Shell Noun Use in Argumentative Essay Writing of English Learners and Native English Speakers

168 Pages·2016·1.37 MB·English

Shell Noun Use in Argumentative Essay Writing of English
Learners and Native English Speakers

A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University
of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of

Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.)

in Literacy and Second Language Studies in the College of
Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services
March 2016

by

Brian Schanding

M.A., Georgia State University
B.A. Eastern Kentucky University

Committee:
Hye Pae, Ph.D., Committee Chair
Gulbahar Beckett, Ph.D.
Marcus Johnson, Ph.D.
Haiyang Ai, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
The use of shell nouns (SNs) has become an increasingly researched phenomenon in
lexicogrammar and text-level research. However, findings of SN use among English as a foreign
language (EFL) learners are sparse. Namely, there is a need for a larger collection of results from
more than one L1 group, and beyond listing common nouns used as SNs, or common SN
patterns, research should include which nouns occur in which patterns. This study examined SN
use among EFL writers, specifically Turkish and Japanese first language speakers. Methods
commonly employed in corpus linguistics were used to identify SN use in four
lexicogrammatical patterns. As a comparison, SNs were also extracted from a corpus of native
speaker writing. Beyond frequency counts, an association measure using collexeme analysis,
which includes a Fisher Yates exact test of word-pattern association strength, was performed to
determine conspicuously over- or under-used patterns and or SNs.
Attached to a reliance on frequency information generally, and association measures
specifically, is the assumption in cognitive semantics that frequency is evidence of entrenchment,
or the formation of strong associations in the cognitive system—of words and meaning, of
words’ co-occurrence with other words, and of words’ co-occurrence with syntactic patterns.
SNs and patterns occurrences in the corpus analysis were viewed through this perspective, as
well as through the theory of functional linguistics, or how conceptual or communicative purpose
(function) impacts linguistic choices (form).
Results indicate that EFL learners have a firm understanding of the functions of SNs.
This is revealed in a large overlap of SN choices found in four target SN pattern categories
between EFL learners and native speakers. However, some nouns are strongly associated with
patterns in the EFL corpora that aren’t as strong, or are even repelled, in the NS corpus.
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Likewise, some SNs found in EFL writing, such as problem and situation, were found in the
target patterns but do not occur in native speaker writing. Other findings, along with a discussion
of implications, applications to instruction of EFL writing, as well as suggestions for future
directions are offered.

Keywords: shell noun, lexical pattern, EFL writing, corpus linguistics

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Copyright

Brian Schanding

2016

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to my dissertation committee for their insights on earlier drafts of my dissertation.
First, I very much appreciate the time and effort that Dr. Hye Pae, my advisor and committee
chair, invested in me throughout my coursework and dissertation work. Her guidance was always
helpful and led me to a much more substantive final product. In addition to advising me as a
student, Hye Pae mentored me as I facilitated her courses as an assistant. Dr. Haiyang Ai and
Marcus Johnson had excellent comments and questions that also contributed to my developing a
much improved final draft. Finally, Dr. Gulbahar Beckett, who next to my advisor has been a
very influential figure in my academic life, not only was very supportive of my research work,
but also guided me through valuable assistantship work at Cincinnati and abroad.
I would like to thank other University of Cincinnati CECH faculty who during my coursework
have demonstrated to me a combination of traits every teacher wants to have: the ability to
confront and challenge a student to improve himself but at the same time manage to be a
supportive guide throughout the learning process. I think specifically of Dr. Cheri Williams and
Dr. Leigh Lihshing Wang. Other CECH faculty who I will not forget include Drs. Holly
Johnson, Pamela Williamson, and Connie Kendall-Theado for their mentoring me through my
assistantship work on the University of Cincinnati-Sulahaddin University partnership.
For their technical assistance, I would like to thank Elizabeth Nalley for her file processing
knowledge. Also, Mike Scott was always responsive to troubleshooting questions about his
WordSmith software. My parents, Paula and Don, also very generously offered me a new laptop
on which to complete this research. While I hope not to burden this computer again with such a
lengthy and draining endeavor as a dissertation, I do hope to keep it as a totem of my
accomplishment. Other support from my parents, as well as my mother-in-law, Rowena, came in
the form of daycare and comfort food, is very much appreciated.
Along with my parents for their eternal support, I wish to thank other family members who
indirectly helped with the completion of my degree. Amy and Scott, Larry and Susan, and my
dear Grandma Alice and Grandpa Stan all provided me with a place to sleep at different times as
I commuted to campus from Louisville. Your hospitality was just what I needed while away
from home.
Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife Loren and my son Henry. There is a
great deal of ambiguity, discouragement, failure and indecision that go with the pursuit of a
degree. I experienced these at various times throughout my doctoral study. I believe the only
thing that helped me maintain my course was your constant presence in my life. No
discouragement, failure, or absolutely confounding research article I encountered over the years
has been enough of an obstacle that your love could not inspire me to continue moving forward. I
have always known that whatever happens, I have you, and that really is enough.
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CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. v
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... xii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1
Research Problem ........................................................................................................................... 3
Views of Corpus Linguistics ........................................................................................................... 4
Corpus-informed Frameworks ........................................................................................................ 5
The idiom principle. ............................................................................................................ 7
Pattern grammar. ................................................................................................................. 7
Lexical priming. .................................................................................................................. 8
Construction grammar. ....................................................................................................... 8
Corpus-driven and Corpus-based Approaches................................................................................ 8
Research Questions ......................................................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 11
The Cognitive Function of SNs. ................................................................................................... 15
The Linking Function of SNs ....................................................................................................... 16
The Characterizing Function of SNs............................................................................................. 17
Structures associated with SNs (or SN patterns). ......................................................................... 22
SN use in EFL Writing. ................................................................................................................ 24
Atypical lexicogrammar.................................................................................................... 25
Register confusion: Speech-like writing. .......................................................................... 25
Over- and underuse of language features .......................................................................... 27
Native language transfer. .................................................................................................. 29
Problems in SN Research.............................................................................................................. 30
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Theories Informing the Present Study .......................................................................................... 32
Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 36
Participants and Materials ............................................................................................................. 36
Procedures ..................................................................................................................................... 40
Automatic and Manual Data Collection. .......................................................................... 40
Lexical item searches. ....................................................................................................... 40
Syntactic searches. ............................................................................................................ 42
Word clusters. ................................................................................................................... 43
Textual dispersion of SNs. ................................................................................................ 44
The manual component. .................................................................................................... 44
Data Analysis Scheme .................................................................................................................. 46
Interpreting frequency data. .............................................................................................. 46
Qualitative analysis ........................................................................................................... 50

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 51
Question 1: Frequencies of SNs in the SN Patterns ...................................................................... 52
The [N-that-X] pattern. ..................................................................................................... 55
The [N-of-X] Pattern......................................................................................................... 56
The [N-to-X] SN pattern. .................................................................................................. 58
The [Det-N] pattern........................................................................................................... 59
Question 2: Noun-Pattern Co-occurrence ..................................................................................... 61
The [N-that-X] pattern. ..................................................................................................... 64
The [N-of-X] pattern. ........................................................................................................ 65
The [N-to-X] pattern. ........................................................................................................ 67
The [Det-N] pattern........................................................................................................... 68
Question 3: Conspicuous Noun Use ............................................................................................. 69
The [N-that-X] pattern ...................................................................................................... 72
Word choice. ......................................................................................................... 77
Word form choices. ............................................................................................... 78
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Choices of lexicogrammar. ................................................................................... 79
The [N-of-X] pattern ......................................................................................................... 82
Nouns of locution. ................................................................................................. 84
The [N-to-X] pattern ......................................................................................................... 88
Word choice. ......................................................................................................... 88
Lexicogrammar. .................................................................................................... 90
Modality and the [N-to-X] pattern ........................................................................ 92
The [Det-N] Pattern .......................................................................................................... 95
Word choice. ......................................................................................................... 98
Pre-modification in the [Det-N] pattern. ............................................................. 100

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 103
Theoretical Implications ............................................................................................................. 110
Pedagogical Implications ............................................................................................................ 114
Research Limitations .................................................................................................................. 118
Future Directions ........................................................................................................................ 119

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 124

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 128

APPEDICES ............................................................................................................................... 139
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 139
Appendix B ................................................................................................................................. 141
Appendix C ................................................................................................................................. 145
Appendix D ................................................................................................................................. 146
Appendix E ................................................................................................................................. 148
Appendix F.................................................................................................................................. 149
Appendix G ................................................................................................................................. 151
Appendix H ................................................................................................................................. 153

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Halliday & Hassan’s (1976: p.274) Abstract Noun Classifications
Table 2 Lexicogrammatical Patterns Revealed in Three SN Studies
Table 3 Essay and Word Count of Writing from ICLEv2 (Granger et al.,
2009) Writer Groups
Table 4 Breakdown of MICUSP Argumentative Papers by Academic Field
Table 5 The 25 most frequent words from the LOCNESS using Wordlist
command in Wordsmith (Scott, 2009)
Table 6 The Ten Most Frequent Words with SN Potential in the LOCNESS
Table 7 Total Noun Count in Each Corpus
Table 8 SN Pattern Raw and Normalized Frequencies Across Corpora
Table 9 [N-that-X] Frequency Information Across Corpora
Table 10 Frequency Information for the [N-of-X] Pattern Across Corpora
Table 11 Frequency Information for the [N-to-X] Pattern Across Corpora
Table 12 Frequency Information for the [Det-N] Pattern Across Corpora
Table 13 25 Most Frequent SNs Across Corpora
Table 14 25 Most Frequent Nouns in the [N-that-X] Pattern
Table 15 25 Most Frequent SNs in the [N-of-X] Pattern
Table 16 25 Most Frequent Nouns in the [N-to-X] Pattern
Table 17 25 Most Frequent Nouns in the [Det-N] Pattern
Table 18 Alphabetical List of SNs Found Exclusively in EFL Learner
Corpora
Table 19 25 Nouns Most Strongly Associated with the [N-that-X] Pattern
Table 20 Sample Co-Occurrence Table for Collexeme Analysis: Use of fact in
[N-that-X] in LOCNESS
Table 21 Ten Most Strongly Repelled SNs (FYE) in the [N-that-X] Pattern
Across Corpora
Table 22 25 Nouns Most Strongly Associated with the [N-of-X] Pattern
Table 23 Five Nouns with Strongest Repulsion Scores in the [N-of-X] Pattern
Across Corpora
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