A Genre-based Comparative Study Of Lexical Bundles In Engineering RA Introductions Written By Writers From China And English-speaking Countries

Since “the First National Symposium on Formulaic Language Teaching and Research” was held at University of International Business and Economics in 2009, study of formulaic language has attracted much attention at home. The role of formulaic language learning in English learning is also addressed. Relevant theoretical research and teaching practice are also gradually increasing. Academic introduction as an overall generalization of a research contains limited words to deliver its communicative purpose, while lexical bundles as formulaic language, shorter than sentences and longer than individual words, are important components of texts and of great importance to realize communicative purpose.In this paper, based on genre analysis of the corpus, the author uses Ant Conc and manual filtering to identify three-word, four-word, and five-word bundles in 120 introductions written by Chinese writers(CWs) and writers from English-speaking countries(WESCs) with 60 from each side. Furthermore, the paper investigates the difference of categories and functions of lexical bundles used by the writers. It answers two main research questions:① How many and what kind of lexical bundles are used by CWs and WESCs in introduction writing in terms of structure and function? What are, if any, the similarities and differences of the use of lexical bundles by two distinctive types of writers?② Based on the generic structure of the corpus texts, how lexical bundles are used by the two types of writers to help achieve the communicative purpose of moves?Results of the present thesis show that generic structure of the corpus texts is consistent with the CARS model. Further,(1) lexical bundles used by WESCs are nearly three times more than CWs. Both CWs and WESCs use three-word lexical bundles most among three-word, four-word and five-word bundles. Noun phrase(NP), verbal phrase(VP), and prepositional phrase(PP) are often used structure. Further, it is found that CWs and WESCs share seven out of ten most often used lexical bundles. These bundles of NP structure are often used as referential expressions, while PP structure is used as discourse organizer.(2) The result of analysis of lexical bundles in moves shows that some lexical bundles are unique in particular moves as triggers of the moves. Lexical bundles such as one of the, one of the most, and the most important are unique in the first move, helping achieve the purpose of establishing a territory by indicating the importance of a subject. However, in move 2, there are no such unique bundles as there is a need are used to indicate a gap or continue a tradition. The objectives of the study and of the study was to only occur in move 3, suggesting the purpose of the present study, which helps realize the purpose of occupying the niche. These unique lexical bundles in moves can be built into a frame of lexical bundles for students to refer to in introduction writing. A few bundles like as well as, due to the, and in order to etc occur in more than one move, which are considered to be of little triggering role.This study analyses the feature of the use of lexical bundles in engineering RA introduction writing by expert writers at home and abroad based on multi-perspective analysis in order to find out differences and similarities of the use of lexical bundles as well as the function of lexical bundles being used as triggers to achieve the communicative purpose of moves. The research aims to help non-native English learners better understand category, structure and function of lexical bundles and take advantage of lexical bundles to realize the communicative purpose of RA introduction. Moreover, the results of this study provide theoretical support for teaching of lexical bundles and introduction writing, enrich the content of teaching of lexical bundles and genre as well as help guide RA introduction writing.