USING HEDGES IN WRITTEN AND SPOKEN DISCOURSES

Abstract

The article discusses the use of hedges in written and spoken discourses and explains their importance in academic and everyday communication. Hedging is explained as a linguistic device that can help speakers and writers to express politeness, caution, and uncertainty when presenting opinions and claims. The article describes the origin and historical development of the concept of hedging, definitions, and classifications of hedging proposed by different researchers. Moreover, this article analyzes the research done by native and non-native English writers on the use of hedging devices in academic writing and suggests the necessity of teaching hedging strategies to EFL learners. Gender and cultural influences are also discussed in the article. The article concludes that hedging plays an important role in polite communication and academic writing and considers the need to introduce a hedging strategy into English language teaching in Uzbekistan.