The Frequency and Types of Hedges in Research Article Introductions by Persian and English Native Authors

Abstract

This study examined the types and frequency of hedges employed by Persian and English native speakers in the introduction section of academic research articles in the field of literature. In so doing, a corpus of forty research articles published in national and international journals were randomly selected and analysed through descriptive statistics in terms of frequency. In the introduction section, hedges allow researchers to establish an early niche for their research. The results of the study indicate that English writers are more tentative in putting forward claims and in rejecting or confirming the ideas of others than Persian writers. English native writers used modal auxiliaries, evidential main verbs, adjectives and nouns in RAs more frequently than their Persian native writers’ counterparts. The present findings can be employed to design tasks and materials for teaching writing that focus not only on grammar but also on rhetorical structures and various genres of writing. The study also recommends that as hedges are used differently across languages and non-native authors mostly desire to publish their scholastic writings in prestigious journals, adequate consideration seems necessary to be paid to the descriptions of linguistic and rhetorical devices in English.