| Table of Contents | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract (in Chinese) | 第6-8页 |
| Abstract (in English) | 第8-10页 |
| Introduction | 第10-13页 |
| Chapter One Literature Review | 第13-29页 |
| ·Exploring Pragmatic Competence | 第13-17页 |
| ·The pragmatic component of communicative competence | 第13-15页 |
| ·Definitions of pragmatic competence | 第15-16页 |
| ·The current state of pragmatic teaching in China | 第16-17页 |
| ·General Studies on Hedges | 第17-27页 |
| ·Definitions of hedges | 第17-18页 |
| ·Classifications of hedges | 第18-22页 |
| ·Grammatical classification of hedges | 第18-19页 |
| ·Semantic classification of hedges | 第19-20页 |
| ·Pragmatic classification of hedges | 第20-22页 |
| ·Linguistic realizations of hedges | 第22-25页 |
| ·Hedges as a pragmatic tool | 第25-26页 |
| ·Studies of hedges in China | 第26-27页 |
| ·The Goal of the Present Study | 第27-29页 |
| Chapter Two Theoretical Foundations | 第29-41页 |
| ·Conversational Implicature | 第29-31页 |
| ·The concept of conversational implicature | 第29-30页 |
| ·Hedges and the cancellability of conversational implicature | 第30-31页 |
| ·Hedges and the indeterminacy of conversational implicature | 第31页 |
| ·Cooperative Principle | 第31-36页 |
| ·The four maxims of cooperative principle | 第32页 |
| ·Hedges and the maxims of cooperative principle | 第32-36页 |
| ·Politeness Principle | 第36-41页 |
| ·The concept of politeness principle | 第36-38页 |
| ·Leech’s politeness principle | 第36-37页 |
| ·Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory and FTA | 第37-38页 |
| ·Hedges as a politeness strategy | 第38-41页 |
| Chapter Three An Analysis of Hedges from a Pragmatic Perspective | 第41-74页 |
| ·Purpose | 第41页 |
| ·Data Collection and Method of Analysis | 第41-44页 |
| ·Results and Discussion | 第44-74页 |
| ·Hedges in textbooks | 第44-57页 |
| ·Adaptors | 第45-48页 |
| ·Rouders | 第48-49页 |
| ·Plausible shields | 第49-53页 |
| ·Attribute shields | 第53-57页 |
| ·Hedges in students’compositions | 第57-74页 |
| ·An overview of hedges in the compositions | 第58-61页 |
| ·The difference among students’ability to use hedges | 第61-64页 |
| ·The types of hedges in the compositions | 第64-67页 |
| ·Problems in using hedges in the compositions | 第67-71页 |
| ·Frequency of modal auxiliaries in the compositions | 第71-74页 |
| Chapter Four Pedagogical Implications | 第74-80页 |
| ·Changing the Attitude Towards Pragmatic Competence | 第74-76页 |
| ·Improving Cultural Awareness | 第76-77页 |
| ·Some Requirements for English Teachers | 第77-80页 |
| Conclusion | 第80-82页 |
| Appendix | 第82-88页 |
| Bibliography | 第88-92页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第92-93页 |
| 攻读硕士学位期间发表的学术论文 | 第93页 |
