CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Orientation
This paper aim s to explore how speak ers communicate with e ach other in multicultural business meetings with metadiscourse. To be more specific, it attempts to (1) examine the usage of different types of metadiscoursal devices (hereafter MDs) by native speakers (hereafter NSs) and non-native speakers (hereafter NNSs) in business meetings. (2) provide a rhetorical account for the observed pattern s, and explore the possible factors causing differences between two patterns, if any.
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1.2 Rationale
Metadiscourse, as the non-propo sitional part of langu age, is fundam ental yet intriguing in communication. Although it has been ove rshadowed by propositional content in linguistic studies fo r years, the importance of it is much in evidence now, with its multifunction in persuading others, conveying information and managing the interactions (see ref to section 2.1.2) in the comm unication between readers and writers etc. Besides, its im portance has also been reflected in that it has been widely approached by different researchers from different research angles. As a result, th e definitions and classifications of metadiscourse are extremely diverse and, to som e extent, confusing. The terms that are overlapping with metadiscourse in some degree include metatalk (Schiffrin, 1980), m eta-text (Mauranen, 1993), and discourse reflectivity (Mauranen, 2010). In th is thesis, we adopt the term metadiscoruse since it’s more than popular and also, an umbrella term. Metadiscourse manifests itself via a great variety of means, including transitions (but and so), modal verbs (should, must) and adjectives implying attitude (fortunate). Hyland (2004, 2005) has already found that the observed patterns of MDs have close links with genres and cultures, which makes it a perfect analytical tool in intercultural business communication. Considering that previous study has mainly focused on its importance in academic communication, but it is believed that it would also be rewa rding to apply it in other ESP genres, like communication in international business meetings.
So far, a large bulk of studies have focused on how people comm unicate in business meetings, an indispensable routine activity of doing business, including genre analyses of their structure and procedural characteristics (Bargiela-Chiappini & Harris, 1997; Koester, 2006), conversational accomplishment of tasks (Boden, 1994; Firth , 1995; Poncini, 2004; Sarangi & Roberts, 1999), the realization of power and politeness in meetings (Holmes & Stubbe, 2003) and speaker styles (Rogerson-Revell, 1999). Although persuasion is fairly essential in almost every piece of information in business meetings, few studies have intensiv ely explored business meetings from the perspective of rhetoric. The basic feature shared by discourse in business meetings and institutional communication is goal-driven communication. (Holmes & Stubbe, 2003; Koester, 2006). This feature gets full disp lay in the agenda of business m eetings, which lists the stuf f that needs to be di scussed or planned in the m eetings, thus providing an explicit o utline of the goals of meetings. Oftentimes, the goa ls of different speakers can be conf lictive if participants not only collab orate but also collude and even compete with each other in order to get things done. In this situation, businessmen use language to achieve their ow n goals with the intention to persuade others.
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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition and Classification of Metadiscour
