METADISCOURSE IN THE DIGITAL ACADEMIC POSTER: EXAMINING THE TEXTUAL AND VISUAL METADISCOURSE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PERSUASION

Abstract

The demand for 21st-century skills has transformed the education landscape, altering how we teach, learn, and assess, integrating digital platforms into these processes. This study analyses the use of metadiscourse devices in digital academic posters, with the primary objective of identifying both textual and visual metadiscourse devices employed in academic posters to construct persuasive messages. A corpus of 10 academic posters was extracted from virtual academic presentations by diploma students and analysed with a mixed-method research approach. Metadiscourse elements were analysed quantitatively to investigate the presence of visual metadiscourse. Drawing from Hyland's (2006) model of metadiscourse and Kumpf's (2000) visual metadiscourse, this study compared the use of these two distinct elements in academic posters and their combined effect on persuasion. The results revealed that interactive resources were more frequently used than interactional resources. Additionally, students frequently employed visual metadiscourse to enhance persuasiveness, albeit at varying levels of frequency and effectiveness. This study highlights the importance of incorporating both textual and visual metadiscourse knowledge into academic curricula for effective organisation, engagement, and persuasion of readers.

Keywords

• Textual metadiscourse; visual metadiscourse; digital academic poster; persuasion