Saudis translating themselves: a study of authorial stance in PhD theses awarded by UK Universities

The Arabic subcorpus values provide a reference against the English subcorpus to measure the degree of departure from L1 and approximation of L2 systems. The four theses in the Arabic subcorpus are considered sufficient as they represent a typical range. The thesis explores the transformation of Saudi students’ L1 discoursal self to accommodate L2 metadiscoursal conventions.

Data collection was automatic (AntConc software) and manual (annotation). This is a descriptive-analytic, deductive case study using mixed methods. Findings revealed four trends.

First, both L1 and L2 students show a clear interactional metadiscursive repertoire, but the English subcorpus has higher frequency. Second, distributional variation across the three thesis moves correlated with stance markers. Third, L2 students showed competence in calibrating stance markers.

Fourth, Arabic-English subcorpus variation indicated a departure from L1 norms and approximation of L2 norms. This transformation was an asset to convey authorial visibility in L2 doctoral texts as selftranslation. The study has theoretical and didactic implications and opens future avenues for research. <br><br><i>Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2029.</i>