Paraphrasing of Hedged Statements by Thai and Non-Thai EFL Medical Science Graduate Learners

Authors

Worawanna Petchkij, Center for Thai as a Foreign Language, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn UniversityFollow

Publication Date

2023-12-01

Abstract

Studies examining how EFL learners paraphrase hedges in scientific statements are still rare even though how learners use hedges in academic writing has been extensively investigated. This study compared paraphrasing strategies that Thai (TH) and non-Thai (NTH) EFL medical science graduate students used to paraphrase given hedges appearing in hedged scientific statements and the types of hedges occurring in their paraphrased versions after a lesson on paraphrasing and lessons on both paraphrasing and hedging. The results from pretests and posttests administered after the initial paraphrasing lesson and after two lessons combining paraphrasing and hedging, respectively, showed that both TH and NTH groups increased their use of lexical, and to a lesser degree strategic and structural hedges, after two lessons. This could be seen from the higher number of hedges in the TH (x = 19.1) and NTH (x = 19.6) posttests when compared with the TH (x = 15.9) and NTH (x = 14.2) pretests. This combination of lessons, thus, seemed to help raise the studentsʼ awareness of keeping the hedged sense of the original version. The findings of this research suggest that the paraphrasing of hedging in academic writing and possibly other aspects of pragmatic competence can be explicitly taught with a minimal number of lessons.

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.67.1.2

First Page

33

Last Page

65

Recommended Citation

Petchkij, Worawanna (2023) "Paraphrasing of Hedged Statements by Thai and Non-Thai EFL Medical Science Graduate Learners," PASAA: Vol. 67: Iss. 1, Article 2.
DOI: 10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.67.1.2
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/pasaa/vol67/iss1/2