Nasser Rashidi - Shiraz University
Kowsar Jahangosha - Shiraz University

Meta-discourse markers constitute a significant part of a reader friendly and well-organized text. Most of the previous studies focusing on the meta-discourse markers examined different genres (e.g. research articles, theses writing, etc.) and different parts of research articles but few lines of research have focused on the meta-discourse markers in Discussion section of research articles. To address this inadequacy, this study focused on the types and frequency of meta-discourse markers in applied linguistics RAs published in ISI and non-ISI journals. To this end, meta-discourse markers were analyzed in Discussion Section of 86 RAs selected from six journals (three ISI indexed and three non-ISI journals) based on the model developed by Hyland (2005). Using AntConc text concordance software program, the meta-discourse markers were checked in the corpora (101577 words). Chi-square test results and frequency analyses showed that significant differences existed between meta-discourse markers used in Discussion section of RAs published in ISI and non-ISI journals. And Authors used more meta-discourse markers in ISI RAs. Additionally, comparing to the non-ISI RAs, ISI RA authors used more evaluative patterns and interactional elements to develop their academic writing. Findings of this study carried some pedagogical Implications for prospective RA authors. Further, limitations and suggestions for further studies were discussed in the paper.

meta-discourse markers, ISI journals, non-ISI journals, research article, discussion section