A Corpus-Based Study on Korean EFL Learners' Use of English Logical Connectors

Ha, Myung-Jeong

doi:10.5392/ijoc.2014.10.4.048

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…(J 001) Also notice the use of informal expression "this thing" used by the writers and the comparative value of CAUSAL 'so' as shown in Table 5. Colloquial expressions and the use of informal linking adverbials such as so shown here were also reported in Korean learner corpus (Ha, 2014 Lei (2012) has commented that students' overuse of certain linking adverbials may perhaps be attempts to 'cover up' their poor writing. Students' overuse of ADDITIVE and SEQUENTIAL as we have seen in the corpus, did not add variation in the content nor did they add complexity in the argument structure as the linkers chosen merely enlisted similar points from the same perspectives.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

The Use of Linking Adverbials in Malaysian Students’ Argumentative Essays

Ahmad¹

2020

ijsshr

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Many English as a Second Language (ESL) learners’ essays are deemed incoherent as they failed to signpost and facilitate readers’ understanding of their line of arguments—a task that can chiefly be accomplished through the use of appropriate and efficient use of linking devices. This study investigates the use of linking adverbials (LAs) as connective devices in argumentative essays written by pre-university students from Malaysian matriculation colleges. The learner corpus of this study comprises 95241 words from 209 argumentative essays written by students from three matriculation colleges in southern states of Malaysia. About 2465 occurrences of LAs were extracted and then coded according to Liu’s (2008) four-way categorization framework. Similar corpus of 110737 words was also extracted from BAWE corpus as reference. Malaysian learner writers overly relied on a small set of LAs and their essays largely offered one sided argumentation. Students tend to overuse ADDITIVE adverbials (e.g. furthermore) and SEQUENTIAL (e.g. next), mainly to enlist key points and rarely used the more semantically complex ADVERSATIVES (e.g. however). The corpus also revealed that certain LAs were used inappropriately. The findings offer insights for language teachers specifically writing instructors on helping students to prepare for more sophisticated writing tasks that require complex propositions and how to integrate teaching specific linguistics features such as Linking Adverbials.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

The Use of Linking Adverbials in Malaysian Students’ Argumentative Essays

Ahmad¹

2020

ijsshr

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“…However, learners even at an advanced stage of language acquisition still lag behind native speakers in their mastery of connectives in L2. Several corpus studies report the difficulties that L2-learners encounter to master discourse connectives adequately and specify for example that non-native speakers overuse corrobative and additive connectives (e.g., Field and Oi 1992;Milton and Tsang 1993;Granger and Tyson 1996;Tapper 2005), underuse contrastive or adversative connectives (e.g., Ha 2014;Shi 2017), or misuse contrastive or adversative connectives (e.g., Milton and Tsang 1993;Park 2013;Ha 2014). Further, several studies show that texts written by non-native speakers have a lower variety of connectives in comparison with native speaker texts (e.g., Liu and Braine 2005;Don and Sriniwass 2017;cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, the importance of cognitive complexity and frequency as factors explaining individual variations between connectives and speakers have, to our knowledge, not been assessed in the context of second language acquisition, and neither have the correlations between the mastery of connectives and the degree of exposure to print. Third, we chose to assess learners' mastery of connectives through a constrained experimental production task, contrary to most previous studies that have resorted to corpus analyses and texts comparisons (such as Field and Oi 1992;Milton and Tsang 1993;Granger and Tyson 1996;Bolton et al 2002;Tapper 2005;Pit 2007;Ha 2014;Hu and Li 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Second Language Acquisition and the Mastery of Discourse Connectives: Assessing the Factors That Hinder L2-Learners from Mastering French Connectives

2020

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Even though the mastery of discourse connectives represents an important step toward reaching high language proficiency, it remains highly difficult for L2-learners to master them. We conducted an experiment in which we tested the mastery of 12 monofunctional French connectives conveying six different coherence relations by 151 German-speaking learners of French, as well as a control group of 63 native French speakers. Our results show that the cognitive complexity of the coherence relation and connectives’ frequency, both found to be important factors for native speakers’ connective mastery, play a minor role for the mastery by non-native speakers. Instead, we argue that two specific factors, namely the connectives’ register and meaning transparency, seem to be more predictive variables. In addition, we found that a higher exposure to print in L1, correlates with a better mastery of the connectives in L2. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of second language acquisition.

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Section: Logical Connectors In Efl Writingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Years of study on English writing have established logical connectors as an impediment to mastering the skill (Ha, 2014). In the same study by Ha (2014), ESL and EFL teachers have revealed that logical connectors are either misused or overused by their students. Yanti and Basthomi (2019) further cited Gazzar (2006) who found that students' writing demonstrates weak cohesion due to the lack and inappropriate use of connectors, long distance between cohesive relations in a structure, and uncertain opinions that led to several interpretations.…”

Section: Logical Connectors In Efl Writingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in the Use of Logical Connectors for EFL Learners: Frequency, Variety, Suitability, and Improper Use with Pedagogical Implications

Cui

Zhang

2022

Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Engl. Lit.

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Achieving effective and efficient writing requires grammar by using the right words and phrases and categorically achieving coherence and continuity in paragraphs. It, therefore, presents a challenge for EFL learners to learn the language in a position where a very limited function is served. The use of connectors, as found empirically in English studies, has been an unresolved issue faced by students writing in English as a foreign language. Henceforth, this research paper aims to investigate the existence of logical connectors that have been a primary obstacle to learners learning the ability to write in an EFL context. The paper explores the frequency, variety, suitability, and improper use of these connectors, as well as the affective factors that contribute to their misuse or overuse. Furthermore, the article provides pedagogical implications for writing instruction, including the use of genre-based approaches, semantic and syntactic recognition, and natural semantic metalanguage (NSM). The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by EFL learners in mastering the use of logical connectors in written English and offers practical guidance for teachers seeking to improve their students’ writing skills.

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A Corpus-Based Study on Korean EFL Learners' Use of English Logical Connectors

Abstract: ABSTRACT

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

The Use of Linking Adverbials in Malaysian Students’ Argumentative Essays

The Use of Linking Adverbials in Malaysian Students’ Argumentative Essays

Second Language Acquisition and the Mastery of Discourse Connectives: Assessing the Factors That Hinder L2-Learners from Mastering French Connectives

Challenges in the Use of Logical Connectors for EFL Learners: Frequency, Variety, Suitability, and Improper Use with Pedagogical Implications

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