Article published In:
International Journal of Corpus LinguisticsVol. 3:1 (1998) ► pp.59–80
A Recurrent Word Combination Approachto the Study of Formulae in the Speech of Native and Non-Native Speakers of English
This article reports on a pilot study into how corpus methods can be applied to the study of one type of phraseological unit, formulae, in native speaker and learner speech. Formulae, or formulaic expressions, are multi-word units performing a pragmatic and/or discourse-structuring function and have been characterised as being typically native-like. The methodology presented here is contrastive and involves the use of computerised corpora of both native and non-native speaker speech. It consists of two steps: (1) the automatic extraction of all recurrent word combinations to produce lists of potential formulae, and (2) a carefully specified manual filtering process designed to reduce these lists to lists of actual formulaic usage. The results of this process allow for the first genuine quantitative comparison of formulae in the speech of native and non-native speakers, which in turn has significant implications for SLA research. This paper focuses on methodology and does not present a full discussion of the results. However, selected example findings are presented to support the approach adopted.
Keywords: Learner Corpora, Phraseology, Formulae
Cited by (48)
Cited by 48 other publications
Hougham, Dan, Jon Clenton & Takumi Uchihara
2024. Disentangling the contributions of shorter vs. longer lexical bundles to L2 oral fluency. System 121 ► pp. 103243 ff. 
Hougham, Dan, Jon Clenton, Takumi Uchihara & George Higginbotham
2024. The Impact of Lexical Bundle Length on L2 Oral Proficiency. Languages 9:7 ► pp. 232 ff.
Li, Yang & Sandra L. Halverson
2024. Lexical bundles in formulaic interpreting. Translation and Interpreting Studies 19:1 ► pp. 33 ff.
Pontrandolfo, Gianluca
2023. The importance of being patterned. In Handbook of Terminology [Handbook of Terminology, 3], ► pp. 124 ff.
Xuan Nguyen, Nghia
2023. Structures and Functions of Lexical Bundles in Student and Expert Timed Argumentative Writing: A Corpus-Driven Study. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 31:3 ► pp. 1015 ff.
Hsu, Chan-Chia & Shu-Kai Hsieh
Jaworska, Sylvia, Cedric Krummes & Astrid Ensslin
2022. Formulaic sequences in native and non-native argumentative writing in German. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics ► pp. 500 ff.
Petrocelli, Emilia, Laura Di Ferrante & Elisa Ghia
2022. Multi-Word Combinations in Science Communication: A Corpus-Driven Study of University Press Releases. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies 12:4 ► pp. e202224 ff.
Tang, Fang & Shuzhen Jiang
2022. Four-word lexical bundles in Chinese-English consecutive interpreting—A comparative study between professionals and trainees. Frontiers in Psychology 13
Wang, Yuqi
2022. Literature Review. In L2 Pragmatic Competence in Chinese EFL Routines [SpringerBriefs in Education, ], ► pp. 7 ff.
Edmonds, Amanda, Elisa Sneed German & Pascale Leclercq
2021. A phraseological and phonological analysis of don’t: A stay abroad perspective. Lexis :18
Nam, Daehyeon, Kwanghyun Park & George Vousden
2020. I will write about: Investigating multiword expressions in prospective students’ argumentative writing. PLOS ONE 15:12 ► pp. e0242843 ff.
Bal Gezegin, Betül
2019. Lexical bundles in published research articles: A corpus-based study. Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi 15:2 ► pp. 520 ff.
Chen, Alvin Cheng‐Hsien
2019. Assessing Phraseological Development in Word Sequences of Variable Lengths in Second Language Texts Using Directional Association Measures. Language Learning 69:2 ► pp. 440 ff.
Dash, Niladri Sekhar & L. Ramamoorthy
2019. Corpus and Some Other Domains. In Utility and Application of Language Corpora, ► pp. 219 ff.
Liu, Yu
2019. Disfluency in L2 Chinese Academic Oral Presentations and Formulaic Language Instruction. In Chinese for Specific and Professional Purposes [Chinese Language Learning Sciences, ], ► pp. 95 ff.
Pérez-Paredes, Pascual & M. Camino Bueno-Alastuey
2019. A corpus-driven analysis of certainty stance adverbs: Obviously, really and actually in spoken native and learner English. Journal of Pragmatics 140 ► pp. 22 ff.
Bestgen, Yves
2018. Evaluating the frequency threshold for selecting lexical bundles by means of an extension of the Fisher's exact test. Corpora 13:2 ► pp. 205 ff.
Hye-Kyung Lee
2018. Stance Expressions in Korean Students’ Writing in English. Discourse and Cognition 25:4 ► pp. 95 ff.
Ruan, Zhoulin
2017. Lexical Bundles in Chinese Undergraduate Academic Writing at an English Medium University. RELC Journal 48:3 ► pp. 327 ff.
Rojo, Guillermo & Ignacio M. Palacios Martínez
2016. Learner Spanish on computer. In Spanish Learner Corpus Research [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 78], ► pp. 55 ff.
남대현
2016. Lexical Bundle Structures in Argumentative Writing of Korean and Japanese Learners of English. Studies in Foreign Language Education 30:3 ► pp. 1 ff.
남대현
2017. Lexical Bundle Structures of Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Article. Language Facts and Perspectives 40:null ► pp. 167 ff.
Cacchiani, Silvia
2015. On Concluders and Other Discourse Markers in the Concluding Moves of English and Italian Historical Research Articles. In Yearbook of Corpus Linguistics and Pragmatics 2015 [Yearbook of Corpus Linguistics and Pragmatics, 3], ► pp. 243 ff.
Götz, Sandra
2015. Tense and aspect errors in spoken learner English. In Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 70], ► pp. 191 ff.
Jaworska, Sylvia
2015. Review of recent research (1998–2012) in German for Academic Purposes (GAP) in comparison with English for Academic Purposes (EAP): cross-influences, synergies and implications for further research. Language Teaching 48:2 ► pp. 163 ff.
Xiao, Richard & Xianyao Hu
2015. The Macro-Statistic Features of Translational Chinese. In Corpus-Based Studies of Translational Chinese in English-Chinese Translation [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 67 ff.
Arnon, Inbal & Uriel Cohen Priva
Leńko-Szymańska, Agnieszka
2014. The acquisition of formulaic language by EFL learners. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 19:2 ► pp. 225 ff.
Niu, Gui-ling
2014. Structurally and Functionally Comparative Analysis of Lexlical Bundles in the English Abstracts of Chinese and International Journals. In Chinese Lexical Semantics [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 8922], ► pp. 349 ff.
Niu, Guiling
2015. A Corpus-Based Analysis of Lexical Bundles in English Introductions of Chinese and International Students’ Theses. In Chinese Lexical Semantics [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 9332], ► pp. 486 ff.
Sánchez, Purificación
2014. Lexical bundles in Biology. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 27:2 ► pp. 492 ff.
Edmonds, Amanda
2013. Une approche psycholinguistique des phénomènes phraséologiques : le cas des expressions conventionnelles. Langages n° 189:1 ► pp. 121 ff.
Cortes, Viviana
2012. Lexical Bundles and Grammar. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
Cortes, Viviana
2012. Lexical Bundles and Technology. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
Cortes, Viviana
2015. Situating lexical bundles in the formulaic language spectrum. In Corpus-based Research in Applied Linguistics [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 66], ► pp. 197 ff.
Hyland, Ken
2012. Bundles in Academic Discourse. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 32 ► pp. 150 ff.
Lin, Phoebe M.S.
2009. Review of Meunier & Granger (2008): Phraseology in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 14:2 ► pp. 255 ff.
EunJooLee
2008. An analysis of corpus-based research on TEFL and applied linguistics.. English Teaching 63:2 ► pp. 283 ff.
Taguchi, Naoko
2008. Building Language Blocks in L2 Japanese: Chunk Learning and the Development of Complexity and Fluency in Spoken Production. Foreign Language Annals 41:1 ► pp. 132 ff.
Taguchi, Naoko
2013. Production of routines in L2 English: Effect of proficiency and study-abroad experience. System 41:1 ► pp. 109 ff.
김종국
2008. A Corpus-based investigation into Korean Learners' spoken vocabulary use. The Jungang Journal of English Language and Literature 50:4 ► pp. 65 ff.
Adolphs, Svenja & Ronald Carter
2007. Beyond the word. European Journal of English Studies 11:2 ► pp. 133 ff.
Shirato, Junko & Paul Stapleton
2007. Comparing English vocabulary in a spoken learner corpus with a native speaker corpus: Pedagogical implications arising from an empirical study in Japan. Language Teaching Research 11:4 ► pp. 393 ff.
Moon, R.
2006. Corpus Approaches to Idiom. In Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, ► pp. 230 ff.
McCarthy, Michael & Anne O'Keeffe
2004. 2. RESEARCH IN THE TEACHING OF SPEAKING. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 24
Ellis, Nick C.
2003. Constructions, Chunking, and Connectionism: The Emergence of Second Language Structure. In The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, ► pp. 63 ff.
Harwood, Nigel
2002. Taking a lexical approach to teaching: principles and problems. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 12:2 ► pp. 139 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 november 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.