A Comparative Study of the Metadiscourse Markers Used by Iranian and Chinese EFL University Students

Second language (L2) learners from different cultures and with different first languages seem to be different in developing writing texts because of the interference of the students’ first language (L1) and first culture (C1). One of the most popular contrastive writing studies in recent decades is the comparison of the employment of metadiscourse markers in the written texts of students with different L1s and C1s. The present study compared the rhetorical patterns of EFL university students’ argumentative essays in Iranian and Chinese composition classrooms. This research aimed to investigate the interference of L1 on the use of rhetorical patterns in two different cultural settings. For doing so, Hyland’s model for interactive discourse markers was used. The required data were collected from 80 EFL learners in Iran and China, who were selected through convenience sampling technique. After collecting the data, Mann-Whitney U test was run to clarify the differences in using metadiscourse markers. The results indicated that there were significant differences between Iranian and Chinese EFL students in the use of four interactive metadiscourse markers; however, both groups were similar in the use of code glosses because no statistically significant difference was found between them. The findings of this research can deepen the insight about culture-specific variations in writing skill and choosing more effective pedagogical ways.