11 and claims to later be supported by examples, explanations or previous research in order
to strengthen their propositions or claims. Proposition refers to “sentence or expression
that is either true or false”Neuffer, n.d, para.1. The following are discussion on the
distribution of hedging in the EFL students’ propositions or claims and comments
towards the topic they were writing on.
1. The Use of Hedging in Students ’ Writing
Table 1. Distributions of All Types of Hedges in the S
tudents’ Writing
RESPON DENTS
S
S 1
S 2
S 3
S 4
S 5
S 6
S 7
S 8
S 9
S 10
S 11
S 12
S 13
S 14
S 15
S 16
S 17
S 18
S 19
MAV
MLV
AAMP
A- DFT
I P
I-C
CH
Note. MAV = Modal Auxiliary Verbs; MLV = Modal Lexical Verbs; AAMP = Adverbial, Adjectival, Nominal Modal Phrase; ADFT = Aproximators of Degree, Frequency and Time; IP
= Introductory Phrase; CH = Compound Hedges
As shown in table 1, three types which are, Modal Auxiliary Verbs, Modal Lexical Verbs and Approximators appeared in all of the students’ writing. The
distribution of the rest of types are not even between each students. However, the table shows that all of the students applied at least 4 types of hedges in their writing. The
table also shows that all types of hedges proposed by Salager-Meyer 1997 appeared in the students writing despite of the random distribution within the students writing.
12 The following section discussed further about the use of each type in the students
writing.
Diagram 1. Occurrence Percentage
The data indicate that approximators of degree, frequency and time have the highest percentage, being used in the students writing followed by Modal Auxiliary
Verbs and Modal Lexical verbs in the second and third highest. The other four types were applied in some of the students writing but only less than 10 percent.
1.1 Approximators of Degree, Frequency and Time
Table 2. Distribution of Approximators of Degree, Frequency and Time
Approximators of Degree, Time and
Frequency
Total Occurrence
Many 82
Some 80
Most 14
39.24
23.92 17.42
6.51 5.21
5.21 2.50
Occurrence Percentage
Approximators of Degree, Frequency and Time
Modal Auxiliary verbs Modal Lexical Verbs
Introductory Phrase If Clause
Adverbial, Adjectival, Nominal Modal Phrase
Compound Hedges