Reflections on Reflexivity in Digital Communication: Towards a Third Wave of Metadiscourse Studies

This chapter contributes to metadiscourse theory and our understanding of digital forms of communication. Digital communication carries great potential in that mainstream metadiscourse studies are limited to seeing academic writing as prototypical. A popular vlog is explored by asking ‘What is done in the vlog that we do not/cannot do in academic writing?’. The reflexive model is revisited and applied to the selected vlog, which is especially interesting in being highly ‘meta’ without having much metadiscourse. It is shown how other semiotic resources support the metadiscourse. The qualitative analysis illustrates delimitations and differences between metadiscourse and related phenomena. ‘Synchronous intertextuality’ is coined, for the way simulator games are running, with the vlogger interacting. A third wave of metadiscourse studies is envisioned, shifting the focus from non-propositional and interpersonal to reflexive.