A Metadiscursive Investigation of English and Persian Research Articles in the Field of Architecture

This study investigated the employment of interactional metadiscourse markers in English and Persian research articles published in the field of architecture. Drawing on Hyland’s (2005a) interpersonal model of metadiscourse markers, the present study explored the use of hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mentions, and engagement markers in a corpus composed of the post-method sections of 100 articles (50 English and 50 Persian) in the field of architecture. The compiled corpora were analyzed through Wordsmith (6th version) concordance program. The similarities and differences between the two sub-corpora were examined in light of the most frequently used metadiscursive linguistic items and the performed functions. Overall, statistically significant differences were found between the frequency of interactional metadiscourse markers used in the English and Persian architecture articles. From the grammatical and functional perspectives, the two groups of articles were shown to be different in the employment of attitude markers and self-mentions and similar in the employment of hedges, boosters, and some features of engagement markers. The results of the study also provided a list of interactional bundles frequently used in the English and Persian architecture articles. The rhetorical similarities and differences were further discussed in light of international and national contexts of publication and differences in the educational and cultural values of the English-speaking and Persian communities of academic writers. Finally, the research concluded with some pedagogical implications for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers and material developers in this field.