Use of Hedges and Boosters by Undergraduate Turkish ELT Students

Year 2025, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 124 - 138, 23.12.2025

Eylül Hürcan , Eda Duruk

https://doi.org/10.35207/later.1752946

Abstract

Hedges and boosters are important indicators of writer’s proficiency. Hedges are typically defined as acting uncertainly, politely, and indirectly, while boosters are typically used to show a degree of certainty in statements. The study aims to examine the use of hedges and boosters by analyzing a sample of first-year Turkish ELT students’ paragraphs. A mixed method was employed in this research. For quantitative analysis, the frequency and percentage of hedges and boosters in paragraphs were calculated, and Hyland's (1998a) classification of hedges and boosters was used, while for qualitative analysis, form-based categorization of hedges and boosters was analyzed, and the same table that was categorized according to their part of speech was used. Findings indicated that the number of boosters was nearly three times greater than the number of hedges. May is the most frequently used hedge, while "should" is the most commonly used booster in the paragraphs. Noun categories were not used in both hedges and boosters.

Keywords

hedges , boosters , first-year ELT students , L2 writing.

Ethical Statement

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Pamukkale University (Approval No: 68282350/2025/02, Date: 05/02/2025). All participants provided informed consent.

Supporting Institution

Pamukkale University

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