Metadiscourse Markers

Metadiscourse is a set of linguistic ties used to communicate attitudes and denote the grammatical attributes of a text. The present study was conducted to inspect using hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in the well-known Persian and English psychology books. Based on the chosen corpora of the study, this inquiry purposed to realize what the general preferences are in the use of hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in Persian and English psychology books. The corpora of four psychology books, two by Persian- speaking psychologists and two by English-speaking psychologists, were chosen and analyzed based on Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse. The data obtained and collected from the chosen corpora were analyzed by Ant Conc 3. 5 . 7 and SPSS statistical software. By analyzing the corpora of the study quantitatively, it is resulted that Persian-speaking psychologists used more metadiscourse markers than that of English-speaking psychologists in their books. Secondly, it is detected that Persian-speaking psychologists used fewer hedging metadiscourse markers in their books than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Thirdly, it is found that Persian-speaking psychologists used more boostering metadiscourse markers in their books than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Next, it is realized that Persian-speaking psychologists used more singular first-person self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in their books; however, their English-speaking counterparts used more plural third-person self-mentioning metadiscourse markers in their books. In addition, textual analysis has shown the difference of Persian and English sub-corpora in using hedging, boostering, and self-mentioning metadiscourse markers.

This study aimed to explore the function and frequency of textual metadiscourse markers (MDMs) in scientific English and Persian texts. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of textual markers characterizing the selected genre, four different textbooks, two written in English and two in Persian were analyzed to identify the textual metadiscourse categories (including logical markers, code glosses, and sequencers) used in these texts and to determine the sociopragmatic differences existing in these languages, chi-square test was run and the findings suggested that textual MDMs were present in both English and Persian texts, but they differed in their frequency of occurrence. The contrastive comparison between the English and Persian texts revealed that the frequency of the textual MDMs was greater in the Persian texts. Therefore, it was concluded that such discrepancy could be attributed to the differing rate of explicitness in these two languages. The Persian writers were more interested in explicating their ideas for readers through the text via the use of textual markers (TMs) to a greater extent. It was further found that different factors may influence the use of MDMs, namely the culture, the writer's preferences, the text, and its genre. The implications could include the precaution that Iranian EFL writers ought to be advised to approximate their writing style, in terms of using MDMs, to that of native speakers of English while writing in English.  

Abstracts are well-accepted as the clarity and fidelity of language in any article assists the readership to get the central points of the research in a brief l but effective manner. Meanwhile, as a significant feature of any piece of discourse, meta-discourse markers can effectively render article texts more reader-friendly and coherent. The present study aims at investigating the extent to which English and Persian sections of Law articles are cross-culturally similar or different in applying metadiscourse markers. To this end, 80 articles, 40 in each language, were carefully selected from Law articles published from 2010 to 2015 in online archives of leading journals. The selected corpora were analyzed through the models suggested by Hyland and Tse (2004) and Hyland (2005) to find out the type, number, and frequency of the markers, respectively. The findings of the study revealed that English authors enlisted a larger number of metadiscourse markers than their Persian counterparts; Persian authors, on the other hand, employed larger number of transitions among others. Such observed differences may stem from the culture-specific application and organization of discourse followed by diverse nationalities and norms.

  MMetadiscourse as a self-reflective linguistic device plays an important role in both making a coherent academic text and interacting with readers. Using a sequential mixed method design, the present study investigated the use of metadiscourse markers in the abstract section of 70 master thesis abstracts written by Iranian TEFL students at the University of Mazandaran. The study further examined TEFL graduated students’ (n=7) perspectives on the employment of these markers in their thesis abstracts. Based on Hyland’s (2005) model, the interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers were identified in the data. Next, the whole corpus was carefully examined word by word to report on the frequency of metadiscourse marker use. The findings revealed that interactive metadiscourse markers were used three times more than interactional metadiscourse markers. Moreover, transitions and hedges were more frequently employed while evidentials, boosters and self-mentions were less frequently used. Findings from the qualitative data collected through conducting email interviews with graduated TEFL students suggested that they had positive perspectives towards the use of interactive metadiscourse markers in contrast with the use of interactional metadiscourse markers in their thesis abstracts. The results of this study can offer a number of pedagogical implications for explicit instruction of metadiscourse markers in thesis abstracts.

While metadiscourse has been extensively examined across several genres, contexts of publication, disciplines, and languages over the past two decades, researchers have mainly limited themselves to the qualitative checking of candidate metadiscourse markers for the various functions they serve. In the present study, however, we drew on retrospective methods coupled with semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of metadiscourse features applied linguistics apprentice and professional authors use in their research articles (RAs) in national and international English-medium journals. To achieve this goal, we built on Hyland’s (2019) interpersonal metadiscourse model to analyse RAs in three subsections including introductions, results, and discussion. We ran chi-square tests to examine the RA variations, following the descriptive analysis of the use of metadiscourse markers. A follow-up stimulated recall through semi-structured e-mail interviews was used. We used MAXQDA to analyse the interview data from authors. The results of qualitative and thematic analyses showed that metadiscourse markers play key roles in conveying the writers’ message and intention to the members of discourse communities. The findings of the study suggest raising apprentice writers’ awareness of the way they frame their message in research writing

This cross-cultural study aims to examine how Iranian and American motivational speakers employ metadiscourse devices as a convincing tool to interact with their audience. To this end, eight motivational speeches in English and Persian were randomly selected from 2015 to 2021, and analyzed for the use of stance (i.e., hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions) and engagement (i.e., reader-pronouns, directives, questions, shared knowledge, and personal asides) expressions. The findings showed that self-mention and attitude markers were the most frequently used stance markers in English and Persian corpus, respectively. Moreover, hedges found to be the least frequently used stance markers in the two corpora. With regard to the use of engagement markers, results showed that reader pronoun is the most frequently used engagement markers, and shared knowledge and personal asides were the least frequently used engagement markers in both languages. Finally, the results of chi-square test showed statistically significant differences in the use of stance and engagement expressions in the two languages, confirming cultural septicity nature of metadiscourse markers, and that speakers of different languages employ interactional devices according to their context.

Metadiscourse is an essential component of academic writing, as it helps authors better communicate their ideas and engage their readers. It is through the analysis of the text's metadiscourse that one can explore academic writing and compare the rhetorical traits and preferences of various discourse communities (Hyland, 2005). To this end, this study examined the differences in the use, type, and frequency of interactional metadiscourse markers in the discussion and conclusion sections of political science and religious studies articles written in English language. The corpus of this study consisted of 45032 words extracted from fifty research articles, twenty-five articles in the field of political science, and twenty-five articles in the field of religious studies published between 2019 and 2023 in the top one high-impact factor and peer-reviewed international journals. To analyze the data, one Eta and two Chi-square tests were run. Considering the interactional resources of Hyland’s (2005) metadiscourse model, the researchers uncovered that despite some subtle differences in the use, frequency, and types of these metadiscourse markers, “hedges” were the most and attitude markers were the least frequently used metadiscourse markers employed in both political science and religious studies disciplines. The findings have some educational implications that shed light on the need to encourage English language teachers, university professors, and publishers in the fields of TEFL and ESP to provide EFL learners with appropriate sources and settings to increase their familiarity with various metadiscourse markers, especially the category of interactional MDMs that aids them write coherently and establish genuine interaction with audiences.