学习者英语学术语篇中过度使用一般现在时的现象研究

A Study on the Overuse of the Present Tense in Chinese EFL Learners’Academic Writings

本文以国际期刊论文为对照,研究国内应用语言学方向硕士、博士论文研究方法中的时态使用情况。首先构建了一个由各30篇论文的研究方法部分构成的小型语料库,然后分别对比时态在三种语料中的总体使用情况和不同语篇功能中的使用情况。研究发现,学习者的时态使用与国际期刊论文相比有显著差异,突出表现在硕博士论文,尤其是硕士论文,具有显著的过度使用一般现在时的现象。分析认为,这一现象与时态习得一般因素、汉语无时态特点、学习者已有语法知识迁移等因素有关。本文研究成果能够对学术英语学习与教学提供建议与启发。

This study investigates tense usage in Chinese EFL MA theses and PhD dissertations in applied linguistics,contrasted against the use of tenses in papers published in international academic journals.It first builds a corpus of the methodology section of 90 papers,with 30 in each sub-corpus.Comparisons of the total number of tenses used in each corpora and the number of tenses used in each move show a significant discrepancy between tense used by advanced Chinese EFL learners and expert writers,with learner papers showing a strong tendency for the overuse of the simple present tense.It is argued that Chinese advanced EFL learner’s preference for the simple present is the result of bunch of factors including L1 influence,factors influencing tense acquisition,and transfer of their previous knowledge,etc.It is hoped that this research may shed light on the learning and pedagogy of English academic writing.