Uniformity and diversity in research article introductions: Subdisciplinary variations in Applied Linguistics.

This article examines the rhetorical structures of research article introductions (RAIs) across six subdisciplines of Applied Linguistics: Psycholinguistics, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), English Language Teaching (ELT), Sociolinguistics, Language Assessment, and Language Educational Technology. Analyzing a corpus of 807 RAIs from top-tier journals published between 2018 and 2023, the study identifies a shared framework of moves—Field Framing, Backgrounding, Research Problem, and Present Work—that underpins introductions across these fields, while also revealing significant subdisciplinary variations in how these moves and their constituent steps are executed. For example, the Backgrounding move is more frequent in ESP, ELT, and Psycholinguistics, whereas Language Assessment and Sociolinguistics often omit it, reflecting differing rhetorical priorities. The findings highlight how authors tailor their introductions to align with the epistemological and communicative norms of their specific subdisciplinary communities, offering implications for academic writing instruction and genre-based research in Applied Linguistics.