On the anaphoric use of demonstratives this/these in L2 academic writing

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine L2 learners’ use of anaphoric this/these focusing on the variation of use across the skill levels. The writing samples of lower and higher-level L2 learners were compared in terms of the frequencies of this/these as pronouns and as determiners, the structural distribution of antecedents, and the semantic distribution of nouns following the determiners. Writing samples were academic essays (N = 735) from the sub-corpus of English Placement Test (EPT) composed of two levels. The results suggested several meaningful discrepancies in lower versus higher-level writing. First, lower-level students displayed an overall underuse of this/these. Second, students used an increased amount of pronoun this/these in more advanced levels, indicating a more complex nature of higher-level writing. The analysis of the structural types of antecedents suggested a developmental pattern, namely a significant decrease of noun phrase references and an increase of clausal and extended reference. Lastly, lower-level writing included significantly more concrete and abstract nouns after this/these, whereas higher-level students often used this/these followed by shell nouns for a more advanced practice. The study provides implications for L2 writing pedagogy, as well as L2 academic writing research.