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Writing between the lines : managing impressions in written self-appraisals

Knowing how to promote oneself in written self-promotional genres is a vital, yet neglected, component of non-native speaker (NNS) communicative competence. / Focusing on the self-appraisal, I explore some of the impression management (IM) tactics and interpersonal metadiscourse (MD) markers used by writers to manage the impressions they give off. Of particular interest is the extent to which (a) patterns of self-presentation, and (b) language background (NS/NNS) contribute to the affective response of the reader. / The self-appraisals, collected from 41 students taking a required undergraduate writing course, were grouped according to the affective response of independent readers. Patterns of IM and MD use were compared across positive- and negative-affect groups, and across NSs and NNSs. / The findings reveal distinct differences between affect groups in patterns of IM and MD use. Interestingly, NS/NNS differences did not contribute to the affective response of the reader, thus challenging the assumption that NS linguistic form is requisite to pragmatic competence.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33906
Date January 2001
CreatorsHrazdil, Jennifer.
ContributorsLyster, Roy (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of Second Language Education.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001874077, proquestno: MQ79015, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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