Article published In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 21:1 (2020) ► pp.137–164
Text-organizing metadiscourse
Tracking changes in rhetorical persuasion
Published online: 28 August 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.00039.hyl
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.00039.hyl
Abstract
Published academic writing often seems to be an unchanging form of discourse with its frozen informality remaining
stable over time. Recent work has shown, however, that these texts are highly interactive and dialogic as writers anticipate and
take into account readers’ likely objections, background knowledge, rhetorical expectations and processing needs. In this paper,
we explore one aspect of these interactions and how it has changed over the past fifty years. Focusing on what has been called
interactive metadiscourse (. 2005. Metadiscourse. London: Continuum; Hyland, Ken and Polly Tse. 2004. “Metadiscourse in Scholastic Writing: A Reappraisal”. Applied Linguistics 25 (2): 156–77. ), or the ways authors organise their material for particular readers, we analyze a corpus of 2.2 million words
compiled from articles in the top journals in four disciplines to discover whether, and to what extent, interactive metadiscourse
has changed in different disciplines since 1965. The results show a considerable increase in an orientation to the reader over
this period, reflecting changes in both research and publication practices.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Interactive metadiscourse: Cohesion and interaction
- 3.Corpus and method
- 4.Overall changes in interactive metadiscourse
- 5.Transitions: Expressing textual relationships
- 6.Frame markers: Structuring lines of argument
- 7.Code glosses and endophorics: Elaborating concepts and arguments
- 8.Evidentials: Appealing to textual support
- 9.Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (37)
Abdi, Reza. 2002. “Interpersonal Metadiscourse: An Indicator of Interaction and Identity”. Discourse Studies 4 (2): 139–145.
Ädel, Annelie and Anna Mauranen. 2010. “Metadiscourse: Diverse and Divided Perspectives”. Nordic Journal of English Studies 9 (2): 1–11.
Aijmer, Karin and Christoph Ruhlemann (eds). 2014. Corpus Pragmatics: A Handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Anthony, Laurence. 2014. AntConc (Version 3.4.3 w). (Computer Software.) Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available online at: [URL]
Becher, Tony and Paul Trowler. 2001. Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Culture of Disciplines. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Bergs, Alexander and Laurel J. Brinton (eds). 2012. English Historical Linguistics: An International Handbook. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman.
Cao, Feng and Guangwei Hu. 2014. “Interactive Metadiscourse in Research Articles: A Comparative Study of Paradigmatic and Disciplinary Influences”. Journal of Pragmatics 661 (May): 15–31.
Charles, Maggie. 2006. “The Construction of Stance in Reporting Clauses: A Cross-disciplinary Study of Theses”. Applied Linguistics 27 (3): 492–518.
Estaji, Masoomeh and Roya Vafaeimehr. 2015. “A Comparative Analysis of Interactional Metadiscourse Markers in the Introduction and Conclusion Sections of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Research Papers”. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 3 (1): 37–56.
Evans, James A. 2008. “Electronic Publications and the Narrowing of Science and Scholarship”. Science 321 (5887): 395–399.
Gillaerts, Paul and Freek Van de Velde. 2010. “Interactional Metadiscourse in Research Article Abstracts”. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9 (2): 128–139.
Hyland, Ken. 1999. “Talking to Students: Metadiscourse in Introductory Textbooks”. English for Specific Purposes 18 (1): 3–26.
. 2007. “Applying a Gloss: Exemplifying and Reformulating in Academic Discourse”. Applied Linguistics 28 (2): 266–285.
Hyland, Ken and Feng (Kevin) Jiang. 2017. “Is Academic Writing Becoming More Informal?” English for Specific Purposes 451 (January): 40–51.
. 2019. “Points of Reference: Changing Patterns of Academic Citation”. Applied Linguistics 40 (1): 64–85.
Hyland, Ken and Polly Tse. 2004. “Metadiscourse in Scholastic Writing: A Reappraisal”. Applied Linguistics 25 (2): 156–77.
Jiang, Feng (Kevin) and Ken Hyland. 2018. “Nouns and Academic Interactions: A Neglected Feature of Metadiscourse”. Applied Linguistics 39 (4): 508–531.
Jucker, Andreas and Irma Taavitsainen. 2014. “Diachronic Corpus Pragmatics: Intersections and Innovations”. In Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas H. Jucker and Jukka Tuominen (eds), Diachronic Corpus Pragmatics, 3–28. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Leech, Geoffrey. 2009. “Corpus Linguistics”. In Kirsten Malmkjaer (ed.), The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia, 104–113. London: Routledge.
Lin, Hui and Brendan Luyt. 2012. “The Evolution of Scientific Journal Articles in the Periphery: A Case Study and Analysis of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology from 1928 to 2008”. Journal of Information Science 38 (5): 407–422.
Mauranen, Anna. 1993. Cultural Differences in Academic Rhetoric: A Textlinguistic Study. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Moskowich, Isabel, Gonzalo Camiña Rioboo, Inés Lareo and Begoña Crespo (eds). 2016. “The Conditioned and the Unconditioned”: Late Modern English Texts on Philosophy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Dueñas, Pilar Mur. 2007. “‘I/We Focus On…’: A Cross-cultural Analysis of Self-mentions in Business Management Research Articles”. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 6 (2): 143–162.
Mur Dueñas, Pilar. 2011. “An Intercultural Analysis of Metadiscourse Features in Research Articles Written in English and in Spanish”. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (12): 3068–3079.
Noble, Wendy. 2010. “Understanding Metadiscoursal Use: Lessons from a “Local” Corpus of Learner Academic Writing”. Nordic Journal of Applied Linguistics 9 (2): 145–169.
Rubio, Milagros del Saz. 2011. “A Pragmatic Approach to the Macro-structure and Metadiscoursal Features of Research Article Introductions in the Field of Agricultural Sciences”. English for Specific Purposes 30 (4): 258–271.
Salas, Millaray D. 2015. “Reflexive Metadiscourse in Research Articles in Spanish: Variation across Three Disciplines (Linguistics, Economics and Medicine)”. Journal of Pragmatics 771 (February): 20–40.
Taavitsainen, Irma, Andreas H. Jucker and Jukka Tuominen (eds). 2014. Diachronic Corpus Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Thompson, Geoff. 2001. “Interaction in Academic Writing: Learning to Argue with the Reader”. Applied Linguistics 22 (1): 58–78.
Trowler, Paul, Murray Saunders and Veronica Bamber. 2012. Tribes and Territories in the 21st Century. London: Routledge.
Tse, Polly and Ken Hyland. 2006. ““So What is the Problem this Book Addresses?”: Interactions in Academic Book Reviews”. Text and Talk 26 (6): 767–790.
Cited by (39)
Cited by 39 other publications
Du, Yu & Junju Wang
Arizavi, Saleh, Alireza Jalilifar & A. Mehdi Riazi
2025. Argument schemes and soundness/strength in published research article discussion sections. Journal of Argumentation in Context 14:1 ► pp. 61 ff.
Dontcheva‐Navratilova, Olga
Gai, Feihong, Lianrui Yang & Hui Zhang
Hyland, Ken & Feng (Kevin) Jiang
Narendranath, Aneet D., Sirena Hargrove-Leak & Chang Kyoung Choi
Testa, Martin
Xu, Chenchen
Yang, Jingwen
Yao, Guangyuan & Zhaoxia Liu
Bogdanović, Vesna & Dragana Gak
Chen, Songyun, Jiajin Xu & Xin Feng
Lu, Sitong & Feng (Kevin) Jiang
Marie, Lahodová Vališová
Maslauskienė, Greta
Narendranath, Aneet D., Sirena Hargrove-Leak & Zachary Thelander
Triki, Nesrine
Wei, Jing
Wei, Jing
Wei, Jing
Zhao, Hongyan & Jingyuan Zhang
Akinseye, Tolulope
Dharmavaram Narendranath, Aneet, Zachary Thelander & Sirena Hargrove-Leak
Hasan, Eatidal & Alsout Ergaya
Lorés, Rosa
Lorés, Rosa
Pennisi, Giulia Adriana
Yuvayapan, Fatma & Ilyas Yakut
Zavjalova, Olga Sergeyevna & Christou, Mariya
Zhou, Hui & Feng Kevin Jiang
Zhou, Hui & Feng Kevin Jiang
王, 雯静
Chen, Ming & Hui Zhou
Hyland, Ken, Wenbin Wang & Feng (Kevin) Jiang
Jiang, Feng (Kevin) & Ken Hyland
Jiang, Feng (Kevin) & Ken Hyland
Liu, Guobing & Yanfang Yang
Su, Hang, Yuqing Zhang & Xiaofei Lu
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.