scholarly journals Syntactic Complexity in Second Language Academic Writing in English: Diversity on Display

2019 ◽  
pp. 251-270
Author(s):  
Rosmawati
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Syntactic Complexity

‘Maybe complicated is a better word’: Second-language English graduate student responses to syntactic complexity in a genre-based academic writing course

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (Spring) ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
J. Elliott Casal ◽  
Xiaofei Lu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Research Writing ◽  
Targeted Instruction ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Learner Perception ◽  
Potential Benefits

This practice-oriented exploratory study reports student perceptions and potential benefits of introducing syntactic complexity-focused activities in an advanced English for Academic Purposes writing course. Syntactic complexity, seen by many as a multidimensional construct and generally defined as the range and sophistication of structures used, is here operationalized through four approaches. The pedagogical site was a six-week mixed-discipline writing course with an emphasis on second-language English research writing. Attention to syntactic complexity was integrated into a previously established corpus- and genre-analysis based pedagogy, and data is comprised of a learner-perception survey and interview and instructor observational journals. Emphasis was placed on reflection on complexity in academic writing, rather than the production of complex structures. The findings suggest benefits for targeted instruction of syntactic complexity in all four categories, with particular benefits to student writer confidence and intentionality resulting from increased awareness of the affordances and appropriateness of complexity overall.

scholarly journals Error Analysis of Students Essays: A Case of First Year Students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Amoakohene
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The University

Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students’ academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of  UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of  sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis. 

scholarly journals Syntactic complexity in translated and non-translated texts: A corpus-based study of simplification

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0253454
Author(s):  
Kanglong Liu ◽  
Muhammad Afzaal
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Sentence Length ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Complexity Measures ◽  
British English ◽  
Sentence Complexity ◽  
Comparable Corpora ◽  
Main Effect

This study approaches the investigation of the simplification hypotheses in corpus-based translation studies from a syntactic complexity perspective. The research is based on two comparable corpora, the English monolingual part of COCE (Corpus of Chinese-English) and the native English corpus of FLOB (Freiburg-LOB Corpus of British English). Using the 13 syntactic complexity measures falling into five subconstructs (i.e. length of production unit, amount of subordination, amount of coordination, phrasal complexity and overall sentence complexity), our results show that translation as a whole is less complex compared to non-translation, reflected most prominently in the amount of subordination and overall sentence complexity. Further pairwise comparison of the four subgenres of the corpora shows mixed results. Specifically, the translated news is homogenous to native news as evidenced by the complexity measures; the translated genres of general prose and academic writing are less complex compared to their native counterparts while translated fiction is more complex than non-translated fiction. It was found that mean sentence length always produced a significant effect on syntactic complexity, with higher syntactic complexity for longer sentence lengths in both corpora. ANOVA test shows a highly significant main effect of translation status, with higher syntactic complexity in the non-translated texts (FLOB) than the translated texts (COCE), which provides support for the simplification hypothesis in translation. It is also found that, apart from translation status, genre is an important variable in affecting the complexity level of translated texts. Our study offers new insights into the investigation of simplification hypothesis from the perspective of translation from English into Chinese.

The effects of different task sequences on novice L2 learners’ oral performance in the classroom

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882093754
Author(s):  
Nayoung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Private University ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Task Sequence ◽  
Novice Learners ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Task Sequences

This study investigated the optimum task sequence for second language (L2) novice learners of English. One set of task sequences was manipulated using a deductive and theoretical SSARC (simplify–stabilize–automatize–restructure–complexify) model, and two sets of task sequences were manipulated based on a teacher’s inductive classroom observations. A total of 76 undergraduates at a private university in Korea were divided into three groups for the task sequences: task complexity (TC), guided planning with vocabulary (GPV), and guided planning with content (GPC). While the four oral tasks were sequenced according to the resource-directing dimensions [± elements] and [± reasoning] in all three groups, the TC group received pretask planning, the GPV group received teacher-led guided planning with words, and the GPC group received teacher-led guided planning with content for the resource-dispersing dimensions. Pretest and posttest of syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency were used as the main data. The analysis showed that the TC group outperformed the GPV and GPC groups significantly in increasing overall syntactic complexity, and the GPV group outperformed the GPC group significantly in improving speed fluency. Both sequencing TC and GPV tasks significantly increased syntactic complexity and speed fluency. Sequencing TC tasks decreased accuracy and increased dysfluency, whereas sequencing GPV tasks increased accuracy and decreased dysfluency. Meanwhile, sequencing GPC tasks did not produce overall positive effects on oral performance compared with the two other groups.

The effect of topic familiarity on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of second language writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiwei Yang ◽  
YouJin Kim
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Topic Familiarity ◽  
Data Analyses ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Lexical Complexity ◽  
Efl College Students

AbstractThe purpose of the current study is to examine the role of topic familiarity in the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of second language (L2) writing. Topic familiarity was operationalized as whether writers are writing about a common, everyday subject matter in relation to themselves (+ familiar) or to a group they are not familiar with (–familiar), and a learner survey was used to test the validity of the construct. A total of 123 Chinese EFL college students participated in the study, with 61 writing on a familiar topic and 62 writing on a less familiar topic. Their writing performance was analyzed for lexical complexity, syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Data analyses revealed that the students produced essays with significantly lower lexical complexity for the less familiar topic than for the familiar topic, while the performance areas of accuracy, fluency, and syntactic complexity were not affected by the degree of familiarity. The study findings are discussed in terms of their implications for task selection and sequencing for L2 teaching and assessment purposes.

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states and cross-linguistic transfer

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 914-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATY BORODKIN ◽  
MIRIAM FAUST
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Grammatical Accuracy ◽  
Oral Language Skills ◽  
Linguistic Transfer ◽  
Tip Of The Tongue

This study examined cross-linguistic transfer in oral language skills in a sample of 50 native Hebrew speakers who learned English as a second language. The ability to retrieve phonological forms of words in naming, as manifested by the tendency to experience tip-of-the-tongue states, was correlated across languages. We also found within and across language correlations between this ability and grammatical accuracy, lexical diversity, and syntactic complexity in second language narratives. These findings are consistent with the transfer across languages in oral language skills and provide insights into the processes linking phonological and higher level encoding in production of connected speech.

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