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In:Engagement in Professional Genres:
Edited by Carmen Sancho Guinda
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 301] 2019
► pp. 29–46

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Chapter 2
Positioning and proximity of reader engagement

Authorial identity in professional and apprentice academic genres

 | School of Foreign Language Education, Jilin University, China
 | Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Published online: 24 April 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.301.02jia
Abstract
In this chapter we look at engagement by exploring how writers involve readers while expressing authorial identity in professional and apprentice genres. Based on a modified model of engagement features (Hyland 2005c; Hyland and Jiang 2016), this paper examines a 1.2 million-word corpus of 30 published research articles and 20 PhD confirmation reports in educational studies. We further relate the engagement features to the rhetorical strategies of proximity and positioning in the construction of authorial identity (Hyland 2012). Results show that journal articles include far more engagement devices than doctoral confirmation reports, while PhD writers express a higher degree of proximity than professional experts. Thus different authorial identities impact the patterns and strategies of reader engagement in academic persuasion.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Professional and apprentice academic genres
  • 3.Engagement and disciplinary identities in academic writing
  • 4.Data and analysis
  • 5.Patterns of engagement: An overview in professional and apprentice genres
  • 6.Collective proximity: Solidarity and aid
    • 6.1Reader mention: Soliciting solidarity
    • 6.2Personal asides: Offering aid
  • 7.Interactional positioning: Sharedness and agreement
    • 7.1Questions: Raising query
    • 7.2Knowledge appeals: Constructing sharedness
    • 7.3Directives: Managing readers
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
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Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Hyland, Ken
2025. ESP and Writing. In The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes, ► pp. 89 ff. DOI logo
Alghazo, Sharif, Khulood Al-Anbar, Marwan Jarrah, Ghaleb Rabab’ah & Mutasim Al-Deaibes
2023. Engagement strategies in English and Arabic newspaper editorials. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 10:1 DOI logo
Bocanegra-Valle, Ana
2023. Engaging in predatory practices: How editors persuade prospective authors. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación 93 ► pp. 117 ff. DOI logo
Hyland, Ken & Hang (Joanna) Zou
2022. Pithy Persuasion: Engagement in 3 Minute Thesis Presentations. Applied Linguistics 43:1 ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo
Paltridge, Brian
2020. Engagement and reviewers’ reports on submissions to academic journals. Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes 1:1 ► pp. 4 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 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.

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