A Corpus Based Contrastive Analysis Of Anticipatory It-Clause In English And Chinese Linguistics Academic Writing

Academic writing is an important social engagement through which writers use various interpersonal devices to build a relationship with their readers and persuade them to accept their views or research findings. This study adopts a corpus-based analysis to study the construction of anticipatory it-clause and its related interpersonal functions in linguistic academic writing. Cross-cultural differences on use of this structure are also discussed to find how Chinese advanced EFL learners differ from native linguistic professionals in interpersonal employment. Reasons that account for these differences are explored and pedagogical implications are provided to improve Chinese EFL academic instructions.