Information technology students’ metadiscourse:: Boosting and hedging in classroom argumentative debates

Abstract

Despite many empirical studies focusing on English as a second language (L2) learners’ use of different metadiscourse markers in general academic English contexts, a systematic analysis of co-existing discourse strategies of boosting and hedging that contribute substantially to the dynamic flow of conversation in English for specific purposes (ESP) contexts is still missing. Understanding how ESP learners use boosters and hedges in conversation might provide valuable insights into their pragmatic competence. Therefore, this study scrutinizes the functions of boosters and hedges employed by information technology (IT) students in classroom argumentative debates related in content to their discipline. Boosters and hedges were identified and analysed using Sketch Engine. A total of 34 IT students participated in 8 debates in the course English for IT at Brno University of Technology. The whole corpus of the transcribed debates includes 20,052 tokens and 17,016 words. The research results revealed that while boosters were used by IT students to enhance persuasive communication, express stance, and share professional knowledge within their discourse community, hedges were employed to acknowledge the potential gaps in their understanding of the ever-changing nature of IT and mitigate face-threatening acts performed when asserting and rebutting in the debates.Despite many empirical studies focusing on English as a second language (L2) learners’ use of different metadiscourse markers in general academic English contexts, a systematic analysis of co-existing discourse strategies of boosting and hedging that contribute substantially to the dynamic flow of conversation in English for specific purposes (ESP) contexts is still missing. Understanding how ESP learners use boosters and hedges in conversation might provide valuable insights into their pragmatic competence. Therefore, this study scrutinizes the functions of boosters and hedges employed by information technology (IT) students in classroom argumentative debates related in content to their discipline. Boosters and hedges were identified and analysed using Sketch Engine. A total of 34 IT students participated in 8 debates in the course English for IT at Brno University of Technology. The whole corpus of the transcribed debates includes 20,052 tokens and 17,016 words. The research results revealed that while boosters were used by IT students to enhance persuasive communication, express stance, and share professional knowledge within their discourse community, hedges were employed to acknowledge the potential gaps in their understanding of the ever-changing nature of IT and mitigate face-threatening acts performed when asserting and rebutting in the debates.