Metadiscourse in L1 and L2 English: (24 Studies in Corpus Linguistics)

The pervasive phenomenon of metadiscourse – commentary on the ongoing discourse – is beginning to take its rightful place among the major topics of discourse studies. This book makes simultaneous contributions to the theory of metadiscourse, corpus-based methods of studying such phenomena, and our knowledge of metadiscourse use in written English. After comprehensively reviewing previous research, it introduces a more rigorous and empirical approach to metadiscourse studies. Ädel presents a new model of metadiscourse based on Jakobson’s functions of language, and other conceptual tools, including explicit features for defining metadiscourse, a taxonomy of the functions it serves, and maps of the boundaries between it and related phenomena. A large-scale study of writing by L1 and L2 university students is presented, in which the L2 speakers’ overuse of metadiscourse strongly marks them as lacking in communicative competence. This work is of interest both to linguists and to educators concerned with writing in English.

Table of Contents:
1. Acknowledgements; 2. Introduction; 3. A model of metadiscourse; 4. Personal metadiscourse; 5. Impersonal metadiscourse; 6. The textual distribution of metadiscourse; 7. Possible causes of variation in metadiscourse use; 8. Theories of metadiscourse; 9. Conclusions; 10. Appendices; 11. Notes; 12. References; 13. Author index; 14. Subject index

Review :
This is a study which is of high interest to people working in different linguistic fields and to educators working in the area of L2 language and writing instruction. The appropriate use of metadiscourse, as this study clearly demonstrates, plays a key role in achieving the appropriate degree of writer visibility, as well as appropriate modes of interaction with the reader, both of which contribute ot the approximation of native speaker communicative competence in formal written discourse. Those involved in advanced language teaching will gain important insights into what to incorporate into teaching curricula, as well as how to deal with clumsy sounding texts due to overloaded use of metadiscourse. [...] The importance of the book's content and the methods employed, matched by the author's fluid, engaging writing style (displaying a masterful command of metadiscourse herself), makes the book an absorbing, satisfying read. Annelie Ädel has written a scholarly theoretically rigorous account of metadiscourse use based on new perspective and insight. For these reasons and because she applies new computer-assisted methods, her book will surely be seen as a pioneering work with positive impacts on current and future metadiscourse researchers and users. Ädel’s style is clear and accessible, and she offers readers something valuable and interesting. Those interested in L1 and L2 English learner research in reading, writing, speaking, and text structure will find this study of metadiscourse strategies compelling. This book is a significant contribution to the rapidly developing field of learner-corpus research. It yields new insight into an important aspect of learner language and at the same time contributes more generally to the corpus-based study of metadiscourse. A strength of the book lies in its critical approach to the study of metadiscourse. It also offers a breadth of perspective to the topic by providing analyses of the different approaches to the study of metadiscourse in written texts. Another related strength is its thorough discussion of how to define metadiscourse and how to distinguish it from other related linguistic categories that may serve similar functions. This complicated issue has always presented a serious challenge to those studying metadiscourse. To this end, the book offers a classification method that takes into account both the textual and functional properties of metadiscourse, including its reflexivity and its writer- and reader-related functions. Such a perspective is extremely useful, as it highlights not only the metadiscursive but also the contextdependent nature of this element. Other good features are the inclusion of a summary section in each chapter that highlights the main ideas discussed in the chapter, as well as a glossary (appendix 4) that provides definitions for the metadiscourse-related terminology in the book. The study used computer methods in combination with manual methods of text analysis, which can also be considered a strength. However, although the use of the computer in searching items in texts seems straightforward, a more detailed discussion of the manual analysis could have been helpful. This book is a significant contribution to the field of metadiscourse. It presents an excellent theoretical and empirical analysis of this feature of English written discourse. It provides a valuable text for those interested in examining metadiscourse in L1 and L2 writing.