Stance and Voice in Written Academic Genres

Stance and voice are among the most significant concepts in writing theory and pedagogy today. Referring to the ways we express a point of view and engage with others, the terms are particularly controversial in the domain of academic writing, long considered a faceless and impersonal kind of discourse. But while corpus research shows that stance is scarcer in academic genres than in many other contexts, the complex, and distinctive ways scholars and students present their attitudes to their texts, their readers and their content offers a rich area of study for discourse analysts and students of academic writing. This book reappraises the notions of stance and voice and reconsiders their relevance in applied linguistics, showing their expression and impact in a broad range of written academic genres. In its fifteen chapters, leading authorities offer their thoughts and research on the following issues:
‧ The key frameworks, methods, theories and areas of research
‧ The expression of stance and voice in a range of genres and disciplines
‧ The centrality of community and context in the expression of stance and voice
‧ The main factors of variation: channel, discipline, culture and time
‧ Questions of authenticity, distinctiveness, empowerment and identity

KEN HYLAND Chair is a professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the Centre for Applied English Studies at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He has taught in Asia, Australasia and the UK, and published over 160 articles and 16 books. He was founding co-editor of the Journal of English for Academic Purposes and is now co-editor of Applied Linguistics.


CARMEN SANCHO-GUINDA is a senior lecturer in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, where she teaches EAP, ESP and in-service seminars for engineering teachers undertaking English-medium instruction. Her research focus is the interdisciplinary analysis of academic and professional discourses and innovation in academic literacies.