Lexical Bundles in English Learners’ Production: A Corpus-Based Study of University Students’ Academic Writing in Togo

Abstract

This study investigates the use of lexical bundles in English as a foreign language through a corpus-based analysis of Master students’ dissertations in African Literature, American Literature, and Applied Linguistics in Togo. Drawing on insights from Biber et al.’s Corpus-Based approach to lexical bundles and Gries’s Phraseology approach, the study examines the frequency, structural patterns, and functional distribution of recurrent multi-word sequences in a purpose-built learner corpus of 225 academic essays. It selected only introductions and conclusions for the purpose of the analysis. The findings show that learners rely structurally on prepositional phrase-based bundles and functionally on referential bundles. Though the results show a structural preference for prepositional phrase fragments and a functional interest in referential bundles, it has found that Togolese EFL learners’ phraseological competence remains underdeveloped and needs to be boosted through well-planned teaching programmes. The study contributes to ongoing debates in learner corpus research by highlighting the importance of formulaic language in academic proficiency.