Lexical richness in research articles: Corpus-based comparative study among advanced Chinese learners of English, English native beginner students and experts

Sun, Lei; Yang, Ruiying

doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2020.100894

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…As analyzed earlier, Chinese beginner learners are prone to use high-frequency vocabulary in L2 writing, and their productive control of low-frequency words is still at the beginning level. This is in line with the overuse of basic vocabulary characteristic of learners' L2 writing (Laufer and Nation, 1995;Qin and Wen, 2007;Fairclough and Belpoliti, 2016;Lei and Yang, 2020). Laufer and Nation (1995) suggest that the overwhelming frequency of basic vocabulary characterizes beginner learners' L2 writing.…”

Section: Lexical Sophisticationmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Chinese beginner learners prefer to use high-frequency words, which indicates their low degree of formality in L2 writing. Even advanced, college-level Chinese learners also use numerous informal words in their writings ( Qin and Wen, 2007 ; Lei and Yang, 2020 ). Thus, the use of formal or advanced words likely takes an extended period of time for learners to progress toward.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies involve a series of correlation and regression analyses and yield mixed results regarding different measures (e.g., Engber, 1995 ; Qin and Wen, 2007 ; Wang and Zhou, 2012 ; Zhu, 2013 ; Lee et al, 2021 ; Schnur, 2021 ). The studies in the second category explore the level of L2 learners’ lexical richness compared with that of native English speakers (e.g., Fairclough and Belpoliti, 2016 ; Eckstein and Ferris, 2018 ; Deng, 2020 ; Lei and Yang, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As is evident from prior studies, research participants in the literature are limited to learners at higher proficiency levels, university students in particular (e.g., Bao, 2008 ; Zhu and Wang, 2013 ; Zheng, 2015 , 2018 ; Lei and Yang, 2020 ). Much remains to be known about how lexical richness develops over time in L2 writings by beginner learners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developmental Features of Lexical Richness in English Writings by Chinese Beginner Learners

Hui-ping

Chen

2021

Front. Psychol.

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This paper reports a cross-sectional study that investigates the developmental features in second language writings by Chinese beginner learners of English by using four lexical richness measures—lexical sophistication, lexical variation, lexical density, and lexical errors—from the perspective of the language exposure hypothesis. Specifically, the study compares English compositions written by Chinese students of grade 7, grade 8, and grade 9 in terms of lexical sophistication, lexical variation, lexical density, and lexical errors. The English compositions were sampled from the Writing Corpus of Chinese Beginner Learners of English, and the sample size of the three grades remained almost the same. The analysis revealed that lexical richness in the writing samples of beginner learners is comparatively low, with beginner learners transferring lexical features of the oral register to their second language writings; furthermore, all four measures yielded significant, albeit non-linear and unevenly paced, developments across grade levels. Based on the findings, several suggestions for vocabulary teaching are provided.

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Section: Lexical Sophisticationmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developmental Features of Lexical Richness in English Writings by Chinese Beginner Learners

Hui-ping

Chen

2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…The fact that such an attempt can become successful has been shown by Arnaud and Savignon's (1997) study which revealed no significant difference in the knowledge of rare words in English between the most advanced group of participants in the study and a control group of native speakers. Similarly, Lei and Yang (2020), who compared the writings of Chinese PhD candidates, native beginner students, and native experts, concluded that the nonnative group's performance in relation to lexical richness was superior to that of beginner students but inferior to experts. They further pointed out that nativeness does not have a critical influence when it comes to lexical richness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sözcüksel Kaynak Kullaniminin İki̇nci̇ Di̇lde Yazmada Sözcüksel Zengi̇nli̇ğe Etki̇leri̇

Celen

Yalçın

2021

Milli Eğitim Dergisi

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This study investigates the effects of dictionary and thesaurus use on lexical sophistication and variation, two of the components of lexical richness in second language (L2) writing. After writing a take-home essay as part of their studies, 27 learners enrolled in an English preparatory program at a state university in Turkey received brief instructions in lexical sophistication and variation. Following the instructions, the learners were asked to revise their essays by using a dictionary and a thesaurus. A comparison of the take-home essays and their revised versions showed that revising take-home essays with the help of vocabulary resources led to a significant increase in lexical sophistication. Significant increases were also found for the measures used for lexical variation, except one of them. The different results obtained for lexical variation will be discussed in relation to the specific characteristics of the lexical measures used.

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Using online machine translation in international scholarly writing and publishing: A longitudinal case of a Chinese engineering scholar

Zou,

Gong,

2023

Learned Publishing

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Scholars who use English as an additional language (EAL) worldwide are under increasing pressure to write and publish in English due to the pervasive publish‐or‐perish culture and the growing dominance of English in academia. While previous studies have focused either on textual differences between EAL scholars' writing and native writers', or explored the difficulties EAL scholars meet and strategies they employ in the process, this paper examines a longitudinal case of a Chinese engineering scholar using online machine translation (MT) to support his academic writing and publishing in English. Drawing from the technology acceptance model as the theoretical background, this study shows that online MT can be a crucial support for scholars with limited English proficiency in the process of preparing a manuscript, submitting it and communicating with editors and reviewers. Frequently occurring problems in machine‐translated academic texts include improper use of technical terms, use of informal language and the inclusion of grammatical mistakes. However, in the last decade, online MT has made great improvements in academic translation. We believe these findings can empower EAL scholars to effectively use online MT in academic English writing and inspire educators to help novice scholars mobilize various high‐tech tools such as online MT to support their writing and international publishing.

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Lexical richness in research articles: Corpus-based comparative study among advanced Chinese learners of English, English native beginner students and experts

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

Developmental Features of Lexical Richness in English Writings by Chinese Beginner Learners

Developmental Features of Lexical Richness in English Writings by Chinese Beginner Learners

Sözcüksel Kaynak Kullaniminin İki̇nci̇ Di̇lde Yazmada Sözcüksel Zengi̇nli̇ğe Etki̇leri̇

Using online machine translation in international scholarly writing and publishing: A longitudinal case of a Chinese engineering scholar

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