Development of syntactic complexity in Chinese university students’ L2 argumentative writing

Yang, Li; Nikitina, Larisa; Riget, Patricia Nora

doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2022.101099

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is supported by Laufer and Waldman (2011) who compared the use of collocations in learner corpus and native speaker corpus and found that learners at various proficiency levels used far fewer collocations than native speakers, and the number of collocations significantly increased in advanced levels. Similarly, Li et al (2022) found that the students with a higher level of English proficiency evinced a higher level of progress in the syntactic and phraseological complexity of their texts. In a recent longitudinal study, Siyanova-Chanturia and Spina (2020) reported that second language learners would use fewer frequent and strongly associated combinations with more exposure to L2 and over time as they learn to use language with more creativity and generativity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Another closely related concept of syntactic complexity was studied by Li et al (2022) in which they examined the development of syntactic complexity in Chinese freshmen who had an intermediate or upper-intermediate level of English proficiency. It was found that syntactic complexity was developed in a non-linear way, where nominal complexity was higher and clausal complexity was lower.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Phraseological competence in IELTS academic writing task 2: phraseological units and test-takers’ perceptions and use

Estaji

Hashemi

2022

Lang Test Asia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study intended to explore the different types of phraseological units in IELTS academic writing task 2 and probe into the IELTS candidates’ perceptions of phraseological competence. To this end, a corpus entailing 100 essays (26,423 words) written for IELTS writing task 2 was scrutinized, through which phraseological units were extracted and their types were identified based on Moon’s (Phraseology: Theory, analysis, and application, 1998) typology. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine IELTS candidates. The results indicated that simple formulae were the most commonly used phraseological units in IELTS writing task 2. The interview data, using inductive thematic and summative content analyses, also demonstrated that IELTS candidates have had varying perceptions of phraseological competence, wherein higher band score candidates appeared to have a deeper and more accurate understanding of the concept. As for the candidates’ perceived phraseological competence, they were found to under- or overestimate their own competence at using phraseology. The findings of the study can be employed in making learner dictionaries based on the phraseologies used in IELTS.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phraseological competence in IELTS academic writing task 2: phraseological units and test-takers’ perceptions and use

Estaji

Hashemi

2022

Lang Test Asia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As has been noted by researchers, the majority of non-English language majors in Chinese universities have an intermediate level of proficiency with a substantial share of the students at a lowerintermediate level (Y. Li, Nikitina & Riget, 2022). This study addressed the gaps in research literature outlined in this subsection.…”

Section: Q Studies On L2 Beliefsmentioning

confidence: 91%

A Q Study of Mainland Chinese English Language Learners’ Epistemic Beliefs

Wang,

Nikitina

2023

rEFLections

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study explored epistemic beliefs held by Mainland Chinese learners of English. Studies that investigate language learners’ personal epistemologies, which include beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing, are scarce. For the most part, such studies are quantitative. This paper employed Q methodology, an approach that blends quantitative and qualitative research paradigms, to present a more systematic analysis of and deeper insights into the language learners’ subjective opinions. The participants were 20 undergraduate students who learned English in a university in China. They sorted 42 statements pertaining to language-related epistemic beliefs on a grid ranging from -5 (most disagree) to +5 (most agree). During the factor analytic procedure similar Q-sorts formed three factors, each representing a unique set of epistemic beliefs shared by the students. The qualitative interpretation of these factors revealed the following viewpoints: firstly, learning the English language requires time, effort and perseverance; secondly, learning English requires critical thinking; thirdly, it requires talent and hard work. Pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.

show abstract

“…Syntactic complexity has been generally considered essential in assessing the performance of foreign language writing ( Wolfe-Quintero et al, 1998 ; Housen and Kuiken, 2009 ; Lu, 2011 ; Staples et al, 2016 ; Yoon, 2017 ; Ana, 2018 ; Kyle and Crossley, 2018 ). For this reason, many researchers have attempted in the past decades to establish effective and reliable measures of syntactic complexity to assess language progression and judge the writing level and proficiency of learners ( De Clercq and Housen, 2017 ; Ansarifar et al, 2018 ; Casal and Lee, 2019 ; Bi and Jiang, 2020 ; Kim, 2021 ; Huang et al, 2022 ; Li et al, 2022 ). Ortega (2003) showed cumulative evidence concerning syntactic complexity by assessing university students’ writing performance and overall proficiency in the target language through synthesizing 25 studies, testifying to the use of syntactic complexity as an indicator of writing quality and language proficiency.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of genre on the syntactic complexity of argumentative and expository writing by Chinese EFL learners

Heng²,

Cao³

2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genre researchers have found that writing in different genres involves different cognitive task loads and requires different linguistic demands. Generally speaking, narratives involve the description of events with a focus on people and their actions within a specific time frame, whereas non-narrative genres focus on making an argument or discussing ideas or beliefs in a logical fashion, thus resulting in distinct language features. However, the vast majority of genre-based studies have either focused on one single genre or made comparisons between narrative and non-narrative writing (mostly argumentative) in academic contexts without examining how EFL writers perform across non-narrative genres. Moreover, the measures used in quantifying the syntactic complexity of writing are varied, leading to inconsistent findings. This study investigated the effects of genre on the syntactic complexity of writing through comparing argumentative and expository compositions written by Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners over one academic year. Fifty-two participants were asked to write eight compositions (with two genres alternated), four argumentative and four expository, which were parsed via the Syntactic Complexity Analyzer. The results with time as the within-subjects variable showed a significant development of syntactic complexity in both argumentative and expository compositions over one academic year. Meanwhile, the paired-sample t-test with genre as the within-subjects variable exhibited a higher syntactic complexity in argumentative compositions than in expository ones on most of the 14 measures examined at four time points over the year. Additionally, a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with genre and time as independent variables ascertained an interactional effect of time and genre on some of the 14 measures. The present study tested and verified the impact genre exerts on the syntactic complexity of writing, providing implications for teachers to be more informed in teaching and assessing EFL writing and for students to be more conscious of genre difference in EFL writing.

show abstract

Development of syntactic complexity in Chinese university students’ L2 argumentative writing

Cited by 17 publications

References 44 publications

Phraseological competence in IELTS academic writing task 2: phraseological units and test-takers’ perceptions and use

Phraseological competence in IELTS academic writing task 2: phraseological units and test-takers’ perceptions and use

A Q Study of Mainland Chinese English Language Learners’ Epistemic Beliefs

The effects of genre on the syntactic complexity of argumentative and expository writing by Chinese EFL learners

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About