An Analysis of Interactive and Interactional Metadiscourse Markers in Applied Linguistics Webinars: The Case of Top-Tier Native vs. Non-Native Speaking Scholars

Within the ecosystem of genres, audiences, and modalities, knowledge dissemination relies on metadiscourse markers that guide and engage academic audiences. Despite digital technologies reshaping communication after the pandemic, their use in academic webinars, especially regarding speakers’ linguistic backgrounds, remains an underresearched area of inquiry. Accordingly, this study aimed to comprehensively analyze interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers utilized by both top-tier native and non-native scholars in Applied Linguistics webinars. To this end, a corpus of ۲۴ webinars (۲۴ hours and ۳۵ minutes) conducted by top-tier Applied Linguists over five years was purposively selected and analyzed using Hyland’s (۲۰۰۵) metadiscourse model, focusing on the frequency and distribution of interactive and interactional markers. The results showed that native scholars employed metadiscourse markers (both interactive and interactional) somewhat more frequently than non-natives, though both groups used them extensively to organize and engage audiences. While natives favored interactional markers over interactive ones, non-natives demonstrated the opposite trend, relying more on interactive than interactional markers. These findings highlight the need for EAP/ESP pedagogy to extend beyond accuracy, fostering non-native scholars’ interactional competence through training in hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions, empowering them to communicate confidently, engage audiences, and sustain presence in global academia.

کلیدواژه ها:

Genre Analysis ، metadiscourse markers ، interactive metadiscourse markers ، interactional metadiscourse markers ، applied linguistics ، webinars