Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List

Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until August 05, 2024

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The Effectiveness of Corpus-Aided Instruction Using Lexical Bundles to Improve Academic Writing in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Multimethod Research Design

Park, Eun Jeong
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1556003595087828

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, EDU Teaching and Learning.
An important component of academic writing in English is the word combinations or collocations writers use while expressing meaning and performing various rhetorical functions. It is essential for second language (L2) writers to gain command of these lexico-grammatical combinations (Cortes, 2004; Hyland, 2008a, 2008b) as they develop their L2 academic writing ability. The main purpose of the current study was to examine students’ experiences with lexical bundles (i.e., frequently occurring combinations of words) under different instructional conditions in an L2 academic writing course. The lexical bundles were extracted from a corpus of learner English. In the study’s first phase, the most frequently occurring lexical bundles contained in a corpus of L2 students’ placement test essays were identified and then analyzed to develop an understanding of students’ lexico-grammatical needs. In the second phase, students’ (a) learning from and (b) responses to corpus-aided instruction featuring lexical bundles were investigated. The study employed a multimethod research design that gathered and analyzed both quantitative and qualitative sources of data (Creswell, 2015). The current study produced a number of findings during its two phases. The Phase One results showed that the placement test essays included relatively few discourse-organizing lexical bundles compared to stance and referential lexical bundles. These results provided insights into the lexico-grammatical needs of L2 writers, and these insights created a foundation from which to develop the subsequent instructional phase of the study. In Phase Two, the results of the quasi-experiments revealed a significant effect of both of the instructional modes (intentional and semi-intentional) employed as reflected in the students’ post-test and delayed post-test lexico-grammatical writing gains. The semi-intentional instructional mode was effective in terms of the immediate post-test gains, while the intentional instructional mode was also effective in terms of the delayed post-test gains as a carry-over effect. Both the Phase One and Phase Two findings support arguments in favor of the use of learner English corpora in corpus-based writing instruction. In addition, the study shed valuable light on the developmental enhancement of students’ academic writing via the Move-Step analysis approach (Kanoksilapatham, 2005; Swales, 2004) from the word-level of lexical bundle use to the textual-level of rhetorical moves and steps in a target language. In particular, the intentional group students viewed lexical bundles as rhetorical constituents to develop logic and coherence in their writing, while the semi-intentional group students saw lexical bundles as vocabulary constituents. The Phase Two results also drew meaningful attention to transfer-related issues as the students attempted to apply their corpus-aided learning to subsequent writing tasks in both near and far transfer. The current study’s research design and findings will be of interest and value to scholars and teachers working in areas such as instructed second language acquisition, corpus linguistics, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and second language writing.
Alan Hirvela (Advisor)
Dorinda Gallant (Committee Member)
Youngjoo Yi (Committee Member)
342 p.
Education; English As A Second Language; Foreign Language; Language; Linguistics; Social Research; Teaching
Second language writing; Systemic Functional Linguistics; learner corpora; lexical bundles; instructed second language acquisition; mixed methods research

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Park, E. J. (2019). The Effectiveness of Corpus-Aided Instruction Using Lexical Bundles to Improve Academic Writing in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Multimethod Research Design [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1556003595087828

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Park, Eun Jeong. The Effectiveness of Corpus-Aided Instruction Using Lexical Bundles to Improve Academic Writing in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Multimethod Research Design. 2019. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1556003595087828.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Park, Eun Jeong. "The Effectiveness of Corpus-Aided Instruction Using Lexical Bundles to Improve Academic Writing in Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Multimethod Research Design." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1556003595087828

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1556003595087828
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.