A Comparative Study Of The Functions Of Metadiscursive Nouns In Master’s Theses By Chinese And Canadian Students

Research of academic discourses has found that the choice of linguistic resources not only reflects students’ language proficiency,but also their academic judgements,attitudes,and interpersonal interactions.As an essential linguistic resource,metadiscursive noun is widely used in academic discourses to realize the textual cohesion,express writers’ authorial stances,and engage with readers.Nevertheless,studies that explore the use of metadiscursive nouns in specific sections of the thesis are not sufficient,let alone those focusing on master’s theses written by students from different cultures.Hence,this study focuses on metadiscursive nouns in master’s theses written by Chinese EFL students and Canadian students.It makes a comparative study of the dual rhetorical functions of metadiscursive nouns.A total of 60 master theses by Chinese and Canadian students from 2010 to 2020 were collected in the field of language learning and acquisition.The overall features of the dual rhetorical functions of metadiscursive nouns in the theses were first explored.Then,the interactive function of metadiscursive nouns in six specific sections of the thesis(abstract,introduction,literature review,methodology,results and discussion,and conclusion)was analyzed followed by the analysis of the interactional function in the same sections.Finally,similarities and differences in the interactive and interactional uses of metadiscursive nouns were explored comparatively.Results of the study showed that the use of metadiscursive nouns had a higher frequency in master’s theses by Canadian students than that by Chinese students.Master’s theses by Chinese students had more metadiscursive nouns in RESULTS AND DISCUSSION and LITERATURE REVIEW,while those by Canadian students had a more balanced distribution in different sections.For the interactive function,the anaphoric use of metadiscursive nouns was more frequent than cataphoric use in the two corpora.Cataphoric reference of metadiscursive nouns was overused by Chinese students in ABSTRACT and CONCLUSION.For the interactional function,entity nouns were most frequently used,followed by attribute nouns and relation nouns in the two corpora.Metadiscursive nouns expressing writers’ authorial stances occupied a predominant percentage,while metadiscursive nouns expressing readers-engagement accounted for a small percentage.Results in specific sections were similar to the overall features of interactional function in the two corpora.Based on its main findings,the study concludes that the use of metadiscursive nouns in master’s theses by Chinese EFL students and Canadian students shows both convergent and divergent features.This study can contribute to the teaching practice,especially the practice of the use of metadiscursive nouns.They can help students organize academic discourses into a cohesive flow of information,make their arguments,and persuade disciplinary peers of their arguments.For EFL teachers,metadiscursive nouns can be a facilitative teaching tool to improve students’ academic writing skills.