Abstract

This article uses corpus methods to examine linguistic expressions of stance in over 4,000 argumentative essays written by incoming first-year university students in comparison with the writing of upper-level undergraduate students and published academics. The findings reveal linguistic stance markers shared across the first-year essays despite differences in students’ educational context, with greatest distinctions emerging between first-year writers and all of the more advance writers. The specific features of stance that point to a developmental trajectory are approximative hedges/boosters, code glosses, and adversative/contrast connectors. The findings suggest methodological and conceptual implications: They highlight the value of descriptive, corpus-based studies of incoming first-year writing compared to advanced academic writing, and they underscore the construction of academic stance—particularly via certain stance features—as a process of delimiting one’s stance in a way that accounts for the views of others.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2014-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088314527055
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation context

Cited by in this index (29)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Journal of Writing Analytics
  3. Journal of Writing Analytics
  4. Writing and Pedagogy
  5. Written Communication
Show all 29 →
  1. Written Communication
  2. Journal of Writing Analytics
  3. Written Communication
  4. Assessing Writing
  5. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  6. Written Communication
  7. Across the Disciplines
  8. Double Helix
  9. Written Communication
  10. Written Communication
  11. Assessing Writing
  12. Assessing Writing
  13. Written Communication
  14. Written Communication
  15. Written Communication
  16. Assessing Writing
  17. Journal of Writing Analytics
  18. Journal of Writing Analytics
  19. Journal of Writing Analytics
  20. Journal of Writing Analytics
  21. Assessing Writing
  22. Assessing Writing
  23. Journal of Writing Analytics
  24. Written Communication

References (72) · 6 in this index

  1. 10.1075/scl.24
     ↗
  2. Antconc (Version 3.2.4)
  3. 10.2307/378428
     ↗
  4. Written Communication
  5. Discourse studies in composition
Show all 72 →
  1. College writing and beyond: A new framework for university writing instruction
  2. 10.1016/j.jeap.2006.05.001
     ↗
  3. 10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.93
     ↗
  4. Longman grammar of spoken and written English
  5. 10.1075/ijcl.7.2.02bol
     ↗
  6. Evidentiality: The linguistic coding of epistemology
  7. 10.1016/j.esp.2008.05.001
     ↗
  8. 10.1515/text.2002.020
     ↗
  9. 10.1075/scl.9.09cor
     ↗
  10. 10.1016/S0889-4906(97)00007-0
     ↗
  11. Davies M. (2008). The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Retrieved from: http://www.americancorp…
  12. 10.1075/ijcl.14.2.02dav
     ↗
  13. Transitions: Writing in Academic and workplace settings
  14. Language and Computers
  15. 10.1093/applin/aml022
     ↗
  16. Assessing Writing
  17. College Composition and Communication
  18. 10.1057/9781137030825_2
     ↗
  19. 10.1057/9781137030825_6
     ↗
  20. Cohesion in English
  21. An introduction to functional grammar
  22. An introduction to functional grammar
  23. Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action
  24. Analysing academic writing: Contextualized frameworks
  25. 10.2307/3587627
     ↗
  26. Appraising research: Taking a stance in academic writing
  27. Evaluation in text: Authorial stance and the construction of discourse
  28. Hyland K. (1998). Persuasion and context: The pragmatics of academic metadiscourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 30…
     ↗
  29. Analysing academic writing: Contextualized frameworks
  30. Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in writing
  31. 10.1177/1461445605050365
     ↗
  32. 10.1016/j.linged.2006.05.002
     ↗
  33. 10.1093/applin/amm011
     ↗
  34. 10.1057/9781137030825_9
     ↗
  35. 10.1016/S1060-3743(97)90033-3
     ↗
  36. Language analysis, description, and pedagogy
  37. 10.1057/9781137030825
     ↗
  38. 10.1093/applin/25.2.156
     ↗
  39. 10.1016/j.pragma.2007.07.001
     ↗
  40. Across the Disciplines
  41. Written Communication
  42. Li T., Wharton S. (2012). Metadiscourse repertoire of L1 Mandarin undergraduates writing in English: A cross-…
     ↗
  43. Lockman K., Swales J. (2010). Sentence connector frequencies in academic writing. Retrieved December 27, 2011…
  44. 10.2307/465802
     ↗
  45. 10.1057/9780230511910
     ↗
  46. 10.1093/applin/ami023
     ↗
  47. LSP and Professional Communication
  48. A comprehensive grammar of the English language
  49. 10.3366/cor.2011.0011
     ↗
  50. Reconceiving writing, rethinking writing instruction
  51. 10.1057/9781137030825_15
     ↗
  52. 10.1057/9781137030825_11
     ↗
  53. Stance and voice in written academic genres
  54. Analysing academic writing: Contextualized frameworks
  55. Academic Writing: At the Interface of Corpus and Discourse
  56. 10.1016/s1475-1585(03)00051-1
     ↗
  57. 10.4324/9780203136867
     ↗
  58. Everyday genres: Writing assignments across the disciplines
  59. Academic Writing: At the Interface of Corpus and Discourse
  60. Building genre knowledge
  61. 10.1515/text.1.1995.15.1.103
     ↗
  62. 10.1093/applin/22.1.58
     ↗
  63. 10.2307/357609
     ↗
  64. Discourse studies in composition
  65. College Composition and Communication
  66. Rhetorical strategies and genre conventions in literary studies: Teaching and writing in …
  67. 10.1016/j.jeap.2007.09.006
     ↗