Bridging Discourse Theory and Pedagogy: A Rhetorical Structure Theory Approach to English Academic Reading
Bibliographic record
Abstract
This study investigates the application of Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) in academic reading instruction for EFL learners. The study combines a corpus-based analysis of IELTS reading materials with a detailed RST analysis of a representative passage. The corpus analysis identifies frequently used discourse markers and prevalent rhetorical relations, while the passage analysis employs RST trees to reveal hierarchical text organization. Findings indicate that integrating RST-based instruction into classroom activities enhances students’ ability to interpret textual coherence, identify key ideas, and engage in critical reading. By systematically training students to analyze discourse structures and trace argumentative progressions, RST-based reading instruction is expected to significantly improve learners’ comprehension accuracy and critical thinking skills. This pedagogical approach provides educators with a framework to bridge discourse theory and practical reading instruction, laying a foundation for further research with diverse academic genres and expanded corpora.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.006 | 0.010 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.007 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.013 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.007 | 0.008 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".