1.2 Research Objectives
As stated above,when expressing their judgements and attitudes in the author-reader interaction,the authors can fulfill or counter the expectations of the readers by using CMs which could help to realize authorial stance in the EAPs written by the authors in different disciplines and from different linguistic-cultural backgrounds.In order to cater to this gist of the dissertation,there are mainly three objectives which could demonstrate the issues that the current study tries to address.
Firstly,the study aims to explore how CMs could help to construe authorial stance in the EAPs.In order to explain this topic,the definition of the CMs,the criteria of the classification of the CMs,the semantic types and lexicogrammatical types of CMs in the construction of authorial stance will be illustrated respectively.
Secondly,the current study attempts to illustrate how different disciplines differ in the choice of various types of CMs.Aiming to realize this topic,this study explains the nature of natural sciences,social sciences and humanities,to distinguish the features of the CMs and the subcategories in different disciplines and to interpret the reasons of the cross-disciplinary differences.
Thirdly,this dissertation aims to explain how AEs and ANEs differ in their linguistic choices of CMs for realizing authorial stance.In this part,it is crucial to interpret the functions of some influencing factors such the writing conventions,roles of the authors and readers,kinds of cultural shifts and rhetorical patterns,etc.
It is hoped that this study could help to improve people’s understanding of the roles of CMs in construing authorial stance besides the connective function.The current research reveals to a deeper degree of the interaction between the authors and the readers.As the members in the community of academic discourse,the authors will use various kinds of CMs to negotiate with the readers.Furthermore,this study highlights the necessity to compare CMs in EAPs written by the authors in different disciplines and from different linguistic-cultural backgrounds.For one thing,the disciplinary differences crucially influence the ways that the authors engage and communicate with their readers.For another,the comparison between AEs and ANEs in their use of CMs can be used for a range of comparative purposes and increase our knowledge of languagespecific,typological and cultural differences(Aijmer & Altenberg,1996).Practically,this research is pedagogically significant.It offers the teachers a useful way to assist the students in their disciplinary-sensitive writing practices with CMs.The students,especially those from non-English speaking countries can be directed to know how to use CMs in different kinds of situation.