A Corpus-Based Study Of Features Of Written Style In Chinese EFL Learners’ Spoken English

Generally speaking, spoken language and written language are two kinds of language mode. Some linguists find that some particular features of spoken or written languages seem to be mixed used sometimes. For example, the written style like complex words or long sentences can be found in a formal speech; or in a personal letter, interjections, slangs are always used. This phenomenon of mixing features of spoken and written languages also exists in EFL learners’spoken and written English, for example, they prefer to choose some formal and complex words or structures in the conversations, or use some simple and fragmentary sentences in their writings. This may be caused by their indistinct concept on the register features of spoken and written English. In this thesis, we mainly discuss the unnatural written styles in Chinese English learners’spoken English by comparing the learners’spoken corpus with the native speaker’s.According to Biber et al.(1999), the frequencies of some particular words or grammars vary greatly across registers. Based on the theories of Biber et al., the register features of Chinese EFL learners’spoken English will be discussed from phonetic, lexical, syntactic and textural aspect. The results indicate that there really exist some unnatural written styles in EFL learners’spoken English. These written styles are mainly reflected in overusing the words or sentence structures with obvious written features, or under using some expressions with obvious spoken features. It is mainly because the learners put a lot of effort in the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar, but they neglect to distinguish the register features of spoken and written English. Most of them do not realize to choose different expressions in spoken and written English. In addition, the affect of first language and personal preference also lead to this phenomenon to some extent. To eliminate this unnatural written style in EFL learners’spoken English, some marks which used to distinguish spoken and written language are suggested to be marked out in learners’reading books. The English teachers are also required to form consciousness about the register features and pay more attention on training the abilities of learners on distinguishing characteristics of spoken and written English. For the learners, they are encouraged to make full use the chances to learn English after class like watching an English movie, TV program or even talk to a native speaker directly.