Interactional Metadiscourse In Research Article Introductions

In the area of academic English,studies on the genre of journal articles have been most innovative in English for Specific Purposes.As an efficient means of disseminating research articles,academic articles have significantly influenced in the communication between scholars in specific discourse communities and in manifesting their academic value.Generally speaking,data-based research articles in journals have a typical macro-structure of IMRM.Studies on research article introduction part can help us perceive how scholars promote and disseminate research achievements to readers efficiently and effectively.Metadiscourse,a form of expression in language,represents a relationship between writers,readers and texts.It is also a method of organizing language in a discourse established in specific language enviroment.Although a large number of studies have been done on this topic,existing researches are mainly on the distribution and use of interactional metadiscourse,not analyzing its strategic functions.To enhance previous findings and fill such research gap,the present study,using Hyland’s model and Swales’ CARS model(Swales,1990),focuses on:(1)the distribution and use of interactional metadiscourse in RA introductions;(2)the distribution and frequency of interactional metadiscourse in RA introductions with the reference to Swales’ CARS model;and(3)the ways these interactional metadiscourse convey writers’ expressions and attitudes to help them to promote their research findings reported in the article.Sixty RA introductions with an IMRD structure from four international journals were selected as a corpus for the study.Guided by these three interrelated research questions with data from a self-constructed corpus,this thesis examines authors,strategies of promotion and rhetoric functions in the discourse by exploring the distribution of interactional metadiscourse in RA introductions and in different moves.The results show that hedges are used most frequently by writers,while self mention is the least.This finding indicates that during the process of composing RA introductions,authors tend to adopt a modest and open attitude toward previous research in the literature.In doing so,they attempt to shorten the psychological distance between the author and the reader in order to reach the goal of interaction and discussion with the reader.To a large extent,the value of the research is reinforced in this way.Secondly,discrepancy of interactional metadiscourse existing in Move 3 indicates that authors attempt to bring readers into the specific discourse to express their aim,questions and significance of the study,promoting the research at the same time.This study has value not only in broadening our knowledge about the characteristics of the genre of RA introductions,but also in improving pedagogy in academic English and journal research article writing.