Cultural Impact on Interactive Metadiscourse in Legal Hybrid Disciplines: A Comparative Genre Study

Comparative Genre Study

https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlls.v7i2.2069

Authors

  • Naseem Al-Wazeer Department of English, Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University
  • Abdulhameed Ashuja'a Department of Translation, Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University, Yemen

Keywords:

interactive metadiscourse, cultural impact, medical law, IT law, abstracts

Abstract

Cultural background can impact writers' writing styles in academic contexts. The present study aimed to investigate this impact on research article (RA) abstracts in two legal hybrid disciplines (medical law and IT law) when used by native and non-native writers of English. By adopting corpus-based genre analysis, the present study explored the use of interactive metadiscourse markers (MMs) in 40 RA abstracts. The corpora were randomly chosen from two high-impact factor journals: "Health and Justice" (medical law) and "International Journal of Cyber Criminology" (IT law). For the analysis, Hyland's (2005) interpersonal model of metadiscourse was applied. Other tools were also used: AntConc (2019) software, SPSS Version 27, and frequencies per 1000 words. The results revealed that there was a stronger presence of code glosses in the abstracts written by native writers compared to non-native writers. However, the differences between the native and non-native writers across the two disciplines were minimal and non-significant. This study suggests that both co-authorship with native writers and writing experience can reduce the influence of cultural background on non-native writers' academic writing style.

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Author Biographies

Naseem Al-Wazeer, Department of English, Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University

Naseem Ali Al-Wazeer is a 20-year-experienced ESP instructor at private Yemeni universities and a PhD candidate in the Department of English, Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University, Yemen. She is an advanced professional trainer at the British Board for Training and Consulting.

Abdulhameed Ashuja'a, Department of Translation, Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University, Yemen

Abdulhameed Ashuja'a is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Translation in the Department of Translation, Faculty of Languages, Sana'a University, Yemen, where he held a number of positions, including Head of Department, Faculty Vice-Dean and Director of the Center for Translation and Language Teaching.

Published

2025-03-09

How to Cite

Al-Wazeer, N., & Ashuja’a, A. (2025). Cultural Impact on Interactive Metadiscourse in Legal Hybrid Disciplines: A Comparative Genre Study: Comparative Genre Study. International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 7(2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlls.v7i2.2069

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2025): 2025 (2) In Press

Section

Articles
Copyright & Licensing

Copyright (c) 2025 Naseem Al-Wazeer, Abdulhameed Ashuja'a

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.