Article published in:
EUROSLA Yearbook: Volume 14 (2014)Edited by Leah Roberts, Ineke Vedder and Jan H. Hulstijn
[EUROSLA Yearbook 14] 2014
► pp. 1–30
Linguistic correlates to communicative proficiency levels of the CEFR
The case of syntactic complexity in written L2 English, L3 French and L4 Italian
Henrik Gyllstad | Lund University
Jonas Granfeldt | Lund University
Petra Bernardini | Lund University
Marie Källkvist | Lund University
This study is a contribution to the empirical underpinning of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and it aims to identify linguistic correlates to the proficiency levels defined by the CEFR. The study was conducted in a Swedish school setting, focusing on English, French and Italian, and examined the relationship between CEFR levels (A1–C2) assigned by experienced raters to learners’ written texts and three measures of syntactic complexity (based on length of t-unit, subclause ratio, and mean length of clause (cf. Norris & Ortega, 2009)). Data were elicited through two written tasks (a short letter and a narrative) completed by pupils of L2 English (N = 54) in years four, nine and the final year of upper-secondary school, L3 French (N = 38) in year nine and the final year of upper-secondary school, and L4 Italian (N = 28) in the final year of upper-secondary school and first year of university. The results showed that, globally, there were weak to medium-strong correlations between assigned CEFR levels and the three measures of syntactic complexity in English, French and Italian. Furthermore, it was found that syntactic complexity was homogeneous across the three languages at CEFR level A, whereas syntactic complexity was different across languages at CEFR level B, especially in the data for English and French. Consequences for the empirical validity of the CEFR framework and the nature of the three measures of complexity are discussed.
Published online: 05 August 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.14.01gyl
https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.14.01gyl
References
Alanen, R., Huhta, A. and Tarnanen, M
2010 “Designing and assessing L2 writing tasks across CEFR proficiency levels.” In Communicative Proficiency and Linguistic Development: Intersections between SLA and Language Testing Research [Eurosla Monographs Series 1], I. Bartning, M. Martin and I. Vedder (eds), 21–56. European Second Language Association. http://eurosla.org/monographs/EM01/EM01home.html
Alderson, C.J
Bachman, L
Bartning, I., Martin, M. and Vedder, I
(eds) 2010 Communicative Proficiency and Linguistic Development: Intersections between SLA and Language Testing Research [Eurosla Monographs Series 1]. European Second Language Association. http://eurosla.org/monographs/EM01/EM01home.html
Beacco, J., Bouquet, S. and Pourquier, R
Bernardini, P
2013 “Abilità comunicativa (QCER) ed effettive produzioni linguistiche in italiano L4.” Paper presented at
XCIS, X Congresso Italianisti Scandinavi Reykjavík
, 13–15 July, 2013.
Council of Europe
Forsberg, F. and Bartning, I
2010 “Can linguistic features discriminate between the communicative CEFR-levels? A pilot study of written L2 French.” In Communicative Proficiency and Linguistic Development: Intersections between SLA and Language Testing Research [Eurosla Monographs Series 1], I. Bartning, M. Martin and I. Vedder (eds), 133–158. European Second Language Association. http://eurosla.org/monographs/EM01/EM01home.html
Granfeldt, J., Bernardini, P., Gyllstad, H. and Källkvist, M
Forthcoming. “Linguistic complexity in the CEFR and in L2 English, L3 French and L4 Italian: On the role of target language typology for measuring language proficiency“. Paper accepted for
ReN workshop at the AILA 2014 Conference
, Brisbane.
Granfeldt, J. and Ågren, M
2013 “Stages of processability and levels of proficiency in the common European framework of reference for languages. The case of L3 French.” In Language Acquisition and Use in Multilingual Contexts. Theory and Practice [Travaux de l’Institut de linguistique de Lund 52], A. Flyman-Mattsson and C. Norrby (eds), 28–38. Lund: Lund University.
Hawkins, J.A. and Filipović, L
Housen, A. and Kuiken, F
Hulstijn, J.H
Hulstijn, J.H., Alderson, J.C. and Schoonen, R
2010 “Developmental stages in second-language acquisition and levels of second-language proficiency: Are there links between them?” In Communicative Proficiency and Linguistic Development: Intersections between SLA and Language Testing Research [Eurosla Monographs Series 1], I. Bartning, M. Martin and I. Vedder (eds), 11–20. European Second Language Association. http://eurosla.org/monographs/EM01/EM01home.html
Hulstijn, J.H., Schoonen, R., de Jong, N.H., Steinel, M.P. and Florijn, A
Kuiken, F., Vedder, I. and Gilabert, R
2010 “Communicative adequacy and linguistic complexity in L2 writing.” In Communicative Proficiency and Linguistic Development: Intersections between SLA and Language Testing Research [Eurosla Monographs Series 1], I. Bartning, M. Martin and I. Vedder (eds), 81–100. European Second Language Association. http://eurosla.org/monographs/EM01/EM01home.html
Leung, C. and Lewkowicz, J
Little, D
MacWhinney, B
Martin, M., Mustonen, S., Reiman, N. and Seilonen, M
2010 “On becoming an independent user.” In Communicative Proficiency and Linguistic Development: Intersections between SLA and Language Testing Research [Eurosla Monographs Series 1], I. Bartning, M. Martin and I. Vedder (eds), 57–80. European Second Language Association. http://eurosla.org/monographs/EM01/EM01home.html
Norris, J.M. and Ortega, L
Prodeau, M., Lopez, S. and Véronique, D
Rosenberg, J
2011 Existe-t-il des corrélations entre les stades de développement morphosyntaxique et les niveaux proposés du Cadre européen commun de référence ? Une étude de productions écrites par des apprenants suédophones de français L2. Unpublished Bachelor thesis in French Linguistics. Centre for Languages and Literature: Lund university.
Cited by
Cited by 19 other publications
Abu Sufi, Mohd. Khairul & Engku Haliza Engku Ibrahim
Barrot, Jessie S. & Joan Y. Agdeppa
Bartning, Inge, Klara Arvidsson & Fanny Forsberg Lundell
Bernardini, Petra & Jonas Granfeldt
Bulté, Bram & Hanne Roothooft
Khushik, Ghulam Abbas & Ari Huhta
Khushik, Ghulam Abbas & Ari Huhta
Kuiken, Folkert & Ineke Vedder
Kuiken, Folkert, Ineke Vedder, Alex Housen & Bastien De Clercq
Lecouvet, Mathieu
Menke, Mandy R. & Paul A. Malovrh
Menke, Mandy R. & Paul A. Malovrh
Mäkilä, Mari
Paquot, Magali
Santucci, Valentino, Filippo Santarelli, Luciana Forti & Stefania Spina
Vandeweerd, Nathan, Alex Housen & Magali Paquot
Vanek, Norbert
Wisniewski, Katrin
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 09 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.