Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study

It is widely claimed that many university students were found to be unprepared for the reading demands placed upon them. To provide students with an understanding of the features of the discourses they may encounter, this study investigates lexical bundles (LBs) used in the reading passages of Malay...

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Main Authors:	Christina Sook Beng, Ong, Yuen, Chee Keong
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit UKM 2015
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/1/5797-22056-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-8261
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-82612016-12-14T06:46:42Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/ Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study Christina Sook Beng, Ong Yuen, Chee Keong It is widely claimed that many university students were found to be unprepared for the reading demands placed upon them. To provide students with an understanding of the features of the discourses they may encounter, this study investigates lexical bundles (LBs) used in the reading passages of Malaysian University English Test (MUET), a compulsory entrance examination for tertiary education. More specifically it aims to compare and contrast the functional types of LBs found in arts and science-based reading passages. A specialised corpus of MUET test papers made up of only the reading passages categorised into two main traditional disciplines; arts and science was built using WordSmith Tools Version 5. The lists of LBs of the identified disciplines were generated using WordSmith Tools Version 5. The generated data was then analysed qualitatively based on Hyland’s (2008) Functional Taxonomy. Findings revealed that although the number of LBs in both disciplines shows significant difference, many similar LBs are found. Science-based passages employ more research-based LBs whereas arts-based texts employ more participant-oriented LBs. These findings seemed to confirm that the functions of LBs are specific to particular disciplines. Hence, explicit teaching of LBs should be considered in schools and two separate sets of MUET reading tests where the first comprises of texts adopted from the scientific and technological context while the other made up of texts from the social sciences should be designed to accommodate both arts and science stream pre-university students. Penerbit UKM 2015-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/1/5797-22056-1-PB.pdf Christina Sook Beng, Ong and Yuen, Chee Keong (2015) Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 15 (1). pp. 77-90. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/index
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	It is widely claimed that many university students were found to be unprepared for the reading demands placed upon them. To provide students with an understanding of the features of the discourses they may encounter, this study investigates lexical bundles (LBs) used in the reading passages of Malaysian University English Test (MUET), a compulsory entrance examination for tertiary education. More specifically it aims to compare and contrast the functional types of LBs found in arts and science-based reading passages. A specialised corpus of MUET test papers made up of only the reading passages categorised into two main traditional disciplines; arts and science was built using WordSmith Tools Version 5. The lists of LBs of the identified disciplines were generated using WordSmith Tools Version 5. The generated data was then analysed qualitatively based on Hyland’s (2008) Functional Taxonomy. Findings revealed that although the number of LBs in both disciplines shows significant difference, many similar LBs are found. Science-based passages employ more research-based LBs whereas arts-based texts employ more participant-oriented LBs. These findings seemed to confirm that the functions of LBs are specific to particular disciplines. Hence, explicit teaching of LBs should be considered in schools and two separate sets of MUET reading tests where the first comprises of texts adopted from the scientific and technological context while the other made up of texts from the social sciences should be designed to accommodate both arts and science stream pre-university students.
format	Article
author	Christina Sook Beng, Ong Yuen, Chee Keong
spellingShingle	Christina Sook Beng, Ong Yuen, Chee Keong Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study
author_facet	Christina Sook Beng, Ong Yuen, Chee Keong
author_sort	Christina Sook Beng, Ong
title	Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study
title_short	Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study
title_full	Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study
title_fullStr	Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study
title_full_unstemmed	Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study
title_sort	functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of malaysian university english test: a corpus study
publisher	Penerbit UKM
publishDate	2015
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8261/1/5797-22056-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:51:57Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:51:57Z
_version_	1777406277880643584

Functional types of lexical bundles in reading texts of Malaysian University English Test: a corpus study

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