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Examination of the Rhetorical Moves in the Discussion Sections in EFL

Dissertations at the University of Khartoum: A Genre-based Study

Proposal of a Research Project for a PhD in English

1. Background

Academic research requires specific writing skills that are different from the
regular academic classroom writing (Atkinson, 1996; Connors, 1982). University
postgraduate candidates are required to produce a range of different genres of
assessed written work, ‘reflecting a range of different communicative purposes’
( Nesi& Gardner, 2007, 5). This functional and rhetorical role of academic writing
genres has further been highlighted in the genre definition provided by Swales
(2004) as cited in (Bhatia, 1993, 15), as ‘a recognizable communicative even
characterised by a set of communicative purposes, identified and mutually
understood by the members of the professional or academic community in which it
regularly occurs’. Some literature treats writing genre as an aspect that deals only
with the form or the structure of the text, i.e., as series of moves or steps of
building a text. However, this notion of genre is to be rejected as, according to
Devitt (1993, 574), genre is an integration of form and content, and text and
context for the sake of ‘how meaning is made’, and this makes it an influential tool
of constructing and transmitting knowledge in the field of academia. Attempts to
identify written genres, should include an analysis of the linguistic features
(Hyland, 2007) and rhetorical structure (Kanoksilapatham, 2005) of the genre
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moves. A genre move is defined as ‘ a segment of discourse or a rhetorical unit ,

which is shaped by a specific communication purpose’ ( Lui & Buckingham, 2018,
98). A study of any type of genre analysis should include an analysis of its
rhetorical moves, and such is the case in this study.

Researching academic genres and their conventionalised moves has become of

major interest due to, firstly, the increasing number of students who get enrolled on
post-graduate degree courses in many countries driven by an aim to advance both
academically and professionally. Secondly, the challenges that academic writing
genre constraints impose upon these students. These challenges are enhanced when
the students’ previous experiences with texts count for little when they arrive at
university and their familiar ways of writing are no longer regarded as legitimate
for making meaning’(Hyland,2009,7). Haggis (2006) provides an explanation for
such challenges by pointing out that academic writing course in higher education
(HE) institutions are lacking in explicit instructions of academic genres, their
conventionalized constraints and rhetorical moves or features. He rationalizes this
lacking by explaining that ‘traditionally, student knowledge about genres has
been acquired implicitly over time, via a process described by as the “ pedagogy
osmosis”’ ( Nesi& Gardner, 1993, 3).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This research attempts to examine the rhetorical features in the discussion

sections in EFL dissertations at the University of Khartoum. To date, academic
writing literature abounds in huge research on these features owing to the central
role they play in the academia. For instance, Hyland (2009) asserts that within the
academic enterprise several types of genres are used for creating and transmitting
knowledge. Some of which can be identified as textbooks, essays, conference
papers and presentations, lectures, research projects and dissertations. This makes
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knowledge of academic writing genres central for both study candidates and
professionals working within the field of academia. The fact that genre is ‘highly
structured and conventionalised with constraints on allowable contributions in
terms of their intent, positioning, form and functional value’ (Bhatia. 1993. 15),
means that postgraduate candidate writers should comply with certain rhetorical
moves and models in their literacy productions. An example of such is the CARS
model constructed by Swales (2004) and used to analyse the introduction section in
research articles.

The MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL handbook, that has been designed
and published by the Department of English Language, University of Khartoum,
gives extensive information pertaining the academic writing modules offered as
part of the program. These include modules on English for Academic Purposes
(E606), essay and report writing skills (E612), and Dissertation Writing
Preparation (E615), and are supposed to equip the MA candidates with adequate
‘practices and conventions of academic writing’ and prepares them for future
research projects on PhD level.

However, the research that has been conducted pertaining Sudanese students’
problems in tackling academic writing literacies and genres and what can be the
attributed factors for that, does not cover academic genres of writing. Hyland
(2009:61) states that ‘many students, and particularly those who are returning to
study later in life, who speak English as a second language, or who have not had a
smooth uninterrupted path through the education system, often find these
discourses (and literacies) to be alien, specialized and privileged ways of writing).
Ezza (2014: 1) lists ‘students’ linguistic incompetence, immature mastery of
rhetorical structure of the English texts, Arabic discourse transfer … and the
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employment of outdated (teaching) approaches and resources’ as another

predicament.

Furthermore, Hyland maintains that the problem stems from the fact that
second language students, including the Sudanese ones, ‘encounter writing
conventions which can differ considerably from those in their first language’
(2009:6). He also links the problem with the nature of academic discourse itself.
He explains ‘the way academic discourse represent disciplinary realities is
challenging as it does that in a way different from the way language is normally
used’ (2009,7).

A study was carried out by Ali (2016:25) at the University of Khartoum to

investigate the citational practices in the PhD candidates’ dissertations and
compare that with their British counterparts’. According to the study findings, ‘the
Sudanese corpus is characterized by blatant errors, repetition and awkwardness in
both documenting sources and reporting the findings of research. Moreover, naïve
unwarranted quotations and authorial evaluations were ubiquitously observed, as
compared to the British corpus.’

A more recent study was conducted by Alhassan and Ali (2017) to evaluate the
challenges of Sudanese PhD candidates’ linguistics and English Language- related
studies. The study concluded that there are many challenges that PhD candidates
face in terms of resources, supervision and training specially training in academic
writing.

The aforementioned studies did not consider vital arenas of postgraduate

academic writing, namely, analysis of and complying with the standardized
academic genre rhetorical moves and conventions.
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The results discussion section of dissertation has be given special focus in

literature ‘ owing to its role in construing and reinforcing the principal line(s) of
argument pursued ,and in establishing the importance of the research findings’ (Liu
& Buckingham, 2018,97). Many schematic structure models have been proposed in
research for genre analysis of academic texts in may disciplines and the one that is
fully developed and used dataset from applied linguistics, is the one proposed by
Yang & Allison (Liu & Buckingham, 2018).

1.3 Research Questions:

This research project attempts to find answers for the following questions:

1. To what extent have the post-graduate candidates at the University of

Khartoum, Department of English, been explicitly introduced to the
knowledge about and practices of academic writing genres and their
conventionalised moves?

2. To what degree does the Results Discussion Section in the postgraduate

candidates’ dissertations reflect knowledge and practices of the rhetorical
moves of this section genre?

3. How do postgraduate candidates perceive of explicit exposure to the

rhetorical genre moves of the various dissertation sections as a major factor
in improving their dissertation writing?
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4. How do MA and PhD dissertation supervisors perceive of explicit

instruction of academic genres moves and rhetorical structure of MA and
PhD dissertations to meet the candidates’ both immediate needs and future
ones as potential scholars in the field?

1.4 Research Objectives

Nesi & Gardner (2012) stress the importance of university students’

knowledge of academic writing genres as a means of making their writing
legitimate and acceptable by the discourse community in the field of academia.
Therefore, this study aims at:

A. Raising awareness of the importance of adequate knowledge and practices

of the rhetorical features academic writing genres amongst MA and PhD
candidates.
B. Making significant contribution to the field of writing for postgraduate
studies by suggesting some literacy practices that can empower the
students with the essential knowledge and practices of academic writing
genres.
C. Suggesting some pedagogical protocols and practices that can make
significant changes to the instructional practices at the department.

D. Highlighting the fact that various academic genres have specific rhetorical
features whose adequate knowledge and practices can produce adequate
scholarly writing and enable introduction and acceptable contribution to
the academia discourse community.

E. Providing insights into the 21st century prevailing academic literacy

teaching and learning practices, the priorities of English departments and
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the demands of today’s Applied Linguistics discourse community and

professional bodies.

1.5 Research Significance

There have been a series of studies conducted to explore postgraduate

candidate’s problems with academic writing in the Sudanese HE institutions.
Ali (2016) explored the citational practices in the literature review section of
research conducted by Sudanese scholars. Alhassan and Ali (2017) evaluated
the challenges faced by the PhD candidates when writing their degree theses.
Ezza ( 2014) concluded that language incompetence and immature knowledge
of the rhetorical English text structure and the transfer from the Arabic
discourse were the stems of the problems in academic writing and advocated for
genre-based instruction in the Arab tertiary institutions. Although Ezza’s paper
did tackle aspects pertaining academic genres and their conventionalized
rhetorical moves, his study was not confined to a Sudanese context neither to
genres of postgraduate dissertation sections.

Guided by Swales' (1990,2004), and Yang & Allison (2003) move

structure models for results discussion section , this study explores and
examines the current literacy practices pertaining the conventionalised and
legitimate academic genre rhetorical moves reflected in the postgraduates’
writing of the results discussion section of. These include; background
information, statement of results, expected and unexpected outcomes,
reference to previous research, explanation, exemplification, deduction and
hypothesis and recommendations. These, apparently, have not been
attempted by previous research at least in the Sudanese context. Thus, there
is an urgent need to handle them to serve the study specific objectives.
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1.6 Methodology

This research intends to utilize three types of data collection tools:

A. Students’ questionnaire to collect data to answer the first and third

research questions.

B. A content analysis of a number of MA and PhD dissertations based on

measurement rubrics pertaining to the discussion sections.

C. Professor’s questionnaire to collect data to answer the fourth research

question.

D. A follow up interview will be conducted to gain in-depth qualitative data

on the participants’ perceptions of the immediate and potential gains they
can get from explicit instruction of the conventionalized rhetorical moves
and features of academic genres in terms of knowledge and literacy
practices.

1.7. Definitions of key terms:

1. Academic genres: According to Hyland (2009), genres are understood in

many ways ‘from an emphasis on context, intersexuality and dialogism, to
descriptions of configurations of systematic language choices

2. Academic writing: in Hyland (2009.5), academic writing is not only defined

as a tool through which students ‘ consolidate and demonstrate their
understanding of subjects’ but also it (academic writing) is presented as a
tool that ‘ helps socialize students into academic practices as they write
themselves into their disciplines (ibid).
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3. Discourse community: According to Swales (1990:21) a discourse

community ‘testifies to the increasingly common assumption that discourse
operates within conventions defined by communities, be they academic
disciplines or social groups’. In this sense, discourse is used as a tool to
maintain and extend knowledge within the community that uses it (ibid)

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