Article published in:
English Text Construction
Vol. 8:2 (2015) ► pp. 236–264

Conjunctive structures in learner English

A qualitative analysis of hortatory expositions

In this paper we address the issue of conjunction use in learner writing from a text-structuring angle, focusing on hortatory expositions by NNS learners and NS professionals. The learners are advanced Dutch-speaking students of English, while the professionals are journalists writing for British quality newspapers. We investigate how external conjunctive items (CIs), which express real-world relations between states of affairs, interact with internal CIs, which relate to the writer’s speech acts or modal positions, to construct specific rhetorical macro-structures, or conjunctive profiles. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative analysis, we identify four profiles: (1) predominance of internal CIs, (2) predominant use of external CIs, (3) spreading of external and internal CIs over the whole essay, (4) concentration of internal CIs in introduction and conclusion. The first profile is exclusive to NNS learner writing, but the other three profiles are found in both NNS and NS expositions. Gross overuse of CIs is found in the first and second learner profiles only. Overall, the advanced learner essays display emergent conjunctive macro-structuring, which teaching can build on.
Keywords: internal versus external uses, conjunctive macro-structure, hortatory exposition, advanced English learner writing, conjunctive items
Published online: 03 December 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.8.2.05dav
References

References

Blakemore, Diane
1992 Understanding Utterances. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bolton, Kingsley, Gerald Nelson & Joseph Hung
2002 A corpus-based study of connectors in student writing. Research from the International Corpus of English in Hong Kong (ICE-HK). International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 7: 165–182. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Cheryl
2006 The use of conjunctive adverbials in the academic papers of advanced ­Taiwanese EFL learners. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 11: 113–130. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Crewe, William
1990 The illogic of logical connectives. ELT Journal 44: 316–325. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davies, Eirian
[1979] 2015 On the Semantics of Syntax: Mood and Condition in English. ­London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2001 Propositional attitudes. Functions of Language 8: 217–251. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Field, Yvette & Lee Mee Yip
1992 A comparison of internal conjunctive cohesion in the ­English essay writing of Cantonese speakers and native speakers of English. RELC Journal 23: 15–28. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Flower, Linda
1981 Problem-solving Strategies for Writing. New York: Harcourt.Google Scholar
Gilquin, Gaëtanelle & Magali Paquot
2008 Too chatty: Learner academic writing and register variation. English Text Construction 1: 41–61. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Granger, Sylviane & Stephanie Tyson
1996 Connector usage in the English essay writing of native and non-native EFL speakers of English. World Englishes 15: 17–27. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, Michael
1985 An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
1994 An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd ed.). London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael & Ruqaiya Hasan
1976 Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Hinkel, Eli
2009 Second Language Writers’ Text. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hyland, Ken & Polly Tse
2004 Metadiscourse in academic writing: A reappraisal. Applied Linguistics 25: 156–177. Crossref
Intaraprawat, Puangpun & Margaret Steffensen
1995 The use of metadiscourse in good and poor ESL essays. Journal of Second Language Writing 4: 253–272. Crossref
Kärkkäinen, Elise
2003 Epistemic Stance in English Conversation. A Description of its ­Interactional Functions with a Focus on I think. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kohnen, Thomas
2007 Connective profiles in the history of English texts: Aspects of orality and literacy. In Clausal Connectives in the History of English, Ursula Lenker & Anneli Meurman-Solin (eds.). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 289–308. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Martin, James
1983 Conjunction. The logic of English text. In Micro and Macro Connexity of Texts, János Petöfi & Emel Sözer (eds.). Hamburg: Büske-Verlag, 1–72.Google Scholar
1992 English Text. System and Structure. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
McCrostie, James
2008 Writer visibility in EFL learner academic writing: A corpus-based study. ICAME Journal 32: 97–114.Google Scholar
Milton, John & Elza Tsang
1993 A corpus-based study of logical connectors in EFL students’ writing: Directions for future research. In Studies in Lexis, Richard Pemberton & Elza Tsang (eds.). Hong Kong: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 215–246.Google Scholar
Myhill, Debra
2009 From talking to writing: Linguistic development in writing. British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series II 6: 27–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nash, Walter
1980 Designs in Prose. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Nesselhauf, Nadja
2004 Learner corpora and their potential in language teaching. In How to Use Corpora in Language Teaching, John Sinclair (ed.). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 125–152. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sweetser, Eve
1991 From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tankó, Gyula
2004 The use of adverbial connectors in Hungarian university student’s ­argumentative essays. In How to Use Corpora in Language Teaching, John Sinclair (ed.). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 157–181. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vandelanotte, Lieven
2009 Speech and Thought Representation in English: A Cognitive-­Functional Approach. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Verstraete, Jean-Christophe
1999 The distinction between epistemic and speech act conjunction. Belgian Essays on Language and Literature 119–130.
2002 The functional value of non-integration in clause combining: Interpersonal versus discursive independence. WORD 53: 37–65. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2007 Rethinking the Coordinate-Subordinate Dichotomy. Interpersonal Grammar and the Analysis of Adverbial Clauses in English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zamel, Vivian
1983 The composing processes of advanced ESL students: Six case studies. TESOL Quarterly 17: 165–186. CrossrefGoogle Scholar