Authorial stance evolution across academic development: The case of James Martin: A study of James Martin

Abstract

Stance, the way writers position themselves in a text to convey judgements and commitments through hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mention, has been a focus of applied linguistics for over two decades. However, the diachronic variation of stance in individual writers remains largely unexplored. This study investigates how stance features have changed over three distinct 10-year periods in the professional career of James Martin, a renowned systemic-functional linguist. We compiled a corpus from 30 of Martin’s research articles and employed a novel method termed “autoreflexive discourse triangulation” to account for observed changes alongside his developmental trajectory. Results reveal significant shifts in Martin’s use of stance features over time, reflecting his evolving authorial voice and academic status. The frequency of boosters increased, while hedges and certain types of attitude markers decreased. Self-mention patterns also showed notable changes, aligning with Martin’s growing authority in the field. This study contributes to our understanding of individuals’ stance development over time and offers insights that could inform novice writers’ stance-taking strategies and EAP teaching practices. The findings underscore the dynamic nature of academic writing development and suggest the need for a more nuanced, career-stage appropriate approach to stance instruction in EAP contexts.