Frequency and Function of a few English Structures and Items in Informal Letters Corpus of Native Speakers and English Learners

Corpus linguistics seems to have an important effect on L2 pedagogy. Corpus linguistics is one of the methodologies which grow fast in contemporary linguistics and puts emphasis on the actual use of language. This study focuses on the comparison and contrast in the frequency and function of a few English structures and items in the Iranian Learner Corpus (ILC) of informal letters, collected from 230 Iranian English undergraduates chosen through snowball sampling, and in the Open American National Corpus (OANC). The structures of interest in this study are coordinating conjunctions, namely and, but, yet, for, or, nor, and so, correlative conjunctions including either…or, neither…nor, both…and, and not only…but also, and conjunctive adverbs of addition like moreover, in addition, and besides, of condition like otherwise, of concession like however, still, and nevertheless and of result like therefore, consequently, and accordingly. Among the subordinators, relative clauses and/or noun clauses formed by who, whom, which, that, when, where, and why have also been chosen to be examined. The reason for investigating these structures in the present study is that for many nonnative speakers these structures can pose serious degrees of difficulty. Meanwhile, recognizing the importance of these structures and exploring their possible uses across these corpora could be a contribution to a better understanding of them in different contexts. Having analyzed the data by Antconc3.2.1w (Anthony, 2007) and Excel programs, it was revealed that both English native speakers (ENSs) and L2 learners used coordinators and relative/noun clause makers much more frequently than correlative conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs. Both ENSs and L2 learners infrequently used for and frequently used and among coordinating conjunctions. The ENSs employed coordinators to connect more noun phrases and fewer adverbs, whereas L2 learners employed them to connect more independent clauses and fewer dependent clauses. The ENSs frequently used both…and among correlative conjunctions, whereas not only…but also was often used by the L2 learners. ENSs utilized correlative conjunctions to connect more noun phrases and fewer dependent clauses and adverbs whereas L2 learners used them to connect more noun phrases, independent clauses, and verbs and fewer dependent clauses, adverbs, adjectives, and infinitives. Both ENSs and L2 learners frequently utilized however among conjunctive adverbs to join sentences together. Additionally, both ENSs and L2 learners frequently utilized that among relative or noun clause makers. The ENSs used that to make more relative clauses, where as the L2 learners used it to build more noun clauses. The results of the study can be used to help L2 teachers provide authentic and appropriate language samples that enhance L2 learners’ understanding and learning of the L2 and help authors of language teaching textbooks identify areas in English structures and items where nonnative speakers (NNSs) deviate from native speaker norms.

Keywords:

Corpus linguistics , Learner corpora , Conjunctions , informal letters