Frequency Effect of Formulaic Sequences on CAF in Academic Writing:Examples from L2 Master’s Theses

程式语的使用频率对学术写作复杂性、准确性和流利性的影响:以二语硕士论文为例

This study was conducted to explore the individual uses of formulaic sequence(FS)frequency and their effects on complexity,accuracy,and fluency(CAF)in academic writing.Data was collected from the conclusion sections of a self-compiled corpus of 30 L2 master’s theses.Statistical analysis revealed several notable conclusions.1)Student writers tend to make repetitive use of particular FSs in single texts.2)FS use has a significant frequency effect on fluency,and the high-frequency group slightly outperforms the low-frequency group.3)FS use has a certain frequency effect on accuracy,and the high-frequency group demonstrates the strongest correlation between FS frequency and accuracy.4)FS use has a significant frequency effect on lexical complexity,and the low-frequency group slightly outperforms the high-frequency group.In the low-frequency group,FS use has a significant frequency effect on syntactic complexity as well.Finally,5)The results support Skehan’s trade-off effect,a competition between CAF,which,to a certain degree,is affected by individual uses of FS frequency.The low-frequency group displays a greater trade-off effect than the high-frequency group.

本研究探索程式语使用的个体差异及其对学术写作流利性、准确性和复杂性的影响。基于对30篇二语硕士论文结论部分的分析,结果显示:1)学生作者倾向在单篇文本中多次重复使用特定的程式语;2)程式语对流利性产生显著影响,高频组写作者的流利性略高于低频组写作者;3)程式语对准确性产生一定的影响,高频组写作者在程式语和准确性之间表现出最强的相关性;4)程式语对词汇复杂性有显著的频率效应,低频组写作者的词汇复杂性略高于高频组写作者,且低频组写作者的程式语使用对句法复杂性也有显著影响;5)研究结果支持Skehan的竞争效应假设,流利性、准确性和复杂性之间的竞争在一定程度上受到程式语频率个体差异的影响,低频组写作者的流利性、准确性和复杂性间的竞争效应大于高频组写作者。