The document analyzes how stance is expressed in spoken and written university registers. It finds that stance markers like modal verbs and complement clauses are used more frequently in speech than writing. Stance expressions are also more common in academic instruction registers than student management registers. The study concludes that a fuller range of stance devices should be integrated across both spoken and written university communication.

1. Stance iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn
uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss
by Douglas Biber (2006)
Discussant: Rhodora Caballero
MAT-EL
Discourse Analysis

2. What ccoommeess ttoo mmiinndd??????
 stance
 university registers
 epistemic
 lexico-grammatical

3. What ccoommeess ttoo mmiinndd??????
 SSTTAANNCCEE – is the expression of
speaker/writers’ evaluation, feelings, and
attitudes with regard to an information or a
proposition.
 UUNNIIVVEERRSSIITTYY RREEGGIISSTTEERRSS– are concerned
with any activities related to students in a
school or university.

4. What ccoommeess ttoo mmiinndd??????
EEPPIISSTTEEMMIICC –refers to the truth value of a
given proposition. Ex. epistemic possibility -
denotes the possibility of a given proposition's
being or becoming true
LLEEXXIICCOO--GGRRAAMMMMAATTIICCAALL --

5. HHiigghhlliigghhttss ooff tthhee ssttuuddyy
A. Presents how ssttaannccee is expressed (compare and
contrast) through the use of different grammatical
features
B. Analyzes ggrraammmmaattiiccaall ddeevviicceess (uusseedd ttoo ssiiggnnaall
ssttaannccee)) that are readily attributed to the
speaker/writer
C. Compares patterns of register variation between two
major parameters: pphhyyssiiccaall mmooddee (writing and
speech) and ccoommmmuunniiccaattiivvee ppuurrppoossee (academic/
instruction and student management)
D. Describes the expression of stance across ffoouurr
uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss (BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

6. LLiitteerraattuurree rreevviieeww
 Expression of evaluation and stance in academic
research writing
 Use of hedging devices (Hyland, 1996). Expression of tentativeness and
possibility in academic RP (ex. accuracy and commitment of the writer to
a proposition)
 Personal pronouns
 Addressee features and directive (Hyland 2002)
 Evaluative language in peer review reports (Fortanet, 2008)
 Most ESP/AEP studies focused on written genres of
academic discourses
 MICASE Project (Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken
English) one of the most productive efforts to describe
spoken university registers
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss (BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

7. TThheeoorreettiiccaall ffrraammeewwoorrkk
“stance” developed in the Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written English
(LGSWE)
Personal stance of the speaker or writer:
personal feelings, attitudes, value
judgments, or assessments

8. MMeetthhooddoollooggyy
Corpus
TT22KK--SSWWAALL
◦ Developed _________
◦ 2.7 M words; 6 major disciplines (BEEHNS); 3 educ. levels; 4
universities
◦ represents the range of spoken and written registers in the US
◦ provides a basis for test construction and validation
FFoouurr RReeggiisstteerrss::
1. Classroom teaching;
2. Class management talk;
3. Textbooks;
4.Written course management language (course syllabus)
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss ((BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

9. MMeetthhooddoollooggyy
Physical mode
Communicative
purpose
Speech Writing
Academic/
Instruction
Classroom
teaching
Textbooks
Student
management
Classroom
management
Course
management
(e.g. syllabi)
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss ((BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

10. MMeetthhooddoollooggyy
Composition of the sub-corpus for the study
(taken from T2K-SWAL Corpus)
Register No. of texts No. of words
SPOKEN
Classroom teaching 176 1,248,811
Classroom
40 39,255
management
WRITTEN
Textbooks 87 760,619
Course management 21 52,410
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss ((BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

11. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
1. Modal and Semi-modal verbs
Possibility /
Permission /
Ability
can, could, may, might
Necessity /
Obligation
must, should, (had) better,
have to, got to, ought to
Prediction /
Volition will, would, shall, be going to

12. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
2. Stance Adverbs
EPISTEMIC
-Certainty
-Likelihood
actually, certainly, in fact
apparently, perhaps, possibly
ATTITUDE
VERBS
amazingly, importantly,
surprisingly
STYLE /
PERSPECTIVE
according to, generally, typically
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss ((BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

13. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by
stance verbs, adjectives, or nouns
A. Complement clauses controlled by verbs
B. Complement clauses controlled by adjectives
C. Complement clauses controlled by nouns
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss ((BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

14. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by
stance verbs, adjectives, or nouns
A. Complement clauses controlled by verbs
B. Complement clauses controlled by adjectives
C. Complement clauses controlled by nouns

15. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by stance
verbs, adjectives, or nouns
A. Complement clauses controlled by verbs
a) Stance
verb + that
-clause
• Epistemic verbs (certainty/likelihood)
• Attitude verbs
• Speech acts & other communication verbs
b) Stance
verb + to -
clause
• Probability verbs
• Mental verbs
• Desire/intention/decision verbs
• Verbs of effort/facilitation
• Speech acts and other communication verbs

16. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by
stance verbs, adjectives, or nouns
A. Complement clauses controlled by verbs
B. Complement clauses controlled by adjectives
C. Complement clauses controlled by nouns

17. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by stance
verbs, adjectives, or nouns
B. Complement clauses controlled by adjectives
a) Stance adjective + that –
clause (often in extraposed
constructions)
• Epistemic adj
• Certainty
• Likelihood
• Attitude/Emotion adj
• Evaluation adj
b) Stance adjective + to –
clause (often in extraposed
constructions)
• Epistemic adj
• Attitude/Emotion adj
• Evaluation adj
• Ability or Willingness adj
• Ease or Difficulty adj

18. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by
stance verbs, adjectives, or nouns
A. Complement clauses controlled by verbs
B. Complement clauses controlled by adjectives
C. Complement clauses controlled by nouns
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss ((BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

19. Lexico-grammatical features uusseedd ffoorr ssttaannccee aannaallyyssiiss
3. Complement clauses controlled by stance
verbs, adjectives, or nouns
C. Complement clauses controlled by nouns
a) Stance noun +
that –clause
• Epistemic nouns
• Certainty – conclusion, fact, observation
• Likelihood – assumption, claim,
hypothesis
• Attitude/perspective nouns – hope, view
• Communication (non-factual) nouns –
comment, proposal, report
b) Stance noun +
to –
clause
• failure, obligation, tendency

20. HHiigghhlliigghhtt ooff rreessuullttss
The expression of stance in university registers
1.Modal verbs as stance markers
2.Stance adverbs
3.Stance complement clauses across registers
a. Stance verb + that-clause
b. Stance verb + to-clause
c. Stance adjective/noun +complement clause
4.Comparing the overall stance of university registers
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss (BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

21. CCoonncclluussiioonnss
1. Study confirms that expression of stance is important
in all university registers;
2. As compared to spoken university registers,
expression of stance in written registers is rare and
restricted in meaning;
3. All grammatical stance devices are used more
frequently in university speech than in writing;
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss (BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

22. CCoonncclluussiioonnss
4. Rarity of stance expressions in university textbooks;
 Epistemic meanings are expressed more commonly
than likelihood meanings
5. Recommendations:
a) use of integrated stance expressions in spoken and written
university registers; and
b) use of a fuller range of spoken and written university registers.
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss (BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))

23. CCoommmmeennttss
1. The study utilized a thematic (structure)
2. It contains many variables (highly
technical)
3. It contains low-frequency terms and
lacks definition/explanation of complex
terms
4. There is limited number of graphs and
table
 SSttaannccee iinn ssppookkeenn aanndd wwrriitttteenn uunniivveerrssiittyy rreeggiisstteerrss (BBiibbeerr,, 22000066))