A Comparative Study of Interactive and Interactional Metadiscourse Markers in Sales Contract Written by English Natives vs. Iranian Non-natives

This study investigated two major types of metadiscourse markers as used in typical sales contracts, written by English natives and Iranian non-natives. In so doing, 60 sales contracts were selected, 30 written by native English and 30 by Iranian non-natives. Based on Hyland and Tse’s taxonomy, the contracts were codified and classified in terms of the frequency and percentage of the interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers found. The results revealed that Iranian non-natives used more interactive metadiscourse markers while natives used more interactional metadiscourse markers. The latter also used more hedges in their sales contracts compared to non-natives.