A Genre Analysis of Research Article Abstracts Written by Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

Abstract

Research abstract has gained significant attention from the academic community as an important part-genre in the research article. A well- organized abstract would attract more readers and improve the opportunities of indexing and citation. This study aims at analyzing twenty abstracts written by native and non-native speakers of English in the Applied Linguistics field. The abstracts were selected from well-known journals interested in the field of Applied Linguistics. To achieve the purpose of this study, Hyland’s (2000) model of genre analysis was employed to explore the differences between native and non-native writers in rhetorical structure of research abstracts. The results of the present study revealed that both native and non-native writers followed the rhetorical structure of three moves (Purpose, Method, and Conclusion), while there was a significant difference between those writers in the introduction and conclusion moves. Native writers were more eager to employ these two moves compared to their non-native counterparts. The findings of this study can help students and novice writers, especially those from nonâ€English backgrounds to facilitate their successful acculturation into their disciplinary community.