LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:12 December 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Exploring Gender Differences in Cross-disciplinary Discourse: Interactional Metadiscourse Markers in the Discussion Section of Research Articles

Behrang Mohammad Salehi, Ph.D. Candidate in TEFL and Reza Biria, Ph.D.

Abstract

The present comparative study sought to explore the gender differences in the use of interactional metadiscourse markers in the discussion section of Research Articles (RAs) in the two disciplines of microbiology and applied linguistics. Using Hyland’s (2005a) metadiscourse model, the research study investigated the use of five subcategories of interactional metadiscourse in a corpus of 64 research articles written by all-male, all-female, and male-female authors in the respected fields. Based on quantitative analysis, it was found that there was a significant difference between male and female writers and male-female ones in using attitude markers as one of the interactional metadiscourse elements. Besides, the results showed that there was a cross-disciplinary variation in using interactional metadiscourse.

Keywords: Gender Differences; Interactional Metadiscourse; Research Article

1. Introduction

Academic discourse has gained centrality during the past thirty years. In this regard, there is a close relationship between academic discourse and the way a writer’s identity is shaped. One of the ways through which the writer’s identity is constructed and practiced, is writing (Richardson, 2000). In fact, as Bazerman (1988) and Hyland (2000) indicated writing tends to construct disciplines and its practitioners’ identity. One part of a writer’s identity is the expression of the writer’s gender in written academic discourse. Writing like other tools of communication is a rich resource for gender representation. Tse & Hyland (2008) have noted the significance of gender studies in academic discourse. This is to say that there might be variations between males and females in terms of their use of language in communication. Taken this fact into account, Tardy (2006) posits that one of the influential factors in interactions is the gender of the text’s writer. That is, men and women writers might not approach interaction through writing in the same way and with the same resources at hand.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Behrang Mohammad Salehi, Ph.D. Candidate in TEFL
Islamic Azad University, Izeh Branch, Khuzestan, Iran
behrangsalehi@gmail.com

Reza Biria, Ph.D.
Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran
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