Abstract

This paper analyzes the results of a corpus-based study on the usage of metadiscourse in argumentative writing by Malaysian college students. The aims of the study is to examine the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse used by the particular students in argumentative writing as well as to analyze the errors that made by the particular students in using metadiscourse. The finding shows that Malaysian college students are more inclined to using textual metadiscourse instead of interpersonal metadiscourse. Besides, the selected students are using less code glosses and stance indicator in their argumentative writing. In addition, Malaysian college students committed quite a number of errors in using metadiscourse and practices are needed to train them in using metadiscourse correctly. These findings are useful for Malaysian tertiary level of educators or teachers as they help the educators to figure out the weaknesses of students in using metadiscourse.

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