Linguistic and Axiological Aspects of a Student’s Review as a Genre of Academic Discourse

Abstract

The paper focuses on the structure and content as well as linguistic and axiological aspects of students’ reflective essays on their studies at university. The research has revealed that those essays can be referred to as hybrid genre as far as they combine the features of acknowledgments, reviews and reflective essays. The addressees could be particular teachers, a particular Department of the University as a whole. The essays are an amalgam of specific evaluative meanings as well as common evaluations manifested by single lexemes, word groups or even whole utterances, with ethical and teleological evaluations being dominant among them. Students characterize positively their teachers’ contribution, their (teachers’) personal and professional characteristics. In 100% of the essays, teacher professionalism is noted to play a considerable role together with an opportunity to engage in research and conclusions concerning students’ own personal growth and professional development.