A Corpus-Based Investigation of Lexical Bundles and Keyness in B1, B2 and C1 ESL Learners' Academic Writing

Abstract

The findings of the present study were as follows. C1 writers tended to use a greater number of different LBs with greater frequency than those at B1 and B2 levels, and shared more features of written discourse than other levels. Therefore, the increased use of lexical bundles can predict the learners’ performance at least at high proficiency level C1. Furthermore, the results showed that ESL learners tended to use more verb-based bundles and research-oriented bundles in their essays, similar to those found in the BAWE corpus. However, closer inspection of the concordance lines showed some informality in their writing, especially at levels below B2. However, when time interacted with proficiency (CEFR level) to affect the use of LBs, the results showed that it is at the CEFR-B2 level when learners show development in the use of LBs, as showing a transition from using more informal written expressions (i.e., verb- based bundles) to more academic style (i.e., noun-based and preposition-based bundles). Overall, the findings suggest that LBs are considered a pivotal means of distinguishing academic writing by learners at different proficiency levels. The results have significant implications for the design of teaching material when teaching LBs in academic writing.