Exploring retrospective/prospective patterns in MICUSP: A comparative study of English as a first language and English as an additional language

Metadiscourse plays a prominent role in academic discourse, functioning as a key rhetorical feature that impacts a writer’s ability to effectively persuade readers of the trustworthiness and appropriateness of their arguments. Retrospective and prospective categories, together with other metadiscourse resources, serve to organise ideas, construct discourse, and promote textuality. Despite the limited research on the use of retrospective and prospective metadiscourse in academic papers, this study sought to enhance our empirical knowledge of their employment by investigating the functions of these categories in the academic writing of English as a First Language (EFL) and English as an Additional Language (EAL) students. Utilising a corpus of diverse genres, the study employed a corpus-driven qualitative content analysis methodology, as well as quantitative measures to reveal how EFL and EAL students employ prospective and retrospective devices in academic writing. The results indicated that both EFL and EAL students used a diverse array of linguistic features to express their ideas in academic prose, with the prospective categories being the most commonly used. The implications of these findings could be relevant for writing instructors and curriculum developers seeking to design effective pedagogical interventions.