Open AccessThis study investigates the rhetorical move structure of English applied linguistic research article Discussions published in Thai and international journals. Two corpora comprising of 30 Thai Discussions and 30 international Discussions were analyzed using Yang & Allison’s (2003) move model. Based on the analysis, both similarities and differences regarding the move occurrence, move-ordering patterns, and move cyclicity were found. The marked differences of the two corpora were in the step employment. The findings obtained in the current study are useful particularly for novice non-native writers by facilitating them to better understand the rhetorical structure of research article Discussions in the different publication contexts. In addition, they may provide L2 teachers with insight into effective instructional strategies to help EFL/ESL learners acquire pragmatic knowledge of the rhetorical structure of research article Discussions.