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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 23, No. 0, pp.895-912
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 30 Jan 2023
Received 31 Aug 2023 Revised 07 Oct 2023 Accepted 15 Oct 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.23..202310.895

L2 Writers’ Use of Signaling Nouns: A Focus on Modification and L2 Proficiency

Minjin Kim ; Sun-Young Oh
PhD candidate, Dept. of Applied Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University mmk6337@psu.edu
Professor, Dept. of English Language Education, Seoul National University sunoh@snu.ac.kr


© 2023 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 study investigates the relationship between Korean students’ English proficiency and their utilization of signaling nouns (SNs) and SN modifications in argumentative essays. Data were collected from four proficiency levels within the Yonsei English Learner Corpus, while the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays served as a benchmark reference. A set of 35 target SNs was identified, with non-SN usages rigorously filtered out. The analysis focuses on SN frequency, various complexity levels of modifications, and contextual usage across the different corpora. Findings suggest that second language (L2) learners heavily rely on a restricted set of SNs, with increased proficiency correlating to a higher frequency of the remaining SNs. The modification of SNs shows a developmental progression, particularly through the use of prepositional phrases, which enhance both clarity and conciseness in writing. Furthermore, the use of attributive adjectives, the most basic level of modifiers, increases with proficiency but leads to excessive modifier usage in learner data. A close look at the contexts of SN usage reveals patterns instrumental for academic writing, underscoring the importance of integrating these insights into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) pedagogy.

Keywords:

Signaling nouns, modification, proficiency, academic writing, argumentative essays, EAP

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