If Possible, Do Not Mark Me Absent Today: Analysis of Metafunctions in University Students’ Emails to Their Professors

This study explores the language used in emails sent by university students at an Omani university to their professors. While numerous studies have examined this genre in various Arab universities, little research has analyzed both Arabic and English emails through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The study examines a sample of 170 authentic emails, written in Arabic and English, sent to a course instructor over the span of an academic year. The analysis is grounded in the premise that adult language is inherently multifunctional, with every utterance simultaneously fulfilling ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions in an integrated manner. The findings indicate that although students generally succeed in conveying their intentions, their emails often lack the expected level of formality and structural coherence in academic communication. These results highlight the need for increased awareness and instruction in email pragmatics within academic discourse.