A corpus-based analysis of Arab scholars’ use of interactional metadiscourse markers

Abstract

Authors frequently employ metadiscourse markers (MDMs) in academic literature to encode their perspectives, support their claims and captivate readers. The usage of MDMs based on a variety of taxonomies and models has long been studied by researchers with the interpersonal model being one of the most widely applied. Results have shown a significant relationship between the use of MDMs and the comprehensibility of the texts. Though these findings seem insightful and valuable for fostering academic writing, Arab scholars’ use of MDMs especially the interactional type seems to be neglected. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to bridge this gap and reveal the use of interactional MDMS by Arab scholars in the fields of applied linguistics, translation and literature. The study adopted the corpus linguistic method and used a one-million-token specialized corpus that had been compiled for research purposes. The results have shown an imbalanced use of MDMs by Arab scholars using descriptive statistics and Key Word in Context (KWIC) qualitative analysis. The results have shown an imbalanced use of MDMs by Arab scholars. However, despite the limited and imbalanced use of MDMs, they are effectively utilized to serve various pragmatic functions. These findings can have implications for designing training courses that aim at fostering Arab scholars’ and students’ academic writing. Further research that investigates the writing production of Arab scholars in different disciplines is recommended to further support the current findings.