Will or be going to? Formulaic Patterns of Future Marking in L2 Academic English

Abstract

This study examines how learners from different first language backgrounds express future time in academic English writing, focusing on will and be going to constructions. Drawing on a corpus of texts from 25 language backgrounds, the research reveals a strong preference for will (96.2%) over be going to (3.8%) across all groups. While will appears uniformly throughout texts, be going to is used more selectively, indicating distinct functional roles. The study documents variations in future expression density per text (2.30-4.85) and systematic differences in how future markers combine with different parts of speech, with Chinese learners showing particularly distinctive patterns. Cluster analysis reveals language family groupings, suggesting both universal constraints and L1 influences shape future expression. This finding shows will functions as a formulaic pattern in academic writing, advancing knowledge of how L2 learners develop temporal expressions.