A Contrastive Study of Generic Organization of Research Article Introductions Written by Iranian and Non-Iranian Writers in Applied Linguistics

The purpose of this study was to apply Swales’ (1990) CARS (Create a Research Space) Model to analyze the introductions of research articles written by Iranian and Non-Iranian applied linguists. Accordingly, a corpus of research article introductions (RAIs) from a representative random sample of Iranian and international journals was compiled and contrastively examined based on the aforementioned model. Data analysis comprised Chi-square tests in order to probe the probable differences between the generic structure of the two categories of RAIs. Analysis of the data revealed that despite certain consistencies between the research article introductions written by Iranian and non-Iranian researchers in employing Moves 1 and 2, there emerged a marked difference between the two groups in utilizing Move 3 as well as in observing the order of Moves. This demonstrates insufficient awareness on the part of many Iranian research article writers regarding Move 3 and order of Moves. This may imply that in order to improve the generic structure of research article introductions written by Iranian researchers, it is required that their awareness regarding move structuring of this genre be raised. Finally, some suggestions and guidelines as to how to raise the consciousness of research article writers concerning the structure of RAIs are presented.