基于Coh-Metrix的中国英语学习者学术论文引言部分衔接手段的研究

A Coh-Metrix Study on Cohesive Devices in Chinese English Learners’ Research Article Introductions

衔接手段的运用一直是学术论文写作的难点。本文基于Coh-Metrix分析了中国英语学习者(L2)学术论文引言部分的衔接手段。研究将50篇理工科博士生的引言和英语母语者(L1)引言进行比较,基于30个Coh-Metrix指标,从语法衔接、词汇衔接、语义衔接和情景模型衔接四个维度解析了引言的显性衔接和隐性衔接手段。研究发现,L2在引言衔接手段上与L1有显著差异,存在使用过度或使用不足等问题。显性衔接问题主要体现在过度使用连词、所指总数及第一人称代词复数使用不足、用词过度重复;隐性衔接问题主要在于句间语义相似度过高、旧信息占比过高、过度使用因果虚词、时态一致性不足。研究表明,英语水平、写作教学、写作意图以及汉语负迁移等是影响L2使用衔接手段的主要因素。

The use of cohesive devices has always been a difficulty in research article writing. Based on Coh-Metrix, this paper analyzes the cohesive devices used by Chinese EFL learners (L2) in the introductions of their research articles. This study compares 50 introductions of PhD students of science and engineering with those of native English speakers (L1), and based on 30 Coh-Metrix indices, it analyzes the explicit and implicit cohesive devices from four dimensions: grammatical cohesion, lexical cohesion, semantic cohesion and situation model cohesion. Results show that L2 introductions are significantly different from L1 introductions in terms of the use of cohesive devices, indicating problems of both overuse and underuse. The main problems of explicit cohesion lie in the overuse of connectives, insufficient use of references and first-person plural pronouns, and excessive lexical repetition, while the main problems of implicit cohesion lie in high semantic similarity between sentences, high given-new information ratio, overuse of causal particles, and low temporality. These findings suggest that factors such as the English level, teaching of writing, writing intention and negative transfer of Chinese may affect how L2 use cohesive devices.