VARIATIONS IN RHETORICAL MOVES AND METADISCOURSE ELEMENTS IN CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS: A GENRE ANALYSIS

Authors

  • Benedicta Obeng Department of Languages and General Studies, University of Energy and Renewable Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana
  • Albert Agbesi Wornyo School of Communication and Media Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
  • Christiana Hammond School of Communication and Media Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejals.v6i1.421

Keywords:

genre, academic conference proceedings, hedges, boosters, rhetorical move structure

Abstract

An abstract represents the summary of a piece of writing. Genre and metadiscourse analytical studies could highlight move variations in abstracts. The study aimed to investigate variations in the academic conference abstracts of the hard and soft sciences with a focus on rhetorical structure/sequence and the use of hedges/boosters. A corpus of sixty (60) abstracts was used for the study; this comprised 30 abstracts each from the soft sciences and the hard sciences. The abstracts were selected from two conference proceedings. The framework of rhetorical moves for abstracts comprising introduction (I), purpose (P), method (M), product (Pr), and the conclusion was used for the analysis of the rhetorical sequence of the abstracts. The abstracts were further analysed for their use of boosters and hedges. From the results, 43.3% of hard sciences abstracts (HSA) and 33.3% of soft science abstracts (SSA) followed the framework used. Furthermore, purpose, method, product, and conclusion were obligatory moves whereas the introduction move was optional in the SSA. On the other hand, only method and product moves were obligatory with the rest being conventional in SSA. The most dominant move sequence for HSA was I-P-M-Pr-C (46.7%) followed by I-M-Pr-C (17%) and I-P-M-Pr (17%) whereas P-M-Pr-C (43.3%) was the most dominant sequence followed by I-P-M-Pr-C (33.3%) for the SSA. The hard sciences abstracts and the soft sciences abstracts do not show marked differences in the authors’ use of boosters and hedges. Pedagogical implications of the findings of this study are useful particularly for academic conference applicants, academic writing instruction as well as advancing genre and metadiscourse research in conference abstracts.

 

Author Biographies

  • Benedicta Obeng, Department of Languages and General Studies, University of Energy and Renewable Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana

    Benedicta Obeng is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Languages and General Studies, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana. She is currently pursuing a PhD in English Language at the Department of English Language, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana. She has a Master of Philosophy degree in Communication Skills and a Master of Arts Degree in Teaching Communicative Skills from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana and University of Cape Coast respectively. Her research interests include corpus linguistics, genre studies and critical discourse analysis. Her ORCID ID is orcid.org/0000-0001-9652-3495.

  • Albert Agbesi Wornyo, School of Communication and Media Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

    Albert Agbesi Wornyo is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication and Media Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. He holds a PhD in English (ELT) from the University of Venda, South Africa. He is interested in teaching English writing skills to learners of English as a Second Language. His research interests include Rhetoric, Advanced Composition, Discourse Analysis and Teaching English as a Second Language. His ORCID ID is orcid.org/0000-0002-1142-658X.

  • Christiana Hammond, School of Communication and Media Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

    Christiana Hammond is an Associate Professor in Communication and Pragmatics with a research interest in genre analysis, intercultural communication, intercultural rhetoric, discourse analysis, social media and digital inclusivity, language and identity, theories of composition and writing, and interactional sociolinguistics among others. She is a gender advocate, and a Public Speaker and has presented scholarly papers at local and international conferences. She is an educationist with twenty years working experience as a pedagogist and curriculum developer for different levels of the educational sector in Ghana. Her publications could be accessed from these academic networks: ResearchGate, and Academia.com among others.

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Published

2023-03-17

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2023)

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