Full metadata
Title
Hedges and Boosters in Undergraduate Research Recommendation Letters
Description
Academic recommendation letters are an essential component of institutional gatekeeping practices, yet few scholars have explored their use in the context of nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships. Using a mixed-methods framework, this study uses Hyland’s (2005a) taxonomy to analyze the frequency, form, and function of hedges and boosters across fifty-one recommendation letters submitted for a nationally competitive undergraduate STEM scholarship. Of the eighty-nine terms that occurred in the letters, there were thirty-seven boosting terms and fifty-one hedging terms (41% boosters and 59% hedges). Despite the higher rate of hedges, the majority of these terms were not used to express doubt. Results show that letter writers for prestigious programs use a combination of hedges and boosters alongside their status and expertise within the academy to sponsor promising undergraduate researchers. This study expands our understanding of recommendation letters outside of graduate-level selection processes and answers Hyland’s (2005b) call for more mixed method approaches and use of discourse analysis across academic genres.
Date Created
2021
Contributors
- Salgado, Catherine (Author)
- Prior, Matthew (Thesis advisor)
- Van Gelderen, Elly (Committee member)
- James, Mark A. (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
43 pages
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.161366
Level of coding
minimal
Cataloging Standards
Note
Partial requirement for: M.A., Arizona State University, 2021
Field of study: Applied Linguistics
System Created
- 2021-11-16 12:31:57
System Modified
- 2021-11-30 12:51:28
- 2 years 11 months ago
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