Gender-based study of Thai learners’ metadiscourse in writing for journalism

Abstract

Many scholars have conducted research into ways to improve EFL learners’ writing proficiency by seeking to address several problems related to achieving this goal (Darani, 2014; Lu, 2013; Thomas, Thomas, & Moltow, 2015; Wang, 2013). However, the issues of learner identity in written communication and the role of the language EFL writers use as their linguistic resources to convey their meaning through writing are rarely addressed. Gender-based studies suggest male and female identity may influence linguistic behaviour (Hyland & Tse, 2004; Tse & Hyland, 2008). Therefore, this present article draws insights from Hyland’s (2005) metadiscourse model to demonstrate how meaningful metadiscourse markers support male and female writers to accomplish written tasks. The approach highlights the importance of language as both an interactive and interactional device to communicate with readers. This article is an account of a small-scale qualitative oriented study undertaken to examine writing as a social activity among Thai learners. Through interview and linguistic analysis, this study particularly aims to reveal Thai learners’ linguistic behaviours while writing letters to the editor and news reports. A linguistic analysis was conducted of thirty-two written texts from sixteen tertiary level learners enrolled in the English for Journalism course. The main finding to emerge from this study is that although male and female Thai writers select metadiscourse markers to communicate with their readers in letters to the editor and news reports, knowledge of metadiscourse and their linguistic resources should be more explicitly taught in the classroom as a way to argue with the readers. In addition, educators should be aware of the metadiscourse items learners of different gender use in their writing for specific purposes in higher-education pedagogy.