Exploring connector usage in essays written by university students in Japan : Through comparisons with essays in Japanese and English essays written by English native speakers

ニホン　ノ　ダイガクセイ　エイゴ　ガクシュウシャ　ニ　ヨル　エッセイ　デノ　セツゾク　ヒョウゲン　ヲ　サグル　ニホンゴ　エッセイ　エイゴ　ボゴ　ワシャ　ニ　ヨル　エッセイ　ト　ヒカク　シテ

イマオ, ヤスヒロ

Imao, Yasuhiro

Graduate School of Language and Culture, Osaka University

オオサカダイガク　ダイガクイン　ゲンゴブンカ　ケンキュウカ

接続表現

第１・第２言語エッセイ比較

learner corpus

connector usage

L1-L2 essay comparison

This study examined the use of sentence-level (full-clause-level) connectors in essays written by Japanese college students using a English-Japanese bilingual corpus. Comparisons were made between English and Japanese essays written by the same students as well as between English essays of the bilingual corpus and English essays written by a different group of Japanese college students as well as native speakers of English. The results show that writers use more connectors per fixed number of sentences when writing in English than in Japanese. English native speakers use higher number of connectors per fixed number of sentences, but their choices of connectors are found to be quite different from learners’. The tendencies of the connector usage in English essay are also different between two groups of college students and from essays written by English native speakers. At the same time, the findings suggest that considering elements other than connectors needs to be examined when comparing essays written in English and in Japanese or essays collected underdifferent instructions