Exploring interactive metadiscourse as a practical approach to enhancing academic writing skills of newly admitted undergraduates students in Nigeria

Academic writing is a crucial aspect of undergraduate education, particularly for students in English as Second Language (ESL) situations. This study investigates the use of interactive resources as discursive strategies in enhancing the academic writing skills of ESL undergraduate students in Nigeria. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative designs. The qualitative component analyses the types and usages of discursive strategies employed in the selected expository writing, while the quantitative component involved calculating the frequency of occurrence of these strategies. A sample of 100 expository essays were used. The results reveal transitional markers, frame markers, and code glosses were the most frequently used interactive markers in the academic writing produced by ESL undergraduate students, while evidential and endophoric markers were used less frequently. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating interactive resources and discursive strategies in the teaching of academic writing skills to undergraduate students in an ESL context