A Corpus-based Study On Demonstrative Reference In Chinese EFL Learners' Writing

As one type of cohesive devices, reference plays an important role in textual cohesion and coherence. With the publication of Halliday and Hasan's Cohesion in English (1976), many researches have been done on cohesive devices. This thesis tries to study the cohesive function of demonstrative reference in essay writings of Chinese EFL learners on the basis of Halliday and Hasan's cohesion theory. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), reference can be classified into personal reference, demonstrative reference and comparative reference. Demonstrative reference is mainly dealt with in this thesis.From a corpus-based perspective, this thesis aims at exploring the differences and similarities between Chinese EFL learners and native English speakers in the use of reference, especially the characteristics of demonstrative reference used in essay writings by Chinese English learners. The demonstrative reference in the two corpora have been quantitatively and qualitatively investigated and analyzed. The result of the study will be applied to equip Chinese EFL learners with basic theories of cohesion and coherence to help them write English in a cohesive and coherent way. The following questions will be answered in this thesis:(1) What are the differences in the use of demonstrative reference between the Chinese EFL learners and the native English speakers in their English writing?(2) What are the possible causes that may affect the Chinese EFL learners'use of demonstrative reference? Is there any evidence of mother tongue influence?(3) What is the correlation between the use of demonstrative reference and coherence in the writings by the Chinese EFL learners?(4) What are the pedagogical implications of the present study for EFL teaching? The thesis begins with a thorough inquiry to demonstrative reference based on CLEC and BNC with the comparison of the use of demonstrative reference between the two corpora. And the differences between Chinese EFL learners and native English speakers are discussed through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Then it explores the possible reasons for misuse, overuse and under-use of demonstrative reference by Chinese EFL learners compared with the native English speakers'use of demonstrative reference, which answers the research questions. And then it explores the correlation between the use of reference and coherence in the writings by Chinese EFL learners.The findings of the present study show that Chinese EFL learners use less demonstrative reference in their essays than the native English speakers do. There is a great tendency for the Chinese EFL learners to underuse English demonstrative reference. The acquisition of English demonstrative reference by Chinese EFL learners shows that the feature of the acquisition of demonstrative reference is consistent with that of interlanguage, from which we can find the common characteristics of the development of interlanguage on the use of reference. It is also assumed that the Chinese writing patterns may exert influence on the learners when they write in English, and language transfer influences Chinese learners'use of demonstrative reference.The study is intended not only to shed light on the characteristic features of the Chinese EFL learners in their use of demonstrative reference and help raise both teachers'and learners'awareness of the value of reference in English writing, but also to establish a corpus-based approach that can be extended to the studies of other linguistic phenomena. It is just a preliminary step towards more comprehensive and detailed study, which we hope can arouse more interest in the further study of reference. Further investigations in this area will offer great help for Chinese English teaching.