Exploring metadiscourse in preface sections in textbooks

Abstract This study examines metadiscourse features in the preface sections of textbooks across four academic disciplines: Business Administration, Law, Chemistry, and Biology. A total of 80 preface sections from textbooks in these disciplines were compiled and analyzed. The quantitative analysis was based on Hyland’s (2005) model of metadiscourse. The results showed that interactive metadiscourse devices were used far more often than interactional ones across all prefaces, suggesting that textbook prefaces primarily function as organizational and reader-guiding sections. The findings also showed that transitions were the most commonly used subcategory of interactive metadiscourse in the corpus, indicating the importance of textual connections in presenting the book’s scope, structure, and pedagogical progression. In addition, the results revealed that categories of interactional metadiscourse were infrequently used, except for attitude markers, reflecting authors’ attempts to evaluate the textbook, highlight its relevance, and position it as useful for the intended readership. Disciplinary variation was also evident, as Business Administration prefaces contained the highest number of both interactive and interactional resources, whereas Biology and Chemistry prefaces showed more limited use of metadiscourse. This contrast may be related to differences between soft and hard knowledge domains, with soft disciplines often requiring more explicit explanation, justification, and engagement with readers, while hard-sciences prefaces tend to be shorter and more informationally compressed. The study therefore suggests that textbook prefaces are not merely introductory texts but discipline-sensitive promotional and pedagogical spaces in which authors organize knowledge, address readers, and frame the value of their textbooks.