Phraseology in English as an Academic Lingua Franca

2017 ◽  
pp. 478-499
Author(s):  
Meilin Chen
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
The Other ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Comparable Corpora ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Novice Writers

Under the context of English as a Lingua Franca, this chapter explores the use of English prepositional verbs in writing by Chinese university students in comparison with that by their American and British counterparts. A written learner corpus compiled by the author and four native comparable corpora were used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The overall frequency of prepositional verbs in the five corpora shows that Chinese learners use fewer prepositional verbs in comparison with their American and British counterparts. Qualitative analysis, on the other hand, shows that Chinese learners are capable of producing an adequate number of prepositional verbs that stylistically appropriate. Moreover, differences are also found between the native novice writers in regard to both the frequency and the stylistic features of the prepositional verbs in the four native corpora. The results lead to critical discussion about the use of native corpora as the benchmark in learner corpus research.

The relative effects of implicit and explicit corrective feedback on the acquisition of 3rd person -s by Chinese university students: A classroom-based study

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882090334
Author(s):  
Yongbin Zhao ◽  
Rod Ellis
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Procedural Knowledge ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Chinese University Students ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

This article reports a classroom-based study of the effects of two types of corrective feedback (CF) on the acquisition of 3rd person -s. One hundred and nine Chinese university students completed three communicative tasks: One group received implicit CF consisting of a single corrective move (implicit recasts), a second group received explicit CF consisting of a dual corrective move (a prompt followed by a more explicit recast), a third group performed the tasks without feedback, and a control group just completed two tests. The groups completed two pre-tests, immediate post-tests and delayed post-tests. Gains in accuracy in a test of procedural knowledge (an elicited imitation test) and in a test of declarative knowledge (an untimed grammaticality judgement test) were evident in the first three groups but with few differences among the test scores of these groups. No gains occurred in the test control group. Explicit feedback involving a dual feedback move elicited more uptake-with-repair but this was unrelated to gains in accuracy and overall the implicit CF involving a single feedback move was as effective as the explicit. This finding, which was unexpected, may reflect the Chinese learners’ general orientation to form in this particular classroom context.

Overuse or underuse

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meilin Chen
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Fundamental Difference ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
American Students ◽  
Chinese University Students

This study explores Chinese university students’ use of phrasal verbs in comparison with their American and British counterparts by utilizing a corpus of learner English and four native corpora of two English varieties and two genres (argumentative and academic writing). The results show that it is difficult to state whether the Chinese learners of English over- or underuse phrasal verbs in writing because a more striking difference emerges between the British and American students. American students tend to use many more phrasal verbs in both genres than British students and they also use a greater variety of phrasal verbs. Notwithstanding the differences, both American and British students tend to use fewer phrasal verbs in academic writing than in argumentative writing. The learners do not show a fundamental difference from the British students regarding overall frequencies of phrasal verbs; however, the learner-native writer gap does exist between the Chinese and American students.

scholarly journals A CORPUS-BASED INVESTIGATION OF MOVES IN ARGUMENT STAGE OF ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-204
Author(s):  
Anita Kanestion ◽  
Manvender Kaur Sarjit Singh
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Subject Matter Experts ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Novice Writers

Genre analysis has been frequently employed in Malaysia to analyse undergraduate and postgraduate target discourse, particularly research articles and abstracts. On the other hand, just a few studies have been done on argumentative essays written by pre-university students taking the Malaysian University English Test (MUET). The goal of this study is to examine rhetorical moves of the argument stage in 60 argumentative essays. The major instrument utilised to assess the rhetorical structure in the assembled essays was a compiled representative corpus of argumentative essays, COMWArE. The identification of rhetorical moves was investigated using BCU approach, which is aided by a computer-assisted corpus analysis (CACA). In addition, two subject matter experts were interviewed in order to gain insider perspectives. The analysis reveals that the argument stage in argumentative essays consists of three moves and five steps. The findings of the study lend itself to providing a representative template of rhetorical organisation for organising argument stage in producing an argumentative essay. Pedagogically, this rhetorical structure is useful particularly to novice writers to better understand how argument stage is produced.

Assessing Personality With Multi-Descriptor Items

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Johannes Schult ◽  
Rebecca Schneider ◽  
Jörn R. Sparfeldt
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Personality Inventory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Big Five Inventory ◽  
Personality Inventories

Abstract. The need for efficient personality inventories has led to the wide use of short instruments. The corresponding items often contain multiple, potentially conflicting descriptors within one item. In Study 1 ( N = 198 university students), the reliability and validity of the TIPI (Ten-Item Personality Inventory) was compared with the reliability and validity of a modified TIPI based on items that rephrased each two-descriptor item into two single-descriptor items. In Study 2 ( N = 268 university students), we administered the BFI-10 (Big Five Inventory short version) and a similarly modified version of the BFI-10 without two-descriptor items. In both studies, reliability and construct validity values occasionally improved for separated multi-descriptor items. The inventories with multi-descriptor items showed shortcomings in some factors of the TIPI and the BFI-10. However, the other scales worked comparably well in the original and modified inventories. The limitations of short personality inventories with multi-descriptor items are discussed.

scholarly journals Measurement Invariance of the Drivers of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale: Comparison between Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese-Speaking Populations

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Ya-Chin Yeh ◽  
I-Hua Chen ◽  
Daniel K. Ahorsu ◽  
Nai-Ying Ko ◽  
Kuan-Lin Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Vaccination Acceptance ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Acceptance Scale ◽  
Chinese University Students

The impacts of novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) on human life continue to be serious. To control the spread of COVID-19, the production of effective vaccines is likely to be one of the best solutions. However, vaccination hesitancy may decrease individuals’ willingness to get vaccinated. The Drivers of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (DrVac-COVID19S) was recently developed to help healthcare professionals and researchers better understand vaccination acceptance. The present study examined whether DrVac-COVID19S is measurement invariant across different subgroups (Taiwanese vs. mainland Chinese university students; males vs. females; and health-related program majors vs. non-health-related program majors). Taiwanese (n = 761; mean age = 25.51 years; standard deviation (SD) = 6.42; 63.5% females) and mainland Chinese university students (n = 3145; mean age = 20.72 years; SD = 2.06; 50.2% females) were recruited using an online survey between 5 January and 21 February 2021. Factor structure and measurement invariance of the two DrVac-COVID19S scales (nine-item and 12-item) were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The findings indicated that the DrVac-COVID19S had a four-factor structure and was measurement invariant across the subgroups. The DrVac-COVID19S’s four-factor structure was supported by the CFA results is a practical and valid instrument to quickly capture university students’ willingness to get COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, the DrVac-COVID19S can be used to compare university students’ underlying reasons to get COVID-19 vaccination among different subgroups.

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