An Investigation of Interpersonal Meta Discursive Markers in English Persuasive Essays Written by Iranian EFL Students

Metadiscourse assists the writer to get the reader to better understand and perceive the text. The aim of this study was to investigate the way interpersonal metadiscourse markers were applied within persuasive essays written by Iranian EFL students.

The participants (N=50) were asked to write an essay in which to persuade city dwellers to leave the city and start a new life in a rural area. Interpersonal metadiscourse markers, such as hedges, boosters, attitude markers, engagement markers, and self-mentions, were traced and analyzed.

The occurrences were observed in their textual context to facilitate the identification of their function. The results indicated an unbalanced presence of metadiscourse markers in the essays written by Iranian EFL learners in favor of directives as a realization of boosters.

It was inferred that metadiscursive markers might be configured based on cultural norms in the students’ native culture. It is suggested to teach EFL students to apply modal verbs to adjust the weight of imposition of boosters.