HYLAND’S RHETORICAL MOVES AND HALLIDAY’S TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM IN ANALYSING ABSTRACTS

Abstract

Writing academically is substantially important for transmitting reliable knowledge to readers, and the abstract represents a fundamental section in revealing the basic content of the study. Verbs, known as ‘’processes’’ in Functional Grammar, are also essential in academic writing in general and abstracts in specific. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the rhetorical structural moves and ‘’processes’’ used in each move. The qualitative approach was employed, and the data were selected from the Scientific Journal Ranking website; eighty research articles were chosen purposively following two theories in analysing the data, namely IPMPC by Hyland (2000) and SFL by Halliday (1985). The findings revealed varied uses of the rhetorical use of moves in different academic disciplines. As for the ‘processes’ used, their percentages were as follows: Material processes (564), Verbal processes (142), Relational processes (108), Mental processes (18), Existential ones (11), and Behavioural processes (1). These findings demonstrate varieties in the structural moves used in the two domains and the use of ‘processes’ in each rhetorical move. Such findings could be employed pedagogically by novice writers who are not familiar enough with how to write abstracts academically and expertly.

Keywords

• academic writing
• abstract moves
• processes 'verbs'
• SFL

Ethical Statement

No conflict of interest, all ethical issues were considered.

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