A Comparative Study of Stance-Markers in the Introduction and Discussion Parts of M.A Applied Linguistics and Translation Theses of Non-native Students

Writing is not just as a text to provide information about a phenomenon or explain an external reality, butrather writers use it as a means of social negotiation to create a friendly relationship with their readers to have theintended impact on them. Interactional metadiscourse devices make it possible for writers to communicate withreaders, and Stance markers as the writer-oriented features of interaction make it possible for writers to expresstheir authorities, opinions, commitments, involvements and tentativeness in a text. This study was an attempt toexplore stance markers in the introduction and discussion parts of 20 M.A theses (10 from applied linguistics and 10from translation theses) of non-native students of Tabriz Azad University. Collecting and categorizing data werebased on the first dimension of Hyland’s (2005) interpersonal modal of metadiscourse in academic texts includes‘hedges’, ‘boosters’, ‘attitude markers’ and ‘self-mentions’. The design of this study was qualitative descriptive.The statistical analysis of the collected data was based on Chi-square test. The findings indicate that both groupsused stance markers frequently. The first and most frequent markers in both groups are ‘hedges’. ‘Boosters’ and‘attitude markers’ are the second and third frequent elements in both groups, respectively. ‘Self-mentions’ are thelast and least frequent element in both groups. The results also reveal that although there are some similarities,there are significant differences in the use of stance markers between the two groups too. The findings of this studycould be beneficial for the development of pedagogical purposes.

Keywords:

Discourse , Discussion , Introduction , M.A Thesis , Native , Non-native , Stance , Stance markers (Hedges , Boosters , Attitude markers , Self-mentions)