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An N-gram Analysis Japanese English Learners’ Writing: Focus on Grammatical Patterns

Lingzhi Wang

Abstract


The purpose of the study is to investigate how Japanese English learners use formulaic sequence of language in
their writing. Formulaic sequences, for example, n-grams or chunks are considered to be one of the criteria for teachers to level
learners’ language naturalness. The study analyzes Japanese and native learners’ academic writing, and finds that Japanese
learners always over-use/under-use certain n-grams. This indicates that Japanese learners prefer to use n-grams that is not frequent
used by native speakers. At the end of the study, some teaching methods and implications will be given according to the results.

Keywords


N-gram; Grammar Patterns; Japanese English Learners; Academic Writing

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18686/ahe.v5i3.3474

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