Genre Analysis of Argumentative Essays of Pakistani EFL Learners

Abstract

Argumentative essay is an important but difficult genre for non-native learners. There is a dearth of research in Pakistan that describes the nature of argumentative writing from genre-analytical perspective. The current study aimed at finding rhetorical patterns of argumentative essays written by Pakistani college and university students at ICLE (International Corpus of Learner English). A corpus of thirty three argumentative essays has been made. Hyland's model (1990) has been used as the analytical framework to analyze the move-step structure of the essays. In this corpus-based study Ant Mover software as well as human coders have identified and coded the moves. Results have shown that most of the argumentative essays followed the three stages given in the model and they also have obligatory moves set in the model. Findings have revealed that these essays also include some new moves which are not part of the model. The results of this study have pedagogical implications for the teaching and learning of ESP/EFL. It also provides the teachers with better information that can help to improve their teaching approach and materials for academic writing.

Key words: argumentative essays, corpus-based, genre analysis, move-step structure