An analysis of written English: assessing characteristics of English writing by Japanese university students through perspectives of World Englishes and English as a lingua franca

Abstract This paper investigates distinct characteristics of written English by Japanese L1 (first language) speakers of English and compares them with common features of English as a lingua franca (ELF). Utilizing categories drawn from the literature, I have analyzed 92 writing samples by Japanese university students in order to assess whether there are any distinct characteristics shared among L1 Japanese speakers of English, particularly as to (i) lexico-grammar, (ii) lexis, (iii) semantics, and (iv) pragmatics. I have then examined whether there is any overlap between Japanese characteristics and ELF. The phenomenon of extending a sense of the original English word in Japanese and of then using the extended sense in English has supplied evidence of L1 seeping into L2 (second language) English use. In addition, the use of certain expressions has been found to be tightly connected with the Japanese language and culture (e.g., ‘study society’) in this study. This study has also shown a clear overlap between the writing of Japanese university students and common ELF properties and features, including extra use and regularization – in particular, the extra use of the particle and the pluralization of uncountable nouns – and explicitness and neutrality in word choice.