A Corpus-based Study On Errors Of The Connectives In IELTS Argumentative Writing

In this article, the author aims at studying errors of connectives. As everyone knows, connectives play a significant role in writing. How to use connectives correctly in the compositions is also regarded as a decisive evaluation standard. In the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), one of evaluation standards is coherence and cohesion, which requires proper connectives in order to show the examinee’s clear train of thought. Based on its importance and personal interest, the author decides to study this topic. After the study, the author would like to enhance the correct understanding of connectives, and finally, some suggestions will be discussed.Before the study, the author holds several research questions. With the help of two institutes and IELTS teachers, a small-scale IELTS corpus is built. The corpus is composed of500writings completed by students of different English proficiencies. Then after getting acquainted with the software Antconc, the author uses this software to calculate common error frequencies.After a series of procedures of the research, the author gets some findings as follows: firstly, most of students are conscious of using some linking ways in the compositions, but a large proportion of them cannot understand the connectives correctly; secondly, the frequently used connectives are "and","but","while","not only...but also","because","as far as","although","that", and "such as"; thirdly, in the IELTS writing study, the features can enhance the correct understanding on connectives.In conclusion, the study on errors of the connectives has practical value.