Heteroglossic engagement in undergraduate essays

Vogli, Sotiria (2025). Heteroglossic engagement in undergraduate essays. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The main focus of this thesis is to explore how university student writers engage with external voices while simultaneously projecting an authorial voice. This is achieved through a thorough investigation of dialogic positioning using the Engagement framework within Appraisal theory (Martin and White, 2005). Previous research adopting this framework has predominantly focused on the Research Article and the comparison of high- and low-scoring essays of non-native English writers, within one or two disciplines, leaving a gap in understanding how these resources are deployed across different academic levels and disciplines. The current study addresses this gap by identifying patterns and variations in the use of Engagement resources in essays written by English L1 writers across the three undergraduate levels in the Arts and Humanities (AH), drawing from the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus.

The methodology combines discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, employing both form-to-function and function-to-form approaches. A sample of 42 essays was initially annotated using UAM Corpus tool to identify Engagement features across the systems and subsystems of the framework. The initial analysis led to the refinement of the framework, which was then systematically applied to assess variations across genre, academic level, and discipline within the corpus. Finally, a corpus study was carried out to validate and triangulate these findings against the broader AH dataset within the BAWE corpus.

The initial data analysis reveals that undergraduate writers employ a wide range of heteroglossic Engagement resources in their essays, but they tend to dialogically contract or close down the dialogic space rather than expand it to include external voices and alternative propositions. The application of the refined framework to explore genre, level and discipline variations in the corpus revealed variations across the different essay subgenres, higher use of resources in the final year dataset and notable disciplinary differences. The corpus study confirmed consistent patterns in the use of Engagement features and provided robust validation for the annotation findings across a larger set of essays.

This study has significant implications for the theorisation and application of Engagement, as it contributes to the growing body of research on student writing from a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) perspective. From a methodological perspective, it further tests the interpersonal system of Engagement and provides suggestions for refinements to its application in academic discourse. The findings also offer practical applications for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes and provide a foundation for future research in several areas.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):