THE IMPORTANCE OF HEDGING IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Abstract

Academic writing in the English language must comply with certain rules and conventions accepted in the scientific communicative culture. Writers should be careful in expressing their statements and try to soften the claims to avoid being extremely categorical. One of the ways to achieve this is using hedging techniques.  Therefore, teaching hedging strategy should become an obligatory aspect in the development of EFL (English as a foreign language) learners’ academic writing competence. The article presents definitions of hedging from different points of view, the importance of using this strategy and the diversity of hedging. This brief overview of hedging techniques aims to inform novice writing instructors of this indispensable part of academic writing and to highlight the significance of teaching them in academic writing classes.