Communicative Functions of Code Glosses in Students’ Handbook from a Ghanaian University

Abstract

In recent times, metadiscoursal devices are increasingly being studied by researchers in Applied Linguistics, Discourse Analysis and English for Academic and Specific Purposes because of their indispensable role in all forms of communication. Unfortunately, code glosses, one of the metadiscoursal devices, have not received much attention in metadiscoursal studies. To fill this gap, the present study draws on Hyland’s model of code glosses to explore the use of code glosses in the Students’ Handbook of University of Cape Coast. Qualitative content analysis was employed in analysing the data set. The analysis of the text revealed that code glosses helped clarify a proposition by defining, exemplifying, reformulating and simplifying it The findings have implications for the theory of metadiscourse, in general, and code glosses, in particular and institutional communication/discourse.