ATS1340 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES WORKBOOK 1 ISSUE 4 | Page 11

Highlight/underline the hedging words/phrases in the following passage:
This paper argues that the persistence of these and similar clichés or rhetorical tropes (Jay 1993) in
discourse of technology enhanced learning [TEL], particularly at tertiary level, suggest an exaggerated
endorsement of TEL, especially information communication technology [ICT], in university teaching and
learning [T/L]. Indeed, in some overly enthusiastic quarters, I suspect that a questionable conflation of
medium or mode and educational content might also be occurring. In other words, it might be the case that
increasingly in educational contexts, technology and its use becomes an end-in-itself. This has quite
profound implications. Learning becomes simply the setting for the use of technology. Knowledge (reduced
in this setting to information/data) becomes simply the “stuff” to facilitate the acquisition of technological
skills and their practice. Based on this, as educators, we need to be vigilant about claims made as to the
pressing need to base teaching and learning practices on ICT. I think we also need to question “education
revolutions” that propose ICT as the golden key that opens the door to the educational Promised Land.
Claims and promises such as these should be viewed with care and even suspicion.

What is the overall effect of re-adding the hedging and modality to these sentences? Is it
possible to hedge too much?
Which of the following sentences has been hedged, require or could benefit from
modality/hedging?
1. The humanities seek to draw out meaning in human life (Weber, in Smith, 1989), and in the
relationships between human beings, their society, cultures, and their environment.
2. Through quantitative analysis, “falsifiable” (Popper, in Thornton, 2009) scientific theories are
tested, so that they build up a coherent picture of the nature and processes of physical
reality.
3. The social and personal value systems that the Arts study are variable and non-replicable.
4. In contrast, it may appear that scientists, following rigorous methodologies, may separate
personal bias from their research (Smith, 1989).
5. With the self-evaluating nature of Arts inquiry, there is some danger that reflection can be
too far removed from empirical reality.
6. There is a common perception among the public that liberal arts education lacks relevance
in a knowledge economy.

Read the following passage and underline any attitude markers and/or boosters:
To sum up discussion of our findings, obviously, while not all informants were positive in their response to
the minimalist reading model, importantly, those who were acknowledged it mainly as an aid to greater
comprehension of the issues in the readings and of the lecture themes. To this extent, we feel the trial of

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