Hedging devices in applied linguistics research papers: Do gender and nativeness matter?

Abstract The present study aims at investigating the impact of gender and being native and non-native on the use of hedging devices in the discussion part of Applied Linguistics research papers written by native English/non-native (Iranian) male and female research writers. To this end, 60 Applied Linguistic research papers (15 for each group of research writers) were investigated based on Salager-Meyer, Françoise. 1994. Hedges and textual communicative function in medical English written discourse. English for Specific Purposes 13(2). 149–170 taxonomy. The results of Chi-square analyses indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between male and female research writers in terms of the frequency of use of hedging devices adopted in the discussion part of the research papers in the realm of Applied Linguistics. Moreover, the results of the study showed that the discussion parts of Applied Linguistics research papers written by male and female native English research writers were more hedged than those written by their Iranian counterparts. The pedagogical and implications of the findings are dealt with in the discussion and conclusion sections of the study.