| Chapter One Introduction | 第1-15页 |
| ·Background of the Study | 第11-12页 |
| ·The Rationale of the Study | 第12-13页 |
| ·The Purpose of the Study | 第13-14页 |
| ·Outline of the Thesis | 第14-15页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第15-37页 |
| ·Definitions of Hedging and Hedge | 第15-16页 |
| ·Linguistic Approaches to Hedging and Hedge | 第16-30页 |
| ·Hedging as a Semantic Phenomenon with an Ideational Function | 第17-24页 |
| ·Hedging as a Pragmatic Phenomenon with an Interpersonal Function | 第24-30页 |
| ·The Working Definition of Hedging and Hedge in This Study | 第30-31页 |
| ·Hedging in Academic Writing | 第31-35页 |
| ·Motivation for Using Hedges | 第32-33页 |
| ·Functions of Hedges | 第33-35页 |
| ·Related Empirical Studies of Hedging in Academic Writing | 第35-37页 |
| Chapter Three Research Methodology | 第37-41页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第37页 |
| ·The Corpora Used in This Study | 第37-38页 |
| ·Procedures for Data Collection | 第38-41页 |
| ·Determining the Search Items as Hedges | 第39页 |
| ·Identification of Hedges in the Two Corpora | 第39-41页 |
| Chapter Four Results and Discussion | 第41-65页 |
| ·Overall Frequency of Hedges in the Two Corpora | 第41-42页 |
| ·Distribution of the Various Hedges in the Two Corpora | 第42-62页 |
| ·Modal Auxiliaries | 第42-49页 |
| ·Epistemic Verbs | 第49-53页 |
| ·Epistemic Adverbs and Adjectives | 第53-59页 |
| ·Epistemic Nouns | 第59-62页 |
| ·Possible Factors Affecting Chinese EFL Learners' Use of Hedging | 第62-65页 |
| ·Complexity of Hedging | 第62-63页 |
| ·Absence of Guidance or Misguidance of ESP Materials | 第63页 |
| ·Cultural Differences between English and Chinese | 第63页 |
| ·Poor Language Proficiency | 第63-65页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第65-73页 |
| ·Major Findings of the Study | 第65-66页 |
| ·Pedagogical Implication | 第66-72页 |
| ·Raising Awareness of Hedging in ESP Classroom | 第66-69页 |
| ·Guidance Hedging Use in Writing Process | 第69-70页 |
| ·Focus on High Frequency Items | 第70-71页 |
| ·Teaching Hedging with Reference to the Chinese Language | 第71页 |
| ·Improving Pragmatic Competence | 第71-72页 |
| ·Limitations and Suggestions for Further Study | 第72-73页 |
| Publications | 第73-74页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第74-75页 |
| References | 第75-79页 |
| Appendix | 第79-81页 |
| Resume | 第81页 |
