Rhetorical Moves and Steps in the Findings and Discussion Sections of EFL Undergraduates’ Theses: An Analysis

The Findings and Discussion (F&D) sections in undergraduate theses play a crucial role in academic writing, as they present and interpret research results. However, EFL students often face challenges in organising their F&D sections effectively. This study examines the rhetorical moves and steps employed in the F&D sections of five EFL undergraduates' theses to identify common patterns and deviations from established academic writing conventions. Adopting a genre analysis approach, a corpus of undergraduate theses was analysed using Ruiying & Allison (2003) move-step framework. The findings reveal that while the students generally follow conventional rhetorical structures, variations exist in the sequencing and realisation of moves, particularly in the interpretation and evaluation of findings. Some students seemed to struggle with establishing clear connections between results and previous research, leading to less cohesive discussions. The study underscores the need for explicit instruction on rhetorical structuring in academic writing courses. These findings contribute to EAP pedagogy by offering insights into students’ rhetorical challenges and suggesting targeted interventions to enhance their academic writing proficiency.