Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Learner Corpus Research
Vol. 3:1 (2017) ► pp.1–35

Dutch learner English in close-up

A Bayesian corpus analysis of pre-subject adverbials in advanced Dutch EFL writing

| Radboud University Nijmegen
| Radboud University Nijmegen

This study presents a longitudinal Bayesian analysis of pre-subject adverbial (PSA) use in a 571,174-word corpus of Dutch learner English. Overall, learners use more circumstance and linking adverbials, but fewer stance adverbials than both novice and expert native writers. Learners also use more ‘local anchors’, i.e. adverbials that serve a cohesive purpose by linking back to an antecedent in the directly preceding discourse. Interestingly, untimed essays are more native-like than timed essays in their use of each of the adverbial types considered. Although learners generally develop in the direction of native writing, the use of linking adverbials in learners’ literature essays develops in the opposite direction. L1 transfer may account for more frequent use of some categories of adverbials, particularly local anchors, but the widening gap between learners and native speakers (NSs) in the use of linking adverbials suggests that the potential role of textbook and curriculum design warrants further research.

Keywords: information structure, discourse linking, EFL, advanced learners, L1 transfer
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Materials and methods
    • 2.1Corpus design and annotation
    • 2.2Data analysis
      • 2.2.1Motivation for using Bayesian analysis
      • 2.2.2Bayesian parameter estimation
      • 2.2.3Drop-outs
      • 2.2.4Main analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Text type, discipline and writing expertise in three different types of NS writing
      • 3.1.1Circumstance, linking and stance adverbials
      • 3.1.2Local anchors
    • 3.2One learner corpus, two text types: Argumentative and literature essays in the Dutch component of LONGDALE
      • 3.2.1Circumstance, linking and stance adverbials
      • 3.2.2Local anchors
    • 3.3Novice NNS and expert NS academic writing: LONGDALE-lit vs VUNSPRAC-lit
      • 3.3.1Circumstance, linking and stance adverbials
      • 3.3.2Local anchors
    • 3.4Argumentative writing by novice NS and NNS writers: LONGDALE-arg vs LOCNESS
      • 3.4.1Circumstance, linking and stance adverbials
      • 3.4.2Local anchors
    • 3.5Timed vs untimed NNS writing
      • 3.5.1Circumstance, stance and linking adverbials
      • 3.5.2Local anchors
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 6 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.3.1.01van
References
Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad, & E. Finegan
1999 The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Bohnacker U. & Rosén, C.
2008 “The clause-initial position in L2 German declaratives: Transfer of information structure”, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 30(4), 511–538. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Callies, M.
2009 Information Highlighting in Advanced Learner English. The Syntax- Pragmatics Interface in Second Language Acquisition. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Council of Europe
2001: online. Common European Framework of Reference for: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Available at: [URL] (accessed February 2015).
De Haan, P. & Van der Haagen, M.
2012 “Modification of adjectives in very advanced Dutch EFL writing: A development study”, The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL 1(1), 129–142.Google Scholar
Dreschler, G.
2015 Passives and the Loss of Verb Second: A Study of Syntactic and Information-Structural Factors. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
EF English Proficiency Index
2015: online. Available at: [URL] (accessed January 2016).
Eurobarometer 386
2012: online. Europeans and their Languages. Available at: [URL] (accessed January 2016).
Granger, S.
1996 “From CA to CIA and back: An integrated approach to computerized bilingual and learner corpora”. In K. Aijmer, B. Altenberg, & M. Johansson (Eds.), Languages in Contrast. Text-based Cross-linguistic Studies. Lund: Lund University Press, 37–51.Google Scholar
Jarvis, S.
2000 “Methodological rigor in the study of transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the interlanguage lexicon”, Language Learning 50(2), 245–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klein, D. & Manning, C.
2003 “Accurate Unlexicalized Parsing”. In Association for Computational Linguistics (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics. Sapporo: Association for Computational Linguistics, 423–430. Available at [URL] (accessed October 2016.)
Komen, E.
2012 “Coreferenced corpora for information structure research”. In J. Tyrkkö, M. Kilpiö, T. Nevalainen, & M. Rissanen (Eds.), Outposts of Historical Corpus Linguistics: From the Helsinki Corpus to a Proliferation of Resources. Helsinki: Research Unit for Variation, Contacts, and Change in English. Available at: [URL] (accessed March 2013).
2013 Finding Focus: A Study of the Historical Development of Focus in English. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar
Kruschke, J.
2010 Doing Bayesian Data Analysis: A Tutorial Introduction with R. Amsterdam: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Laskin, L.
2016: online. Frequentist and Bayesian approaches in statistics. Available at: [URL] (accessed June 2016).
Littré, D.
2014 A Cognitive, Longitudinal Study of the Use of the English Present Progressive by Intermediate and Advanced French-Speaking Learners. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain.Google Scholar
Los, B.
2012 “The loss of verb-second and the switch from bounded to unbounded systems”. In A. Meurman-Solin, M. López-Couso, & B. Los (Eds.), Information Structure and Syntactic Change in the History of English. New York: Oxford University Press, 21–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Los, B. & Dreschler, G.
2012 “The loss of local anchoring: From adverbial local anchors to permissive subjects”. In T. Nevalainen & E. Closs Traugott (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 859–872.Google Scholar
Meunier, F.
2015 “Introduction to the LONGDALE project”. In E. Castello, K. Ackerley, & F. Coccetta (Eds.), Studies in Learner Corpus Linguistics: Research and Applications for Foreign Language Teaching and Assessment. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Scarcella, R.
1983 “Discourse accent in second language performance”. In S. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning. Rowling, MA: Newbury House, 306–326.Google Scholar
Springer, P.
2012 Advanced Learner Writing: A Corpus-based Study of the Discourse Competence of Dutch Writers of English in the Light of the C1/C2 Levels of the CEFR. Oisterwijk: BOXpress.Google Scholar
Van Vuuren, S.
2013 “Information structural transfer in advanced Dutch EFL writing: a cross-linguistic longitudinal study”. In S. Aalberse & A. Auer (Eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands 2013. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 173–187.Google Scholar
Van Vuuren, S. & De Vries, R.
forthcoming. “Common framework, local context, local anchors: How V2 to SVO information-structural transfer can help to distinguish within CEFR C2”. In B. Los & P. De Haan Eds. Verb-Second Languages: Essays in Honour of Ans van Kemenade Amsterdam John Benjamins DOI logo
Verheijen, L., Los, B. & De Haan, P.
2013 “Information structure: The final hurdle? The development of syntactic structures in (very) advanced Dutch EFL writing”, Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 2(1), 92–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Gries, Stefan Th. & Stefanie Wulff
2021. Examining individual variation in learner production data: A few programmatic pointers for corpus-based analyses using the example of adverbial clause ordering. Applied Psycholinguistics 42:2 ► pp. 279 ff. DOI logo
Lozano, Cristóbal & Marcus Callies
2018. Word Order and Information Structure in Advanced SLA. In The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, ► pp. 419 ff. DOI logo
Starren, Marianne
2023. Language-specific principles of discourse conceptualization in L2 English. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 14:1 ► pp. 106 ff. DOI logo
van Hilten, Myrte & Sanne van Vuuren
2017. Does it ‘feel’ non-native?. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 6:2 ► pp. 197 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 may 2024. 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.