Move-stance connection in Chinese and English research article conclusion sections: A cross-linguistic study

This study investigates the rhetorical structures of Chinese and English research article (RA) conclusion sections, the use of stance markers, and the move-stance connection features. The analysis is based on two corpora of 360 RAs published in international English journals and local Chinese journals in four soft disciplines (i.e., Applied Linguistics, Economics, Psychology and Sociology). Results show that both Chinese and English RA conclusions have similar distributions of moves, but there are differences in the frequencies of moves and distributions of steps. Remarkable distinctions were identified in the use of stance markers between the two corpora, with dense use of stance markers in English RA conclusions. Chinese writers tend to utilize boosters and attitude markers, while English writers prefer to employ hedges and self-mentions. Importantly, notwithstanding the identified variations in the deployment of stance markers across moves and steps, a specific move-stance connection pattern was found. The findings have both theoretical and pedagogical implications in the way of proposing the move-stance connection in RA conclusions, underscoring the convergence and divergence in the distributions of stance markers in moves/steps, and deepening novice writers’ awareness of the rhetorical devices in RAs and the importance of different competencies necessary for successful academic writing.