This exploratory research presents the implementation and evaluation of the effects of integrating corpus consultation with business English writing instruction. The subjects consisted of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners enrolled in two undergraduate business English writing classes. Two groups of EFL students were randomly assigned, one group (n = 49) receiving corpus-based writing instruction constructed on a Moodle course management system (CMS), while the other group (n = 58) was given traditional lecture-based instruction. A mixed methods design combining qualitative and quantitative approaches has been chosen to investigate the overall effect of the corpus-based intervention on the improvement of business letter writing performance in aspects of lexical and syntactic complexity, as well as learners’ perceptions. The comparison of the pre- and post-tests of writing revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups after the instruction. Significant differences in students’ lexical and syntactic complexity were found between the pre- and post-test of the experimental group. Further, in response to a questionnaire survey and interview, the students stated they improved their writing skills regarding vocabulary, syntactic structure and content in general, and their writing confidence and linguistics awareness were also enhanced. The results suggest that the corpus provides useful resources to supplement existing materials.

这项探索性研究提出了将语料库咨询与商务英语写作指导相结合的效果的实施和评估。这些科目由英语作为外语（EFL）学习者组成，参加了两个本科商务英语写作班。随机分配了两组EFL学生，一组（n  = 49）接受在Moodle课程管理系统（CMS）上构建的基于语料库的写作指导，而另一组（n = 58）接受了传统的基于讲座的指导。选择了一种结合了定性和定量方法的混合方法设计，以研究基于语料库的干预在词汇和句法复杂性以及学习者的感知方面对改善商务信函写作绩效的总体效果。写作前测试和测试后的比较表明，教学后实验组和对照组之间存在显着差异。在实验组的测试前和测试后，学生的词汇和句法复杂性存在显着差异。此外，针对问卷调查和访谈，学生们表示，他们总体上在词汇，句法结构和内容方面提高了写作技能，他们的写作信心和语言意识也得到了增强。结果表明，语料库提供了有用的资源来补充现有材料。