Hedges and Boosters in Academic Writing: Native vs. Non-Native Research Articles in Applied Linguistics and Engineering
محورهای موضوعی : English Language Teaching (ELT)
1 - University of Tabriz
2 - University of Tabriz
کلید واژه: academic writing, Research Articles, Boosters, Hedges, Doubt and Certainty,
چکیده مقاله :
The expression of doubt and certainty is crucial in academic writing where the authors have to distinguish opinion from fact and evaluate their assertions in acceptable and persuasive ways. Hedges and boosters are two strategies used for this purpose. Despite their importance in academic writing, we know little about how they are used in different disciplines and genres and how foreign language writers present assertions in their writing. This study explores the use of hedges and boosters in the research articles of two disciplines of Electrical Engineering and Applied Linguistics. It further examines the use of hedges and boosters by native and non-native writers of English in these research articles. Based on a corpus of twenty research articles, the overall rhetorical and categorical distribution of hedges and boosters were calculated across four rhetorical sections (Abstract, Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion) of the research articles. The analysis shows that the overall distribution of hedges and boosters in Applied Linguistics articles is higher than Electrical Engineering articles. Moreover, there are significant differences between native and non-native writers in the use of hedges and boosters. These findings may have some implications for the teaching of academic writing especially to EFL learners.
بیان شک واطمینان در مقالات تحقیقی از اهمیت خاصی برخوردار است. به این دلیل که در مقالات نویسندگان باید نظر خود را از واقعیت متمایز کنند و دلایل و توضیحات خود را به شیوه ای قانع کننده و قابل قبول بیان کنند. علی رغم اهمیت این موضوع، تحقیقات زیادی در مورد چگونگی استفاده از ابزارهای بیان شک (Hedges) و اطمینان ((Boosters در رشته های مختلف، گونه های مختلف نوشتاری و مقالات نویسندگان غیرانگلیسی زبان صورت نگرفته است. مطاالعه حاضر می کوشد استفاده از این ابزارها را در مقالات تحقیقی در دو رشته ی مهندسی برق و زبانشناسی کاربردی و مقالات نوشته شده توسط انگلیسی زبانان و ایرانیان به زبان انگلیسی در این دو رشته بررسی کند. به این منظور در بیست مقاله تحقیقی این دو رشته توزیع کلی و بلاغی انواع مختلف این ابزارها در چهار قسمت مقالات (چکیده، مقدمه، بحث و بررسی، و نتیجه گیری) به ازای هر 1000 کلمه محاسبه و مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. نتایج نشان داد که توزیع کلی این ابزارها در مقالات زبانشناسی کاربردی بیشتر از مقالات مهندسی برق است. علاوه بر این تفاوت هایی بین نویسندگان انگلیسی زبان و غیر انگلیسی زبان در استفاده از این ابزارها وجود دارد. یافته های این تحقیق می تواند در تدریس نگارش پیشرفته و زبان تخصصی دردانشگاههای کشورمان مورد استفاده قرار گیرد.
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