Lexico-Syntactic Features Of English-Language Ma Theses In Applied Linguistics By Chinese And International Writers: A Contrastive Analysis

With the number of post-graduates majoring in applied linguistics increasing in most universities in China, the quality of their writing skills has been gaining increasing attention in the academy. Much effort has been devoted to identifying the differences between NNSs and NSs texts, demonstrating that the employment of lexico-syntactic features is one of the main reasons. However, most studies focused on individual lexico-syntactic features, while combinations of lexico-syntactic features that characterize English-language texts written by Chinese postgraduates, as compared with those of native learners, have been ignored. This study aims to investigate the similarities and differences of various lexico-syntactic features used in English-language theses in applied linguistics written by Chinese and their counterparts in English-speaking countries. Two separate sub-corpora, including 30 MA theses in the field of applied linguistics written by writers from Mainland Chinese universities and 30 by writers in American and Canadian universities respectively, are examined in terms of the frequency and function of various lexico-syntactic features on the basis of Hinkel’s(2002) classifications. The results indicate that both Chinese and native postgraduates prefer to use lexically and syntactically simple constructions similarly. On the other hand, differences exist in all retrieved lexico-syntactic features used in the Chinese and native theses. Chinese postgraduates employ excessively simple lexical and syntactic constructions which should exist in spoken English rather than academic writing. It indicates that the differences in the use of lexico-syntactic features in the two corpora are due to the writers’ lexical and syntactic resources, language transfer, the cultural influence and the teaching input. The findings provide some pedagogical implications for academic writing instruction, as well as the learning and teaching of second language writing in China. Besides, the study is expected to be a basis for further researches on some specific lexico-syntactic features or writings across disciplines.