International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 9 (2), June 2015; 35‐52 Hosseini, Sh., & Mayahi, N EISSN: 2289‐2737 & ISSN: 2289‐3245 www.ijllalw.org 35 A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF CODE GLOSSES IN INTERNATIONAL AND IRANIAN NEWSPAPERS Shahla Hosseini Khouzestan Department of Education and Training shahla.news@gmail.com Nadia Mayahi Sama Technical and Vocational Training College, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr Branch, Mahshahr, Iran Email: nadiamayahi@yahoo.com ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify how code glosses are distributed according to cross-cultural or cross-linguistic preferences and explore the role they play in the construction and attainment of persuasion. For this reason, 240 opinion columns of three Persian newspapers (IRAN, Hamshahri and Ettelaat) and two English ones (NewYork Times and Independent) were selected. Then code glosses were highlighted in the texts and classified based on the Dafouz-Milne' (2008) taxonomy of meta-discourse markers. Findings revealed that code glosses are present in English and Persian newspapers' opinion columns, but there are variations as to the distribution. In addition, two groups of informants were used in order to discover how these markers operate as a persuasive mechanism in English and Persian texts. For the Iranian informants, the text with a high number of these markers and for the English informants, the text with a balanced number of these markers was considered as the most persuasive texts. Results showed that English and Persian informants chose the most persuasive texts according to their cultural preferences. The results are useful for columnists because in order to convince their audience, they should present the propositional material in a way that the audience find more convincing. KEYWORDS: Code glosses; persuasion; cross-cultural; cross-linguistic INTRODUCTION In each written genre, writers try to guide and direct readers through the text. Some genres have a wide audience, and among them are newspapers especially the opinion column. So columnists try to present their writings in such a way that they persuade readers to share the writer's views and reflect the particular conventions that are followed in a given culture by certain features. These features are called metadiscourse markers. Code glosses - a kind of metadiscourse marker - help readers to comprehend the text better. Code glosses explain, rephrase, expand, or exemplify propositional content. Overall, they reflect the writer's expectations about the audience. They include parentheses, punctuation devices, reformulators, and exemplifiers (Hyland, 2007, p.3). Although the presence and function of metadiscourse markers have been examined in a number