English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies ISSN 2640-9836 (Print) ISSN 2640-9844 (Online) Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls 116 Original Paper Promoting Writing Competence of the “Results & Discussion” Section with Genre Analysis Activities in EAP Thesis-Writing Class Zhencong Liu 1 , Ruizhe, Zhang 2* & Hui, Liu 3 1 School of English Language, Culture and Literature, Beijing International Studies University, China 2 School of English Language, Culture and Literature, Beijing International Studies University, China 3 School of English Language, Culture and Literature, Beijing International Studies University, China * Ruizhe, Zhang, Corresponding author Received: January 9, 2023 Accepted: February 18, 2023 Online Published: February 20, 2023 doi:10.22158/eltls.v5n1p116 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/eltls.v5n1p116 Abstract This study aimed to explore the effect of genre analysis activities in promoting writing competence of the “Results & Discussion” Section (RD) in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) thesis-writing class. At class, a series of genre-based activities were carried out to help students understand and analyze the move/step structure of RD of SSCI journal articles. Students’ academic research articles were collected at the beginning and end of the semester, namely marked as the first versions and the second versions, which were analyzed in two separate corpora. In addition, questionnaires and interviews were conducted to investigate students’ attitudes towards genre analysis activities. Research findings suggested that genre analysis helped enhance students’ writing competence of RD in their thesis writing. This study also contributed to providing guidance for academic writing teaching in postgraduate education. Keywords writing competence, genre analysis activities, RD, thesis writing 1. Introduction The purpose of academic writing is to help students cultivate the ability to do scientific research and write research articles in a regular way. This study focused on, EAP thesis-writing, a postgraduate course and aimed to explore the effect of genre analysis activities on students’ writing competence, especially for RD of a research article. In this course, genre knowledge about academic writing and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 117 Published by SCHOLINK INC. analysis activities were involved. At the beginning, each student was encouraged to hand in one of their research articles as the first versions, which should be revised in the process of learning. At the end of the semester, their revised articles were collected and marked as the second versions. RD of these two versions were analyzed in two separate corpora according to the genre structure. Questionnaires and interviews were also used to know about students’ attitudes towards this course. The genre-based approach has been acknowledged to be helpful in improving students’ writing competence (Zhang, T., & Zhang, L. J., 2021), however, relatively few studies were conducted focusing on the effect of genre-based activities on writing the results and discussion parts. The current study sets out to explore the impact of applying genre analysis activities to an EAP thesis-writing course on students’ writing competence. Theoretically, this study can enrich research perspectives of the research on thesis-writing teaching in the period of postgraduation, which might shed some light on the empirical study of academic thesis writing teaching. Practically, this study provides some implications for the application of genre knowledge to academic thesis writing. For students, the genre structure provides them specific moves and steps when writing RD. Therefore, their second versions of RD have more complete and systematic structure. For teachers, genre-based teaching approach is easily accepted by students. Through various genre-based activities, students can have better understanding of academic thesis writing. Teachers could also make some improvements of teaching content according to students’ feedback and performance at class. 2. Literature Review In this part, researches on genre-based teaching approach and genre-based academic thesis writing would be reviewed. 2.1 Genre-Based Teaching Approach As for the concept of “genre”, there were a lot of different definitions. Genre was regarded as an action with a clear purpose (Martin, 1984). Swales (1990) emphasized the communicative purposes of genre action, which was similar to a recognized communicative event held by Bhatia (1993). Apart from that, genre was also considered to be related with social behavior (Eggins, 1994). Qin (2000) held the opinion that genre was an integral part of discourse features. Since in 1980s, genre came into the field of applied linguistics (Zhang, 2002), it has become a hot topic for subsequent studies. When it comes to genre-based teaching approach, there were mainly three kinds of schools. First was the Swalesian School, whose representatives were Swales and Bhatia. In this school, communication was emphasized. To be specific, students need to express their intentions in line with different genres, which included prescribed text structure and characteristics. Next was the Australian School, represented by Hasan and Martin. Similar to the Swalesian School, this school not only focused on different conditions of genres, but also encouraged students to have creative language output. The third one is New Rhetoric School, which was represented by Miller, Medway and Hyon. This school expected students to study social events actively in order to understand different meanings on diverse www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 118 Published by SCHOLINK INC. occasions. Genre analysis method was widely used in the practical teaching of primary and secondary schools and universities, and had achieved certain results. Genre-based teaching approach had also achieved fruitful results in the teaching practice of English majors in universities, such as improving teaching methods and class quality, as well as cultivating students’ critical thinking (Mo, 2017). 2.2 Academic Thesis Writing from the Perspective of Genre Analysis In recent years, great importance was attached to foreign language education in tertiary education. Teachers should pay more attention to the cultivation of students’ thinking and ability rather than the traditional indoctrination of knowledge. The advanced thinking and scientific research ability of college students need to be improved. The quantitative index that most directly reflects students’ academic level was academic research articles. Therefore, academic thesis writing was increasingly valued. The theory of genre analysis provided a strong theoretical basis for academic writing, and helped students to build a logical thinking framework and quickly master the writing skills of academic articles. Bhatia (2004) pointed out that the abstract of academic research article was a typical genre type with specific communicative purposes and unique genre structure. Based on Bhatia’s research, many experts and scholars at home and abroad had explored the genre teaching method to guide abstract writing. Based on the genre analysis theory proposed by Swales and starting from move/step structure, Ju (2004) compared and analyzed the genre differences between 20 English research article abstracts and 20 Chinese research article abstracts in order to provide specific teaching procedures for teachers to conduct systematic training. Han and Hou (2012) provided a feasible teaching scheme for abstract writing of graduate English academic articles based on the genre model of Feez. Cheng (2017) studied the teaching effect of genre-based teaching approach and its influence on students’ academic thesis writing ability by combining experiment and interview with undergraduate students. The research showed that this approach could boost students’ confidence in academic writing, help students pay more attention to the reader awareness and communicative purpose in the paper writing, and significantly improve their academic writing competence. Genre teaching method was also applicable to the literature review part, and relevant research has achieved phased results. Wu and Cui (2016) applied the process genre teaching method to the writing practice of literature review, aiming at evaluating and improving students’ genre writing competence from various aspects. Huang, Zhou and Wang (2016) put forward the six-step method of literature review writing on the basis of genre analysis theory, which effectively guided the teaching and practice of academic thesis writing. Throughout the previous researches on the application of genre analysis method to academic paper writing, there were relatively more researches on the abstract part and the implementation methods tend to be mature, but there were relatively few researches on RD with no rich empirical research evidence. RD was the main body and the essence of an article. However, in the process of writing, students often did not know what to discuss, or the discussion was not deep enough. Therefore, it is necessary to use the genre analysis method to study RD in academic research articles. Peacock (2002) analyzed the genre structure of the discussion sections in seven disciplines from an interdisciplinary perspective, and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 119 Published by SCHOLINK INC. the research results had certain guiding significance for the thesis writing teaching. Boonyuen and Tangkiengsirisin (2018) discussed from the perspective of text organization how experts and scholars in the field of applied linguistics constructed the structure of the discussion section of a paper, and provided inspiration for the writing of the discussion section through specific genre structure analysis. Dong and Lu (2020) integrated corpora and genre methods to help students understand the genre structure of the introduction part aiming at improving students’ genre writing competence, which provided empirical guidance for genre-based teaching practice. By analyzing the genre structure and tenses in the discussion section of graduate thesis writing, it could provide methodology guidance for writing teaching and suggestions for the compilation of relevant textbooks (Suherdi, Kurniawan, & Lubis, 2020). 2.3 Summary Genre analysis has been widely used in academic thesis writing, and empirical studies showed that it had a significant effect on improving students’ writing competence. By analyzing the characteristics of genre structure (mainly moves and steps) in high-quality academic papers published by authoritative experts and scholars in the field of applied linguistics, it can quickly build students’ writing framework of genre structure and help increase students’ confidence in academic writing. In addition, existing researches mainly focused on the application of genre analysis method in the abstract and introduction parts of academic papers, while there were relatively few studies on the results and discussion parts. This study attempted to make some supplements for this part of research, make up for the shortcomings of relevant empirical studies, and improve the application of genre analysis method in academic thesis writing. 3. Methodology In this part, research questions and specific research design, including course and participants, classroom procedure as well as data collection and analysis were presented. 3.1 Research Questions This study used genre-based pedagogy in postgraduates’ EAP thesis-writing class, aiming at answering the following questions: 1) To what extent do students promote their genre knowledge and genre-based writing skills? 2) What are the students’ perceptions towards genre-based pedagogy? 3.2 Course and Participants The participants of this study were sixteen master’s students majoring in applied linguistics. The main objective of this course is to improve these students’ thesis writing competence by providing them with opportunities to analyze, practice and receive feedback on research articles. At class, genre knowledge of RD was presented by the teacher and genre analysis activities were done by all the students. They need to analyze the RD structure of SSCI journals and drew mind maps in small groups. After a semester of study, students should revise RD of their research articles by using the genre structure. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 120 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 3.3 Overview of the Classroom Procedure This course lasted for ten weeks. Table 1 showed the specific classroom procedure. In the first week, the teacher introduced the concept of genre structure, namely move and step, shared key documents and assigned weekly tasks. In the second week, the pre-questionnaires were distributed to students in order to know about their genre knowledge and course expectations. In addition, they need to hand in one of their research articles written before this course. From Week 2 to Week 7, one of the students selected one SSCI journal article in advance and organized other students to analyze the genre structure of RD and draw mind maps of it. At class, they would discuss their analysis results and revise their mind maps together. After class, their mind maps were encouraged to hand in as the course resources. The last three weeks of this course were for them to complete post-questionnaires and revise their research articles submitted in the second week. Six of these students were also selected randomly to join in the semi-structured interview in order to know deeply about their feelings, suggestions or some feedback about this course. Table 1. Teaching Process of EAP Thesis-Writing Class Week Task Organizer Data Collection 1 Lecture: genre knowledge Assignments Teacher 2 Paper sharing RD Genre analysis Mind maps One student Pre-questionnaires First versions collection 3 Paper sharing RD Genre analysis Mind maps One student 4 Paper sharing RD Genre analysis Mind maps One student 5 Paper sharing RD Genre analysis Mind maps One student 6 Paper sharing RD Genre analysis Mind maps One student 7 Paper sharing RD Genre analysis Mind maps One student www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 121 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 8-10 Review and Revision Teacher and all students Post-questionnaires Interview Second versions collection 3.4 Data Collection and Analysis 3.4.1 Research Data After the whole semester, fourteen students’ first versions and second versions were collected. RD of these two versions were selected as two separate corpora in order to analyze the genre structure. The weekly organizers summarized six mind maps of RD after the process of discussion. Since all the students completed the pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires, therefore thirty-two questionnaires were collected. Six students agreed to join in the interview and all the content of these interviews were transcribed by the software. 3.4.2 Research Instrument A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in this study. For the quantitative data, that is students’ RD, were analyzed in two corpora in the light of genre structure model (Table 2). The software NVivo 11 was used to analyze qualitative data of this study, including questionnaire results, interview transcripts and RD mind maps. Table 2. Genre Structure of RD Moves Steps Move 1 - Preparatory information Move 2 - Reporting results Move 3 - Commenting on results Step 1 - Interpreting results Step 2 - Compare results with literature Step 3 - Accounting for results Step 4 - Evaluating results Move 4 - Summarizing results Move 5 - Evaluating the study Step 1 - Indicating limitations Step 2 - Indicating significance/advantage Move 6 - Deductions from the research Step 1 - Making suggestions Step 2 - Recommending further research Adapted from Yang & Allison (2003). As shown in Table 2, the genre structure of RD includes six moves, some of which consist of several small steps. The first move is preparatory information. This move can be used to connect with two different sections. It can provide some relevant information as a preparation before reporting research www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 122 Published by SCHOLINK INC. results. The second move, reporting results, is the central one, which presents research results normally with specific statistics and examples. We can see that the third move is divided into four steps. The main purpose of this move is to interpret the meaning or significance of the study or research fields on the basis of the research findings. Move 4 presents integrated results based on specific results, presented in Move 2 and Move 3. The function of Move 5 is to evaluate the whole study by showing the limitations and indicating the contributions or significance. The last move aims to make some suggestions for similar studies and point out some implications for further research. 4. Results and Discussion This part reported and discussed results or findings related to the two research questions. To address question one, this study mainly compared two versions of RD of students’ research articles. To address question two, the results of questionnaires and interviews were collected and analyzed. Furthermore, students’ RD mind maps could also reflect their learning effects. 4.1 Effects on Students’ Genre Writing Competence By analyzing and comparing two RD corpora, this study summarized the following results. It can be seen in Table 3 that the number of move/steps in Corpus 2 was more than that in Corpus 1, which indicated that students’ second versions had more complete genre structure. The following examples showed the details. Table 3. Number of Moves/Steps of Two Corpora Move/Steps Corpus 1 (First versions) Corpus 2 (Second versions) Move 1 48 52 Move 2 23 26 Move 3 68 80 M3S1 46 50 M3S2 15 19 M3S3 3 4 M3S4 4 7 Move 4 9 16 Move 5 18 26 M5S1 9 14 M5S2 9 12 Move 6 11 16 M6S1 6 9 M6S2 5 7 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 123 Published by SCHOLINK INC. For Move 1 (Preparatory information), forty-eight samples were found in Corpus 1, while Corpus 2 included fifty-two samples. This result could reflect that students had more awareness to link different sessions when writing RD. In Example 1, the main topic of this section, AWE systems research, was clearly shown to readers at the beginning. Example 1: In this section, AWE systems research will be reviewed and presented in details. International and Chinese AWE research papers can be divided into two topics. For Move 2 (Reporting results), the number of move/steps in Corpus 2 was three more than that in Corpus 1. Most of the students had the awareness of reporting results in their articles and used expressions like “It can be seen that” to present the research findings. In Example 2, we could see that the author first compared the data and then reported the results naturally with according examples. Example 2: From figure 6, the expression of process accounts for the most, the expression of comment accounts for the least, and the expression of quality is in the middle. It can be seen that the speech tends to express affect in process. Some examples of affect attitude resources will be shown and analyzed below. For Move 3 (Commenting on results), there was a big difference in the number of move/steps in these two corpora. As shown in Table 3, M3S1 (Interpreting results) and M3S2 (Compare results with literature) occupied the largest number, which reflected that students had the awareness to interpret results and compare them with other literature. But we still found that students were not good at citing others’ research in the discussion part. In Example 3, we could see that the student just mentioned another study without comparing it with her own study. From Table 3, we could also find that there were only a small number of M3S3 (Accounting for results) and M3S4 (Evaluating results) in both Corpus 1 and Corpus 2. These two steps were necessary for commenting on the research. Students seldom figured out the reason of the results and evaluated the significance of the study. Example 3: Ultimately, based on the research of Ringbom(2001), five types of error analysis were put forward. For Move 4 (Summarizing results), few examples were found in students’ first versions, which indicated that they did not realize the necessity to make a summary after reporting and interpreting the results. In Example 4, the student gave a summary based on the research, which made the discussion part more complete with clear logic. Example 4: To sum up, in the new year speeches, affect resources are used to express satisfaction, appreciation and respect to people’s effort and contribution. Judgement attends to show gratitude to people of good quality and encouragement to the whole people. Appreciation offers readers the society’s stability and country’s prosperity. For Move 5 (Evaluating the study) and Move 6 (Deductions from the research), the problem was that students did not point out the steps under these two moves clearly. Apart from that, some students just mix several steps together. In Example 5, the students did not indicate the significance or advantage of the study clearly (M5S2). Suggestions and implications for future research were also not enough and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 124 Published by SCHOLINK INC. specific. Example 5: The findings may have some limitations partly and may be not treated as a common phenomenon for all learners acquiring third language. But it can be regarded as a reference for relevant research. Prospective researches should be implemented on the basis of a larger number and a wider range of data, which are needed for a more in-depth study. To sum up, though the first versions had lots of problems in genre structure, the students made some improvements in their second versions. From Table 3, we could only see little difference in number, which could also reflect students’ genre awareness of RD writing. Students’ understanding of genre structure may also influence their RD writing. Their perceptions would be reported in the following two parts. 4.2 Results of the Questionnaires The students’ responses to the pre-instruction questionnaire indicated that they knew about the importance of RD, but had little knowledge of genre structure and analysis methods. Table 4 showed some items and students’ perceptions in detail. Table 4. Part of Pre-Questionnaire Results Pre-questionnaire Items Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly agree 2. RD is important. 6.25% 0 6.25% 37.5% 50% 3. Familiar with RD moves. 0 25% 43.75% 31.25% 0 4. Familiar with RD steps. 0 25% 56.25% 18.75% 0 7. Actively focus on genre structure of RD. 0 31.25% 43.75% 25% 0 14. Hope to understand genre structure analysis. 0 6.25% 6.25% 68.75% 18.75% From Table 4, we could see that 37.5% students chose “agree” and 50% students chose “strongly agree” on Item 2, which could reflect students’ positive perception of the importance of RD. For Item 3 and Item 4, most students selected “neither agree nor disagree”, which indicated that they did not know clearly about move/step structure of RD and had no idea of their familiarity. For Item 7, only 25% students chose “agree”, which showed that few of them would use genre knowledge to write RD or analyze the genre structure of RD in research articles. Therefore, as shown in Item 14, they had strong expectations for this course with the hope to learn about genre analysis and its application to RD writing, with the percentage of 68.75% choosing “agree” and 18.75% “strongly agree”. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 125 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Table 5 summarized part of the post-questionnaire results pertaining to the effectiveness of this course (Items 3-8) and students’ perceptions towards genre analysis activities (Items 10-15). Table 5. Part of Post-Questionnaire Results Post-questionnaire Items Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly agree 3. Course helped learning RD moves. 0 0 0 68.75% 31.25% 4. Course helped learning RD steps. 0 0 0 75% 25% 5. Course helped analyze RD genre structure of SSCI journals. 0 0 12.5% 68.75% 18.75% 6. Course helped revise RD of students’ research articles. 0 0 18.75% 75% 6.25% 11. Through the course, students mastered genre analysis methods. 0 6.25% 12.5% 75% 6.25% 13. Students were interested in genre structure analysis. 0 0 50% 50% 0 14. Through the course, students had a clear understanding of genre structure analysis. 0 0 25% 68.75% 6.25% From Table 5, we could see that this course could help students gain genre knowledge and improve their genre writing competence of RD. From Items 3-4, we could see that all students chose “agree” or “strongly agree”, which indicated that they could make some progress in writing RD with the help of genre structure analysis methods. For Item 5 and Item 6, some students chose the neutral attitude, but most of them selected “agree” or “strongly agree”. This result showed that students could apply the genre knowledge acquired at class to their own research. These items reflected the effectiveness of this course in promoting students’ genre writing competence. For genre-based teaching approach, students also held positive attitudes. For Item 11, 75% students chose “agree”, which showed that such kind of pedagogy was effective. Item 13 was to investigate students’ attitudes towards genre structure analysis. 50% students chose “agree”, while the other took the neutral attitude. From this result, it reflected a fact that the teacher needed to find more activities to attract students’ interests at class. For Item 14, 68.75% students chose “agree”, 6.25% students chose “strongly agree”, and 25% students chose “neither agree nor disagree”, which indicated that most students thought positively about genre analysis activities. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 126 Published by SCHOLINK INC. However, there was still room for the improvements of designing teaching activities. 4.3 Results of the Semi-structured Interviews In this study, six students of this class were selected randomly to join in the semi-structured interview and they all agreed to record their interviews as research materials. After marking the transcripts in NVivo 11, we could see that these students were satisfied with the genre-based teaching approach and made some improvements in their RD writing. The following examples presented their thoughts in detail. Example 6: At first, I confused the concepts of move and step. Later, I understood them. After a semester’s study, when I read an academic research article, I could generally analyze the move/step structure of RD. From Example 6, we could find that after a semester, this student has mastered the concept of move and step. She also became aware of analyzing the genre structure of RD when reading other research articles in related field. Before this course, students often write research articles according to their own learning experience. While in this course, genre structure can be functioned as the guidance for academic thesis writing. When analyzing others’ articles, students themselves could learn to form their own writing method, which was greatly helpful for them. Example 7: The move/step structure of my first version was not clear. In my second version, I completed the missing moves and steps. Therefore, I had richer contents of discussion than before. Example 8: I made a lot of modifications in my second version based on the move/step structure. When applying this structure, my RD was more academic than the first version. From Example 7 and Example 8, we could find that both of these two students made a lot of modifications in their second versions. In their first versions, they missed some moves and steps, which made their RD less academic. When mastering the genre structure, the content of their discussion became richer and more systematic. When analyzing these students’ first versions, mixed move/steps could be found, which indicated that they had no clear genre structure in their mind. Apart from that, the content of some move/steps was not enough to interpret the research results. Example 9: I think the genre knowledge and activities were quite helpful. After this class, I had an overall grasp of my thesis. Furthermore, my mind was also enlightened after learning genre knowledge. As shown in Example 9, this student took a positive attitude towards genre knowledge and genre analysis activities conducted at class. Genre structure could help organize her own thesis and enlighten her mind. Many students did not recognize their problems in writing RD before. From their learning experience in this course, we could see that they were able to apply genre knowledge to their own thesis writing. 4.4 Analysis of RD Mind Maps Each week, students analyzed one SSCI research article and made RD mind maps according to the genre structure. After classroom discussion, six mind maps were collected by the weekly organizer. From these maps, we could see that students were able to analyze the RD genre structure of research www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 127 Published by SCHOLINK INC. articles. Take the mind map of week 5 as an example, Figure 1 showed us three moves, namely preparatory information, reporting results and commenting on results. Figure 1. RD Mind Map (Week 5) Through Figure 1, we could clearly see the structure of this article. For Move 1, it included four parts of information, which would give readers a preparation before presenting the results. In Move 2, four major findings were reported in sequence. For Move 3, four steps were pointed out with specific examples. Through drawing RD mind maps, students were able to learn analyze move/steps by searching keywords and expressions. For example, “confirming the practicality of” was a typical expression of M3S2 (Compare results with literature). Through analyzing students’ mind maps, it was found that students in this course had mastered the genre structure of RD and had the ability to analyze it correctly. Combined with the questionnaire and interview results, we could make it clear that students could construct clear genre frameworks when analyzing and writing research articles. This finding also indicated that our genre-based pedagogy was effective and greatly accepted by students. 5. Conclusion This study proved the effectiveness of genre-based pedagogy on promoting students’ RD writing competence. Students’ second versions had more complete and systematic genre structure than their first versions, which indicated that they have almost mastered the genre knowledge and could apply it to their thesis writing. Students’ clear RD mind maps also showed their understanding of specific moves and steps. From the questionnaire and interview results, we could see that students held positive attitudes towards genre-based teaching activities. The limitations of this study were mainly the small number of participants. Our EAP Thesis-writing course only included sixteen students and materials www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 128 Published by SCHOLINK INC. collected were not enough to do further research. This study also had some implications for thesis writing teaching. First, it was important for teachers to give students opportunities at class to present and discuss. Second, genre analysis could be an effective way for students to grasp the overall structure of an academic research article. This study just focused on RD in applied linguistics field and further research could be done in other research fields. Third, corpus use should be encouraged in academic writing, especially for postgraduate education. This study only compared students’ two versions and analyzed the differences in RD genre structure. Future studies can expand the corpus capacity or compare different participants’ articles in order to provide more scientific guidance for both teachers and students. References Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman Group UK Limited. Bhatia, V. K. (2004). Worlds of written discourse: A genre-based view. London: Continuum. Boonyuen, T., & Tangkiengsirisin, S. (2018). The investigation of the textual organization of research article discussion sections in the field of second language writing. Arab World English Journal, 9(03), 111-128. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol9no3.8 Cheng, X. (2017). Research on the effectiveness of genre-based pedagogy in EAP writing instruction: Taking English abstract writing instruction for example. Shandong Foreign Language Teaching (03), 30-39. Dong, J., & Lu, X. (2020). Promoting discipline-specific genre competence with corpus-based genre analysis activities. English for Specific Purposes, 58, 138-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2020.01.005 Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to system—Functional linguistics. London: Printer Publishers. Han, P., & Hou, L. (2012). Exploring graduate academic English writing ability cultivation from the perspective of genre analysis. Foreign Language World, (06), 74-80. Huang, J., Zhou, T., & Wang, W. (2016). A study on the teaching path of English academic paper writing based on language classes-A case study of “Literature Review” writing teaching. Foreign Language World, (02), 69-78. Ju, Y. (2004). Genre analysis and English-Chinese abstracts of academic papers. Foreign Language Education, (02), 32-36. Martin, J. R. (1984). Language, register and genre. In F. Christie (Ed.), Language Children’s Writing: Reader. Geelong: Deakin University Press. Mo, W. (2017). An analysis of the application of “Genre teaching method” in English reading teaching for college English majors. Contemporary Education Research and Teaching Practice, (10), 46-47. Peacock, M. (2002). Communicative moves in the discussion section of research articles. System, 30(4), www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 129 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 479-497. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(02)00050-7 Qin, X. (2000). A review of genre-based teaching approaches. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, (01), 42-46+79. Suherdi, D., Kurniawan, E., & Lubis, A. H. (2020). A genre analysis of research article “findings and discussion” sections written by Indonesian undergraduate EFL students. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(1), 59-72. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i1.24989 Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wu, W., & Cui, G. (2016). A practical study of process genre approach in English literature review writing teaching. Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, (02), 73-81. Zhang, D. (2002). A General survey of genre studies. Journal of Foreign Languages, (04), 13-22. Zhang, T., & Zhang, L. J. (2021). Taking stock of a genre-based pedagogy: Sustaining the development of EFL students’ knowledge of the elements in argumentation and writing improvement. Sustainability, 13(21), 11616. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111616 Appendix 1. EAP Thesis-Writing Pre-Questionnaire Dear students: Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Your response will help us understand your knowledge and experience in writing the “Results and discussion” section of academic articles. Your response will be kept completely confidential and used for research purposes only. On this scale, 1= strongly disagree; 2= disagree; 3= Neither agree nor disagree; 4= agree; 5= strongly agree. Please read each of the following questions carefully and check the number which best matches your opinion. We will carry out a secret survey, please feel free to fill. Thank you for your support and cooperation! 1. I know how to write RD of an academic research article. ………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 2. I think RD of an academic research article is very important.……………………… 1 2 3 4 5 3. I am familiar with RD move structure.……………………………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 4. I am familiar with RD step structure. ……………………………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 5. I have studied RD writing method of authoritative research articles in this field.…… 1 2 3 4 5 6. I have written more than one RD before this course. ……………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 7. When writing RD, I actively focus on the genre structure. ……………………… 1 2 3 4 5 8. I have not read an authoritative research article in this field for nearly a month. … 1 2 3 4 5 9. Academic thesis writing is valuable and is worth learning.………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 10. I am interested in the genre structure of RD of academic research articles. ……… 1 2 3 4 5 11. Before this course, I knew about genre structure analysis method.……………… 1 2 3 4 5 12. I think the genre structure of academic research articles is very important. ……… 1 2 3 4 5 13. I am not interested in genre structure analysis teaching activities. ……………… 1 2 3 4 5 14. Through this course, I hope to understand genre structure analysis clearly.……… 1 2 3 4 5 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 5, No. 1, 2023 130 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 15. I am in favor of using genre structure analysis method to write RD. …………… 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix 2. EAP Thesis-Writing Post-Questionnaire Dear students: Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Your response will help us understand your course experience and academic thesis writing. Your response will be kept completely confidential and used for research purposes only. On this scale, 1= strongly disagree; 2= disagree; 3= Neither agree nor disagree; 4= agree; 5= strongly agree. Please read each of the following questions carefully and check the number which best matches your opinion. We will carry out a secret survey, and please feel free to fill. Thank you for your support and cooperation! 1. This course helped me improve my academic thesis writing skills. ………………… 1 2 3 4 5 2. Through this course, I learned how to write RD of an academic research article. …… 1 2 3 4 5 3. This course helped me learn RD move structure. …………………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 4. This course helped me learn RD step structure. …………………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 5. After class, I could analyze RD of authoritative research in this field. ………………1 2 3 4 5 6. After class, I could use genre knowledge to revise my RD. …………………………1 2 3 4 5 7. I could actively focus on RD structure of authoritative articles in this field. …………1 2 3 4 5 8. After class, I could use genre knowledge to write RD. ……………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 9. I could not fully understand genre knowledge presented at class. ……………………1 2 3 4 5 10. I feel more interested and confident in RD writing.………………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 11. Through this course, I have mastered genre structure analysis method. …………… 1 2 3 4 5 12. I think it necessary to analyze genre structure of research articles.………………… 1 2 3 4 5 13. I become interested in genre structure analysis teaching method. ………………… 1 2 3 4 5 14. Through this course, I have a clear understanding of genre structure analysis.…… 1 2 3 4 5 15. Genre structure analysis is not helpful to improve my RD writing.………………… 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix 3. Outline of the Semi-structured Interview 1. When reading an academic research article, can you correctly analyze the move/step structure of RD? 2. When writing your own research article, can you use the move/step structure of RD correctly? 3. What are the differences of RD between your two versions submitted at the beginning and end of the semester? 4. What do you think of those genre analysis activities at class? Did you get some help? 5. After this class, will you use the move/step structure in your thesis writing? And why?