Meta-discourse markers in the book reviews published in ISI and non-ISI journals of applied linguistics

Abstract

Meta-discourse markers constitute a significant part of a reader friendly text. This study focused on the types and frequency of meta-discourse markers in applied linguistics book reviews (BR) published in ISI and non-ISI journals. To this end, meta-discourse markers were analyzed in 86 BRs selected from six journals (three ISI and three non-ISI journals). According to this model, meta-discourse markers include two main groups: interactive and interactional elements. Using AntConc text concordance software program, the meta-discourse markers were checked in the corpora. To check the type and number of meta-discourse markers, frequency analyses were carried out. Chi-square test results and frequency analyses showed that significant differences existed between meta-discourse markers used in BRs published in ISI and non-ISI journals and BR authors used more meta-discourse markers in ISI BRs. Additionally, comparing to non-ISI BRs, ISI BR authors used more evaluative patterns and interactional elements to develop their academic writing. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for further studies were discussed in detail.

Keywords

• meta-discourse markers
• isi journals
• non-isi journals
• book review