Investigating rhetorical moves in conference abstracts from different L2 contexts 

Language, Discourse & SocietyDecember 2024

Benjamin Amoakohene [1], Osei Yaw Akoto [2], Humphrey Kapa [3], Pethias Siame [4], Felix Banda [5]

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14217010 

[1] University of Health and Allied Sciences, Department of General and Liberal Studies, E-mail: bamoakohene@uhas.edu.gh, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2276-9393
 
 
[2] Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Department of English, E-mail: oseiyaw.akoto@yahoo.com
 
 
[3] University of Zambia, Department of Literature and Languages, E-mail: humphreykapau@gmail.com
 
 
[4] Kwame Nkrumah University, Department of Literature and Languages, Zambia, E-mail: psiame@yahoo.com
 
[5] University of the Western Cape, Department of Linguistics, E-mail: fbanda@uwc.ac.za
 
 

Abstract

Abstracts are always required to be submitted in response to the ‘Calls for Abstracts’ for conferences in the academy. The rhetorical structure, content, and lexico-grammatical resources employed in such abstracts influence the selection of researchers for international and local conferences. Hence, this paper investigates the rhetorical move structures of conference abstracts (CAs) by Ghanaian and Nigerian academics. Swales (1990) and Bhatia’s (1993) move/step analysis was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. Because of the highly descriptive nature of this study, it uses the qualitative research approach as its design.  Forty abstracts submitted to the 2017 joint West African Languages Congress and the Linguistics Association of Ghana Conference constituted the dataset for the study. The findings revealed differences in the frequencies and the sequence of the rhetorical moves in the abstracts from the Ghanaian and Nigerian authors. Again, it was realized that moves that were obligatory in the abstracts by the Ghanaian authors appeared optional in those written by their Nigerian counterparts. Ghanaians preferred the passive voice while Nigerian academics favored the active voice. We argue that these differences are better seen as stylistic meaning-making variations within the same discourse community.

Keywords: genre; rhetorical moves; abstracts; conference proceedings; obligatory moves

 

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