A Corpus-based Study Of Structural And Functional Features Of L2 Productive Lexical Bundles

Lexical bundles play a prominent role in second language acquisition,and have become a hot topic in this area in recent years.Many studies have investigated the use of lexical bundles in a wide range of registers.However,there still exist some unsettled issues.First,only a limited amount of research analyzed the structural or functional categories of L2 learners' productive lexical bundles.Secondly,little research investigated both the structural and functional categories of L2 learners'productive lexical bundles.Finally,little research compared the similarities and differences in terms of structural and functional features between productive lexical bundles by L2 learners and native speakers.The present study aims to answer the following research questions:1.What are the structural features of L2 productive lexical bundles?1.1 What are similarities and differences in spoken lexical bundles by L2 learners and native speakers?1.2 What are similarities and differences in written lexical bundles by L2 learners and native speakers?2.What are the functional features of L2 productive lexical bundles?2.1 What are similarities and differences in spoken lexical bundles by L2 learners and native speakers?2.2 What are similarities and differences in written lexical bundles by L2 learners and native speakers?Three spoken corpora were set up,with texts of Grade 2 and Grade 4 randomly selected from SECCL and texts of the reference corpus from MICASE and BASE.Accordingly,three written corpora were set up,with texts of Grade 2 and Grade 4 randomly sampled from WECCL and texts of the reference corpus from LOCNESS.After data cleaning,three-word lexical bundles were retrieved.148,166,and 137 spoken lexical bundles were retrieved from Grade 2,Grade 4 and native speaker corpora respectively.124,121,and 72 written lexical bundles were retrieved from Grade 2,Grade 4 and native speaker corpora respectively.Those lexical bundles were categorized based on Biber et al.'s(1999)structural types and Biber&Barbieri(2007)functional taxonomies.Comparisons were made between productive lexical bundles by L2 learners and native speakers.Major findings are listed as follows.1)Native speakers produced 137 spoken lexical bundles,three-fifths of which belong to VP-based category.Both the two learner groups produced about one-third of the productive lexical bundles respectively in their speech production,two-thirds of which are VP-based productive lexical bundles.2)Native speakers produced 72 written lexical bundles,two-fifths of which belonged to VP-based category.Both the two learner groups produced about two-fifths of the productive lexical bundles respectively in their writing,about half of which are VP-based productive lexical bundles,and two-fifths of which are PP-based productive lexical bundles.3)As for the functional features of spoken lexical bundles,referential category is the dominating one for both Grade 2 and Grade 4 learners,accounting for about one-third of the total productive lexical bundles by Grade 2 and native speaker corpora,and about two-fifths of the total productive lexical bundles by Grade 4 and native speaker corpora.On the contrary,native speakers use more stance bundles in their writing,accounting for half of the total lexical bundles.4)Referential expressions and discourse organizers are the most commonly used categories by L2 learners and native speakers in their writing.Compared with native speakers,Grade 2 and Grade 4 learners tend to use a large number of referential expressions,but they fail to use as many discourse organizers and stance bundles as native speakers do.The research may have at least three implications.First,in addition to learning grammar,the practice of memorizing lexical bundles has its place in the second language classroom.Second,the traditional practice of language learning should not be neglected,such as memorizing some basic phrases or sentences,which are somehow effective in promoting L2 learners' spoken and written English.Third,teachers may encourage the students to use lexical bundles to develop their discourse competence in spoken and written English,but should remind them of not being over-dependent on fixed linguistic knowledge to improve their language proficiency.L2 learners should take the acquisition and application of lexical bundles as an indispensable part in acquiring English.