A Study On The Development Of Hedges By Chinese EFL Learners

Hedges are an important rhetorical strategy in English academic writing.It can not only avoid absolute expression,but also play a role in protecting the authors.More importantly,the use of hedges makes the tone of the article fair and objective.Based on the classification of hedges by Prince et al.,Hyland and Varttala,the use of lexical hedges and non-lexical hedges used by Chinese EFL learners will be explored.Based on the self-built corpus of Chinese EFL learners at different levels and the authors of international journals,this thesis explores the overall use and development characteristics of hedges by Chinese EFL learners at the beginning level,intermediate level and advanced level in academic writing,and analyzes the factors that may have influenced the use of hedges by Chinese EFL learners.The results show that:(1)the overall frequency of hedges used by Chinese EFL learners is significantly lower than that of the authors of international journals;the frequency of hedges used by Chinese EFL learners at different levels is significantly lower than that of the authors of international journals.Furthermore,the frequency of hedges used by Chinese EFL learners gradually increases with the improvement of their English level.(2)From the perspective of lexical hedges,the frequency and types of lexical hedges used by Chinese EFL learners at different levels are lower than those used by the authors of international journals;the frequency of cognitive verbs and cognitive adjectives used by EFL learners gradually increases with the improvement of English level;the most common lexical hedges used by English learners at different levels and the authors of international journals are cognitive nouns.In terms of the use of non-lexical hedges,the frequency of non-lexical hedges used by Chinese EFL learners at different levels is significantly lower than that of the authors of international journals.In addition,Chinese EFL learners are more likely to use the passive voice in academic paper writing,while the authors of international journals tend to use the first person pronoun.(3)The complexity of hedges,native language transfer,language competence of EFL learners may affect the use of hedges by Chinese EFL learners.By comparing and analyzing the use of hedges in the academic writing of Chinese EFL learners at different levels,it can be helpful to understand the current acquisition situation of their hedges and find out the problems in their use of hedges.The proper use of hedges in academic writing can not only soften the tone,but also achieve the effect of precise language.Therefore,it is hoped that the findings in this study can help Chinese EFL learners improve their awareness of using hedges and their ability to properly use hedges in academic writing.