Through complying with disciplinary practices and employing stance features effectively, writers can produce more persuasive texts, start a dialogue with the reader and establish their own authorial self. In order to provide novice writers with knowledge about stance taking in professional writing and also to enhance academic writing research by authentic data on the use and change of stance resources, the present study investigated authorial stance in research articles (RAs) in two professional journals in English language teaching (ELT), TESOL Quarterly and ELT Journal, from 1967 to 2016 based on Hyland's model of academic interaction. With this purpose in mind, three research questions and one hypothesis were put forth to analyze the frequency and functions of stance devices in each decade in 100 RAs and to reveal if there is any pattern in stance taking in ELT. The results of the quantitative analyses demonstrated that in each decade, hedges were by far the most frequent stance device; across five decades hedges were the most frequent and self-mentions the least frequent stance devices and the general pattern was a decrease in the total number of stance devices from each decade to the next one. The results of the qualitative analyses revealed various functions of each category. Finally, based on the qualitative and quantitative analyses, the research hypothesis was rejected and it was concluded that ELT has its own patterns of stance taking which to a large extent resemble the recurrent patterns of social sciences. The findings can foster writing for publication courses and materials as the data from experts' performances could help students understand and use stance resources appropriately in their future writings.
