The Effect of Hedging Instruction on Reading Comprehension for Iranian University Students

Abstract

This study examined the effect of explicit instruction of hedging on English for<br />Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) reading comprehension performance of<br />English Language Learning (ELL) university students. A reading comprehension<br />test was developed and validated as the pretest and the posttest. The test, including<br />items for assessing the comprehension of the students in their area of specialization,<br />was administered to 180 undergraduates (B.S.), of whom 100 students were selected<br />and randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. Then, all the<br />participants attended 10 sessions of awareness-raising treatment. During the first 3<br />sessions, the participants in the experimental condition were instructed on the<br />essential meaning of a hedge, as well as the types and functions of hedging devices.<br />The next sessions focused on the practical use of these markers as they appear in<br />academic texts. After the treatment, the test was again given to the same students as<br />the post-test. The results of two t tests and a two-way ANOVA provided empirical<br />support for the facilitative effect of explicit instruction in recognizing hedging<br />devices that improved their language proficiency and therefore improved their<br />reading comprehension scores.