Chinese EFL Learners' Modal Use in a Standardized Speaking Test

A corpus-based study analyzing the frequency, choices, and tonal variations of epistemic and effective modals used by Chinese tertiary-level EFL learners in a national-level standardized speaking test. The dataset likely contains quantitative results from an opinion-giving task, compiled by Wei Wang. The data was last updated on April 24, 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing modal frequency patterns based on the reported high use of 'will', 'should', and 'must'
• Comparing learner and native speaker modal choices based on the described leaning toward effective modals
• Investigating tonal variations in modal use based on the mention of conditional clauses and rhetorical sentences
• Studying the influence of Chinese language and culture on modal stance expression based on the described attribution

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific and less-studied domain: modal stance in spoken English by EFL learners
• Analyzes both epistemic and effective stances, as mentioned in the description
• Based on data from a national-level standardized speaking test, suggesting a structured collection method

Limitations

• Dataset size is 5.5 KB, indicating a very limited scope of data
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Corpus-based analysis of a standardized speaking test.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-24 18:00:05

Geography

Likely China, based on the focus on Chinese EFL learners.