Influence of learners’ prior knowledge, L2 proficiency and pre-task planning on L2 lexical complexity

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Bui
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Lexical Complexity ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Planning Group

Abstract Although differentiating between fluency, accuracy and complexity, while assessing L2 task performance, is becoming a standard practice, lexical complexity as a distinctive area has received less attention in the task-based language teaching (TBLT) literature. This study re-examines previous frameworks of lexical complexity and investigates three lexical dimensions, lexical diversity, lexical sophistication and lexical density, using a structured 2 × 2 × 2 split-plot experimental design. The participants were divided into a non-planning group and a planning group and each group was further dichotomised into two proficiency levels. Each participant was assigned one familiar and one unfamiliar oral narrative task. The results show that one’s prior knowledge about a subject is associated with higher lexical diversity and sophistication, while pre-task planning promotes lexical density. The effects of proficiency seem to be largely overridden by the effects of prior knowledge and pre-task planning and show little impact on overall lexical performance. Interestingly, lexical diversity and lexical sophistication are independent of each other, and lexical density is moderately correlated with both lexical diversity and lexical sophistication. The results are discussed with reference to the Levelt model of speech production with some pedagogical implications on content-based language instruction. The exploration of the relationships between the lexical measures reveals a need for deeper and subtler characterisation of L2 lexical complexity.

scholarly journals Lexical Complexity on Descriptive Writing of Indonesian Male and Female EFL Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Siti Aisah Ginting
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
English Department ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Lexical Complexity ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Descriptive Writing ◽  
Computerized Text Analysis

This study was aimed to find out the effect of gender on linguistics properties of academic writing abstracts of Indonesian Male and Female EFL Learners. Therefore, the linguistics properties of 40 essays from EFL learners (20 males & 20 females) were analyzed on the lexical complexity (diversity and density). The participants were selected from a homogenous group of EFL learners who were sitting for Writing 1 (one) subject in the English Department Universitas Negeri Medan—Indonesia. A computerized text analysis program (Word Smith Tools) was employed to measure the lexical complexity of the EFL learners’ essays (descriptive writing). As a result, females indicated to write more lexical density way than males in their descriptive writing but no significant different on lexical diversity. 

Lexical complexity of academic presentations

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alla Zareva
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Lexical Complexity ◽  
Lexical Density

Abstract The present study examined the lexical complexity profiles of academic presentations of three groups of university students (N = 93) – native English speaking, English as a second language, and English as a lingua franca users. It adopted a notion of lexical complexity which includes lexical diversity, lexical density, and lexical sophistication as main dimensions of the framework. The study aimed at finding out how the three academically similar groups of presenters compared on their lexical complexity choices, what the lexical complexity profiles of high quality students’ academic presentations looked like, and whether we can identify variables that contribute to the overall lexical complexity of presentations given by each group in a unique way. The findings revealed overwhelming similarities across the three groups of presenters and also suggested that the three dimensional framework provides a holistic picture of the lexical complexity for various groups of English for academic purposes presenters.

scholarly journals Lexical Complexity and Readibility Realized in The Introduction Sections of Selected English Journals

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-307
Author(s):  
Andhani Mayangsari ◽  
Sri Wuli Fitriati ◽  
Djoko Sutopo
Keyword(s):  
Grade Level ◽  
English Department ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Lexical Complexity ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Readability Level

This study focused on the analysis of lexical complexity of the introduction section of the English journals manifested in lexical density, lexical diversity and lexical sophistication. This study also investigated the readability level of those texts. The method used in this study was a quantitative study by utilizing lexical complexity and readability analysis. The results of the study show that the manifestation of lexical density of the texts was above 0.50, representing that the content words utilized within the text were higher than function words. Furthermore, most of the introduction sections of the selected English journals achieved lexical diversity level more than 0.30 in which the highest lexical diversity was shown by EEJ journals and EduLite journals that shared the same level of lexical diversity with 0.35. Besides, the introduction sections were composed of. various advanced lexical items in terms of Academic Word Lists (AWL). Also, all introduction sections of the English journals - EEJ, EduLite and IJAL was readable for English department students both undergraduate and graduate degree based on Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease, Flesch Kincaid Grade Level and Miyazaki readability index. It is suggested that the journals’ introduction sections should be composed of informationally dense lexical items covering the important ideas to strengthen the arguments. It is expected that further studies could investigate more about other aspects that determine the quality of English journals’ introduction sections to uncover deeply about the quality of the texts.

Verbal statistical learning: Prior knowledge impacts word identification but not metacognition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laetitia Zmuda ◽  
Charlotte Baey ◽  
Paolo Mairano ◽  
Anahita Basirat
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Bayesian Approach ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Artificial Languages ◽  
Transitional Probabilities ◽  
Fully Bayesian

It is well-known that individuals can identify novel words in a stream of an artificial language using statistical dependencies. While underlying computations are thought to be similar from one stream to another (e.g. transitional probabilities between syllables), performance are not similar. According to the “linguistic entrenchment” hypothesis, this would be due to the fact that individuals have some prior knowledge regarding co-occurrences of elements in speech which intervene during verbal statistical learning. The focus of previous studies was on task performance. The goal of the current study is to examine the extent to which prior knowledge impacts metacognition (i.e. ability to evaluate one’s own cognitive processes). Participants were exposed to two different artificial languages. Using a fully Bayesian approach, we estimated an unbiased measure of metacognitive efficiency and compared the two languages in terms of task performance and metacognition. While task performance was higher in one of the languages, the metacognitive efficiency was similar in both languages. In addition, a model assuming no correlation between the two languages better accounted for our results compared to a model where correlations were introduced. We discuss the implications of our findings regarding the computations which underlie the interaction between input and prior knowledge during verbal statistical learning.

ELICITED IMITATION AS A MEASURE OF L2 PROFICIENCY

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Shu-Ling Wu ◽  
Yee Pin Tio ◽  
Lourdes Ortega
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
External Criterion ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
The Third ◽  
Communicative Abilities

Abstract Elicited imitation (EI), a short-cut measure of global proficiency in second language (L2) research, requires participants to listen to sentences and repeat them as closely as possible. To support instrument sharing and assessment of L2 proficiency for longitudinal and crosslinguistic research, we created a parallel form of an EI task (EIT) for L2 English originally developed by the third author and colleagues and investigated the reliability and validity of the original and new forms. Eighty-two participants completed the two EITs, an oral narrative task, and a self-diagnostic survey. Both forms exhibited high reliability and good alignment with external criterion measures. Both distinguished well among four proficiency levels in the sample. Further, participants’ perception of EI difficulty aligned well with their EI scores. We suggest some improvements to boost forms equivalence and discuss new insights about the nature of EI as reconstructive, integrative, modality independent, and with indirect links to communicative abilities. Our study seeks to make this English EIT instrument widely useful to the L2 research community.

scholarly journals Correlation between Metadiscourse, Lexical Complexity, Readability and Writing Performance in EFL University Students’ Research-based Essays

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (S1-May) ◽  
pp. 238-254
Author(s):  
Ali Erarslan
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Academic Vocabulary ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
Textual Features ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Metadiscourse is a tool for writers to guide and interact with readers through texts. Yet in most student texts, one of the points lacking is the interaction between writers and readers. In this study, frequency and type of interactive and interactional metadiscourse features were explored via students’ research-based essays based on Hyland’s metadiscourse taxonomy. Additionally, the students’ English Vocabulary Profile (EVP), lexical diversity, lexical density, and readability features of the texts in the corpus were scrutinized, which serve as an indicator of writing quality. Finally, the relationship of metadiscourse use with students’ writing performance, lexical diversity, lexical density, and readability was explored through statistical measures. Findings show that following explicit metadiscourse instruction, students’ research-based essays included more interactive metadiscourse than interactional metadiscourse, indicating that the students were dealing with more textual features, such as coherence, than interactional metadiscourse. Apart from findings regarding EVP such as lexical diversity, lexical density, and readability features, a positive relationship was explored between metadiscourse use and writing performance, lexical components, and textual features. It is concluded that metadiscourse should be integrated into the writing syllabus since it has a positive relationship with students’ use of academic vocabulary in their essays.

Collaborative Pre-Task Planning Processes and Second-Language Task Performance

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 003368822095322
Author(s):  
Paul Leeming ◽  
Scott Aubrey ◽  
Craig Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
First Language ◽  
Task Planning ◽  
Japanese University ◽  
Stimulated Recall ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Subsequent Task

Task-based language teaching research has investigated the impact of planning on task performance, but little has been reported on the processes that take place while planning is undertaken. This study builds on previous planning research by providing a detailed analysis of four Japanese university learners’ collaborative pre-task planning (two dyads) and their performance on a subsequent second language (L2) oral monologue task that required them to express their opinions on a problem and propose a solution to it. Follow-up interviews incorporating stimulated recall were also conducted to gain insight into learners’ perceptions. Results suggest that the note-taking strategies employed, the interpersonal dynamics of the pairs, the L2 proficiency of the participants, and the language of planning (first language [L1] or L2) resulted in important differences in these learners’ planning processes and subsequent task performances. The results are discussed in terms of how pre-task planning processes might be optimized in teaching and research.

scholarly journals Children's literature parallel corpora: a hybrid experimental model to evaluate transfers of language complexity via linguistic transcoding

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-52
Author(s):  
Adja Balbino de Amorim Barbieri Durão ◽  
Paulo Roberto Kloeppel
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Model ◽  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Parallel Corpora ◽  
Language Complexity ◽  
The Secret Garden ◽  
Lexical Density

The article aims at proposing a hybrid model to evaluate language complexity of source and target texts written both in English and Portuguese so that one can analyse at what extent language complexity has been transferred from a text to its translation. In it, hybrid model points to paralleled approaches to lexical repetition, lexical diversity and lexical density, readability and word unusualness with the help of some Corpus Linguistics tools. It also stands for developing adjustments to Paul Nation’s word family lists and Gunning’s GFI formula so that they can be applied to Portuguese language. Aiming at checking the reliability of the model, the article also presents a case study based on contrastive investigations on “The Secret Garden” by Burnett and its translation into Portuguese “O Jardim Secreto” by Perota and Carvalho.

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