A Study Of Lexical Chunks In English Business Letters

"Lexical chunk" is first put forward by Becker and Bolinger in the mid of 1970s. It means a special multi-word phenomenon and it lies between grammar and lexis. It is fixed and predictable so that it is beneficial for learners. In recent years, with the development of the corpus linguistics, researchers find that there is a widespread occurrence of lexical chunks in language use. Meanwhile, the language phenomenon brings so many applied linguists'concern that people begin to reconsider the nature of language. The traditionally grammatical view of language is greatly challenged by lexical view of language. Through the study, it is found that language is mainly composed of lexical chunks and language is grammaticalized lexis instead of lexicalized grammar. Lexical chunks are productive and the fluency of language depends on how many lexical chunks are stored in one's mind. People may acquire language by means of lexical chunks. As a result, it is believed that lexical chunks play a crucial part in language learning and lexical chunk approach can be applied to language teaching.Since China entered WTO, international economic, trade exchanges and cooperation have expanded increasingly. As one of the means of communication in the business world, English business letter plays an indispensible role. Its quality, to a large extent, concerns about the success or failure of a business deal. Due to the important role of lexical chunks in language acquisition and the practical value of English business letter, it is very important to identify the characteristics of the use of lexical chunks in English business letter.In order to ensure the representativeness and appropriateness of the lexical chunks, the author selects four types of English business letters from the authentic English business writing books. The four types of English business letter are shipment, offer, inquiry and complaint. Ten of each type is selected.In this paper, the author adopts Nattinger & DeCarrico's classification and definition. On the basis of Nattinger & DeCarrico's theory, this research uses qualitative and quantitative approaches to study the lexical chunks in English business letters. This study focuses on three questions:1. what are the characteristics of the use of lexical chunks in English business letters? 2. What role do lexical chunks play in constructing the structure of English business letter? 3. What are the advantages of lexical chunk approach to the teaching of English business letters?It is found in study that the frequency of lexical chunks of English business letters is very high. Of seven words, there is a lexical chunk. This is specifically presented by the following characteristics:1. The number of sentence builder is the biggest, followed by phrasal constraints, poly-words and institutionalized expressions.2. The lexical chunks can help learners organize and construct the structure of English business letters.3. There are many advantages of lexical chunk in English business letters, such as facilitating memorization of vocabulary, avoiding inappropriate use in terms of register and enhancing writing fluency.On the basis of the above findings, the following suggestions are given:1.English business lexis should be taught on the basis of lexical chunks and teachers should cultivate students' awareness of lexical chunks.2. In the process of teaching English business letters, teachers should cultivate students'habit to construct the letters with the lexical chunks and teach them the right register to ensure the appropriateness of English business letters.3. Teachers should offer more exercises for students to practice lexical chunks and to improve their level of English business letters.However, this study is only a tentative experiment on the use of lexical chunks in English business letters. There are inevitably limitations in the analysis; some more efforts are needed to make further research in the future.