This study attempted to scrutinize the disciplinary and cross-disciplinary generic variations of textbook introductions in humanities and basic sciences with reference to the onion model. The data included a sample of 60 introductions (i.e. ten each from applied linguistics, sociology, and psychology within humanities, and ten each from biology, agriculture, and geology within basic sciences). Humphrey and Economou’s (2015) onion model of discourse analysis was adopted, and MAXQDA 10 software of qualitative analysis was used for coding. The findings revealed similarities and differences not only within but also between the two disciplines, which can be attributed to the nature of disciplines as well as the generically accepted conventions in each discipline. Moreover, the results of the study highlighted the predominance of descriptive and analytical phases in textbook introductions not only in isolation but also in establishing more complicated genres like persuasion and critique. The study highlights the importance of teaching which is concerned with learners' rhetorical consciousness-raising of the disciplines as well as the discipline-specific lexico-grammatical features in expert texts.

The present study aimed at investigating the persuasive role of metadiscourse markers in an Iranian newspaper advertisement headlines; say, Hamshari. To achieve the afore-mentioned purpose, the study adopted Fuertes-Olivera, et. al. (2001)s framework of pragmatic elements of advertising which is, in turn, adapted based on Jakobsonian communication model of the advertising discourse, and Fuertes-Olivera et al. (2001)s framework suggesting different functions of metadiscourse in advertising English. The selected examples showed that while textual metadiscourse helps addressees to interpret headlines within the constraints of genre and epistemology, interpersonal metadiscourse provides a kind of balance between informing and persuading the addressees. Moreover, the findings indicated a variety of metadiscourse strategies used by the advertisers in order to persuade prospective customers, including person markers, hedges, emphatics, endophoric markers and evidents. Regarding pedagogical implications, the present study attempted to broaden the pragmatics of advertising discourse and to stress the important role of metadiscourse in EFL courses.