Genre-specific features of second language speech: connectives in exposition and narration

Each genre is characterized by its distinct linguistic features, which are designed to achieve the particular purpose of its discourse. Despite the wealth of research documenting genre effects, showing higher levels of linguistic complexity in non-narrative genres compared to narrative genres, most studies have focused on written language and linguistic features at the lexical and syntactic levels. To address these gaps, the current study investigates the influence of genre on L2 speech at the discourse level. Our analysis focuses on the frequency and specific use of connectives in expository and narrative speech produced by 784 L2-English learners. The findings show that exposition is associated with the use of connectives that possess more cognitively complex coherence relations denoting order, subordination, and opposition. In contrast, narration is associated with the use of connectives that possess less cognitively complex coherence relations indicating conjunction and addition. These results demonstrate the significance of genre-specific features of connectives in L2 speech, highlighting distinct patterns across different genres and suggesting practical applications for language instruction.