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The Statement of Purpose in Graduate Program Applications: The Impact of Academics’ Feedback on L2 Writer Identity

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Abstract

The statement of purpose (SoP), as a promotional genre, aims to convince the readers that the candidate is suitable for studying in the applied graduate program. Thus, establishing a discourse identity that fits the expectations of the target disciplinary community is central in SoP writing. I conducted this study with 41 students and 12 academics in the field of Psychology. I used the appraisal framework (Martin & White, 2005) to identify the type and discourse functions of the evaluative devices used to establish discourse identity in the students’ SoPs. Then, I conducted interviews with the academics to obtain their comments on the students’ use of evaluative devices. I also provided ESP genre-based instruction that focused on the use of evaluative devices in academic writing in the EAP course. The academics’ feedback and the explicit input on these devices helped the students manipulate the interpersonal features in their texts more confidently.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SFL, Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, Güzelyurt, Turkey

    Elvan Eda Işık-Taş

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  1. Elvan Eda Işık-Taş
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. King’s Leadership Academy, Liverpool, UK

    Nalan Kenny

  2. Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, Güzelyurt, Turkey

    Elvan Eda Işık-Taş

  3. School of Foreign Studies, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

    Huang Jian

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Işık-Taş, E.E. (2020). The Statement of Purpose in Graduate Program Applications: The Impact of Academics’ Feedback on L2 Writer Identity. In: Kenny, N., Işık-Taş, E., Jian, H. (eds) English for Specific Purposes Instruction and Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32914-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32914-3_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32913-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32914-3

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