SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF HEDGING IN THESES AND DISSERTATIONS OF ESL STUDENTS IN NORTH-WESTERN UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigates the use of hedging devices in the academic writing of postgraduate students of English as a Second Language (ESL) in selected universities across Northwestern Nigeria, using the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework. The study aimed to identify the types of hedging strategies employed, explore how these strategies are realized through the interpersonal metafunction of language, and examine disciplinary patterns in hedging usage. A qualitative textual analysis design was adopted for the study. A purposively selected corpus of 18 postgraduate theses and dissertations across the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences was analysed. Data were collected from university repositories and library archives and analysed using a coding guide based on Halliday's modality system. The annotated texts were manually coded with the aid of UAM Corpus Tools to identify hedging devices, categorize them by modality type and value, and compute frequency counts across disciplines. Findings revealed that modal verbs (e.g., may, might), adverbs of probability (e.g., possibly, likely), and cognitive verbs (e.g., suggest, believe) were among the most commonly used hedging devices. The realization of hedging through interpersonal metafunctions showed a strategic use of modality, projection, and mood to convey tentativeness and academic caution. Disciplinary differences were also noted, with Humanities texts exhibiting a higher frequency and diversity of hedges compared to Sciences, where more assertive tones were observed. The study concludes that while ESL students show awareness of hedging as a discourse strategy, there is variation in proficiency and usage, necessitating explicit instruction in academic writing pedagogy.