Chapter published in:
Complex Dynamic Systems Theory and L2 Writing DevelopmentEdited by Gary G. Fogal and Marjolijn H. Verspoor
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 54] 2020
► pp. 81–108
Adaptive imitation
Formulaicity and the words of others in L2 English academic writing
Susy Macqueen | Australian National University
Ute Knoch | University of Melbourne
This chapter explores how L2 academic writers imitate
adaptively as they manage the need to communicate academic content using
language that aligns with the predictable patterns of the discourse
community. Evidence from two studies of L2 writing is combined to explore
how writers work with a dynamic store of language chunks as their emergent
building blocks. One study, a cross-sectional discourse analysis of the
writing of 480 test-takers (Knoch,
Macqueen, & O’Hagan, 2014), investigates formulaicity and
source text use in two writing tasks. The other, a longitudinal qualitative
case study of a student writer (Macqueen, 2012), takes a close-up view of her word combinations
and use of source texts as she revises an assignment. Taken together, the
findings suggest that the early stages of L2 academic writing are
characterized by greater reliance on verbatim imitation of the patterns of
others and less formulaicity. Over time, L2 writers represent academic
content through interweaving the words of others with their own internalized
patterns in increasingly conventional manipulations.
Keywords: formulaic language, imitation, second language writing, academic literacy
Published online: 04 June 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.54.04mac
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.54.04mac
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