Interactive Metadiscourse Markers in Turkish Primary School Textbooks (Grades 1-5) Used for Mother Tongue Education in Kosovo

Abstract

This study examines the use of interactive metadiscourse markers in Turkish primary school textbooks (Grades 1-5) used for mother-tongue education in Kosovo. The dataset comprises 208 reading texts, which were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach based on Hyland’s (2005) Interpersonal Model of Metadiscourse. The findings show that transitions constitute the most frequently used interactive category across all grade levels, a pattern that may be associated with the agglutinative nature of Turkish, in which suffixes contribute to signalling logical relations. Endophoric markers and evidentials, by contrast, occur only rarely in the dataset. The frequency of interactive metadiscourse generally increases from the first to the fifth grade, suggesting a gradual progression towards more reader-oriented discourse. Nevertheless, the decline observed between the fourth- and fifth-grade textbooks points to potential inconsistencies in the developmental sequencing of metadiscourse resources. These findings highlight the importance of interactive metadiscourse in textbook design and offer practical implications for textbook authors, curriculum developers, and educators seeking to support reading comprehension and discourse competence.