The paper focuses on the use of nominalizations in English compositions of Chinese EFL learners in college. From the research, we conclude that the cognitive capability of the students and the interference of their mother tongue are mutually responsible for the low use of nominalizations. In addition, the use of nominalization mainly reveals the learner's cognitive competence. Our suggestion on the teaching of nominalization, as well as English writing has been incorporated.
As an important feature of written language, nominalization is frequently used in formal texts. Using the approach of systemic functional grammar, the paper presents a detailed analysis of the three metafunctions of nominalization, which entails the positive and negative stylistic effects. The paper also discusses the relationship between form, function and stylistic features.
