A Comparative Study on the Use of “But” by Chinese EFL learners and Native Speakers: A Rhetorical Structure Theory Approach

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_27How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Chinese EFL learners; But (Conjunction); Spoken discourse; Rhetorical Structure Theory

Abstract

Conjunctions have long been recognized as effective devices to achieve coherence in English discourse. Among all kind of conjunctions, “but” is used frequently by both native speakers and Chinese EFL learners. However, most previous studies focus on a wide range of conjunctions rather than this specific one, leaving the diverse uses of “but” underexplored. To fill this gap, the current study comprehensively investigates the use of “but” by Chinese EFL learners and native speakers under the guidance of Rhetorical Structure Theory—a framework proposing over 30 rhetorical relations with clear definitions, highly suitable for analyzing relations between adjacent units connected by “but”. The research mainly investigates the features of rhetorical relations manifested through “but” in spoken discourse by native English speakers and Chinese EFL learners respectively, the similarities and differences between the two groups, and the causes of the differences. Based on data from three comparable corpora (BASE, MICASE, SECCL), the study finds four main rhetorical relations frequently used by both groups: Concession, Contrast, Conjunction, and Joint. However, Chi-square tests identify significant differences: Chinese EFL learners tend to overuse Concession and Sequence, while underusing Antithesis, Conjunction and Joint. These discrepancies are attributed to L1 transfer, where the typological and pragmatic differences between L1 and L2 impede Chinese EFL learners’ cognitive processing of L2. The findings provide empirical implications for teaching the idiomatic use of conjunctions, reveal the deficiencies of RST in analyzing spoken discourse, and offer insights for improving Chinese EFL learners’ discourse competence.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shiyu Xia
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/13
TI  - A Comparative Study on the Use of “But” by Chinese EFL learners and Native Speakers: A Rhetorical Structure Theory Approach
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language and Cultural Communication (ICLCC 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 242
EP  - 254
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_27
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_27
ID  - Xia2026
ER  -