Lexical and Structural Competence in Undergraduate EFL Students' Source-Based Academic Reports: A Discourse Analysis within Applied Linguistics

Abstract

Source-based writing is an important yet under-researched aspect of English-medium instruction (EMI) and English as a foreign language (EFL). Students often struggle to write reports that demonstrate lexico-grammatical variety, cohesion, and coherent paraphrasing. This study investigated how student reports manifest the relationships among lexical control, structural clarity, and genre awareness, both intentionally and unintentionally. The data consist of 35 student reports on a published article, along with surveys and reflections. A genre-informed analysis was conducted, and quantitative findings were triangulated with qualitative data from student insights and textual excerpts. Findings indicate partially developed genre awareness and lexical and sentence clarity, but persistent difficulty with paraphrasing, transitions, and argument independence. Students were confident repurposing ideas from the source text but found it challenging to integrate them cohesively into their own arguments. Lexical precision and cohesive progression were influential factors. The study demonstrates that genre awareness enhances structural competence, skill, and coherence without replacing them. It also highlights students' areas of difficulty and confidence. Recommendations for genre-informed pedagogical practices that focus on lexical sophistication, argument progression, and source-based integration are offered to help students move from reproduction to argumentation.

Keywords: Academic writing, cohesion and coherence, lexical control, paraphrasing strategies, vocabulary development