A Comparative Study of Discourse Markers in Chinese and English Academic Writing Based on Corpus Data

本研究基于语料库语言学方法，对比分析中英学术英语写作的话语标记差异，旨在揭示中国学习者在国际学术语境下面临的挑战及其成因。研究语料选自宁波诺丁汉大学中国学术英语口语和书面语语料库(CAWSE)与英国学术英语语料库(BAWE)。分析表明，中英学习者在衔接词使用上存在显著差异。可知，中国学习者倾向于依赖显性逻辑连接与直接因果关系表达，而英国学习者更擅长运用复杂衔接词与隐性逻辑结构。研究结果为学术英语教学提供了跨文化视角，建议通过强化词汇多样性训练、句法灵活性与衔接策略指导，提升中国学习者的学术写作能力。This study employs corpus linguistics methods to compare and analyze differences in discourse markers between Chinese and British academic English writing, aiming to reveal the challenges faced by Chinese learners in international academic contexts and their underlying causes. The corpus data were selected from the Chinese Academic Writing and Speaking Corpus (CAWSE) at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China and the British Academic Writing Corpus (BAWE). The analysis indicates significant differences in the use of cohesive devices between Chinese and British learners. It is evident that Chinese learners tend to rely on explicit logical connections and direct causal relationships, while British learners are more adept at using complex cohesive devices and implicit logical structures. The findings provide a cross-cultural perspective for academic English instruction, suggesting that enhancing vocabulary diversity training, syntactic flexibility, and cohesive strategy guidance can improve Chinese learners’ academic writing skills.