Stance in Academic Discourse: A Conceptual Paper

Abstract

This conceptual paper examines stance in academic discourse, emphasizing that evaluation, self-positioning, and alignment with others are a part of the interactive process to build meaning. This paper is grounded in the framework of Hyland’s Interaction Model (2005), Douglas Biber’s Lexico-Grammatical Pattern (2006), and Du Bois’ Stance Triangle (2007). The study observes stance as complex and doesn’t stand alone. This study indicates stance as an essential part of meaning-making, strengthening writers' credibility, increase the writer's involvement in academic discourse by exploring these three frameworks. This conceptual paper explores an interactive approach that views stance as the result of the dialogue between the writer and the reader, and the grammatical approach highlights how stance is expressed through language choice, such as the use of modality and sentence arrangement. It can be understood that academic writers intentionally choose certain forms of language to convey knowledge, certainty level, and stance in their writing. Besides, this study proposes integrated conceptual frameworks that help the teacher and the researcher to comprehend stance concepts in a more structured way and easier to understand. It affirms that improving students' awareness of stance in language use can strengthen their critical thinking ability, writing skills, and academic communication.