1. Introduction

This chapter introduces the rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their popularity as an alternative to traditional university courses. It also highlights the importance of investigating the linguistic features of MOOC video lectures, particularly the use of metadiscourse, to understand how it may influence the learning process and the development of MOOCs. The chapter emphasizes the role of metadiscourse in facilitating communication and engaging participants in MOOC video lectures, and discusses the lack of empirical studies in this area. Additionally, it introduces the study's objective to explore MOOC video lecturers’ use of metadiscourse and compare it to traditional university lecturers, as well as to investigate disciplinary differences in metadiscourse in MOOC video lectures.

2. Metadiscourse

This chapter describes the essential aspects of metadiscourse, including its definition and functions, as well as the various approaches to analysing metadiscourse. The researchers have decided to utilize the integrative model, represented by Hyland’s interpersonal model, to investigate the use of metadiscourse in MOOC lectures across disciplines. Additionally, the crucial role of metadiscourse in academic spoken contexts is discussed, with examples of various studies and their findings. The study also looks into the limited research on the use of metadiscourse in MOOC lectures across disciplines and the variation across academic disciplines in the use of metadiscourse.

3. Current Study

This chapter discusses the current study, which aims to provide insights into MOOC video instructors' use of metadiscourse and investigate disciplinary variation. The study is guided by three research questions regarding the types of metadiscourse used by instructors in MOOC video lectures, the differences in metadiscourse use between MOOC video instructors and university lecturers, and the variation in metadiscourse use across disciplines.

4. Methodology

This chapter describes the methodology of the study, including the data collection and data analysis. The data was collected from transcripts of eighteen university courses and sixteen MOOCs, focusing on three disciplinary areas. The analysis employed Hyland’s interpersonal model of metadiscourse and used AntConc to extract and examine the MOOC instructors’ use of interactive and interactional metadiscourse. The occurrences of metadiscourse items in the MOOC corpus were normalized and compared to the MICASE corpus. ANOVAs were conducted to compare disciplinary differences in the use of metadiscourse in the MOOC corpus.

5. Results and Discussion

The chapter presents the descriptive statistics and comparisons of various types of metadiscourse devices in the MICASE and MOOC corpus, with an overall usage of metadiscourse in the MOOC corpus lower than that in MICASE. It discusses the comparison of overall interactive and interactional metadiscourse across different disciplines, showing significant differences. Detailed results of each metadiscourse category are presented and discussed in terms of cross-disciplinary comparisons. Furthermore, it examines the use of interactive metadiscourse, specifically transitions and frame markers, and their cross-disciplinary differences, along with illustrative examples. The findings reveal that MOOC video lectures feature more frequent use of interactive metadiscourse and significant differences in the use of transitions and frame markers across disciplines.

6. Concluding Remarks

The chapter concludes with the comparison between university lectures and MOOC video lectures, providing insight into the importance of interactive metadiscourse for establishing logical and coherent discourse in MOOCs. The study also identifies that disciplinary features significantly influence the use of metadiscourse in MOOC video lectures, with implications for the development of MOOC design and further research into non-native English instructors and non-English MOOC discourse. Additionally, the chapter highlights the limitations of the study and suggests future research directions, emphasizing the importance of understanding how the use of metadiscourse may impact learners' experiences and engagement in the learning process. Ultimately, the successfulness of a MOOC should be determined by the learners' achievement and sense of belonging to an academic community.