© 1988 by Oxford University Press
Articles |
The care and maintenance of hedges
John Skelton has worked in Spain and London, as British Council Director of Studies in Oman, and for the National University of Singapore. Since 1984 he has worked at the Language Studies Unit, Aston University, Birmingham, where he has been Director of Studies since 1985.
The notion of hedging dates back to Lakoff (1972), but its nature and its consequences for English Language Teaching are not well understood. This article offers a description of the term and of some of its difficulties, and suggests a distinction between proposition and comment as a clarification of some of the problems. It then outlines some of the ways in which an understanding of commentative language are important in the ELT classroom, and suggests ways in which this understanding can be fostered.