Metadiscourse In English Cover Letters

Metadiscourse, as a relatively new concept in discourse analysis, is becoming a highly dynamic topic in recent years. Recent studies have proved its importance in a range of genres and settings. Under the theoretical framework of Hyland's interpersonal model of metadiscourse, the current study carries out a comprehensive and in-depth analysis, both qualitatively and quantitatively, of how metadiscourse helps establish interpersonal interaction between the writer and the reader and how metadiscourse enables the writer to convey his persuasive message. Thus it adds to our knowledge of metadiscourse use in English cover letters. It is hoped that the result of the current study might be used to guide Chinese English learners, especially those who are learning to write English cover letters.The findings show that metadiscourse is frequently used in English cover letters. The writer uses more interactional metadiscourse than interactive metadiscourse. Among all the metadiscourse subcategories, self-mentions, transitions and hedges are frequently used. Additionally, the findings also show that all metadiscourse resources seem to stress the interpersonal potential in order to convey a persuasive message under an informative mask.Based on the different distribution of metadiscourse in English cover letters, the present study holds that metadiscourse use is genre-constrained and the writer's writing purpose.