‘According to…’: The impact of language background and writing expertise on textual priming patterns of multi-word sequences in academic writing

Abstract This paper investigates the impact of language background and writing expertise on textual priming patterns with a focus on textual position and semantic association of the multi-word sequence according to… in English research papers. Comparisons were made on the usages of according to…in four corpora of English research papers, covering writing by Chinese-speaking learners of English (L2 learners), L1-English novice writers and two groups of L1-English experts who differed in their disciplinary membership. Results show that L2 learners and L1 experts tend to use according to… in different textual positions. Specifically, L2 learners exhibit a strong bias towards using the sequence at the very beginning of paragraph-initial sentences whereas L1 experts prefer to use it in the second half of non-initial sentences. In addition, L2 and L1 usages demonstrate differences in semantic categories associated with according to…. However, few differences were found between L1 novice and expert writers in either textual positions or corresponding semantic categories. We argue that establishing textual priming patterns of multi-word sequences could be challenging for L2 learners due to L1 transfer as well as insufficient L2 exposure. Pedagogical interventions are recommended to teach priming patterns of multi-word sequences in English for Academic Purposes.