A Corpus-Based Study between L1 and L2 English Academic Experts: Linking-Adverbial Usage in Linguistics Research Articles

Abstract

This corpus-based comparative study probes into how Linking Adverbials (LAs hereafter) are employed disparately in Chinese and native professional writers’ research articles of the linguistics discipline. To achieve this, two corpora of research articles composed by Chinese and English native experts are manually compiled, followed by a frequency-plus-difference test as the quantitative analysis and a subjective interpretation as the qualitative analysis. Several findings are revealed in this study: in view of using frequency, Chinese linguistics professionals demonstrate differences in over half of the interested LAs (32 in sum) when compared to English natives. In view of using appropriateness, it is unveiled that not only do Chinese experts overtly use most of the additive and causal/resultative LAs, but they underuse all discussed adversative LAs. There are also some fresh spots where misuse runs through the whole analysis and takes place in all LAs categories, and some LAs usage problems are common in writers with diversified biographic backgrounds including but not limited to non-English L1, academic stage, and linguistic proficiency. With these discussed, the present study culminates in providing new insights into the corpus-assisted instruction and training of English research paper writing for professionals.