A Comparative Study Of The Uses Of Ideational Grammatical Metaphor In Ielts Writings

Nowadays,an increasing number of people choose to participate in IELTS for the sake of getting a chance to study abroad.However,for the majority of them,the writing part of IELTS is rather difficult.As a kind of typical argumentative writing,IELTS writing tests not only candidates' ability of using vocabulary and grammar appropriately but also their potential ability of academic writing.According to Ravelli(2003),grammatical metaphor(GM)lies at the heart of written language,especially scientific and academic texts.However,few studies have focused on the use of ideational grammatical metaphor(IGM),a major type of GM,in IELTS writings,although plenty of researches have been conducted on L2(Second Language)writing.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore the uses of IGM in IELTS writings.Conducted on the basis of Grammatical Metaphor Theory,the study aims to find out the differences in the uses of IGM in different levels of IELTS writings.Sample writings used in this study are collected from official Cambridge preparation materials for IELTS,in which authentic writings of IELTS candidates submitted during their tests and scored by British Council are provided.Besides,these sample writings are divided into 3 levels on the basis of the standard provided by British Council for identifying candidates' ability of using English according to their scores: writings scoring between 5.5 and 6.5(5.5,6,6.5)are categorized into level 1(L1),writings scoring between 7 and 8(7,7.5,8)are categorized into level 2(L2),and writings scoring over 8(8.5 and 9)are categorized into level 3(L3).With 15 writings collected from each level,45 sample writings in total are analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively to make two questions clear:(1)What are the differences in frequencies of IGM in three levels of sample writings?(2)What are the differences in the efficiency of IGM uses between writings of higher and lower levels ?It is found that in sample writings of any level,nominalization takes the overwhelming majority of IGM used,which is followed by adjectivization while verbalization is least used.On the other hand,significant differences exist in frequencies of IGM in the three levels of sample writings.However,the differences between writings of L1 and L2 are distinguished from the differences between writings of L2 and L3.Significant differences between writings of L1 and L2 lie in frequencies of nominalization,verbalization and adjectivization.To be specific,differences mainly exist in frequencies of transcategorization from Process to Entity,Quality to Entity,Relator to Process and Process to Quality.On the other hand,significant differences between writings of L2 and L3 mainly exist in frequencies of adjectivization,especially the transcategorization from Circumstance to Quality.In addition,it is found that differences exist in the efficiency of IGM uses between writings of higher and lower levels.Generally speaking,writings of L3 are more efficient in realizing the functions of IGM,whereas writings of L2 and L1 are less efficient in realizing these functions.This comparative study of the uses of IGM in different levels of IELTS writings is useful and meaningful in many aspects.Firstly,it enriches the study of L2 writing,by filling the gap in researches on the uses of IGM in IELTS writings.Secondly,such a comparison between writings of different levels can be instructive for candidates to write their essays effectively.Finally,findings of this research give some implications on IELTS writing teaching: the use of IGM in IELTS writing should be emphasized and teaching strategies should be adjusted according to students' writing abilities.