LEXICAL BUNDLES IN L1 AND L2 ENGLISH DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22190/JTESAP2103475Y

Abstract

Based on contrastive interlanguage analysis, this study explores the usage of lexical bundles occurring in doctoral dissertations produced in the English language related studies in the USA by L1 American English speakers and in Turkey by Turkish speakers of English in the last ten years between 2010-2019. In our analysis of the data, we identified a significant number of types of 4-word bundles from both corpora from a structural and functional perspective. The findings regarding the types of lexical bundles and their structural and functional dispersions revealed significant differences between the two corpora. While L1 English writers refrained from heavily utilizing formulaic sequences, the opposite could be observed in the works of L2 English authors. This study has significant implications for academic writers producing work in the English language since corpus-informed lists and concordances might be of great help to L2 speakers of English in identifying appropriate lexical bundles that are specific to their disciplines.

Author Biographies

  • Ilyas Yakut, Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University

    Dr. Ilyas YAKUT has received his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Erciyes University, Turkey. He is a member of the teaching staff at the Department of English Language and Literature, Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University. His research interest areas cover Applied Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics and Pragmatics.

  • Fatma Yuvayapan, Kahramanmaraş İstiklal University

    Asst. Prof. Fatma Yuvayapan works in the department of Translation and Interpreting at Kahramanmaras Istiklal University, Turkey. She has studies on English language teaching, pragmatics, and corpus linguistics. She earned her MA on professional development and held a PhD degree on corpus linguistics with a specific reference to academic writing.

  • Erdogan Bada, Cukurova University

    Prof. Erdogan BADA has received his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Exeter, UK. He is a member of the teaching staff of the ELT Department of the Faculty of Education, Çukurova University, and currently, is the Dean of the Faculty of Education, and Vice-Rector of Hakkari University. His interest areas cover Applied Linguistics, EFL and English Language Teacher Training. He has published several research articles in various journals including Journal of Pragmatics and ELT Journal.

References

Anthony, L. (2019). AntConc (Version 3.5.8) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software

Biber, D., & Barbieri, F. (2007). Lexical bundles in university spoken and written registers. English for Specific Purposes, 26(3), 263-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2006.08.003

Biber, D. (2006). Stance in spoken and written university registers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5(2), 97-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2006.05.001

Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, genre and style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Biber, D., & Gray, B. (2010). Challenging stereotypes about academic writing: Complexity, elaboration, explicitness. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9(1), 2-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2010.01.001

Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Cortes, V. (2004). If you look at…: Lexical bundles in university teaching and textbooks. Applied Linguistics, 25(3), 371-405. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/25.3.371

Biber, D., Johanston, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., &Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Edinburg: Pearson Education.

Burke, S. B. (2010). The construction of writer identity in the academic writing of Korean ESL students: A qualitative study of six Korean students in the U.S. (Doctoral Dissertation). Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.

Bychkovska, T., & Lee, J. J. (2017). At the same time: Lexical bundles in L1 and L2 university student argumentative writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 30(1), 38-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.10.008

Byrd, P., & Coxhead, A. (2010). On the other hand: Lexical bundles in academic writing and in the teaching of EAP. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 5(5), 31-64.

Chen, Y.H. & Baker, P. (2010). Lexical bundles in L1 and L2 academic writing. Language Learning & Technology, 14(2), 30-49. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/ vol14num2/chenbaker.pdf

Cortes, V. (2004). Lexical bundles in published and student disciplinary writing: Examples from history and biology. English for Specific Purposes, 23(4), 397-423.

Demirel, E. T., & Hesamoddin, S. A. (2013). Lexical bundles in research article acknowledgments: A corpus comparison. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 28(28-2), 457-468.

Dontcheva-Navratilova, O. (2012). Lexical bundles in academic texts by non-native speakers. Brno Studies in English, 38(2), 37-58. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/126942

Genç, B., & Bada, E. (2010). English as a world language in academic writing. The Reading Matrix, 10(2), 142-151. Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/sept_2010

Granger, S. (1996). From CA to CIA and back: An integrated contrastive approach to computerized bilingual and learner corpora. In K. Aijmer, B. Altenberg& M. Johansson (Eds.), Languages in contrast. Text-based cross-linguistic studies (pp. 37-51). Lund: Lund University Press.

Güngör, F. (2016). Cross linguistic analysis of lexical bundles in L1 English, L2 English and L1 Turkish research articles (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Gazi University, Ankara.

Güngör, F., & Uysal, H. H. (2016). A comparative analysis of lexical bundles used by native and non-native Scholars. English Language Teaching, 9(6), 176-188.

Hewings, M., &Hewings, A. (2002). “It is interesting to note that…”: a comparative study of anticipatory ‘it’ in student and published writing. Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 21(4), 367-383. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(01)00016-3

Hyland, K. (2002). Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(8), 1091-1112. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00035-8

Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary interactions: Metadiscourse in L2 postgraduate writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(2), 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2004.02.001

Hyland, K. (2008a). Academic clusters: Text patterning in published and postgraduate writing. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 18(1), 41-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2008.00178.x

Hyland, K. (2008b). As can be seen: Lexical bundles and disciplinary variation. English for Specific Purposes, 27(1), 4-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2007.06.001

Hyland, K. (2012). Bundles in academic discourse. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 32(1), 150-169. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190512000037

Hyland, K., & Jiang, F. K. (2018). Academic lexical bundles: How are they changing? International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 23(4), 383-407. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.17080.hyl

Karabacak, E., & Qin, J. (2013). Comparison of lexical bundles used by Turkish, Chinese, and American university students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 622-628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.101

Liu, L., & Li, L. (2016). Noun phrase complexity in EFL academic writing: a corpus-based study of postgraduate academic writing. Journal of Asia TEFL, 13(1), 1-71.

Loewen, S., & Plonsky, L. (2016). An A-Z of applied linguistics research methods. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lu, X., & Deng, J. (2019). With the rapid development: A contrastive analysis of lexical bundles in dissertation abstracts by Chinese and L1 English doctoral students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 39, 21-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.03.008

Murray, M., & Moore, S. (2006). The handbook of academic writing. Berkshire: Open University Press.

Muşlu, M. (2018). Use of stance lexical bundles by Turkish and Japanese EFL learners and native English speakers in academic writing. Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, 17(4), 1319-1337.

Nesi, H., & Basturkmen, H. (2006). Lexical bundles and discourse signalling in academic lectures. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 11(3), 283-304. https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.17.03nes

Pan, F., Reppen, R. &Biber, D. (2016). Comparing patterns of L1 versus L2 academic professionals: Lexical bundles in Telecommunications research journals. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 21(1), 60-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.11.003

Pang, W. (2010). Lexical bundles and the construction of an academic voice: A pedagogical perspective. Asian EFL Journal, 47(1), 10-11.

Parkinson, J., & Musgrave, J. (2014). Development of noun phrase complexity in the writing of English for Academic Purposes students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 14, 48-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.12.001

Salazar, D. (2014). Lexical bundles in native and non-native scientific writing: Applying a corpus-based study to language teaching. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Shin, Y. K. (2019). Do native writers always have a head start over nonnative writers? The use of lexical bundles in college students’ essays. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 40, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2019.04.004

Shin, Y. K., Cortes, V., & Yoo, I. W. (2018). Using lexical bundles as a tool to analyze definite article use in L2 academic writing: An exploratory study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 39, 29-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.09.004

Wright, H. R. (2019). Lexical bundles in stand-alone literature reviews: Sections, frequencies, and functions. English for Specific Purposes, 54, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.09.001

Downloads

Published

2021-05-09

Issue

Section

Articles