Construction of Second Language Writer Identity in Student Persuasive Essays: A

Metadiscourse Analysis

Brenfel C. Hajan
Bonjovi H. Hajan
Dr. Arlyne C. Marasigan
Philippine Normal University-Manila

Abstract
This study aims to examine the construction of writer identity in senior high school students’
persuasive essays. Data were drawn from fifty persuasive essays written by learners of English
as a Second Language in a polytechnic school in the Philippines. Hyland’s (2004a) model of
interpersonal metadiscourse was employed as basis for data analysis. The result showed that self-
mention establishes the construction of writer identity in students’ persuasive essays as it is the
most prioritized metadiscourse element by student writers across all samples. Academic writing
genres, linguistic choice and culture were among inherent factors found to have influenced the
preponderance of self-mention, leading to the construction of student writer identity—authorial
self. The study also underscored the employment of other interpersonal metadiscoursal elements
such as hedges, attitude markers, boosters, and engagement markers. In addition, implications to
second language academic writing pedagogy and recommendations for further research are
discussed in this paper.

Keywords: writer identity, interpersonal metadiscourse, second language academic writing,

senior high school

Bionote of the Presenter

Ms. Hajan is a cum laude graduate of Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English. She is
currently a full-time instructor at the MFI Polytechnic Institute Inc. where she teaches Reading
and Writing, and Practical Research II. She is an active student of the Master of Arts in
Education in English Language Teaching at the Philippine Normal University-Manila. Her
research interests include areas in reading, second language academic writing, and corpus
linguistics.