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Guiding and Engaging the Students: Metadiscourse in Chinese EFL Textbook of Junior High School
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Abstract
Metadiscourse is a core linguistic resource for textbooks to be user-friendly. The use of metadiscourse in the textbook accordingly draws the researchers’ attention. This paper, thus, focuses on a set of newly published Chinese EFL textbooks of Junior High School, and analyses the metadiscourse use with an aim to perceive the interaction between the textbook and the user. The metadiscourse use was first analyzed in terms of the frequency and distribution of the metadiscourse markers. The pragmatic functions of each marker were also explored based on Hyland’s model of metadiscourse. The research revealed that transitions, frame markers, and endophoric markers were frequently employed to guide students through the textbook and comprehend the learning materials. Results also showed that reader mentions, directives, and questions were highly evident in the data investigated due to genre convention. They played a critical role in facilitating the engagement of students in the textbook context. The findings of this study may have significant implications for Chinese EFL teachers about how to use metadiscourse to improve classroom teaching efficiency.
Keywords
Metadiscourse; Chinese EFL Textbook; Interaction
References
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How to cite this paper
Guiding and Engaging the Students: Metadiscourse in Chinese EFL Textbook of Junior High School
How to cite this paper: Changjuan Zhang, Siqing Li. (2025). Guiding and Engaging the Students: Metadiscourse in Chinese EFL Textbook of Junior High School. The Educational Review, USA, 9(6), 610-616.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/er.2025.06.009
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