The deployment of English lexical bundles in applied linguistics research articles by Vietnamese researchers

• Published in: Ho Chi Minh City Open University Journal of Science - Social Sciences (Online) Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 75 - 84
• Main Authors: Thao, Tran Quoc, Khoi, Nguyen Minh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 24.09.2022
• Subjects: applied linguistics; corpus; lexical bundle; research article; vietnamese researcher
• ISSN: 2734-9357; 2734-9624
• DOI: 10.46223/HCMCOUJS.soci.en.12.2.2227.2022

Lexical Bundles (LBs) have been considered an effective tool for not only academic writing but also spoken discourse. The use of these clusters has attracted a lot of researchers in different registers because of their characteristics and functions in constructing the texts. However, research into LBs seems to be quite rare in English Applied Linguistics (AL) Research Articles (RAs) written by non-native English researchers, especially Vietnamese researchers. This study, therefore, aims to scrutinise Vietnamese researchers’ use of LBs in English AL RAs. A corpus of 77 AL RAs selected from three Journals was built. This study adapted the theoretical frameworks by Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, and Finegan (1999), Biber, Conrad, and Cortes (2004) and Biber (2006) for data analysis. The findings revealed that Vietnamese researchers tended to deploy noun-based LBs more than verb-based and preposition-based ones in their AL RAs. It was further found LBs showing research-oriented functions were prevalent in AL RAs over text-oriented and participant-oriented ones. This research has pedagogical implications in terms of LB use for Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and learners in the teaching and learning of academic writing.