Comparative Patterns of Lexical Bundles and Adjective Collocations in Academic Writing: Insights from Native English and Arab Writers

Ali Jabbar Zwayyer ¹ ( )
Sousan Sattar Boroujeni ² ( )
Haider Hussein Katea Khanjar ³ ( )
Elahe Sadeghi Barzani ⁴ ( )

Submited date : 2024-08-23 Accepted date : 2024-09-30

Keywords: Lexical bundles, adjective collocations, academic writing, native speakers of English, Arab speakers of English, contrastive rhetoric, corpus analysis,

Abstract :

This study investigates the use of lexical bundles and adjective collocations in academic writing by native English speakers and Arab speakers of English, with a particular focus on identifying significant similarities and differences in their usage. Lexical bundles—frequent multi-word sequences—and adjective collocations—commonly co-occurring adjective-noun pairs—are essential for academic fluency, coherence, and precision. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative measurements of lexical bundles and collocations with qualitative discourse analysis. The corpus consists of 30 academic articles, 15 written by native speakers of English and the other 15 by Arab English speakers, all extracted from the fields of linguistics and economics. The findings reveal notable discrepancies in the employment of lexical bundles, as native English authors utilize a wider array of these bundles, especially in terms of discourse structuring and argumentative expression. Conversely, Arab English authors exhibit a greater dependence on bundles related to formality and clarity, a tendency shaped by the conventions of discourse prevalent in their native Arabic language. Conversely, the examination showed no significant differences in the use of adjective collocations, suggesting that Arab authors tend to use a similar range of adjective-noun pairs to those of native speakers of English. The research underscores the significance of L1 transfer and cultural influences in the development of academic writing, with a specific focus on the employment of lexical bundles. It posits that Arab learners of English might gain advantages from specialized instruction designed to enhance their repertoire of discourse-organizing bundles. Furthermore, the results extend the understanding within the larger domain of contrastive rhetoric by offering valuable perspectives on the cross-linguistic variances between Arabic and English academic writing. The study gives important implications for language instruction, particularly in helping Arab learners improve their academic writing ability through a focus on proper use of lexical bundles and collocations.

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