A Comparative Study Of Hedges And Boosters In Academic Abstracts Of English And Chinese Dissertation

As two types of interactional metadiscourse, hedges and boosters are extensively used in English academic writing. Hedges are used to signal a tentative assessment of referential information, qualify the writer’s commitment to a proposition, indicate the degree of confidence in a position, thereby creating a space of negotiation. On the other hand, boosters express authorial commitment to a proposition, emphasize certainty about a proposition, and close down alternative viewpoints. Previous literature suggested that appropriate use of hedges and boosters is essential in successful academic writing. Contrastive studies on the use of hedges and boosters have indicated that first language writing conventions may influence how students write in English. In order to explore how Chinese first language experience affects the use of hedges and boosters on English writing, the present study has compared Chinese-authored academic abstract written in Chinese and English, and English academic abstract written by native students. Generally, Chinese writers prefer to use a more direct and assertive tone in expressing positions by using many boosters in their English writing. While, native English students tend to adopt more hedges in theirs. The quantitative data showed that there was a significant difference on the use of hedges and boosters between English native students’ and Chinese students’ English abstracts. However, no difference was found on the use of hedges and boosters between Chinese student’s English abstracts and Chinese abstracts. The following qualitative analysis revealed that principles of language behavior and preferred patterns of academic writing differ enormously between English and Chinese, and such differences may offer some explanations for Chinese students’ use of hedges and boosters in English. The thesis also provides some suggestions for English academic writing. Hopefully, the qualitative analysis in the thesis could be used as referential material in classroom teaching.