Detail publikace

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

ELLEDEROVÁ, E.

Originální název

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

Typ

článek v časopise ve Web of Science, Jimp

Jazyk

angličtina

Originální abstrakt

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.

Klíčová slova

IT students; classroom debates; boosters; hedges; pragmatic competence

Autoři

ELLEDEROVÁ, E.

Vydáno

1. 1. 2025

Nakladatel

University of Belgrade and Serbian Association for the Study of English

Místo

Serbia

ISSN

2334-9050

Periodikum

ESP Today-Journal of English for Specific Purposes at Tertiary Level

Ročník

13

Číslo

1

Stát

Srbská republika

Strany od

134

Strany do

155

Strany počet

22

URL

https://doi.fil.bg.ac.rs/volume.php?pt=journals&issue=esptoday-2025-13-1&i=7

Plný text v Digitální knihovně

http://hdl.handle.net/11012/250733

BibTex

@article{BUT189357,
  author="Eva {Ellederová}",
  title="Information technology students’ metadiscourse:: Boosting and hedging in classroom argumentative debates",
  journal="ESP Today-Journal of English for Specific Purposes at Tertiary Level",
  year="2025",
  volume="13",
  number="1",
  pages="134--155",
  doi="10.18485/esptoday.2025.13.1.7",
  issn="2334-9050",
  url="https://doi.fil.bg.ac.rs/volume.php?pt=journals&issue=esptoday-2025-13-1&i=7"
}