Arina Yuliarti, 0203514098 (2016) HEDGES IN CLASSROOM SPEECHES BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDENTS IN GRADUATE PROGRAM OF SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY. Masters thesis, Pascasarjana.

Preview

PDF Download (205kB) | Preview

Abstract

Learning English as a second language means to learn to communicate in it. Students are expected to be able to communicate using it correctly and properly so that what they want to express can be delivered smoothly. In certain situation, the utterances produced by the students need to be hedged in order to soften and weaken those utterances. For example, in classroom speech in which they are delivering materials in front of the class, the students’ utterances need to be accepted by their fellow classmates. This study was conducted to analyse the ways the students use hedges during their classroom speeches. This study aimed at analysing the forms and functions of the hedges, the way students use the forms and functions of the hedges, and the factors which might constrain the use of the hedges. The subjects of this study were advanced learners. The subjects were 15 students of graduate program majoring in English language education in Semarang State University. Their classroom speeches were recorded to be the source of the data. The recordings were transcribed into text data so that the hedges in their utterances could be identified. There were three analyses in this study: form of hedges analysis, function of hedges analysis, and factor constraining the use of the hedges during their classroom speeches. Based on the findings, it could be identified that the students hedged their sentences in classroom speeches frequently. In average, students hedged around 58% of entire sentences they created. Seven forms and four functions of hedges were used by the students effectively and significantly. The students mainly hedged their sentences using appoximator, introductory phrase, and modal-auxiliary verb forms. The most often used function of the hedges was plausibility shields and followed by attributive shields in which they softened their attitude toward the sentences they created during classroom speeches. It could also be identified that there were five factors which might constrain the use of the hedges during their classroom speeches.

Actions (login required)

View Item