A Comparative Analysis of Bundle-Move Connection in Published and EAP Student Writing

Abstract

This paper explores a group of lexical bundles identified in a corpus of research article (RA) introductions in applied linguistics written by native speakers of English and second Korean learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). In a further step in this analysis these lexical bundles were matched to the moves and steps which fulfill communicative functions of RA introductions (Swales, 2004). The findings show that considerably different lexical bundles were used in each step in the two corpora while some lexical bundles were exclusively identified in one step in a move. In addition, it was found that two groups of writers have different priorities for selecting lexical bundles in terms of function in each move/step. This study provides pedagogical implications by establishing English experts’ bundle-move connection as a yardstick for EAP writing instruction. Longitudinal analysis of the emerging patterns is needed in the future studies.