Metadiscourse choices in EAP: An intra-journal study of JEAP

Abstract

Interest in language variation is a staple of English for Academic Purposes research and underpins its distinctive character as a field of inquiry. It is the specific nature of language use which defines EAP, yet this definition has been established almost entirely on the basis of inter-discoursal studies, with comparisons of register, genre, discipline, first language, etc. dominating our understanding. In this paper we take a different approach and focus on variation within the field, and specifically within its flagship journal, JEAP. Categorising every paper between volume 1 and 52 as principally taking a textual, critical, contextual or pedagogical orientation, we explore writers’ preferences for metadiscourse use. The differences which emerge can be attributed to the argumentation preferences of sub-fields and their knowledge-making practices. The findings offer evidence of intra-disciplinary variation in discoursal preferences and hopefully contribute to our understanding of both the journal and our field.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 48 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.