Lexical Bundles in Native and Non-native Scientific Writing

This book presents an investigation of lexical bundles in native and non-native scientific writing in English, whose aim is to produce a frequency-derived, statistically- and qualitatively-refined list of the most pedagogically useful lexical bundles in scientific prose: one that can be sorted and filtered by frequency, key word, structure and function, and includes contextual information such as variations, authentic examples and usage notes. The first part of the volumediscusses the creation of this list based on a multimillion-word corpus of biomedical research writing and reveals the structure and functions of lexical bundles and their role in effective scientific communication. A comparative analysis of a non-native corpus highlights non-native scientists’ difficulties in employing lexical bundles. The second part of the volume explores pedagogical applications and provides a series of teaching activities that illustrate how EAP teachers or materials designers can use the list of lexical bundles in their practice.