Writing Between the Lines

[Jennifer Hrazdil]

Dear Discourse members,

A couple of months ago I asked the list whether anyone knew of research
focussed specifically on self-promotion in written or oral discourse, from
any theoretical perspective. I received a couple of responses - some
offering papers on small studies that had been done, some asking for
references that I may have come across on facework, and some offering
(appreciated) encouragement. Very little came to me in the way of a
suggested framework for analysis, however. So, I threw something together
myself and would like to share it with those who are interested.

Below is the abstract of my thesis, "Writing Between the Lines: Managing
Impressions in Written Self-Appraisals." If you would like a copy
of the thesis, I would be happy to send one to you.

Abstract:

Knowing how to promote oneself in written self-promotional genres is a
vital, yet neglected, component of non-native speaker (NNS) communicative
competence.

Focusing on the self-appraisal, I explore some of the impression management
(IM) tactics and interpersonal metadiscourse (MD) markers used by writers to
manage the impressions they 'give off.' Of particular interest is the extent
to which (a) patterns of self-presentation, and (b) language background
(NS/NNS) contribute to the affective response of the reader.

The self-appraisals, collected from 41 students taking a required
undergraduate writing course, were grouped according to the affective
response of independent readers. Patterns of IM and MD use were compared
across positive- and negative-affect groups, and across NSs and NNSs.

The findings reveal distinct differences between affect groups in patterns
of IM and MD use. Interestingly, NS/NNS differences did not contribute to
the affective response of the reader, thus challenging the assumption that
NS linguistic form is requisite to pragmatic competence.


Thank you,
Jennifer (jennifer.hrazdil at mail.mcgill.ca)


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