Use of Hedges and Boosters by Undergraduate Turkish ELT Students

Eylül Hürcan; Eda Duruk

doi:10.35207/later.1752946

Use of Hedges and Boosters by Undergraduate Turkish ELT Students

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

Supporting Institution

Pamukkale University

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.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

English As A Second Language , Language Acquisition , Language Studies (Other) , Applied Linguistics and Educational Linguistics

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Eylül Hürcan ^*
0009-0001-1394-2166
Türkiye

Eda Duruk
0000-0001-8564-2456
Türkiye

Publication Date

December 23, 2025

Submission Date

July 28, 2025

Acceptance Date

October 22, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 1970 Volume: 8 Number: 2

DOI

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

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA54RW52PD

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Hürcan, E., & Duruk, E. (2025). Use of Hedges and Boosters by Undergraduate Turkish ELT Students. Language Teaching and Educational Research, 8(2), 124-138. https://doi.org/10.35207/later.1752946