The role of communicative purpose in describing and interpreting lexico-grammatical variation in L2 writing

Abstract

The exploration of how communicative purpose influences second language (L2) writing has a long-standing history. This study adapted the Register Functional (RF) approach as proposed by Biber et al. (2021) to investigate linguistic patterns in essays written in English for two different communicative purposes (narrative and descriptive) by the same L2 writers in an EFL context. We analyzed 55 narrative and 55 descriptive essays (N = 110) written by the same 55 students during one exam period. Using selective features and lexical analyses to identify key grammatical features and their lexical realizations. The study identified distinguishing linguistic features between narrative and descriptive essays that can be functionally interpreted and related to the communicative purpose of each essay type. Based on the findings, we illustrate how different communicative purposes have the potential to enhance L2 writers’ use of diverse lexico-grammatical features when writing.