'Getting engaged: dialogistic positioning in novice academic discussion writing'

This chapter builds on a proposal put forward in Swain (2007a), that in effective academic argumentation, a very important role is played by the ENGAGEMENT system (White, 1998, 2003; Martin & White, 2005) of appraisal theory (Feez et al, 2008; Martin, 2000; White, 2005; Martin & White, 2005). The analysis for engagement of a corpus of non-native speaker undergraduate discussion writing in English showed that engagement resources are key to successful writing. Engagement resources are implicated in evaluative coherence; the degree to which the writer engages with the referenced arguments, coherently with the authorial position adopted; the inclusion of other viewpoints, and the mediation of attitude. From this it follows that the engagement framework has implications for EAP course content and methodology. The framework includes expressions and structures either ignored in traditional EAP programmes or taught with little attention to their dialogic, rhetorical functionality. Focus on engagement enables awareness of a fuller range of resources for persuasion and of their dialogic functions than is traditionally envisaged, providing help with perhaps one of the most challenging forms of academic writing for students.