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Corpus studies of recurrent word sequences, also known as lexical bundles, have outlined new directions in ELT/EFL research. The fact that naturally produced English consists of prefabricated multi-word units gave rise to the question of chunkiness in learner language. This study was thus designed to compare and contrast language produced by learners of three different levels of proficiency in terms of the use of lexical bundles. The analysis of lexical bundles retrieved from three corpora of written learner English showed that many more different bundles were established in the corpora representing less proficient learners which is interpreted as an indication of a more limited lexical repertoire which leads to more repetition. Furthermore, structural and functional analysis of lexical bundles showed that the language of non-native learners bears more resemblance to spoken English than the language of native speakers. These findings may be particularly useful to EFL practitioners as they seem to give new insights into the development of learner language.

Alignment of language tests with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is a complex process. One of many steps in this process involves the analysis and benchmarking of learner performances characteristic of one or another achievement level. It is the analysis of grammatical features of learner essays written during the national English examination in Lithuania that is at the focus of this article. The study aims to investigate to what extent a list of grammatical criterial features (GCFs), proposed by the English Profile Programme (EPP) at the University of Cambridge (Hawkins and Filipović, 2012), is applicable to Lithuanian learners. Bearing in mind the fact that the national examination of English in Lithuania is oriented towards levels B1 and B2, the purpose is to contribute to the empirical validation of the test by providing linguistic evidence from the essays of successful candidates. As the analysis shows, the corpus of examination essays used in this study contains many A2 structures, half of B1 and about one third of B2 structures proposed by the EPP team. The article discusses a number of issues related to the criteriality of individual GCFs and the applicability of a general list of features to specific learner groups.

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The article overviews the Lithuanian language of returning emigrant children. It is based on the project “Linguistic Integration of Returning Emigrant Children: Proficiency in Lithuanian and its Development” (RCL Agreement No. S-REP-21-1), implemented in 2021–2022. The data were selected from two Lithuanian language children’s corpora (returning emigrant children (KG) and permanently residing in Lithuania children (KL)) collected during the project at eight Lithuanian schools. The corpora consist of the Lithuanian language production by children aged 8–12 who returned to Lithuania from English-speaking countries 1–2 years ago and by their peers in Lithuania. The article aims to identify differences in the linguistic expression of KG and KL by comparing the word frequency lists and overviewing verb, noun, and adjective. The quantitative findings show no significant differences in the use of the selected parts of speech. The results suggest that according to the available language skills and competences, the returning emigrant children can communicate on everyday topics quite freely, and their linguistic expression is similar to the language of their peers in Lithuania.