Bangladeshi EFL Learners’ English Connectors: Overused or Underused?

Abstract

Abstract-The paper investigates the answer scripts of an "English Writing" exam of 72 students in a Bangladeshi university in order to find out the nature and extent of the use of connectors in their second semester-final exam. It also tries to find out similarities and differences between the connector use of Bangladeshi non-native speakers (BNNS) and that of French, Japanese, Swedish, and Chinese non-native speakers on the one hand and between the connector use of BNNS and that of the native speakers of English (only British and American) on the other. To this end, the secondary data for other non-native and native speakers (NS) of almost the same age and level were collected from some published articles. The paper finds that in comparison to NS, BNNS, like most other non-native speakers, underuse most of the connectors.

Connective Use in Academic Writing by Students With Language Learning Disabilities From Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds

“…In a study by Faruk and Barua (2016), students' connective use was analyzed by category for ELs. Results indicated that most common connectors were used among and between language groups.…”