A Corpus-based Study of Lexical Bundles in Oral Presentations of Thai EFL Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Lexical bundles play an important role in language production, improving individuals’ language proficiency (Hyland, 2008). While most previous studies have explored lexical bundles used in written discourse, little attention has been paid to analyzing lexical bundles employed in oral presentations. The present study aimed to investigate the use of lexical bundles in 30 oral presentations delivered by Thai English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduate students. Following Biber et al.’s (2004) taxonomy, the findings indicate that four-word lexical bundles serve various discourse functions. Discourse organizers were found to be the most dominant functional category, primarily used to structure ideas, manage the flow of information, and maintain coherence in spoken academic discourse. It was also found that verb phrase fragments were the most frequent structural pattern, reflecting students’ preference for formulaic expressions that support fluency and speech planning. However, the absence of several functional and structural categories suggests a limited spoken linguistic repertoire of academic formulaic language. Therefore, explicit instruction and practice in using a wider range of lexical bundles are recommended to enhance students’ fluency, coherence, and academic expression in spoken discourse.