Ken Hyland, Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in writing

Ken Hyland , Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in writing . London & New York: Continuum. 2005. Pp. x, 230. Hb £75.00, Pb £25.00. Metadiscourse is increasingly recognized as fundamental to the way in which writers construct text to achieve their communicative goals, but it remains a somewhat vague concept in certain respects, and the term is used in different ways by different scholars; so a full-scale treatment of the phenomenon is potentially of great interest. Ken Hyland has published a number of articles in recent years on metadiscourse, and he is clearly well placed to write this survey of the topic, designed, according to the blurb, as an “accessible introduction” for students of applied linguistics and teachers, as well as academics. The book is divided into three main parts: The first reviews previous attempts to define metadiscourse and proposes a revised definition and classification; the second, and longest, explores the functions of metadiscourse in a range of different types of text; and the third focuses specifically on the language classroom and suggests ways in which students can be encouraged to improve their command of metadiscourse.