English modals as hedges and boosters in academic and journalistic articles

Hashim, Siti Afifah (2023) English modals as hedges and boosters in academic and journalistic articles. Asian Journal of Research in Education and Social Sciences, 5 (3). pp. 373-388. E-ISSN 2682-8502

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Abstract

There has been much focus given on hedges and boosters in academic papers. Hedges and boosters are linguistic devices comprising both grammatical and lexical features and are used to establish direct engagement with the readers. Many studies have come to the conclusion that hedges are used in academic papers to avoid overstatement of claims, a strategy that provides some room for the readers to disagree with the claim made by the writers. Boosters, on the other hand, are linguistic devices used to make the writers’ deliberations sound more assertive, again though in a contrastive vein, a strategy to make readers understand that the claim made is true. This study, using Huffman’s Probability model & Hyland’s Interactional model of Metadiscourse, seeks to examine the use/function of modals as hedges and boosters. Additionally, the study examines the distribution of these hedges and boosters in two different genres; academic and journalistic. Inferential statistics is used to determine if significant differences exist between the two genres in authors' use of modals as hedges and boosters. For the purpose of the analysis, thirty academic articles from TESOL Quarterly and thirty journalistic articles from The Economist were examined. The findings showed boosters are more common in journalistic articles; hedging, on the other, is more prominently used in academic articles.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Modals; Hedges; Boosters; Academic; Journalistic
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PE English
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences > Department of English Language & Literature Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences
Depositing User:	Dr Siti Afifah Hashim
Date Deposited:	30 Jul 2024 12:20
Last Modified:	30 Jul 2024 12:25
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/113493

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