Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Ali Hashemi ¹
• Fatemeh Mahdavirad ²
• Golnar Mazdayasna ¹

¹ Department of English Language and Literature, Yazd University, Yazd. Iran.

² English Language and Literature Department, Yazd University

Abstract

Writing a book review is an instance of evaluative academic writing where the
writer is involved in an interaction with the author and the reader, evaluates the
viewpoints stated in the book and voices his own position and stance in a dialogue
with the reader. Working within the framework of Martin and White’s (2005)
Appraisal Theory as an effective tool for studying the essential resources employed
in this interaction and evaluation, the present study examined 60 book reviews
from the Humanities academic journals written by native male and female writers,
and tried to investigate the type and frequency of the three Appraisal categories
(Attitude, Engagement, Graduation). The findings indicate that both writer groups
made extensive use of these resources in their writings. However, the male book
review writers exceeded the female writers in all the three categories. In addition,
the Attitude resources were used the most and The Engagement resources were
the least employed resources. The implications of the study for teaching writing
skills and developing materials and tasks for writing courses at academic levels are
mentioned in detail

Keywords

• Appraisal theory
• Book review
• Humanities
• Gender
• Native writer

20.1001.1.22517995.2021.13.28.8.5

Main Subjects

• English language learning