Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

World Languages

Major Professor

Matt Kessler, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Camilla Vasquez, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Carter Morgan, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Wei Zhu, Ph.D.

Keywords

Metadiscourse, Move Analysis, Promotional Genre, English for Specific Purposes

Abstract

A growing body of academic writing literature has been devoted to studying the rhetorical patterns and language use in diverse academic texts. One of the central goals of these studies is to demystify these texts to acquaint writers, particularly less experienced ones, with the genre conventions. However, Teaching Philosophy Statements (TPS) as a critical academic genre have received insubstantial attention in the literature. TPSs are major gatekeeping practices in academia that play a significant role in controlling access to academic positions and opportunities, where an insufficient grasp of their conventions might affect an individual's academic future.

This study is pedagogically motivated, aiming to provide a rich description of the rhetoric of the TPS genre. The investigation was conducted using a self-compiled corpus of TPSs containing 55 samples of naturally occurring TPSs written by academics affiliated with linguistics departments in 30 different US-based academic institutions (totaling 46,543 words). The investigation began with textual analysis aimed at understanding the typical rhetorical components of the genre. This was followed by exploring the metadiscursive features utilized to interact and engage with the audience and how these features were distributed across the different rhetorical components of the genre. The textual analysis was enriched by incorporating insights from gatekeepers, obtained through interviews with four experienced TPS readers to draw out their views on the genre’s rhetorical patterns.

The study utilized Swales's (1990) notion of moves and steps along with Hyland and Tse's (2004) model of metadiscourse. The findings revealed that writers of the TPSs tended to use a combination of three moves to rhetorically construct and present their teaching philosophies, namely: 1) beliefs stating, 2) teaching practices description, and 3) competence claim. The metadiscourse analysis revealed features such as self-mention, boosters, attitude markers, and transitions were found to be standard features of the genre as they appear in all of the texts analyzed. The findings also showed that the metadiscourse features' usage in each move reflects the varying rhetorical purposes for each move, such as the shared views of teaching and learning in Move 1, the need to present a narrative that is both adaptable and personally resonant in Move 2, and the self-assured competence in Move 3. The interviews with the experienced TPS readers revealed a great preference for concrete examples in the TPSs rather than abstract ideas about educational beliefs and goals. They also show that views of the genre range from being a relatively useless document, a supplementary document, or a pitfall indicator. This study aims to provide valuable insights for practitioners of English for Academic Purposes, as well as academics involved in writing, teaching, or reviewing teaching philosophy statements, in the hope that its findings will significantly enhance their professional practices.

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