faez Esmailpoor | Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by faez Esmailpoor

English for Specific Purposes, Jan 1, 1999

This paper explores the possible role of university textbooks in students acquisition ofa special... more This paper explores the possible role of university textbooks in students acquisition ofa specialised disciplinary literacy, focusing on the use of metadiscourse as a manifestation of thewriters linguistic and rhetorical presence in a text. Because metadiscourse can be analysedindependently of propositional matter, it provides useful information about how writers supporttheir arguments and build a relationship with readers in different rhetorical contexts. The papercompares features in extracts from 21 textbooks in microbiology, marketing and appliedlinguistics with a similar corpus of research articles and shows that the ways textbook authorsrepresent themselves, organise their arguments, and signal their attitudes to both their statementsand their readers differ markedly in the two corpora. It is suggested that these differences meanthat textbooks provide limited rhetorical guidance to students seeking information from researchsources or learning appropriate forms of written argument. Finally, by investigatingmetadiscourse in particular disciplines and genres, the study helps to restore the intrinsic linkbetween metadiscourse and its associated rhetorical contexts and rectify a popular view whichimplicitly characterises it as an independent stylistic device.

Journal of Second Language Writing, Jan 1, 1995

A text is composed of two parts: propositional content and metadiscourse features. Metadiscourse ... more A text is composed of two parts: propositional content and metadiscourse features. Metadiscourse features are those facets of a text which make the organization of the text explicit, provide information about the writer's attitude toward the text content, and engage the reader in the interaction. In this study, we analyze the metadiscourse in persuasive essays written by English as a second language (ESL) university students. Half of the essays received good ratings and half received poor ratings. Differences between the two sets were found in the number of words, number of T-units, and density of metadiscourse features. When features were analyzed as a proportion of number of T-units, differences were found in all categories. Furthermore, the good essays showed a greater variety of metadiscourse features within each category than the poor essays. It is proposed that skilled writers have an awareness of the needs of their readers and control the strategies for making their texts more considerate and accessible to the reader. Poor writers, on the other hand, are not able to generate considerate texts.

Written communication, Jan 1, 1993

... Students AVON CRISMORE Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne RAIJA MARKKANEN Uni... more ... Students AVON CRISMORE Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne RAIJA MARKKANEN University ofjyväskylä MARGARET S. STEFFENSEN Illinois State ... Of the interper-sonal function Halliday (1973) said that it includes &quot;all that may be understood by the ...

Journal of Second Language Writing, Jan 1, 2004

Metadiscourse is self-reflective linguistic expressions referring to the evolving text, to the wr... more Metadiscourse is self-reflective linguistic expressions referring to the evolving text, to the writer, and to the imagined readers of that text. It is based on a view of writing as a social engagement and, in academic contexts, reveals the ways writers project themselves into their discourse to signal their attitudes and commitments. In this paper, I explore how advanced second language writers deploy these resources in a high stakes research genre. The paper examines the purposes and distributions of metadiscourse in a corpus of 240 doctoral and masters dissertations totalling four million words written by Hong Kong students. The paper proposes a model of metadiscourse as the interpersonal resources required to present propositional material appropriately in different disciplinary and genre contexts. The analysis suggests how academic writers use language to offer a credible representation of themselves and their work in different fields, and thus how metadiscourse can be seen as a means of uncovering something of the rhetorical and social distinctiveness of disciplinary communities. # 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

'Metadiscourse' refers to the ways in which writers use language to organize their texts, to sign... more 'Metadiscourse' refers to the ways in which writers use language to organize their texts, to signal their attitude to what they are saying and their attitude to their readers. The study of metadiscourse aims to explore how writers guide readers through their texts, as well as how what people write reveals about the values and assumptions of text users and their communities. In his book, Hyland not only defines metadiscourse, he also presents a model of metadiscourse that draws from his research on the topic. Metadiscourse is examined in relation to rhetoric, genre, culture and disciplinary communities. Moreover, ways in which metadiscourse can be focused on in language learning classrooms are discussed, as are future directions for metadiscourse research. In the first two chapters of his book Hyland reviews various definitions of metadiscourse showing how the term 'metadiscourse' is used in different ways by different authors. He traces the history of metadiscourse back to the work of Zellig Harris and outlines work that has examined metadiscourse in a range of different spoken and written genres. In the third chapter, the author offers his own model for metadiscourse which extends and develops the work of previous researchers on the topic. Three key principles underpin Hyland's conceptualization of metadiscourse. The first is that metadiscourse is distinct from propositional aspects of discourse; that is, it is about 'things in the discourse' rather than 'things in the world'. Second, metadiscourse refers to aspects of texts that embody writer-reader interactions. The third principle is that metadiscourse refers to relations which are internal, rather than external to texts. Hyland then presents a classification scheme for metadiscourse that embodies these three principles and utilizes the distinction between interactive and interactional resources. Interactive resources are linguistic resources that writers draw on to guide their reader through a text. Transitions (in addition), frame markers (to conclude), endophoric markers (as noted above), evidentials (according to x) and code glosses (e.g.) are examples of interactive resources. 'Interactional resources' refers to the ways writers involve their reader/s in their text. Hedges ( perhaps), boosters (definitely), attitude markers (surprisingly), self-mentions (I) and engagement markers (you can see that) are examples of interactional resources. At the end of this chapter Hyland shows how postgraduate students draw on these kinds of resources in thesis and dissertation writing, and how frequently the different resources occur. The rest of the book examines further examples of metadiscourse in practice. The chapter on metadiscourse and rhetoric discusses how writers use metadiscourse as strategies to persuade, especially in academic and business discourse. Here the author pays particular attention to metadiscourse as a means of persuasion in company annual reports. In his chapter on www.elsevier.com/locate/pragma

Journal of Business Communication, Jan 1, 1998

Applied Linguistics, Jan 1, 2004

Metadiscourse is self-re¯ective linguistic material referring to the evolving text and to the wri... more Metadiscourse is self-re¯ective linguistic material referring to the evolving text and to the writer and imagined reader of that text. It is based on a view of writing as social engagement and in academic contexts reveals the ways that writers project themselves into their discourse to signal their attitude towards both the propositional content and the audience of the text. Despite considerable interest in metadiscourse by teachers and applied linguists, however, it has failed to achieve its explanatory potential due to a lack of theoretical rigour and empirical confusion. Based on an analysis of 240 L2 postgraduate dissertations totalling 4 million words, we oer a reassessment of metadiscourse, propose what we hope is a more robust model, and use this to explore how these students used metadiscourse. Essentially our argument is that metadiscourse oers a way of understanding the interpersonal resources writers use to present propositional material and therefore a means of uncovering something of the rhetorical and social distinctiveness of disciplinary communities.

Written Communication, Jan 1, 1993

Journal of pragmatics, Jan 1, 1998

Metadiscourse refers to aspects of a text which explicitly organise the discourse, engage the aud... more Metadiscourse refers to aspects of a text which explicitly organise the discourse, engage the audience and signal the writer's attitude. Its use by writers to guide readers and display an appropriate professional persona is an important aspect of persuasive writing. Its role in establishing and maintaining contact between the writer and the reader and between the writer and the message also makes it a central pragmatic concept. Based on a textual analysis of 28 research articles in four academic disciplines, this paper seeks to show how the appropriate use of metadiscourse crucially depends on rhetorical context. The study identifies a taxonomy of metadiscourse functions and suggests that metadiscourse reflects one way in which context and linguistic meaning are integrated to allow readers to derive intended interpretations. It is argued that metadiscourse provides writers with a means of constructing appropriate contexts and alluding to shared disciplinary assumptions. The study of academic metadiscourse can therefore offer insights into our understanding of this concept and illuminate an important dimension of rhetorical variation among disciplinary communities.

College composition and communication, Jan 1, 1985

... 88 College Composition and Communication ... In the first place, once students are aware of t... more ... 88 College Composition and Communication ... In the first place, once students are aware of the various kinds of meta-discourse, they should be better ... Teachers probably do not know enough about metadiscourse to offer a great many generalizations that will help them make this ...