Abstract: With the significance of English resumes augmenting rapidly, it is urgent to solve the current problems in the format, content and language of the English resumes written by Chinese applicants. However, the overseas studies only focus on job hunting skills and domestic researches are limited to the general English language features, which is not much helpful in improving Chinese applicants' English writing skills in resume. This paper is a corpus study aiming to find out the detailed differences in word choice and content by comparing 30 western English resumes with 30 Chinese English resumes. With the help of AntConc3.4.3 and Word Smith, this paper first contrasts the differences between these two self-made corpora in view of the overall features of words and content, and then analyzes the differences into two aspects: thinking mode and language transfer. Finally, suggestions on how to write a good English resume are put forward.

Key words: English resumes; corpus approach; differences; thinking modes; language transfer

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1.-Introduction-1

2. Methodology-2

2.1 Research Question-2

2.2 Data Collection-2

2.3 Research Tools-2

3. Results and Analysis-4

3.1 Words-4

3.1.1 The Quantity and Length of Words-4

3.1.2 The Part of Speech of Words-5

3.2 Section-14

3.2.1 The Emphasis on Each Part-15

3.2.2 The Content of Each Section-16

4. The Causes of These Differences-19

4.1 Thinking Modes-19

4.1.1 Abstract Thinking and Concrete Thinking-20

4.1.2 Individualism and Collectivism-20

4.2 Language Transfer-21

4.2.1 Inflected Language and Isolating Language-22

4.2.2 Hypotaxis and Parataxis-23

5.-Suggestions-23

6.-Conclusion-24

Bibliography-26