Rhetorical features in academic spoken discourse: The case of attitude and engagement markers

Abstract

Studying the role of linguistic features in creating bonds between speakers that go beyond simply conveying thoughts helps to highlight how language users express their evaluations and guide others’ interpretations. This study focuses on attitude and engagement markers in academic spoken English. It aims to determine whether native and non-native speakers of English differ in their use of attitude and engagement markers across academic fields, levels of interactivity, gender, and academic roles. Data were drawn from the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE) and analysed using Hyland’s (2005) taxonomy. The results of the UNIANOVA inferential statistics indicated that the use of these rhetorical markers was conditioned not only by discipline or academic division, but also by level of interactivity, gender, academic role and cultural background. In addition, the results supported the idea that native speakers’ research practices within the discourse community influenced the frequency patterns of attitude and engagement markers in their discourse, and that non-native speakers needed to be made aware of adhering to disciplinary standards of discourse. They showed the impact of cultural background as well as situational factors and interpersonal relationships on communication styles and demonstrated that linguistic choices reflect cultural norms and expectations, which is crucial for understanding communication in multicultural academic environments. This study linguistically provides valuable insights into the complexities of language use in academic contexts, highlighting the social and interactive dimensions of communication. It also suggests that awareness of these rhetorical features could help speakers establish within the norms of the discourse community.