Interaction in Chinese Scholars’ English Research Articles

Academic writing goes beyond presenting facts in an impersonal and objective manner, as in academic writing, scholars engage with their readers through written texts. They carefully structure their content not only to convey information but also to establish a preferred interpretation. Simultaneously, they express judgments, convey attitudes, and demonstrate commitments, aiming to involve their readers in the collaborative construction of the text. To facilitate this interaction, academic authors keep in mind the concept of the “reader-in-the-text”, a voice that can be attributed to the reader (Thompson and Thetela in Text 15:103–127, 1995). Authors’ decisions in engaging with the audience—whether through active or passive verbs, explicit or ambiguous assertions, the use of contrasting, or additive conjunctions—are all driven by the intention to convey specific meanings in a given context. Significantly, these choices both shape and are shaped by the context (Halliday in An introduction to functional grammar, 1994). Metadiscourse stands as a pivotal contribution to such language choices, illuminating the intricate relationship between the author’s often unconscious language choices and the societal backdrop that informs them.