Literature Review and Theoretical Framework Sections in the Thesis Defense Presentation Slides: Their Rhetorical Structure by Chinese English-majored Master’s Students
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Abstract
This study aims to investigate the rhetorical structure of the Literature Review (LR) section and the newly observed Theoretical Framework (TF) section in thesis defense presentation slides (TDPS) written by Chinese English-majored master’s students. A further purpose is to examine whether these two adjacent sections share the same communicative functions. In the corpus of 20 TDPSs, eight LR sections, and eight TF sections were discovered and collected as data for the present study. Through move analysis using Chen and Kuo’s (2012) framework, four moves and seven steps were identified in the LR sections, whereas for the TF sections, four moves and three steps were found. Moreover, our findings confirmed that these two sections share similar communicative purposes, namely, to establish the territory of one’s research and to indicate the niche, both of which reveal how the niche is occupied. Nevertheless, the variations in terms of the status of certain moves and steps identified lead to a conclusion that these two sections place the emphasis on different communicative functions. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications for the production of the TDPS genre are provided.
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