Reflexive Metadiscourse in Spoken and Digital Communication

Anna Mauranen

University of Helsinki

Spoken and digital interaction show many close affinities that distinguish them from monologic discourses. This is certainly what emerges from looking at them through the lens of reflexive metadiscourse, as I will do in this presentation (see also Mauranen 2023). To frame this comparatively specific topic in the wider field of ESP, I draw on some more general observations that I made recently, looking at topics of articles in leading ESP journals (Mauranen 2022). Two things struck me specifically: first, that the field is very much oriented to applied research, to the relative exclusion of fundamental research, and secondly, that there is a distinct bias towards monologic discourse at the expense of dialogue. Written academic publications carry the lion’s share of research topics, and even the more recently surfaced interest in spoken discourse essentially confines itself to monologues, whether conference presentations, 3MTs, or blogs. 

In this talk, I turn these biases around and focus on dialogic academic discourse, both spoken and digital, and build up a dialogue-based model of reflexive metadiscourse. I also compare different discourse modes and media to tease out what fundamental differences they may display. I argue that we should take dialogic discourse seriously on board in ESP research, because it has great potential for refreshing the field and encouraging novel fundamental research. I also argue that this refocusing is important for the continuing relevance of the field’s practices.