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The conference abstract (CA) is an important promotional academic genre that allows scholars to introduce their research to their peers as a conference presentation if the proposal is accepted by the reviewing gatekeepers. However, few studies have explored the CA in specific disciplines and no studies have examined this genre from an intercultural perspective. In this paper, we present a move‐step framework for the analysis of CAs and we examine comparatively the rhetorical structure of 80 CAs written in English and Spanish in the field of Applied Linguistics, with a special focus on those moves/steps that convey a promotional function. The results revealed that, to a great extent, the texts written in both languages present a high degree of similarity in terms of the frequency and distribution of most moves/steps, except for a significant difference reported in the frequency of occurrence of the step that states the implications of research findings, which appeared to be more prevalent in the English CAs. These findings may have relevant pedagogical implications for early career researchers and English as an Additional Language (EAL) scholars who seek to accommodate to the rhetorical conventions expected by the members of their specific national and international disciplinary communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]