Let’s Talk About Business: A Corpus-Based Study of ‘Business’ Related Near-Synonyms and Their Teaching in Chinese as a Second Language

The inherent semantic relatedness and closeness of near-synonyms pose difficulties to second language (L2) learners in comprehending and applying lexical knowledge in real situations. Previous studies have shown a sophisticated corpus-based method of distinguishing Chinese near-synonyms from a more ‘theoretical-based’ approach, the application of corpora in learning near-synonyms in an L2 classroom, however, is underexplored. This study reports both the ‘theoretical-based’ and ‘pedagogical-application’ of using corpora in studying ‘business’ related near-synonyms, and a significant gap between the ‘theory’ and the ‘application’ is identified. Our findings not only affirm the ‘theoretical-based’ method in capturing subtle nuances of near-synonyms but suggest implications of ‘pedagogical-application’ in teaching and learning near-synonyms with corpora.