Phraseological Sequences Ending in of in L2 Novice Academic Writing

This study explores the use of recurrent four-word sequences ending in of in English L2 novice academic writing. Our aim is to identify to what extent and in what ways the use of phraseological patterns differs in academic texts written by L2 novice academic writers from texts authored by professional L1 academic writers. Both actual four-word sequences and structural patterns are investigated. The results show that Czech novice academic writers in the field of English literature are able to use a wide range of multi-word sequences and patterns. The frequency of the main structural patterns is very similar in the two corpora, with the prepositional sequence [prep det N of] representing by far the most frequent type, followed by nominal sequences [det adj/num N of], and verbal sequences [V det N of]. However, it is the prepositional type that displays most differences between the learners and native speakers, especially the use of complex prepositions. The functional analysis of the sequences has shown that the discourse functions of sequences are similar in both languages; nevertheless, Czech L2 novice academic writers tend to overuse sequences containing less advanced lexical items with transparent meaning. Pedagogical applications of the results should include improvements of pedagogical tools by increasing emphasis on advanced and semantically more complex phraseological sequences.