A Corpus-based Study On Hedges In Chinese English Major Students’ Spoken English

The Thesis aims to explore into the use of hedges in spoken English by Chinese English major students in comparison with that of native speakers.Based on two sampled corpora,BNC-S and SECCL-S,the study adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods.With the help of software like Anctonc,Foxpro and SPSS,those hedges appearing in two corpora are analyzed in terms of frequencies,types and distributions.The findings show that:(1)Chinese English major students use hedges more frequently in spoken language than native speakers do,especially several items like think and very,while the number of hedge types is far fewer than that in BNC-S.Through the analysis of top 20 items in two corpora,it is found out that the distribution of hedges in SECCL-S is more concentrated.(2)Within each category,there are also differences in the use of different groups between Chinese English major students and native speakers,like in the use of modal auxiliaries.(3)Chinese English major students use some items improperly.The possible reasons are various,including transfer from mother language,lack of guidance,poor language proficiency,etc.The research can help improve Chinese English major students’ ability of using hedges in spoken English.It can raise students’ awareness of using hedges correctly.What’s more,the findings of the study can be used in the teaching of hedges,making students’ propositions more objective,more euphemistic and more polite.