Genre analysis of literature research article abstracts: A cross-linguistic, cross-cultural study

Following Swales’s  (1981)  works  on  genre  analysis,  studies  on  different  sections  of  Research Articles  (RAs)  in  various  languages  and  fields  abound;  however,  only  scant  attention  has  been directed toward abstracts written in Persian, and in the field of literature. Moreover, claims made by Lores (2004) regarding the correspondence of two types of abstracts with different models, and by Martin (2004) concerning the influence of sociocultural factors on the way writers write needed evaluation.  To  fill  this  gap,  90  English  and  Persian  abstracts  written  in  the  field  of  literature,  by English  and  Persian  native  speakers,  were  analyzed  based  on  the  IMRD  (Introduction,  Method, Results, and Discussion) and CARS (Create A Research Space) models. The results demonstrated that  literature  RA  writers  generally  focus  on  Introduction  and  Results,  neglect  Method  and Discussion, and do not mention the niche in previous related work; secondly, although none of the models were efficient, literature abstracts generally matched CARS more than IMRD; and thirdly, abstracts  written  by  Persian  native  speakers  had  minor  deviations  from  both  the  Persian  and  the international norms, and exhibited a standard of their own. The present study also discusses steps which  the  models  fail  to  predict.  In  addition,  it  offers  a  number  of  pedagogical  implications  for TEFL, especially for the writing skill.