A Corpus-Based Study Of The Interactive And Interactional Functions Of This+Metadiscursive Nouns

As a subset of abstract nouns,metadiscursive nouns(hereinafter refer to MNs)have both constant meanings and unspecific pragmatic meanings depending on contexts(Jiang & Hyland 2017).Frequent MNs are analysis,fact,reason,gap,finding,etc.As a growing number of studies(e.g.,Flowerdew 2006;Gray & Cortes 2011;Swales & Feak 2012)acknowledge the significant correlation between the number of MNs with the overall quality of writing,MNs are recognized as an important characteristic of successful academic writing featuring cohesion and interaction,and have attracted increasing attention in recent two decades.This study resorted to a corpus-based comparative study of MNs in doctoral dissertations by Chinese advanced English learners and English native speakers,focusing on the interactive and interactional functions of this+MNs pattern.Two corpora,consisting of 60 doctoral dissertations in applied linguistics from 2010 to 2017,with approximate 3.33 million words in total,were built and employed for investigation.Manual annotation of MNs was carried out to ensure the accuracy of research findings,and corresponding results were recorded with the assistance of AntConc 3.2.1 concordance software.Specific research questions were proposed as follows: 1.What are the similarities and differences,if any,between NSs' and NNSs' use of the interactive function of this+MNs? 2.What are the similarities and differences,if any,between NSs' and NNSs' use of the interactional function of this+MNs?Four significant findings of the study are discussed.First of all,in the interactive dimension,based on the literature review and preliminary findings in pilot study,a classification of the interactive function of MNs was proposed in this study,in which the endophoric reference made by MNs was comprised of anaphoric encapsulation and cataphoric prospection.The former could be further divided into three types,i.e.,new nouns,nominalization and repetition.In this study,the pattern of this+MNs was mainly used to make anaphoric encapsulation rather than cataphoric prospection,with a rough ratio of two to one,while new noun was a major means of encapsulating anaphorically.Besides,native speakers(NSs)used significantly more MNs than non-native speakers(NNSs)in making both anaphoric encapsulation and cataphoric prospection.Second,in the interactional dimension,NSs used significantly more MNs than NNSs,across the three categories and eight subcategories of MNs.At the same time,almost all subcategories of MNs used by NSs had a greater lexical diversity and preciseness than those by NNSs,who tended to use vaguer nouns.Third,qualitative analysis of MNs used by the two groups found writers' peculiar preference of MNs,showing different cognitive status of the two groups with strikingly different cultural background.Fourth,this study found that NNSs used more restrictive modifiers than NSs,but significantly fewer evaluative modifiers,descriptive modifiers,and cohesive modifiers,which could enhance textual cohesion and writers' stance,and facilitate the interaction between writers and texts,as well as that between writers and readers.This study has significant theoretical implications for it addresses the existing research gaps by taking a corpus-based comparative approach to examine MNs in terms of interactive and interactional dimensions.More importantly,an interactive functional classification of MNs is proposed to provide more theoretical reference for studies in the future.Pedagogical suggestions for teaching English for academic purposes are provided as follows: firstly,students should raise their awareness of using MNs in academic writing,by considering academic community's expectation and facilitating their readers' comprehension.Secondly,more diversified MNs are provided for students in learning academic writing.Thirdly,evaluative,descriptive,and cohesive modifiers are recommended to be used along with MNs to enhance writers' stance and the interaction with readers.Further studies may center on other patterns of MNs and include a larger group of subjects to generalize research findings.