ASSESSING LEARNING CONTROL OF ENGLISH HEDGES AMONG TERTIARY CANTONESE-SPEAKING EFL STUDENTS
Journal Title: European Journal of Business and Social Sciences - Year 2014, Vol 3, Issue 8
Abstract
This project was designed to try to investigate the difficulties EFL learners would have in learning to use hedging as a rhetorical device in academic writing. The participants were 136 native Cantonese-speaking EFL students who enrolled in the one-year course “English for Academic Purposes†offered by a language centre at a university in Hong Kong. Specifically, this paper aimed: 1) to examine whether there was a significant increase in the number of hedges used in the discussion essays written by students at the beginning of a one-year EAP course (the control group) and at mid-course (the experimental group), and 2) to determine whether, in a specific context, the subjects’ use of hedges was appropriate. The measurements for the first purpose included a ranking of hedges, which was modified from Halliday’s (1994) ranking of modal verbs. The measurements for the second purpose entailed frequency counts of hedging errors.
Authors and Affiliations
SIU, Fiona Kwai Peng| PhD in Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University, The ELC, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Hong Kong
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP10505
- DOI -
- Views 358
- Downloads 12
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL PROFICIENCIES THAT ADVANCE THEIR SUCCESS IN A MULTI-CULTURAL COLLEGE IN ISRAEL
The introduction of periphery students into Israeli colleges reflects the government's policy of equality in higher education for minority and underprivileged populations, as well as the growing demand for higher educ...
INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL INNOVATIONS ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF SAVINGS AND CREDIT CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN NYERI COUNTY KENYA
Financial innovations are crucial to sustaining financial performance. The study sought to establish the influence of financial innovations on financial performance of SACCO’s in Nyeri County. This study was guided b...
A MODEL FOR THE RESOLUTION OF ZIMBABWE’S ECONOMIC CRISIS: A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
The critical role of KM in government includes leveraging of knowledge for attaining objectives of productivity and competitiveness of a national economy through social capital competitiveness, leveraging knowledge fo...
COMPETITION OF THIRD SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS IN THE PURSUIT OF SUSTANIBILITY WITHIN THE TURKISH CONTEXT
Third sector organizations - not-for-profits, civil society, charity, foundations, associations, trusts, cooperatives, social enterprises and unions- are now considered among few of the dynamics that can bring social...
AN ANALYSIS ON CUSTOMERS’ SATISFACTION TOWARDS INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
Anew revolution is in the making, similar to the industrial revolution that took place at the turn of the last century. Many economists, management experts and futurists agree that the world has entered the new age of...