Analyzing metadiscourse in L2 writing for academic purposes: Models and approaches

Abstract

Successful texts rely on writers’ ability to “control the level of personality in their texts, claiming solidarity with readers, evaluating their material, and acknowledging alternative views” (Hyland, 2004b, p. 133). The rhetorical ability to achieve this social interaction is now acknowledged to be both a key feature of academic writing and an important aspect of advanced academic literacy. Over the past three decades, metadiscourse has emerged as a robust model that has garnered increasing attention in applied linguistics, but prevailing views suggest different models and approaches open to us (Ädel & Mauranen, 2010). The openness warrants a review of these methodological issues. Therefore, this study explicates integrative and non-integrative models, delineates thin and thick methodological approaches, and demonstrates how these perspectives are operationalised through two tutorials. Our discussion concludes by highlighting potential avenues of the above-mentioned frameworks and methods in the future research of second language writing and academic discourse.