Your browser does not support the PubReader view.
Go to this page to see a list of supporting browsers.
The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 24, No. 0, pp.1071-1100
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2024
Received 27 Aug 2024 Revised 23 Sep 2024 Accepted 28 Sep 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.24..202410.1071

Sentence-Initial Particularizing Adverbials in EFL Learner Writing: The Role of L1 Background and L2 Proficiency

Seung-Ah Lee
Professor, Division of English Language and Literature Ewha Womans University 52, Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu Seoul, Korea, Tel: 02) 3277-4507 seungahlee@ewha.ac.kr


© 2024 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This paper presents a learner corpus-based study of English particularizing adverbials, a comparatively under-researched topic with regard to adverbial placement. Particularizers such as especially, particularly, and in particular highlight the fact that an utterance is confined to the part that is focused. Pedagogically-oriented sources and corpus-informed dictionaries state that especially cannot appear at the beginning of a sentence before the subject. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether misused sentence-initial Especially is a production tendency associated with learners’ first language (L1) or a universal feature of interlanguage development. To this end, I examined 3,800 argumentative essays in the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE), which were written by English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from Korea, China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. The learner participants in the ICNALE are classified according to four English proficiency levels. In order to identify the patterns of overuse and underuse, EFL learners’ essays were also compared to 200 essays written by L1 English novice writers in the ICNALE. Both L1 background and English proficiency significantly influenced the frequency of misused sentence-initial Especially although the effect size was small in the case of the latter. The relatively high rate of misuse in L1 Korean writers’ essays can be attributed to L1 transfer, the effect of which is confirmed by an investigation of a Korean language corpus. The findings suggest that formal L2 instruction based on data-driven learning may be an effective way to remedy the misuse of sentence-initial Especially.

Keywords:

particularizer, restrictive adverb, adverb placement, second language writing, learner corpus, ICNALE

References

  • Anthony, L. 2024. AntConc (version 4.3.0) [Computer software]. Available online at https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software
  • Bell, D. M. 2007. Sentence-initial and and but in academic writing. Pragmatics 17(2), 183-201. [https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.17.2.01bel]
  • Bestgen, Y. 2014. Inadequacy of the chi-squared test to examine vocabulary differences between corpora. Literary and Linguistic Computing 29(2), 164-170. [https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqt020]
  • Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman.
  • Boulton, A. 2010. Data‐driven learning: Taking the computer out of the equation. Language Learning 60(3), 534-572. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00566.x]
  • Callies, M. 2015. Learner corpus methodology. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin and F. Meunier, eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Learner Corpus Research, 35-56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139649414.003]
  • Carlstrom, B. and N. Price. 2012-2014. The Gachon Learner Corpus. Available online at http://koreanlearnercorpusblog.blogspot.kr/p/corpus.html
  • Davies, M. 2008-. The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Available online at https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
  • Davies, M. and D. Gardner. 2010. A Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary American English: Word Sketches, Collocates and Thematic Lists. London: Routledge. [https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401206884_015]
  • Dunn O. J. 1964. Multiple comparisons using rank sums. Technometrics 6(3), 241-252. [https://doi.org/10.1080/00401706.1964.10490181]
  • Dupont, M. and S. Granger. 2022. Connector placement in EFL learner writing: Focus on however. Paper presented at the 6th Learner Corpus Research Conference.
  • Gablasova, D., V. Brezina and T. McEnery. 2017. Exploring learner language through corpora: Comparing and interpreting corpus frequency information. Language Learning 67(S1), 130-154. [https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12226]
  • Gilquin, G. and S. Granger. 2015. Learner language. In D. Biber and R. Reppen, eds., The Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics, 418-436. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139764377.024]
  • Granger, S. 2012. How to use foreign and second language learner corpora. In A. Mackey and S. M. Gass, eds., Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition: A Practical Guide, 7-29. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. [https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444347340.ch2]
  • Granger, S. 2013. The passive in learner English: Corpus insights and implications for pedagogical grammar. Learner Corpus Studies in Asia and the World 1, 5-15.
  • Granger, S., E. Dagneaux, F. Meunier and M. Paquot. eds. 2009. International Corpus of Learner English (version 2). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
  • Granger, S., M. Dupont, F. Meunier, H. Naets and M. Paquot. 2020. The International Corpus of Learner English (version 3). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
  • Green, C. F., E. R. Christopher, J. Lam and K. Mei. 2000. The incidence and effects on coherence of marked themes in interlanguage texts: A corpus-based enquiry. English for Specific Purposes 19(2), 99-113. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(00)00015-6]
  • Gries, S. T. 2015. Some current quantitative problems in corpus linguistics and a sketch of some solutions. Language and Linguistics 16(1), 93-117. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1606822X14556606]
  • Huddleston, R. and G. K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316423530]
  • Ishikawa, S. 2011. A new horizon in learner corpus studies: The aim of the ICNALE project. In G. Weir, S. Ishikawa and K. Poonpon, eds., Corpora and Language Technologies in Teaching, Learning and Research, 3-11. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde Press. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003252528-2]
  • Ishikawa, S. 2023. The ICNALE Guide: An Introduction to a Learner Corpus Study on Asian Learners’ L2 English. London: Routledge. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003252528]
  • Johns, T. 1991. “Should you be persuaded”: Two samples of data-driven learning materials. In T. Johns and P. King, eds., Classroom Concordancing: ELR Journal 4, 1-16. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.
  • Lee, S.-A. 2016. Verb agreement in English wh-clefts: A corpus-based study. English Studies 97(7), 779-806. [https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2016.1198141]
  • Lin, M. H. and J.-Y. Lee. 2015. Data-driven learning: Changing the teaching of grammar in EFL classes. ELT Journal 69(3), 264-274. [https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv010]
  • Liu, Y. and S.-C. Rhee. 2017. On English adverb placements by Korean and Chinese EFL learners. Studies in Linguistics 45, 357-374. [https://doi.org/10.17002/sil..45.201710.357]
  • McEnery, T. and R. Xiao. 2011. What corpora can offer in language teaching and learning. In E. Hinkel, ed., Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, 364-380. Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Nation, P. and D. Beglar. 2007. A vocabulary size test. The Language Teacher 31(7), 9-13.
  • National Institute of Korean Language. 2020. NIKL Written Corpus (version 1.2). Available online at https://kli.korean.go.kr/corpus
  • Nelson, G., S. Wallis and B. Aarts. 2002. Exploring Natural Language: Working with the British Component of the International Corpus of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. [https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g29]
  • Osborne, J. 2008. Adverb placement in post-intermediate learner English: A contrastive study of learner corpora. In G. Gilquin, S. Papp and M. B. Díez-Bedmar, eds., Linking up Contrastive and Learner Corpus Research, 127-146. Amsterdam: Brill. [https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401206204_006]
  • Pyo, S.-Y. 2018. Functions of coordinators in native English and Korean EFL learner corpora. English Language & Literature Teaching 24(3), 45-67.
  • Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech and J. Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. New York: Longman.
  • R Core Team. 2023. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing (version 4.3.1) [Computer software]. Available online at http://www.R-project.org/
  • Rhee, S.-C. and C. K. Jung. 2014. Compilation of the Yonsei English learner corpus (YELC) 2011 and its use for understanding current usage of English by Korean pre-university students. The Journal of the Korea Contents Association 14(11), 1019-1029. [https://doi.org/10.5392/JKCA.2014.14.11.1019]
  • Richards, J. C. 1974. A non-contrastive approach to error analysis. In J. C. Richards, ed., Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition, 172-188. Harlow: Longman.
  • Scheirer, C. J., W. S. Ray and N. Hare. 1976. The analysis of ranked data derived from completely randomized factorial designs. Biometrics 32(2), 429-434. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2529511]
  • Sokal, R. R. and F. J. Rohlf. 1995. Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research (3rd ed.). New York: Freeman.
  • Swan, M. 2005. Practical English Usage (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Tribble, C. 1989. The use of text structuring vocabulary in native and non-native speaker writing. MUESLI News Jun-89, 17-20.
  • Van Vuuren, S. and J. Berns. 2018. Same difference? L1 influence in the use of initial adverbials in English novice writing. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 56(4), 427-461. [https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2016-0077]
  • Zhang, M. 2000. Cohesive features in the expository writing of undergraduates in two Chinese universities. RELC Journal 31(1), 61-95. [https://doi.org/10.1177/003368820003100104]