A corpus-based analysis of lexical cohesive devices used in English essays produced by Japanese college students

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370703
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Tokyo International University
• Principal Investigator: NARITA Masumi 東京国際大学, 言語コミュニケーション学部, 教授 (50383162)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 英文ライティング / 結束性 / 反復語彙 / 人称代名詞 / 指示代名詞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated the recurrent use of lexical expressions in argumentative essays produced by Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and native speakers of English. All the essays were sourced from the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE), a large-scale database of learner essays collected by Kobe University, Japan. The target lexical expressions were 1) word strings that were classified as either dependent on or independent of the writing task statement, 2) nominative personal pronouns, and 3) demonstratives. It was found that Japanese EFL learners borrowed word strings verbatim from the writing task statement and repeated first-person pronouns much more than their native English-speaking counterparts. Using the essays analyzed, a web-based lexical cohesion visualizer was developed to help Japanese EFL learners to discover how their uses of these lexical expressions differ from those of native speakers of English.

Free Research Field

外国語教育　第二言語ライティング