Study On Metadiscourse In English Recommendation Letters For Studying Abroad

Since Zellig Harris coined the term Metadiscourse in1959, metadiscourse has become a heated research topic in current discourse analysis and language education. Many studies also have proved its importance in different genres in recent years.English recommendation letters for studying abroad, as an important and indispensible application material for studying abroad, have not received enough attention in the field of linguistic study. In order to help those Chinese applicants and recommendators to prepare better English recommendation letters for studying abroad, this study, based on Hyland’s interpersonal model of metadiscourse, investigates and analyzes the frequencies and distributions of metadiscourse devices in the self-built corpus both qualitatively and quantitatively in which sixty English recommendation letters for studying abroad are randomly selected from the corpus of United Kingdom Education Center China Chengdu Center. On the one hand, it aims to explore how metadiscourse helps establish interpersonal interaction between Chinese recommendators and the readers of English recommendation letters for studying abroad and how metadiscourse enables Chinese recommendators to convey their persuasive message. On the other hand, the author hopes it will be helpful for those Chinese applicants and recommendators to prepare better English recommendation letters for studying abroad.The findings show metadsicourse is frequently used in English recommendation letters for studying abroad and the writers use far more interactional metadiscourse than interactive metadiscourse. Interactional metadiscourse includes hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self mentions and engagement markers. Interactive metadiscourse includes transitions, frame markers, endophric markers, evidentials and code glosses. Among them, transitions are the most frequently used devices with about951occurrences and33.18%frequency, followed by self mentions, engagement markers, boosters, hedges, attitude markers, code glosses, endophric markers, and evidential. It also further proves that all metadiscourse is interpersonal and the importance of every subcategory of metadiscourse in helping establish interpersonal interaction between Chinese recommendators and the readers of the English recommendation letter for studying abroad and enabling Chinese recommendators to convey their persuasive message.In a word, this study strengthens the understanding of metadiscourse application in English recommendation letters for studying abroad and helps those Chinese applicants and recommendators to prepare better English recommendation letters for studying abroad.