A Study On Use Of Lexical Bundles In Abstracts Of Academic Papers By Chinese EFL Learners

Lexical bundles are word combinations that recur most frequently in a given register,which play an important role in academic writing.Most domestic studies on lexical bundles focus on the comparative studies between native speakers and L2 learners.However,a few studies have examined the developmental features of lexical bundles used by L2 learners across different proficiency levels.Moreover,previous studies mainly focus on the introduction or the body part of academic writing,ignoring the abstract of the writing.As an important part of academic writing,the abstract summarizes the paper’s major points,which helps readers quickly understand the general nature of the research article and then decide whether it is worth reading the full text.In view of this,the present study builds three corpora: the Abstract Corpus for Chinese MA Students(C-MA),the Abstract Corpus for Chinese Ph D Students(C-Ph D)and the Abstract Corpus for Native Speakers(C-NS),and extracts lexical bundles by using the software Antconc.Based on the three self-built corpora,this study compares the four-word bundles used in dissertation abstracts by Chinese MA and Ph D students in the discipline of applied linguistics from structural and functional perspectives.In addition,structural and functional comparisons are also made between native speakers and Chinese EFL learners to find the gap between them and provide pedagogical suggestions.The present study is going to explore the following questions:(1)What are the characteristics of the distribution of four-word lexical bundles in the three corpora?(2)What are the structural and functional differences of four-word lexical bundles in the dissertation abstracts between Chinese MA and Ph D students?(3)What are the structural and functional differences of four-word lexical bundles in the abstracts between Chinese EFL learners and native scholars?The findings reveal that:(1)The number of lexical bundles used by Chinee EFL learners is more than that of native speakers,but the richness and diversity of lexical bundles are lower than that of native speakers.It can also be found that lexical bundles used by Ph D students display a higher diversity and richness than bundles used by MA students,indicating that the richness of lexical bundles used by Chinese EFL learners enhances as the English proficiency level develops.(2)Notable differences exist in the use of lexical bundles by Chinese MA and Ph D students.Structurally,MA students use significantly more VP-based and clausebased bundles than Ph D students.Functionally,MA students use significantly more research-oriented and participant-oriented bundles.(3)The results of the comparative study between Chinese EFL learners and native speakers show that,structurally,both groups use more phrasal bundles than clausal bundles,indicating that Chinese EFL learners have mastered the ability to use lexical bundles properly to some extent.However,they tend to overuse or underuse some bundles in abstract writing.Functionally,the distribution of lexical bundles used in two groups of abstract writing display a similar proportion in three broad functional categories,with research-oriented bundles ranking the first,followed by text-oriented and participant bundles.In sum,the ability of using lexical bundles enhances as the English proficiency level develops.However,compared with native speakers,even learners with high proficiency levels have difficulty using lexical bundles in their writing.Therefore,teachers should apply the lexical approach to English academic writing teaching and cultivate students’ awareness of using lexical bundles,so as to help them use nativelike bundles appropriately in academic writing.