In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the interpersonal function of metadiscourse features in academic texts. This means that research on writing in academic contexts began to focus on the rhetorical features, such as interactional metadiscourse, that writers use to present their voice in writing. These developments in academic writing have also considered the context in which specific genres are produced. Using a multiple-methods approach to genre analysis, this article compares students’ use of interactional metadiscourse features in two undergraduate courses, Media Studies and Primary Education at the University of Botswana. A total of 40 student essays were analysed. Interviews with students and lecturers in the two departments were also done to understand the context in which the essays were produced. The comparison of interactional metadiscourse features in the two corpora indicated that interactional metadiscourse markers were present, but that there were variations in the use and distribution of these features by the learners. Contextual information shows that such variations reflect the different values and beliefs about academic writing of the discourse communities that students belong to. These values and beliefs can be problematic for English for Specific Purposes (EAP) lecturers who have to prepare students for writing in the various disciplines in L2 contexts.

中文翻译：

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互动元话语功能的运用表达文本声音：博茨瓦纳大学两个系本科生写作案例研究

近年来，学术论文中越来越重视元话语功能的人际功能。这意味着在学术语境下对写作的研究开始集中于作家用来表达自己的声音的修辞特征，例如互动元话语。学术写作的这些发展也考虑了产生特定体裁的背景。本文使用多种方法进行体裁分析，比较了博茨瓦纳大学两个本科课程（媒体研究和基础教育）中学生对互动元话语功能的使用情况。共分析了40篇学生论文。还对两个部门的学生和讲师进行了访谈，以了解论文的写作背景。两种语料库中交互元话语特征的比较表明存在交互元话语标记，但学习者在使用和分配这些特征时存在差异。上下文信息表明，这种变化反映了学生所属话语社区关于学术写作的不同价值观和信念。这些价值观和信念对于特定目的英语（EAP）的讲师可能会产生问题，他们必须为学生在第二级环境下的各种学科的写作做好准备。上下文信息表明，这种变化反映了学生所属话语社区关于学术写作的不同价值观和信念。这些价值观和信念对于特定目的英语（EAP）的讲师可能会产生问题，他们必须为学生在第二级环境下的各种学科的写作做好准备。上下文信息表明，这种变化反映了学生所属话语社区关于学术写作的不同价值观和信念。这些价值观和信念对于特定目的英语（EAP）的讲师可能会产生问题，他们必须为学生在第二级环境下的各种学科的写作做好准备。