a comparative study of lexical bundles in non-native student and expert ielts argumentative writing

This study aimed to identify the structural and functional characteristics of lexical bundles in non-native student and expert argumentative writing. the dataset for the study consisted of three sets of texts including non-native student and expert ielts argumentative writing on the same topics, and expert argumentative writing on diverse topics. the study adopted a quantitative approach to finding out the forms of four and five-word lexical bundles, and a qualitative analysis to identifying their functional characteristics. concerning the structures of lexical bundles, findings showed that that-clause fragments were used more than other types of structures in both non-native and expert writers' texts dissimilar to academic writing in which mostly noun-based structures are dominant. results also revealed that with regard to the functions of lexical bundles, stance bundles made it to the top of the list in both non-native and expert writers' texts. in addition, a close and rather fixed relationship was identified between forms and functions of lexical bundles in the dataset although they were not comprised of complete structural units.