[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-589536-105":59,"doc-detail-589536-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","rhetorical-moves-in-problem-statement-section-of-iranian-efl-postgraduate-students-theses","Rhetorical Moves in Problem Statement Section of Iranian EFL Postgraduate Students' Theses","","The Problem Statement (PS) section of a thesis, typically placed within the first chapter, is intended to justify a study’s objectives. This descriptive research investigates how Iranian master’s (MA) students construct rhetorical moves in their PS. The study examines 30 PSs authored by MA Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students and analyzes them using Swales’ (1990) Create-a-research-space (CARS) model. Findings identify common flaws, such as emphasizing study significance without clearly addressing an academic problem grounded in research gaps, and omitting practical problem-solving recommendations. Improved awareness of PS rhetorical structure supports higher-quality academic writing and yields theoretical and pedagogical implications.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/rhetorical-moves-in-problem-statement-section-of-iranian-efl-postgraduate-students-theses/589536/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/rhetorical-moves-in-problem-statement-section-of-iranian-efl-postgraduate-students-theses/589536.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Terk","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the purpose of the Problem Statement (PS) section in a thesis?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The PS section is expected to justify the objectives of the study by introducing an academic issue, supporting it with evidence from previous literature, and clarifying what the writer aims to prove.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which framework is used to analyze students’ PS rhetorical moves?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The analysis uses Swales’ (1990) Create-a-research-space (CARS) model to examine how the PS is constructed.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What kinds of flaws were found in the students’ Problem Statements?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The study found that students often focused on the significance of their study, but some failed to treat the issue as an academic problem linked to gaps in prior research and failed to recommend ways to solve the problem.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},589536,1792851370,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},1099525198933,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714  \nVol. 7 No. 4; August 2016  \n Australian International Academic Centre, Australia  \n|  |  |  |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n|  |  |  |\n| Flourishing Creativity & Literacy |  |  |\n\nRhetorical Moves in Problem Statement Section of Iranian EFL  \nPostgraduate Students' Theses  \nVahid Nimehchisalem (Corresponding author)  \nEnglish Language Department, Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia  \n[Email: vahid@upm.edu.my](Email: vahid@upm.edu.my)  \nZahra Tarvirdizadeh  \nEnglish Language Department, Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia  \nSara Sayed Paidary  \nEnglish Language Department, Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia  \nNur Izyan Syamimi Binti Mat Hussin  \nEnglish Language Department, Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia  \nDoi:10 .7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.173  \nURL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.173](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.173)  \nReceived: 16/04/2016  \nAccepted: 19/06/2016  \nAbstract  \nThe Problem Statement (PS) section of a thesis, usually a subsection of the first chapter, is supposed to justify the objectives of the study. Postgraduate students are often ignorant of the rhetorical moves that they are expected to make in their PS. This descriptive study aimed to explore the rhetorical moves of the PS in Iranian master ’s (MA) degree theses. The study focused on 30 PSs written by MA Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students. The samples were analyzed based on Swales’ (1990) Create-a-research-space (CARS) model. The findings revealed the students’ flaws in writing the PS where they typically presented the significance of their study. The results of the analysis of their written samples also showed that some of the students failed to address a problem as an academic issue based on the existing gap in the previous studies and failed to recommend ways to solve the problem. Students’awareness of the rhetorical structure of the PS may help them create higher-quality works in academic settings. This study has theoretical and pedagogical implications, a discussion of which concludes the paper.  \nKeywords: Genre, Rhetorical structure, Problem Statement, Swales CARS model, MA theses, EFL learners  \n1. Introduction  \nThesis writing is a challenging task for English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners (Zhu, 2001) . Although a number of studies have been conducted throughout the world on EFL/ESL students whose mother tongues differ in their rhetorical structures from that of English, still “L2 postgraduate thesis remains something of a neglected genre” (Hyland, 2004, p. 134) . Among various parts of proposals and theses, the Problem Statement (PS) section, despite its fundamental role in a study, has attracted less attention from scholars and educators (Jalilifar, Firuzmand & Roshani, 2011; Ibrahim & Nambiar, 2011) . Previous studies (e.g. Jalilifar et al., 2011; Hernon & Schwartz, 2007; Metoyer-ruraa & Hemon, 1994; Stansbury, 2002) show that PS is the most important section in a thesis and proposal. Samraj (2008) pointed that MA and Ph.D students should be aware of this.  \nThe PS section is a part of a research report that contains the topic of the study, the research problem within this topic, a justification for the problem based on past research and practice, deficiencies or shortcomings of past research or practical knowledge, and the importance of addressing it for diverse audiences (Creswell, 2012, p. 12) . Metoyer-Duran and Hernon (1994) have defined the PS as “the crystallization of the issue, the essence of what I am doing”(p. 107) . Ina PS, an academic issue is introduced as a problem or claim which is then established and supported by evidence from the previous literature. In other words, the writer is required to introduce an a","cbCaibRmLb99Uria","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibRmLb99Uria","pdf",207647,"English","# Introduction\n## Problem Statement role and purpose\n## Rhetorical structure and writing proficiency\n## Cultural and linguistic challenges for EFL/ESL students","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of the Problem Statement (PS) section in a thesis?\",\"answer\":\"The PS section is expected to justify the objectives of the study by introducing an academic issue, supporting it with evidence from previous literature, and clarifying what the writer aims to prove.\"},{\"question\":\"Which framework is used to analyze students’ PS rhetorical moves?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis uses Swales’ (1990) Create-a-research-space (CARS) model to examine how the PS is constructed.\"},{\"question\":\"What kinds of flaws were found in the students’ Problem Statements?\",\"answer\":\"The study found that students often focused on the significance of their study, but some failed to treat the issue as an academic problem linked to gaps in prior research and failed to recommend ways to solve the problem.\"}]","Rhetorical Moves in Problem Statement Section of Iranian EFL Postgraduate Students' Theses | PDF",1792067566]