Abstract

This study aims to explore the use of hedging devices by female Saudi students in academic writing by analyzing the frequency, reasons for, and nature of their hedging devices choices in argumentative essays. To this end, sixty-four samples of writings by female Saudi EFL university students of King Saud University were thoroughly analyzed in light of the students’ culture-based isolation. This isolation is believed to influence the students’ linguistic choices. The results of this study reveal that hedging emerges as a prominent feature of female written language, albeit to variable extents. Further, it shows that Saudi female students’ social status, generally seen as isolated, influences the frequency and choice of hedging devices in academic writing.