Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the persuasive role of metadiscourse markers in an Iranian newspaper advertisement headlines; say, Hamshari. To achieve the afore-mentioned purpose, the study adopted Fuertes-Olivera, et. al. (2001)s framework of pragmatic elements of advertising which is, in turn, adapted based on Jakobsonian communication model of the advertising discourse, and Fuertes-Olivera et al. (2001)s framework suggesting different functions of metadiscourse in advertising English. The selected examples showed that while textual metadiscourse helps addressees to interpret headlines within the constraints of genre and epistemology, interpersonal metadiscourse provides a kind of balance between informing and persuading the addressees. Moreover, the findings indicated a variety of metadiscourse strategies used by the advertisers in order to persuade prospective customers, including person markers, hedges, emphatics, endophoric markers and evidents. Regarding pedagogical implications, the present study attempted to broaden the pragmatics of advertising discourse and to stress the important role of metadiscourse in EFL courses.
Highlights
Researchers have shown an increased interest in the study of metadiscourse markers so that it has become one of the major concerns of English language teaching research. (Dafouz-Milne, 2008; Hyland, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005; Jalilifar & Alipour, 2007; Steffensen & Cheng, 1996). Hyland (1998) defines metadiscourse as ―aspects of a text which explicitly organize the discourse, engage the audience, and signal the writer‘s attitude‖ (p. 438)
Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic interest in the studies concerning the discourse of advertisements, so that the literature abounds with these studies (Dafouz-Milne, 2008; Dor, 2003; Fuertes-Olivera, et al, 2001; Le, 2004; Mardh's, 1980; Rush, 1998; Simpson, 2001; Straumann, 1935; Velasco Sacristan, 2006, 2009)
Findings of the study revealed that both textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers were present in English and Spanish newspaper columns, but that there were variations as to the distribution and composition of such markers, in the case of certain textual categories
Summary
Researchers have shown an increased interest in the study of metadiscourse markers so that it has become one of the major concerns of English language teaching research. (Dafouz-Milne, 2008; Hyland, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005; Jalilifar & Alipour, 2007; Steffensen & Cheng, 1996). Hyland (1998) defines metadiscourse as ―aspects of a text which explicitly organize the discourse, engage the audience, and signal the writer‘s attitude‖ (p. 438). Hyland (1999) defines textual metadisocurse as the one which is used to ―organize propositional information in such a way that will be coherent for a particular audience and appropriate for a given purpose Devices in this category represent the audience‘s presence in the text in terms of the writer‘s assessment of its processing difficulties, intertextual requirements and need for interpretative guidance‖ Hyland (1999) states that ―Interpersonal metadiscourse allows writers to express a perspective towards their propositional information and their readers It is essentially an evaluative form of discourse and expresses the writer‘s individually defined, but disciplinary circumscribed, persona. In this vein, the present study adopts Fuertes-Olivera et al (2001)‘s framework suggesting different functions of metadiscourse in advertising English. To achieve the aforementioned purpose, this study adopts (Fuertes-Olivera, Velasco-Sacrist&n, Arribas-Btio, & Samaniego-Ferntidez, 2001)‘s framework which is adapted based on Jakobsonian communication model of the advertising discourse
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