Article published In:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied LinguisticsVol. 27:2 (2014) ► pp.492–513
Vol. 27:2 (2014) ► pp.492–513
Lexical bundles in Biology
Differences between textbooks and research articles
On the basis of previous lexical bundle studies, this paper examines the forms, structures and functions of 4-word bundles in a corpus of textbooks and a corpus of research articles in Biology. The study includes the main biological disciplines and focuses on three major features: the overall distribution of bundles, their typical structures, and their functions in discourse in Biology. The findings support the idea that lexical bundles are a basic linguistic construct with important functions for the construction of discourse in this area. Concluding discussion highlights the pedagogical implications of using research journals and/or textbooks to teach English to biologists in a second language context. Furthermore, the importance of explicit instruction in these word combinations in courses on English for Biologists is emphasized.
Keywords: lexical bundles, corpora, Biology, textbooks, research articles
References
Altenberg, B
(1987) Causal ordering strategies in English conversation. In J. Monaghan (Ed.), Grammar in the construction of texts (pp. 50–64). London: Frances Pinter.
(1998) On the phraseology of spoken English: The evidence of recurrent word-combinations. In A.P. Cowie (Ed.), Phraseology: Theory, analysis and applications (pp. 101–122). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Altenberg, B., & Eeg-Olofsson, M
(1990) Phraseology in spoken English. In J. Aarts & W. Meijs (Eds.), Theory and practice in corpus linguistics. (pp. 1–26). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Biber, D., & Barbieri, F
(2007) Lexical bundles in university spoken and written registers. English for Specific Purposes, 261, 263–286. 
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Cortes, V
(2004) If you look at….: Lexical bundles in university teaching and textbooks. Applied Linguistics, 25(3), 371–405.
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E
(1999) The Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman.
Biber, D., & Tracy-Ventura, N
(2007) Dimensions of register variation in Spanish. In G. Parodi (Ed.), Working with Spanish corpora (pp. 87–152). London: Continuum.
Butler, C
(1997) Repeated word combinations in spoken and written text: Some implications for functional grammar. In C. Butler, J. Connolly, R. Gatwards, & M. Wismans (Eds.) A fund of ideas: Recent development in functional grammar (pp. 60–77). Amsterdam: Institute for Functional Research into Language and Language Use.
Byrd, P., & Coxhead, A
(2010) On the other hand: Lexical bundles in academic writing and in the teaching of EAP. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 51, 31–64.
Cortes, V
(2004) Lexical bundles in published and student disciplinary writing: Examples from history and biology. English for Specific Purposes, 231, 397–423.
Chen, Y., & Baker, P
(2010) Lexical bundles in L1 and L2 academic writing. Language Learning & Technology, 14(2), 30–49.
De Cock, S
(1998) A recurrent word combination approach to the study of formulae in the speech of native and non-native speakers of English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 3(1), 59–80.
Flowerdew, J
(1993) Concordancing as a tool in course design. System, 211, 231–44.
Gledhill, C
(2000) Collocations in science writing. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Howarth, P
(1998) Phraseology and second language proficiency. Applied Linguistics, 191, 24–44.
Hunston, S
(2008) Starting with the small words: Patterns, lexis and semantic sequences. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 13(3), 271–295.
Hyland, K
(2005) Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse. Discourse Studies, 7(2), 173–191.
(2008a) Academic clusters: Text patterning in published and postgraduate writing. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 18(1), 41–62.
(2008b) As can be seen: Lexical bundles and disciplinary variation. English for Specific Purposes, 27(1), 4–21.
Jablonkai, R
(2010) English in the context of European integration: A corpus-driven analysis of lexical bundles in English EU documents. English for Specific Purposes, 29(4), 253–267.
Jones, M., & Haywood, S
(2004) Facilitating the acquisition of formulaic sentences: An exploratory study in an EAP context. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), Formulaic sequences (pp. 269–291). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
McCarthy, M., & Carter, R
(2006)
This that and the other: Multi-word clusters in spoken English as visible patterns of interaction. In M. McCarthy (Ed.)., Explorations in corpus linguistics (pp. 7–26). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nation, P
(2009) Teaching ESL/EFL reading and writing. New York: Routledge.
O’Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R
(2007) From corpus to classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Partington, A
(1998) Patterns and meanings: Using corpora for English language research and teaching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Pecorari, D
(2008) Repeated language in academic discourse: The case of Biology background statements. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 7(3), 9–33.
Reeves, C
(2005) The language of science. New York : Routledge.
Schmitt, N
(2000) Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, N., & Carter, R
(2004) Formulaic sequences in action: An introduction. In N. Schmitt (Ed.). Formulaic sequences (pp. 1–23). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Scott, M
(1996) Wordsmith tools 4. Oxford University Press.
Thompson, G
(2001) Interaction in academic writing: Learning to argue with the reader. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 58–78.
Wray, A
(2002) Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.