Rhetorical Move Analysis of Abstracts in Costa Rican TEFL Undergraduate Theses
A Comparative Study of Public and Private Universities
Keywords:
abstracts, genre analysis, moves, undergraduate students, EFLAbstract
Abstracts are an important part of an academic document, but traditionally have been neglected in undergraduate theses in the English teaching major. This investigation aimed to explore the following interrogatives in the Costa Rican higher education context: (1)Which are the rhetorical moves present in the abstracts contained in the undergraduate theses presented as a partial requirement for obtaining a Licenciatura degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language?, and (2) Is there a substantial difference between the pubic and the private higher education institutions in the expectations of abstract narrative?
Hyland´s (2000) model was used to conduct a genre analysis on one hundred and ninety-four abstracts from undergraduate students’ theses in two private and two public universities ranging from 2018 to 2024, including the prevalence of key words. The results showed lack of standardization in the structure of the abstracts frequently missing one or more moves and the key words, especially in the private universities. The predominant moves include M2 (indicating the purpose), M3 (methodology), and M4 (findings). M1(introduction) and M5 (conclusion) were the least present. Not always the recommended sequence was followed. This study provides insight for instructors and students who are engaged in academic writing, as well as suggestions to higher education institutions to look into this genre
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