Abstract

Hedges, which signal writers' tentative assessments of referential information, were added to a passage from both a science and a social studies textbook. The hedges appeared in either personal or impersonal voice; in the first half, second half, or both halves of the passages; and in either a low-intensity condition or a high-intensity condition. A measure of what subjects learned from reading the passages showed that they learned most when the hedges appeared in personal voice, the second half of a passage, and low intensity. Some extensions of the implications of this work to practices in composition classes—particularly practices of evaluating whether or not material should be hedged—are recommended in order to broaden students' critical-thinking abilities and their views of language.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1988-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088388005002004
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Written Communication
  5. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Show all 7 →
  1. Rhetoric Review
  2. Written Communication

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