| This study explored to what extent non-scientists and scientists share perceptions of hedging (linguistic elements expressing uncertainty, such as probably, typical, potential). Interdisciplinary background is included on the hedging controversy, hedging taxonomies, and the roles of hedging in science discourse and public policy decisions about environmental issues.; Perception, recognition, and comprehension of hedging by Pacific Island college students in a non-majors biology course were studied on Guam. First, the students judged how reliable, scientific, and persuasive passages were. In one measure of perception, 119 students and 11 science faculty read contrasting pairs of hedged and unhedged passages. The student perceptions of hedging did not match those of the discourse community that instructs them. While the scientists uniformly associated hedging with being more scientific, less than half the students did. Most scientists regarded a hedged passage as also the more reliable, whereas less than half the students did. However, scientists preferred the unhedged text as more persuasive; students were equally divided on persuasiveness.; Second, when 102 other students rated separate hedged or unhedged passages, they often ignored the presence or absence of tentative language, responding with their personal beliefs or requesting more information. Third, although students who read paired passages perceived the difference in the tone (pragmatic force) of each, when 80 of these students marked each tentative expression on the same passages, they recognized on read paired passages perceived the difference in the tone (pragmatic force) of each, when 80 of these students marked each tentative expression on the same passages, they recognized on average half. Finally, the responses of 54 students to the comprehension questions on other passages were affected by authors' use of tentative language.; Results were interpreted in terms of systemic-functional grammar which views a written text as a social act: patterns of usage only have meaning when related to a community's norms of usage. This broad perspective is particularly important in teaching science literacy and environmental issues because tentative language in scientific text is a vital but poorly understood link between scientific knowledge and public policymaking. Scientific norms for the role of hedging in research findings and testimonies require attention in English, Science, English for Special Purposes (ESP), English for Science and Technology (EST), and Academic English (AE) courses from junior high school through university. |
