A Study Of Metadiscourse In English Academic Book Reviews

Metadiscourse is a widely used term in current discourse analysis and language education. It aims to explore the interactions between text producers and their texts and between text producers and users. As a sub-genre of academic discourse, English academic book reviews not only introduce books, but also they make open comments on academic products so as to promote the transformation and exchange of the academic spirits. Although metadiscourse contribute a lot in English academic book reviews, it is studied comparatively less by scholars.In this study, 18 English academic book reviews from Language in Society have been chosen as research materials, which were published from February to September, 2010. And all the books reviewed in this journal are about pure western linguistics. Based on Hyland's interpersonal model of metadiscourse as well as in the light of theories of functional linguistics and rhetorics, this thesis makes an analysis of the embodiments and the distributive features of the interactive metadiscourse and interactional metadiscourse in chosen materials. Then, a further discussion about how the two kinds of metadiscourse function in the construction and understanding of English academic book reviews has been made. The study shows that, in the chosen book reviews, interactive metadiscourse is used far more than the use of interactional metadiscourse; in interactive metadiscourse, transitions and evidentials appear most frequently while in interactional metadiscourse, hedges and self-mentions are used comparatively more. These metadiscourse items contribute a lot in realizing the interaction between book reviewers and readers and in achieving the persuasive goal. A proper use of metadiscourse may help writers to organize their texts more logically and persuasively. While for readers, a good mastering of metadiscourse can help them gain information more easily and know writer's attitudes more clearly.The study of metadiscourse in English academic book reviews offers us an effective way to make a good understanding of the evaluative articles. In addition, it provides us important implications for English writing practice.