Essays by ESL Learners: Interactional Metadiscourse (MD) Analysis

Abstract

This study highlights how critical MD should be used in ESL writing. Based on Hyland's metadiscourse (MD) table (2005), this study examined interactional MD markers in 40 expository essays written by ESL students taking different courses. The study sought to determine whether learners in separate course groups differed in their choice of MD and whether both groups used the exact amount and type. The quantity and variety of materials employed by the two groups varied to some extent. While hard science students were quite aggressive in their writing, soft science students created more MD traits and were more interpretative.   Keywords: Interactional Metadiscourse; Expository Writing; ESL Learners eISSN 2514-7528 ©2022. The Authors. Published for AMER & cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour StudiesCollege of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v7i23.417