Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists

Interpersonal metadiscourse refers to aspects of a text which reflect the writer’s position towards both the content in the text and the reader. This study aimed to explore the role of interpersonal metadiscourse markers in persuasive writing. For this purpose, two elite newspapers in the United St...

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Main Authors: Mina Noorian, Reza Biria
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaya 2017-06-01
Series:Journal of Modern Languages
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jummec.um.edu.my/index.php/JML/article/view/3374
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author Mina Noorian
Reza Biria
author_facet Mina Noorian
Reza Biria
author_sort Mina Noorian
collection DOAJ
description Interpersonal metadiscourse refers to aspects of a text which reflect the writer’s position towards both the content in the text and the reader. This study aimed to explore the role of interpersonal metadiscourse markers in persuasive writing. For this purpose, two elite newspapers in the United States and Iran, The New York Times and Tehran Times respectively, were chosen. Based on a textual analysis of 12 opinion articles (6 from each newspaper), this investigation intended to find out whether American and Iranian EFL writers employed the same amounts of interpersonal markers (hedges, certainty markers, commentaries, attitude markers, and attributors) in their texts. The findings revealed that interpersonal metadiscourse was present in both sets of data, but that there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the occurrences of interpersonal markers, specifically in the case of commentaries. The results suggested that different factors interacted in the choice of metadiscourse markers in newspaper opinion articles written by American and Iranian EFL columnists: culture-driven preferences, genre-driven conventions, and Iranian EFL writers’ extent of foreign language experience. The study also stressed the need for more contrastive studies in the area of metadiscourse and more attention to this important element in L2 writing courses.
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spelling doaj-art-df13f98c2fa54f43902e926f9445fb9f2024-11-24T19:00:05ZengUniversiti MalayaJournal of Modern Languages1675-526X2462-19862017-06-01201Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnistsMina Noorian0Reza Biria1Islamic Azad UniversityIslamic Azad University Interpersonal metadiscourse refers to aspects of a text which reflect the writer’s position towards both the content in the text and the reader. This study aimed to explore the role of interpersonal metadiscourse markers in persuasive writing. For this purpose, two elite newspapers in the United States and Iran, The New York Times and Tehran Times respectively, were chosen. Based on a textual analysis of 12 opinion articles (6 from each newspaper), this investigation intended to find out whether American and Iranian EFL writers employed the same amounts of interpersonal markers (hedges, certainty markers, commentaries, attitude markers, and attributors) in their texts. The findings revealed that interpersonal metadiscourse was present in both sets of data, but that there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the occurrences of interpersonal markers, specifically in the case of commentaries. The results suggested that different factors interacted in the choice of metadiscourse markers in newspaper opinion articles written by American and Iranian EFL columnists: culture-driven preferences, genre-driven conventions, and Iranian EFL writers’ extent of foreign language experience. The study also stressed the need for more contrastive studies in the area of metadiscourse and more attention to this important element in L2 writing courses. http://jummec.um.edu.my/index.php/JML/article/view/3374Contrastive rhetoric, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) writers, Genre, Metadiscourse markers, Newspaper discourse, Persuasive writing
spellingShingle Mina Noorian
Reza Biria
Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists
Journal of Modern Languages
Contrastive rhetoric, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) writers, Genre, Metadiscourse markers, Newspaper discourse, Persuasive writing
title Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists
title_full Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists
title_fullStr Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists
title_full_unstemmed Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists
title_short Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists
title_sort interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism a study of texts by american and iranian efl columnists
topic Contrastive rhetoric, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) writers, Genre, Metadiscourse markers, Newspaper discourse, Persuasive writing
url http://jummec.um.edu.my/index.php/JML/article/view/3374
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