The Role of Metadiscourse in Genre Analysis: Engagement Markers in Undergraduate Textbooks and Research Articles

Abstract

Metadiscourse was probably first introduced into applied linguistics in the 1980s and it has attracted continuous interest ever since, despite the fact that some researchers point out its theoretical and methodological shortcomings. Drawing on the model introduced by Hyland (Metadiscourse, Continuum, London/ New York, 2005) which presents metadiscourse as one of the significant attempts to conceptualize the interpersonal aspects of language, this study aims to compare two academic genres, undergraduate textbook and research article, within one discipline linguistics. It specifically focuses on one category, engagement markers, and compares their occurrence and use in the two genres. The results have shown that the most frequent engagement marker is inclusive we, which however plays a different role in both genres. The study also assesses the potential advantages and drawbacks of the integrative approach to metadiscourse.