| Register is a language variation in accordance with its use differing from occasions to occasions.Different from genre,style and rhetoric,register depends largely on "context of situation" and "context of culture".The three variables of register-field,mode,and tenor-decide the very meaning selections which "configure" the various linguistic features.Register features refer to a linguistic phenomenon where there is a significant difference in terms of their frequency between spoken register and written register.Through literature review it can be found that though having learned English for several years,English majors in China still confront a problem of language "inappropriateness" or register misuse.In other words,their written output has an oral tendency.A number of scholars made a lot efforts to deal with the problem,but there is little literature from the perspective of register features.Few studies on register features adopting both the qualitative and quantitative methods have been conducted under the context of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in recent years.The lack of studies attracts the author's interests to explore the overall register features of English majors in this region,and to find answers to such questions as:what are the major differences between the English majors and native speakers in terms of register features?And what causes the differences?Owing to the vigorous development of computer technology and corpus linguistics,it is convincing and operable to analyze register features with the help of corpora data.Enlightened by the studies of Chafe(1982),Biber(1988),Wen Qiufang(2003,2009)Xiao Zhonghua&Antony McEnery(2005),this study is designed based on Biber's first dimension of register features:informational vs involved production,and adopts Wen's 14 typical linguistic features as measuring parameters.And by means of self-built corpora,questionnaires,and interview,it aims to investigate the register features of English major's 100 written compositions which is cluster-sampled from 5 universities in Guangxi.The 30 argumentations by native speakers are systematically and randomly sampled from the sub-corpus of LOCNESS.The two self-built minimal corpora are used to explore the differences in terms of register features between the two group of subjects.The questionnaires and interview are designed to analyze the reasons for the differences.The frequency of each register feature is extracted through WordSmith 4.0 and Range 32 based on the search algorithms by Xiao&McEnery(2005).The quantitative and qualitative data are input into SPSS 22 for descriptive statistical analysis.Findings from the study show that:(1)The English majors'written output is characterized by a higher degree of spoken register features but a lower degree of written register features.The frequency of English majors' typical spoken register features are strikingly more than the native speakers',while their typical written register features are substantially less than the native speakers'.(2)There is a significant difference between the English majors and native speakers regarding the use of the first-and second-person pronouns,emphatics,extractions,prepositions,determiners,lexical complexity and lexical richness.(3)Students' and teachers' low register awareness and cognition,and examination-oriented education are the possible reasons for the difference regarding the use of register between the English majors and native speakers.Based on this findings,some suggestions are put forward:Firstly,the English majors should make great endeavors to enhance their register awareness and cognition.They should be aware of the differences between Chinese and English and appropriate language expression according to the contexts.Secondly,the English teachers should increase the input of register knowledge for their students.Finally,the language policy-makers and curriculum designers should design a series of syllabuses or curricula in accordance with the aim for quality education. |
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