Enriching Authority and Engagement on Metadiscourse in the Reporting of Media and Latest Matters
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Abstract
Metadiscourse is a significant linguistic tool for engaging the audience as it directs readers through the text. Throughout the pandemic, news about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a vital public information source. Nevertheless, reference books, manuals, and websites do not provide clear guidelines for composing news about COVID-19. Because of the variations in word selection, expressions and sentences, readers experience misinterpretations. This research seeks to examine how readers react to news articles that include metadiscourse compared to those that do not. To obtain insights from this research, 30 students from a private school in Malaysia took part in the study. They were provided with news containing both metadiscourse and non-metadiscourse and writing prompts. The results showed that most participants favoured reading the news with textual metadiscourse, emphasising writers' authority due to its clarity. Moreover, the results indicated that most participants preferred the news featuring interpersonal metadiscourse that stressed readers' engagement as it was more captivating. The study examined the participants' responses to readers with guidelines to ensure reader engagement is highlighted in their manuscripts. The results highlighted the significance of metadiscourse in writing, indicating that texts created with and without metadiscourse may serve as valuable teaching materials for writing instructors in educational settings.
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