A Comparative Study of Metadiscourse in English Research Article Abstracts in Hard Disciplines by L۱ Chinese and L۱ English Scholars

This study investigates how L۱ Chinese scholars in hard science disciplines use metadiscourse in their English academic writing, by comparing the deployment of metadiscoursal resources written by L۱ Chinese and L۱ English scholars. Hyland’s (۲۰۰۵) interpersonal model of metadiscourse was adopted for the analysis. We found that L۱ Chinese scholars used less metadiscoursal resources than L۱ English scholars on the whole. In the two dimensions of interaction, L۱ Chinese scholars made more use of interactive devices, while L۱ English scholars used more interactional items. This reflects that L۱ Chinese scholars made greater efforts to guide the readers through their papers, and L۱ English scholars are more concerned with creating author identity and engaging their readers. The t-tests confirmed that L۱ Chinese scholars used significantly more code glosses in interactive metadiscourse and less self-mentions in interactional metadiscourse. An in-depth analysis reveals two functions of code glosses and five functions of self-mentions in RA abstracts.

Keywords:

Metadiscourse , English Research Article Abstracts , Hard Disciplines , L۱ Chinese Scholars , L۱ English Scholars