This paper focuses on connector usage in the writing of university students in Hong Kong and in Great Britain, and presents results based on the comparison of data from the Hong Kong component (ICE-HK) and the British component (ICE-GB) of the International Corpus of English (ICE). While previous studies of Hong Kong student writing have dealt with the ‘underuse’, ‘overuse’, and ‘misuse’ of connectors, this study confines itself to the analysis of underuse and overuse, and is especially concerned with methodological issues relating to the accurate measurement of these concepts. Specifically, it takes as its benchmark of overuse and underuse the frequency of connectors in professional academic writing, in this case the data in the ICE-GB corpus. The results show that measured in this way, both groups of students – native speakers and non-native speakers alike – overuse a wide range of connectors. The results offer no evidence of significant underuse.
Ahmed, Abdelhamid M., Xiao Zhang, Lameya M. Rezk & William S. Pearson
2023. Transition markers in Qatari university students' argumentative writing: A cross-linguistic analysis of L1 Arabic and L2 English. Ampersand 10 ► pp. 100110 ff.
UÇAR, Serpil
2023. A systematic review: An investigation of studies on the use of discourse connectors in Turkish EFL learners’ academic writing. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi :36 ► pp. 1291 ff.
Yang, Qin
2023. El uso de conectores: análisis de errores basado en corpus de aprendices sinohablantes de español. Lengua y Sociedad 22:1 ► pp. 275 ff.
Barbaros, Elif & Erdem Akbaş
2022. The developmental trajectory of contrast markers in children’s writing across four grade levels. Lingua 279 ► pp. 103427 ff.
Cheng, Angus & Art Tsang
2022. Use and understanding of connectives: an embedded case study of ESL learners of different proficiency levels. Language Awareness 31:2 ► pp. 155 ff.
Liu, Kanglong, Joyce Oiwun Cheung & Nan Zhao
2022. Learner corpus research in Hong Kong: past, present and future. Corpora 17:Supplement ► pp. 79 ff.
Wang, Yumin & Qin Xie
2022. Diagnosing EFL undergraduates’ discourse competence in academic writing. Assessing Writing 53 ► pp. 100641 ff.
2021. To Put It Differently: A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation of Reformulation Markers in Student Essays. Discourse Processes 58:9 ► pp. 787 ff.
Deng, Fei & Timothy V. Rasinski
2021. A Computer Corpus-Based Study of Chinese EFL Learners’ Use of Adverbial Connectors and Its Implications for Building a Language-Based Learning Environment. ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing 20:5 ► pp. 1 ff.
Knight, Dawn, Steve Morris & Tess Fitzpatrick
2021. 2.1 Cyflwyniad. In Corpus Design and Construction in Minoritised Language Contexts - Cynllunio a Chreu Corpws mewn Cyd-destunau Ieithoedd Lleiafrifoledig, ► pp. 85 ff.
Knight, Dawn, Steve Morris & Tess Fitzpatrick
2021. 1.1 Introduction. In Corpus Design and Construction in Minoritised Language Contexts - Cynllunio a Chreu Corpws mewn Cyd-destunau Ieithoedd Lleiafrifoledig, ► pp. 3 ff.
López-Ozieblo, Renia
2021. Improving Second Language Writing Across the Disciplines: Resources for Content Teachers. In Teaching Language and Content in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms, ► pp. 191 ff.
Quílez, Juan
2021. Supporting Spanish 11th grade students to make scientific writing when learning chemistry in English: the case of logical connectives. International Journal of Science Education 43:9 ► pp. 1459 ff.
Appel, Randy
2020. An exploratory analysis of linking adverbials in post-secondary texts from L1 Arabic, Chinese, and English writers. Ampersand 7 ► pp. 100070 ff.
2020. Transferência de padrões linguísticos do mandarim e do cantonês em aprendentes de PLA. Letras de Hoje 55:4 ► pp. e38358 ff.
Walková, Milada
2020. Transition markers in EAP textbooks. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 46 ► pp. 100874 ff.
Wetzel, Mathis, Sandrine Zufferey & Pascal Gygax
2020. Second Language Acquisition and the Mastery of Discourse Connectives: Assessing the Factors That Hinder L2-Learners from Mastering French Connectives. Languages 5:3 ► pp. 35 ff.
2019. On the phraseology of the linking adverbial besides. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 40 ► pp. 44 ff.
Takač, Višnja Pavičić & Sanja Vakanjac Ivezić
2019. FRAME MARKERS AND COHERENCE IN L2 ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS. Discourse and Interaction 12:2 ► pp. 46 ff.
Appel, Randy & Andrzej Szeib
2018. Linking adverbials in L2 English academic writing: L1-related differences. System 78 ► pp. 115 ff.
Kuzborska, Irena & Bill Soden
2018. The construction of opposition relations in high-, middle-, and low-rated postgraduate ESL Chinese students’ essays. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 34 ► pp. 68 ff.
Tåqvist, Marie Kristin
2018. “A wise decision”: Pre-modification of discourse-organising nouns in L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing 41 ► pp. 14 ff.
Alsharif, Maryam
2017. The Frequently Used Discourse Markers by Saudi EFL Learners. SSRN Electronic Journal
Crompton, Peter
2017. Complex anaphora with this: variation between three written argumentative genres. Corpora 12:1 ► pp. 115 ff.
Hye-Kyung Lee & Hyeon-Okh Kim
2017. Features of Lexical Bundles in Academic Writing by Non-Native vis-à-vie Native Speakers of English. English Language and Linguistics 23:2 ► pp. 67 ff.
Leedham, Maria & Maria Fernandez-Parra
2017. Recounting and reflecting: The use of first person pronouns in Chinese, Greek and British students' assignments in engineering. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 26 ► pp. 66 ff.
Malamatidou, Sofia
2017. Corpus triangulation in the study of connectives. In Corpus Triangulation, ► pp. 94 ff.
Sung, HyunMi
2017. A Study on the Use of ‘But’ and ‘However’ in Korean EFL College Learners' Argumentative Writing. Journal of the Korea English Education Society 16:4 ► pp. 45 ff.
Werner, Valentin
2017. Adversative Pragmatic Markers in Learner Language: A Cross-Sectional Perspective. Corpus Pragmatics 1:2 ► pp. 135 ff.
Zufferey, Sandrine & Pascal M. Gygax
2017. Processing Connectives with a Complex Form-Function Mapping in L2: The Case of French “En Effet”. Frontiers in Psychology 8
Gao, Xia
2016. A cross-disciplinary corpus-based study on English and Chinese native speakers' use of linking adverbials in academic writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 24 ► pp. 14 ff.
Ha, Myung-Jeong
2016. Linking adverbials in first-year Korean university EFL learners' writing: a corpus-informed analysis. Computer Assisted Language Learning 29:6 ► pp. 1090 ff.
KERZ, ELMA & DANIEL WIECHMANN
2016. Second language construction learning: investigating domain-specific adaptation in advanced L2 production. Language and Cognition 8:4 ► pp. 533 ff.
SUH JUNG WON & Hohsung Choe
2016. The Use of Conjunctive Adverbials in the Research Articles of American, Hong Kong/Singaporean, and Korean Scholars. English21 29:1 ► pp. 357 ff.
Xinfeng Feng & 최문홍
2016. A Corpus-based Analysis of Chinese EFL Learners’ Use of Linking Adverbials. The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal 24:1 ► pp. 49 ff.
은호윤
2016. A Comparative Analysis of Conjunctive Adverbials Between Korean EFL and Native English Writers in English Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations. Studies in English Language & Literature 42:2 ► pp. 239 ff.
2015. A Corpus-Based Study on Engagement in English Academic Writing. English Teaching 70:2 ► pp. 27 ff.
Wei, Yaoyu
2015. Lexical Bundles in Native and Non-native Scientific Writing: Applying a Corpus-based Study to Language Teaching. ELT Journal 69:4 ► pp. 473 ff.
Yin, Zihan
2015. The Use of Cohesive Devices in News Language: Overuse, Underuse or Misuse?. RELC Journal 46:3 ► pp. 309 ff.
Zufferey, Sandrine, Willem Mak, Liesbeth Degand & Ted Sanders
2015. Advanced learners’ comprehension of discourse connectives: The role of L1 transfer across on-line and off-line tasks. Second Language Research 31:3 ► pp. 389 ff.
Aull, Laura L. & Zak Lancaster
2014. Linguistic Markers of Stance in Early and Advanced Academic Writing. Written Communication 31:2 ► pp. 151 ff.
Jee Won Kim & Seok-Chae Rhee
2014. A Corpus-based Study on Korean EFL Learners’ Use of Resultive Conjunctive Adverbials. The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal 22:4 ► pp. 143 ff.
Peng, Yong Mei & Yun Hua Qu
2014. Based on Research Connecting Word Corpus of Spoken English. Advanced Materials Research 1030-1032 ► pp. 2689 ff.
조희연 & 신정아
2014. Cohesive Devices in English Writing Textbooks and Korean Learners’ English Writings. English Teaching 69:1 ► pp. 41 ff.
Cresswell, Andy
2013. Both on and under the Surface of Discourse: Tagged Corpora for the Functional Description of Conjunctive Language. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 95 ► pp. 116 ff.
Leedham, Maria & Guozhi Cai
2013. Besides … on the other hand: Using a corpus approach to explore the influence of teaching materials on Chinese students’ use of linking adverbials. Journal of Second Language Writing 22:4 ► pp. 374 ff.
Rossette, Fiona
2013. And-Prefaced Utterances: From Speech to Text. Anglophonia Caliban/Sigma 17 (34) ► pp. 105 ff.
Yong-Yae Park
2013. How Korean EFL Students Use Conjunctive Adverbials in Argumentative Writing. English Teaching 68:4 ► pp. 263 ff.
Yong-Yae Park
2013. Korean College EFL Students’ Use of Contrastive Conjunctions in Argumentative Writing. English Teaching 68:2 ► pp. 55 ff.
Lei, Lei
2012. Linking adverbials in academic writing on applied linguistics by Chinese doctoral students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 11:3 ► pp. 267 ff.
Li, Ting & Sue Wharton
2012. Metadiscourse repertoire of L1 Mandarin undergraduates writing in English: A cross-contextual, cross-disciplinary study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 11:4 ► pp. 345 ff.
Schmied, Josef
2012. Academic Knowledge Presentation in MA Theses: from Corpus Compilation to Case Studies of Disciplinary Conventions. Brno Studies in English 38:2 ► pp. 149 ff.
Son-Hee Ro & NaYoonHee
2012. Use and Misuse of Linking Adverbials: A Corpus-based Study on NS and NNS Writings. English21 25:3 ► pp. 291 ff.
김명희
2012. A Comparative Study of the Use of Causality Markers in Narrative Writings. English Language and Linguistics 18:3 ► pp. 57 ff.
김향숙 & Sung-Ho Ahn
2012. A Corpus-Based Study of Connectors in Editorials of Korean and American English Newspapers. Multimedia-Assisted Language Learning 15:4 ► pp. 61 ff.
Abbuhl, Rebekha
2011. Using Models in Writing Instruction. Sage Open 1:3
Charles, Maggie
2011. Adverbials of result: Phraseology and functions in the Problem–Solution pattern. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 10:1 ► pp. 47 ff.
Yan, Wang
2011. Relative Clauses in Hong Kong English: A Corpus-based Perspective. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics 34:4
Rahimi, Ali & Jamal-addin Qannadzadeh
2010. Quantitative usage of logical connectors in Iranians’ EFL Essay writing and logical and linguistic intelligences. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 5 ► pp. 2012 ff.
Luzón, María José
2009. The use of we in a learner corpus of reports written by EFL Engineering students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 8:3 ► pp. 192 ff.
EunJooLee
2008. An analysis of corpus-based research on TEFL and applied linguistics.. English Teaching 63:2 ► pp. 283 ff.
김경숙
2008. Advanced Korean EFL Learners' Use of Connectors in Written Discourse. Studies in Foreign Language Education 22:1 ► pp. 279 ff.
Tseng, Yen-Chu & Hsien-Chin Liou
2006. The effects of online conjunction materials on college EFL students’ writing. System 34:2 ► pp. 270 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.