SELF-MENTION METADISCOURSE MARKERS IN ENGLISH DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN KENYAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Academic writers use self-mention metadiscourse markers to express authorial identity, foster a strong rela-tionship with readers, and convey their beliefs and conclusion. This study evaluates the extent to which Eng-lish doctoral students in Kenya use self–mentions in their dissertations. This study classified these markers based on their usage in the introduction discussion and conclusion chapters. A mixed method approach was adopted, analyzing the introduction, discussion and conclusion chapters of 20 English doctoral dissertations through manual and concordance analysis. Hyland's (2005) framework of metadiscourse features was used to identify and code the self-mention markers. AntConc 4.1.4 software facilitated the examination of the frequency and occurrence of Self-mention markers within the corpus. The findings of this study reveal that English writers used most self-mention markers. The inclusive “we” was used to create a sense of detach-ment, allowing authors to distance themselves from the text and the reader. Additionally, English writers presented their individual selves by assuming roles such as discourse constructors, arguers and evaluators. While there were no significant cases of overuse or underuse, the overall frequency of self-mention markers was notably low. The results have important implications for dissertation writing and highlight the need for teaching self-mention markers to effectively convey authorial positioning in doctoral dissertation in Kenya.