Linguistics Colloquium | Longitudinal Development of “Advanced” L2 Students’ Use of Linking Adverbials: A Corpus Perspective, April 21

The Linguistics Colloquium series presents Dr. Joseph J. Lee discussing “Longitudinal Development of “Advanced” L2 Students’ Use of Linking Adverbials: A Corpus Perspective” on Friday, April 21, from 12:55 to 1:50 p.m. via Microsoft Teams.

Lee is a senior lecturer in English linguistics in the Department of English at Dalarna University, Sweden.

For more information, contact Dr. David Bell, Chair of Linguistics at Ohio University, at belld@ohio.edu.

Abstract: Appropriate use of linking adverbials (LAs) is a key feature of successful academic writing because these devices (e.g., furthermore, however, thus) enhance meaning and establish textual cohesion explicitly. Previous research has shown that LAs appear prominently in academic prose. In fact, academic writing includes more LAs than other registers including conversation, fiction, and news. Despite their importance in academic writing, second language (L2) writers of English have been reported to struggle to use LAs appropriately. Over the past few decades, considerable research has compared the use of LAs between first-language (L1) English writers and various L2 English groups. While these studies have been important in understanding L2 writers’ challenges with LAs, surprisingly little attention has been given to whether L2 students’ use of LAs in their writing changes over time or the degree to which their behaviors change with experience. In this talk, I report findings of a corpus-based analysis of the developmental trajectory of “advanced” ESL university students’ use of LAs in their academic writing. I first briefly introduce the corpus (COLTE) from which the essays were drawn and highlight previous studies conducted using the COLTE. I then present the findings of the focal study on L2 university students’ changing patterns in their use of LAs over time. I conclude with opportunities for future research and some implications for L2 writing pedagogy.