Corpus-based Study Of Causal Connectives In English Major’s Writing

The purpose of the study is to investigate the use of causal connectives in English major’swritings. In this study, the timed argumentative writings from79English majors of HEUduring their six terms are used for the exploration, and the Written Corpus of Native Speakersis selected for comparison. With quantitative and qualitative data analysis of the corporastudied, it is found that the use of causal connectives is higher in intensity and lower invariety by Chinese English majors in comparison with native English speakers. There alsoexist significant differences in the positions and patterns in the use of causal connectives.Besides, the improper use of causal connectives seems to be a common phenomenon ofChinese English majors’ writings. The results also reveal that Chinese English majors’ use ofcausal connectives is more native-like with the rise of their grade. Moreover, this thesisexplores the possible reasons for the results and makes some useful suggestions on thelearning and teaching of causal connectives.