______________________________________________________________ DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/birle.v3i3.1184 1353 Iranian EFL Learners’ Use of Metadiscourse Markers in Argumentative Writing Mostafa Rahimi Rad Allameh Tabatabai`e University, Tehran, Iran educationrad@gmail.com I. Introduction Metadiscourse is extremely important when it comes to structuring a connection between writer and reader when it comes to academic writing. It makes communication between the writer and the reader more powerful. Metadiscourse markers are linguistic elements that offer a way of understanding language in use. Hence, these elements guide the sort of relation between the sender and the receiver of a text. These markers play a significant role in establishing the relation between the writer and the reader or the speaker and the listener. Writing is the productive skill in which almost all types of writers‟ competence are manifested. Schiffrin (1980) states that metadiscourse is the linguistic ability of the author as well as his rhetorical manifestation in the text. Such a Linguistic ability and rhetorical manifestation of the writer is the realization of both the linguistic competence and communicative competence. Writing is a skill that is grounded in the cognitive domain. It involves learning, comprehension, application and synthesis of new knowledge. From a faculty member‟s perspective, writing well entails more than adhering to writing conventions. Writing also encompasses creative inspiration, problem-solving, reflection and revision that results in a completed manuscript. From a student‟s perspective, writing may instead be a laborious and Abstract This paper is an attempt to investigate the EFL Iranian learners` use of metadiscourse markers in argumentative writing. The participants of the study are 40 students both male and female. To produce the relevant data, participants were given a pretest of writing ability to check their initial knowledge use of metadiscourse markers. Finally, a post test assessing their writing ability with metadiscourse markers was administered. Writing is a social activity and it is supposed as an important factor of literacy in society despite being mastered in English, students from different cultures and with different first languages seem to be different in developing writing texts. Metadiscourse markers enable the writers to interact with the readers effectively. The findings revealed that both male and female writers employed more interactive markers than interactional markers due to the fact that both genders inserted transition markers frequently to guide readers through the texts. The findings indicated generally that instruction of metadiscourse markers significantly improves EFL learners’ writing ability of advanced students. The Teachers pay more attention to metadiscourse markers in making EFL curricula. Then they ask for the reinforcement of metadiscourse markers through instruction in EFL courses for the improvement of the learners' writing ability. Keywords metadiscourse; metadiscourse markers; writing ability; language proficiency; instruction; gender