INCORPORATING
METADISCOURSE IN AN ESL CLASSROOM
PREPARED BY:
LOI CHEK KIM
• An academic prose is not only informative, but interactive and interactional in achieving the writers’ intention through their writing. Thus, it is important to teach students on how to realise these communicative purposes. I would recommend the following approach:
• Prior to writing students’ own academic prose, they can be introduced to the different types of metadiscourse based on Hyland ‘s (2004 ) model as shown below:
Category Function Examples
Interactive resources Help to guide reader through the text
Transitions Express semantic relation between main clauses In addition/but/thus/and
Frame markers Refer to discourse acts, sequences or text stages Finally/to conclude/my purpose is to
Endophoric markers Refer to information in other parts of the text Note above/see Figure/in Results section
Evidentials Refer to source of information from other texts According to X/(Y, 1990)/Z states
Code glosses Help readers grasp meanings of ideational material Namely/e.g./such as/in other words
Interactional resources
Involve the reader in the argument
Hedges Withhold writer’s full commitment to proposition Might/perhaps/possible/about
Boosters Emphasize force or writer’s certainty in proposition In fact definitely/it is clear that
Attitude markers Express writer’s attitude proposition Unfortunately/I to agree/surprisingly
Engagement markers Explicitly refer to or build relationship with reader Consider/note that/you can see that
Self-mentions Explicit reference to author(s) I/we/my/our
Table 1. A model of metadiscourse in academic texts.
Source: Hyland (2004: 139).
• Teacher can explain the functions for the different types of
metadiscourse from the two categories (interactive resources and interactional resources) by giving them some examples (see Table 1)
By introducing students to both interactive and interactional forms of metadiscourse markers, teachers and language instructors can offer a useful and explicit approach in teaching metadiscourse markers.
• Prior to writing students’ own academic prose, they can be asked to engage in a
metadiscourse analysis in research articles of a selected discipline. As ESL students tend to use limited number of metadiscourse markers and employed some in a superficial and mechanical way (see El-Dakhs, 2020 ), this will help students understand how
metadicourse can be applied in statements to realise the intended communicative
purposes in addition to promote cohesiveness and coherence in expressing views and propositions.
• Students can be given some role play task for example engaging in a dialogue with a classmate by using some examples of metadiscourse provided by the teacher. The following examples are taken from a study undertaken by Loi (2021).
EXAMPLES FROM THE INTERACTIONAL CATEGORY
Interactional Boosters
largely, significantly; it is apparent that; there is no doubt that; certainly; in fact; it was critical; even; particularly noteworthy; must; highly; clearly
Hedges Likely, slightly, only, tended to; less likely; may; might; could; appears to; more likely;
perhaps; probably; seems likely that
Self Mentions we note; conduct; we hypothesize; we investigate; we examine; we argue, we aim, our results, our work; our findings; our current analysis; we provide our key contribution; we measured; we expect; we attempt; we use; we propose; we developed
Engagement markers … despite their potential benefits compared with off-the-shelf products (see Table 1) Attitude markers Interestingly; unfortunately, several interesting questions
• ESL students tend to use limited number of metadiscourse markers and employed some in a superficial and mechanical way (see El-Dakhs, 2020 ), the above suggestion will help students understand how metadicourse can be applied in statements to realise the intended communicative purposes in addition to promote cohesiveness and coherence in
expressing views and propositions.
• More information on the use of metadiscourse in academic writing can be obtained from:
• El-Dakhs, D.A.S. (2020). Variation of metadiscourse in L2 writing: Focus on language proficiency and learning context. Ampersand, 7 (2020)100069.
• Hyland K (2004) Disciplinary interactions: Metadiscourse in L2 postgraduate writing. Journal of Second Language Writing 13: 133–151.
• Loi, C. K. & Jason Lim, M-H (2013). Metadiscourse in English and Chinese research article introductions. Discourse Studies, 15, 129-146. DOI: 10.1177/1461445612471476
