Conventionally, lexical bundles (LBs), known as formulaic sequences, recreate divergent discourse functions in written research paper investigations. This study investigates the use of four-word LBs in 60 doctoral dissertations written by Arabs, Iranians and English native speakers in applied linguistics. For the identification of lexical bundles a specialized computer software called AntConc 3.4.4 w (Windows) 2014, was used to help identify the potential lexical bundles for each sub-corpus. The results of the study revealed that the total number of 43220 lexical bundles extracted from the three groups of PhD dissertations differed structurally and functionally, and most of the authors of PhD dissertations relied on text-oriented bundles for establishing their written academic discourse. Pedagogically, the list of bundles found could be of considerable use to EAP writing instructors for improving their learner’s writing performance and to syllabus designers for preparing materials.

Username
Password