Modality Meanings in Student’s Argumentative Writing
Abstract: This paper presents
some exploratory observations on the use of epistemic and deontic modality in a
set of 30 undergraduate students‟ argumentative writing as classified by Nuyts
(2006) and Bybee (1994). It is important to know the students‟ understanding
about when to use these expressions through the use of these epistemic and deontic
modality expressions because by acknowledging the students‟ understanding about
them, we as a teacher will realize that our students do understand the use of
them or they need better perception about modality meanings. Since the way they
apply those expressions in their writing reflect their comprehension about the
actual use of these expressions in the English language and culture and the
indication that the area students need help with. The study finds that in terms
of deontic modality, the students used modality auxiliaries more frequently than
to the use of lexical verbs, adverbs, adjectives or multi word units to show
modality meanings in their writing while in terms of epistemic, they employed
multi word units such as I think, to express modality meaning manymore compared
to other expressions. These findings show that the students do not know
precisely the use and meanings of these expressions so that they continually
use the similar expressions in their writings or in other words because of
their lack information, they ignore the precise use of these expressions.
Therefore, there must be more information about the perceptions of modality
expressions and the different meanings that these expressions carry.
Author: Ribut Surjowati
Journal Code: jppendidikangg160235
