A corpus-based comparison of syntactic complexity in NNS and NS university students’ writing
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Haiyang Ai
Abstract
This paper reports on a corpus-based comparison of syntactic complexity in NNS and NS university students’ writing. We analysed 600 essays from the Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays using 10 syntactic complexity measures to investigate whether and the extent to which NNS and NS university students’ writing differs with respect to length of production unit, amount of subordination, amount of coordination, and degree of phrasal sophistication. Results showed significant differences in all four dimensions of syntactic complexity between the writing of NNS students at both low and high proficiency levels and that of NS students. This gap calls for the design of pedagogical interventions to enhance NNS university students’ syntactic development.
Abstract
This paper reports on a corpus-based comparison of syntactic complexity in NNS and NS university students’ writing. We analysed 600 essays from the Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays using 10 syntactic complexity measures to investigate whether and the extent to which NNS and NS university students’ writing differs with respect to length of production unit, amount of subordination, amount of coordination, and degree of phrasal sophistication. Results showed significant differences in all four dimensions of syntactic complexity between the writing of NNS students at both low and high proficiency levels and that of NS students. This gap calls for the design of pedagogical interventions to enhance NNS university students’ syntactic development.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Section 1. Introduction
- Introduction 3
- Learner corpora 9
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Section 2. Compilation, annotation and exchangeability of learner corpus data
- Developing corpus interoperability for phonetic investigation of learner corpora 33
- Learner corpora and second language acquisition 65
- Competing target hypotheses in the Falko corpus 101
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Section 3. Automatic approaches to the identification of learner language features in learner corpus data
- Using learner corpora for automatic error detection and correction 127
- Automatic suprasegmental parameter extraction in learner corpora 151
- Criterial feature extraction using parallel learner corpora and machine learning 169
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Section 4. Analysis of learner corpus data
- Phonological acquisition in the French-English interlanguage 207
- Prosody in a contrastive learner corpus 227
- A corpus-based comparison of syntactic complexity in NNS and NS university students’ writing 249
- Analysing coherence in upper-intermediate learner writing 265
- Statistical tests for the analysis of learner corpus data 287
- Index 311
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Section 1. Introduction
- Introduction 3
- Learner corpora 9
-
Section 2. Compilation, annotation and exchangeability of learner corpus data
- Developing corpus interoperability for phonetic investigation of learner corpora 33
- Learner corpora and second language acquisition 65
- Competing target hypotheses in the Falko corpus 101
-
Section 3. Automatic approaches to the identification of learner language features in learner corpus data
- Using learner corpora for automatic error detection and correction 127
- Automatic suprasegmental parameter extraction in learner corpora 151
- Criterial feature extraction using parallel learner corpora and machine learning 169
-
Section 4. Analysis of learner corpus data
- Phonological acquisition in the French-English interlanguage 207
- Prosody in a contrastive learner corpus 227
- A corpus-based comparison of syntactic complexity in NNS and NS university students’ writing 249
- Analysing coherence in upper-intermediate learner writing 265
- Statistical tests for the analysis of learner corpus data 287
- Index 311
