The use of interactional metadiscourse features to present a textual voice: A case study of undergraduate writing in two departments at the University of Botswana

Reading & Writing

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The use of interactional metadiscourse features to present a textual voice: A case study of undergraduate writing in two departments at the University of Botswana
 
Creator Ramoroka, Boitumelo T.
 
Subject Corpus Linguistics Voice; Metadiscourse; Academic Writing; English for Academic Purposes
Description In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the interpersonal function of metadiscourse features in academic texts. This means that research on writing in academic contexts began to focus on the rhetorical features, such as interactional metadiscourse, that writers use to present their voice in writing. These developments in academic writing have also considered the context in which specific genres are produced. Using a multiple-methods approach to genre analysis, this article compares students’ use of interactional metadiscourse features in two undergraduate courses, Media Studies and Primary Education at the University of Botswana. A total of 40 student essays were analysed. Interviews with students and lecturers in the two departments were also done to understand the context in which the essays were produced. The comparison of interactional metadiscourse features in the two corpora indicated that interactional metadiscourse markers were present, but that there were variations in the use and distribution of these features by the learners. Contextual information shows that such variations reflect the different values and beliefs about academic writing of the discourse communities that students belong to. These values and beliefs can be problematic for English for Specific Purposes (EAP) lecturers who have to prepare students for writing in the various disciplines in L2 contexts.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor University of Botswana
Date 2017-05-17
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — corpus analysis and interviews
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/rw.v8i1.128
 
Source Reading & Writing; Vol 8, No 1 (2017); 11 pages 2308-1422 2079-8245
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/128/313 https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/128/314 https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/128/315 https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/128/312
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Boitumelo T. Ramoroka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT