A Study On Metadiscourse And Its Relationship With Moves In Linguistics RA Introductions

With the birth of John Swales' Genre Analysis in 1990, the genre analysis of research articles(RAs) has drawn tremendous attention among linguistic researchers. Ken Hyland's publication of Metadiscourse in 2005 made the metadiscource analysis of RAs another heated topic in linguistic field. However, few researchers combined these two features of RAs and probed into their relationship in RAs.Based on Hyland's model of metadiscourse and John Swales' CARS(Creating A Research Space) model, the present study randomly selects 40 RA Introductions in the international linguistic journal English for Specific Purposes from 2010-2015, and investigates the use of metadiscourse markers and their relationship with moves in English RA Introductions.Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, the present study finds that the frequency of interactional metadiscourse in English linguistic RA Introductions is higher than that of interactive metadiscourse. As for interactional metadiscourse, evidential is the most frequently used marker, followed by transitions, code glosses and frame markers, endophoric is the least frequently used. And the interactive metadiscourse from high frequency to low frequency are: hedges, boosters, self mentions, attitude markers, and engagement markers. Moreover, the total number of metadiscourse markers in three moves is almost the same(43.49, 44.29, 42.37) while the distribution of each metadiscourse marker in three moves is not identical. Transitions are more frequent in Move 2(52%) than in Move 1(21%) and 3(27%). The vast majority of frame markers occur in Move 3(94%). The endophorics are mainly used in Move 2(44%) and 3(49%), and evidentials are mainly used in Move 1(51%) and 2(34%). Code glosses are most frequently used in Move 1(51%) than Move 2(26%) and 3(23%). As for interactive metadiscourse, the distribution of hedges and boosters is comparatively even in contrast to other markers. Attitude markers are mainly used in Move 2(79%); self mentions are generally used in Move 3(86%) and the engagement markers are less distributed in all the three moves.Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of the use of metadiscourse markers with moves in English RA Introductions, it is hoped that this paper could provide suggestions and guidance for English RA writers in composing Introductions, especially in choosing metadiscourse markers in each move.