A corpus-based analysis of critical thinking through interactional metadiscourse in pre-service EFL teachers’ writing

Year 2024, , 239 - 265, 31.07.2024

Selahattin Yılmaz , Ferda İlerten

https://doi.org/10.19128/turje.1383179

Abstract

Critical writing seeks to enhance university students' ability to think causally and reason effectively, and this improvement should be evident in their language use in the assignments. An example of such language is interactional metadiscourse, the expression of attitudes and opinions in line with the intended audience. In pursuit of these objectives, this study investigated the textual characteristics of critical thinking by examining interactional metadiscourse markers (MDMs) in the critical response papers authored by English Language Teaching (ELT) undergraduate students throughout a semester at a Turkish state university. The findings revealed shifts in the use of interactional MDMs by the end of the semester. While markers for engagement, hedging, and boosting remained prevalent across various tasks, the utilization of self-mentions and attitude markers declined, indicating a transition from the students’ sharing personal opinions and experiences to relying on evidence from research in academic texts to support their arguments. Additionally, the study highlighted the impact of topic selection on how students incorporated metadiscourse markers into their response papers.

Keywords

Critical thinking, English for academic purposes, Metadiscourse, Pre-service teacher education, Second language writing

İngilizce öğretmen adaylarının yazımlarında etkileşimsel üstsöylem yoluyla eleştirel düşünmenin derlem tabanlı analizi

Abstract

Eleştirel yazma, üniversite öğrencilerinin nedensel düşünme ve akıl yürütme becerilerinin geliştirilmesini hedeflemektedir ve bu gelişimin öğrencilerin ödevlerinde kullandıkları dile yansıması beklenmektedir. Bu dil kullanımının bir örneği, hedeflenen kitleye uyumlu tutum ve görüşlerin ifade edildiği etkileşimsel üstsöylemdir. Bu hedefler doğrultusunda, bu çalışma, Türkiye’deki bir devlet üniversitesinde bir akademik yarı yıl boyunca İngilizce öğretmen adayları tarafından yazılan eleştirel değerlendirme raporlarındaki etkileşimsel üstsöylem belirteçlerini (EÜB'ler) inceleyerek eleştirel düşünmenin metinsel özelliklerini araştırmıştır. Bulgular, dönem sonunda söylem işaretleyicilerinin kullanımında anlamlı farklılıklar olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Katılım, kaçınma ve güçlendirme belirteçleri bazı raporlarda yaygın olarak kullanılırken, bazı raporlarda ise kendinden bahsetme ve tutum belirteçlerinin kullanımı azalmıştır. Elde edilen bu sonuç, öğrencilerin kişisel görüşlerini ve deneyimlerini paylaşmaktan, argümanlarını desteklemek için akademik metinlerdeki araştırma bulgularına güvenmeye geçiş yaptıklarını göstermektedir. Ek olarak çalışma, öğrencilerin eleştirel değerlendirme raporlarına EÜB’leri nasıl dahil ettikleri hususunda konu seçiminin etkisini vurgulamıştır.

Keywords

Akademik İngilizce, Eleştirel düşünme, Hizmet öncesi öğretmen eğitimi, İkinci dilde yazma, Üstsöylem

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