A Study on Pragmatic Functions of Hedges Applied by College English Teachers in the Class

The concept of "hedge" is put forward by George Lakoff in 1972. It refers to "words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy". Many scholars have studied this phenomenon from both semantic and pragmatic perspectives. Hedges played an important role in communication and their semantic features and pragmatic functions were unique and irreplaceable. From the available relevant literature at home and abroad, however, it is found that little work has been undertaken concerning the hedges actually used in classroom teaching despite the prevalence of hedging. From the pragmatic perspective, this thesis carries on a study of the employment of hedges by college English teachers in the classroom. It aims to present a general situation of hedges used in classroom discourses and explore their pragmatic functions. This study hopes to deepen and further the research of hedges, and draw attention to hedges used in classroom communication. It sheds light on how English teachers use hedges to achieve their communicative goals in classroom teaching, and contributes to a better application of hedging devices to teach effectively.