizations of increasing specificity" (Swales, 2004), which is subdivided into eight categories, based on the findings of Sheldon’s (2013) study, such as Step 1a: Reporting conclusions of previous studies, which functions as a preface to the writer's own work and reflects the richness of the current literature regarding the main topic of the study; Step 1b: Narrowing the field, which narrows the focus of research and helps the reader to identify the topic of research quickly; Step 1c: Writer’s evaluation of existing research, which shows how researchers in the two corpora evaluate the work of others; Step 1d: Time-frame of relevance, which enables writers to construct a disciplinary community with a long tradition and to prove that the area of research is very important; Step 1e: Research objectives/processes of previous studies is used as a strategy to describe aims by referring to some other previous studies; Step 1f: Terminologies/definitions, where key words, specific discipline lexis, and concepts are elaborated; Step 1g: Generalizing, by which the researcher presents the general knowledge around the topic of the study; and Step 1h: Furthering or advancing knowledge, which is used to offer suggestions to solve existing research problems.
This also may indicate that there are no cultural variations and discrepancies in the way information is organized in English and Persian, which is in contrast to the studies in the literature (Ahmad, 1997; Cmejrkova, 1996; Connor, 2008; Duszak, 1994; Flowerdew, 2002; Halliday & Hasan, 1990; Hirano, 2009; Hyland, 2000; Kaplan, 1966; Koutlaki, 2002; Moreno, 1997; Paltridge, 2004; Swales, 1990), which show that although research articles are based on the requirements of the genre, there are significant cultural differences in the rhetorical preferences of national cultures."