Topic-specific vs Global lexical bundles and discourse-semantic text properties in L2 argumentative writing

Abstract

Research on formulaic language in L2 writing has demonstrated that the use of lexical bundles is crucial to disciplinary discourse and development and that bundle use varies across proficiency levels and tasks. However, little is known about which writing-relevant textual properties these lexical bundles reflect. Do texts that employ more formulaic expressions become more lexically specific and/or more referentially or causally cohesive, or does formulaic language simply signify discourse without contributing to meaning? This study addresses these questions by investigating whether lexical-bundle coverage is associated with three Coh-Metrix composites (i.e., Specificity, Referential Cohesion and Deep Cohesion) in a corpus of 480 Arabic-L1 English argumentative essays. More specifically, the paper explores two types of lexical bundles, which are topic-specific and global ones, and seeks to examine their relationships with the three composites. To achieve this, essay-level composite scores were modelled on topic-specific and global coverage using a multivariate multiple regression with fixed effects for prompt and educational level. The results demonstrate that topic-specific lexical bundles are significantly associated with Referential Cohesion, whereas global coverage is associated with Deep Cohesion. Neither type is reliably associated with Specificity. These findings suggest that topic-specific bundles pattern with stronger local semantic alignment, whereas global bundles are more closely linked to causal/argumentative scaffolding.