Do learners rely on metadiscourse markers? An exploratory study in English, Catalan and Spanish

This study explores to what extent multilingual learners’ production of metadiscourse markers (MMs) may be related in three languages present in their school curriculum, and how instructional input influences their choices and production of accurate forms. Twenty-two secondary school students wrote opinion essays in English, Catalan, and Spanish. MM use was analysed following Hyland’s (2000) classification. Our results showed that the same categories of MMs were used in the three languages, although there was more variety in Catalan and Spanish. Moreover, learners mostly relied on the forms present in the input, and 90% of these forms were accurately used in the three languages.