English L2 connectives in academic bilingual discourse: a longitudinal computerised analysis of a learner corpus

Authors

Keywords:

connectives, English L2, CLIL, historical literacy, Coh-Metrix

Abstract

This paper aims to describe the longitudinal evolution in the use of English L2 connectives made by students enrolled in a bilingual CLIL programme in the Andalusian secondary education system (Southern Spain) over three years of formal tuition. The automated tool Coh-Metrix has been used to approach a learner corpus produced by students as part of the school subject of bilingual history, which is taught in English as an L2. The overall evolution of connectives has been analysed, as well as the evolution of each of the connectives’ categories measured by Coh-Metrix (causal, logical, adversative/contrastive, temporal, extended temporal and additive connectives). Results have then been interpreted in order to pinpoint the developmental stage of students’ L2 written proficiency and analyse their degree of historical literacy. Over the three years of our study, the students have been found to increase their overall use of connectives in 15‰, indicating that they are becoming more proficient L2 writers. Furthermore, there is a particular increase in their use of causal and adversative/contrastive connectives, and a decrease in extended temporal connectives, which points to the development of their historical literacy and their transition from narrative to expository texts.

Author Biographies

Adrián Granados, Pablo de Olavide University

Adrián Granados is a researcher at Pablo de Olavide University. He holds a research grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science (reference FPU18/02673) and he is a full member of the BIMAP Project, where he is specialized in managing academic corpora with linguistic analysis software. His research focuses on the study of second language acquisition and bilingualism, publishing in journals such as the Journal of English for Academic Purposes and Applied Linguistics.

Francisco Lorenzo, Pablo de Olavide University

Francisco Lorenzo is a full professor at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, Spain). He has held visiting scholar positions at Harvard University, University of London, and University of Jyväskylä. His research focuses on the study of second language acquisition and bilingualism, sociolinguistics and sociology of language, and European language policies. He has authored 60 publications in journals like Applied Linguistics, Language Policy, System, and Language and Education. He heads the BIMAP Project.

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Published

2021-08-17

How to Cite

Granados, A., & Lorenzo, F. (2021). English L2 connectives in academic bilingual discourse: a longitudinal computerised analysis of a learner corpus. Revista Signos. Estudios De Lingüística, 54(106). Retrieved from https://revistasignos.cl/index.php/signos/article/view/474

Issue

Vol. 54 No. 106 (2021): August

Section

Monographic Section Articles

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