Exploring the longitudinal development of grammatical complexity in the disciplinary writing of L2-English university students
Douglas Biber | Northern Arizona University
Randi Reppen | Northern Arizona University
Shelley Staples | University of Arizona
Jesse Egbert | Northern Arizona University
The present paper employs a corpus-based approach to track the longitudinal language development of university students. Compared to many other longitudinal studies, the present study tracks development over a relatively long period of time (two years) for a relatively large group of students (N = 22). However, the most important difference from previous research is that the study explores the linguistic characteristics of disciplinary writing, across levels of education and academic disciplines, investigating the writing tasks required for disciplinary content courses over two years of university education. We focus on grammatical complexity features associated with the hypothesized stages of development proposed in Biber et al. (2011). Methodologically, the study proposes research designs and statistical approaches that permit investigation of longitudinal development in an unbalanced corpus of natural texts. And linguistically, the results generally support the hypothesized stages of development, documenting a decline in the use of dependent clause complexity features and an increase in the use of phrasal complexity features. As such, the study adds to the growing body of research that emphasizes the importance of phrasal complexity in the development of academic writing.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Corpus, linguistic analysis, and statistical methods
- 3.Linguistic complexity features included in the study
- 4.True longitudinal comparisons
- 5.Quasi-longitudinal analyses
- 6.Discussion and conclusion
- Notes
-
References
Published online: 14 April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.18007.bib
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.18007.bib
References
Ansarifar, A., Shahriari, H., & Pishghadam, R.
2018 Phrasal complexity in academic writing: A comparison of abstracts written by graduate students and expert writers in applied linguistics. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 311, 58–71. 
Baker, P. & Egbert, J.
(Eds.) 2016 Triangulating methodological approaches in corpus-linguistic research. New York: Routledge.
Biber, D.
1988 Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1992 On the complexity of discourse complexity: A multidimensional analysis. Discourse Processes, 151, 133–163.
2006 University language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Biber, D. & Gray, B.
2010 Challenging stereotypes about academic writing: Complexity, elaboration, explicitness. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 91, 2–20.
Biber, D., & Gray, B.
2013 Discourse characteristics of writing and speaking responses on the TOEFL iBT. (TOEFL iBT Research Report No. 19). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Biber, D. & Gray, B.
2011/2016 Grammar emerging in the noun phrase: The influence of written language use. English Language and Linguistics, 151, 223–250. [Reprinted 2016 in the 20th Anniversary Collection, English Language and Linguistics.]
2016 Grammatical Complexity in Academic English: Linguistic Change in Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Biber, D., Gray, B., & Poonpon, K.
2011 Should we use characteristics of conversation to measure grammatical complexity in L2 writing development?. TESOL Quarterly, 45(1), 5–35.
2013 Pay attention to the phrasal structures: Going beyond T-units. TESOL Quarterly, 471, 192–201.
Biber, D., Gray, B. & Staples, S.
2016 Predicting patterns of grammatical complexity across language exam task types and proficiency levels. Applied Linguistics, 37(5), 639–668.
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E.
1999 The Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman.
Biber, D., Gray, B., Staples, S., & Egbert, J.
to appear). Investigating grammatical complexity in L2 writing research: Linguistic description versus predictive measurement. Journal of English for Academic Purposes.
Biber, D., Reppen, R., & Staples, S.
(2017) Exploring the relationship between TOEFL iBT scores and disciplinary writing performance. TESOL Quarterly 51(4), 948-960.
Beers, S. F., & Nagy, W. E.
2011 Writing development in four genres from grades three to seven: syntactic complexity and genre differentiation. Reading and Writing, 241, 183–202.
Bulté, B. & Housen, A.
2014 Conceptualizing and measuring short-term changes in L2 writing complexity. Journal of Second Language Writing, 261, 42–65.
2018 Syntactic complexity in L2 writing: Individual pathways and emerging group trends. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 281, 147–164.
Carter, R. & McCarthy, M.
2006 Cambridge Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Connor-Linton, J. & Polio, C.
2014 Comparing perspectives on L2 writing: Multiple analyses of a common corpus. Journal of Second Language Writing, 261, 1–9.
Crossley, S. A. & McNamara, D. S.
2014 Does writing development equal writing quality?: A computational investigation of syntactic complexity in L2 learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 261, 66–79.
Crosthwaite, P.
2016 A longitudinal multidimensional analysis of EAP writing: Determining EAP course effectiveness. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 221, 166–78.
Egbert, J.
2015 Sub-register and discipline variation in published academic writing: Investigating statistical interaction in corpus data. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 201, 1–29.
Ferrari, S.
2012 A longitudinal study of complexity, accuracy and fluency variation in second language development. In A. Housen, F. Kuiken, and I. Vedder (Eds.), Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency: Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in SLA (pp. 277–298). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Friginal, E. & Weigle, S.
2014 Exploring multiple profiles of L2 writing using multi-dimensional analysis. Journal of Second Language Writing, 261, 80–95.
Gardner, S., Nesi, H., & Biber, D.
2018 Discipline, level, genre: Integrating situational perspectives in a new MD analysis of university student writing. Applied Linguistics, 401, 646–674.
Gray, B.
2015 Linguistic Variation in Research Articles: When Discipline Tells Only Part of the Story. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gray, B., Staples, S. & Egbert, J., & Biber, D.
2019 Developmental complexity in BAWE: comparing L1 and L2 English writers. Presentation at
10th International Corpus Linguistics 2019 Conference
. Cardiff, Wales.
Gunnarsson, C.
2012 The development of complexity, accuracy and fluency in the written production of L2 French. In A. Housen, F. Kuiken, and I. Vedder (Eds.), Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency: Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in SLA (pp. 247–276). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Halliday, M. A. K.
1989 Spoken and written language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Huddleston, R.
1984 Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kass, R. E. & Raftery, A. E.
1995 Bayes factors. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 901, 773–795.
Knoch, U., Rouhshad, A., Oon, S. P., & Storch, N.
2015 What happens to ESL students’ writing after three years of study at an English medium university? Journal of Second Language Writing, 281, 39–52.
Kreyer, R. & Schaub, S.
2018 The development of phrasal complexity in German intermediate learners of English. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, 4(1), 82–111.
Kyle, K., & Crossley, S. A.
2018 Measuring Syntactic Complexity in L2 Writing Using Fine-Grained Clausal and Phrasal Indices. The Modern Language Journal, 1021, 333–349.
Larsen-Freeman, D.
2006 The emergence of complexity, fluency, and accuracy in the oral and written production of five Chinese learners of English. Applied Linguistics, 24(7), 590–619.
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Cameron, L.
2008 Research methodology on language development from a complex systems perspective. Modern Language Journal, 92(2), 200–13.
Martínez, A. C. L.
2018 Analysis of syntactic complexity in secondary education EFLwriters at different proficiency levels. Assessing Writing, 351, 1–11.
Nesi, H., Gardner, S., Thompson, P., & Wickens, P.
2008–2010 The British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus.
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L.
2009 Towards an organic approach to investigating CAF in instructed SLA: The case of complexity. Applied Linguistics, 301, 555–578.
Ortega, L.
2012 Interlanguage complexity: A construct in search of theoretical renewal. In Kortmann, B., & Szmrecsanyi, B. (Eds.)., Linguistic complexity: second language acquisition, indigenization, contact (pp. 127–155). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter.
Ortega, L. & Byrnes, H.
2008 The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities. London: Routledge.
Ortega, L. & Iberri-Shea, G.
2005 Longitudinal research in second language acquisition: Recent trends and future directions. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 251, 26–45.
Parkinson, J. & Musgrave, J.
2014 Development of noun phrase complexity in the writing of English for Academic Purposes students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 141, 48–59.
Polat, B. & Kim, Y.
2012 Dynamics of Complexity and Accuracy: A Longitudinal Case Study of Advanced Untutored Development. Applied Linguistics, 35(2), 184–207.
Spoelman, M. & Verspoor, M.
2010 Dynamic patterns in development of accuracy and complexity: A longitudinal case study in the acquisition of Finnish. Applied Linguistics, 31(4), 532–53.
Staples, S., Biber, D., & Reppen, R.
2018 Using Corpus-Based Register Analysis to Explore Authenticity of High-Stakes Language Exams: A Register Comparison of TOEFL iBT and Disciplinary Writing Tasks. The Modern Language Journal, 102(2), 310–332.
Staples, S., Egbert, J., Biber, D., & Gray, B.
2016 Academic writing development at the university level: Phrasal and clausal complexity across level of study, discipline, and genre. Written Communication, 331, 149–183.
Taguchi, N., Crawford, W., & Wetzel, D. Z.
2013 What linguistic features are indicative of writing quality? A case of argumentative essays in a college composition program. TESOL Quarterly, 471, 420–430.
Verspoor, M., Lowie, W., & van Dijk, M.
2008 Variability in second language development from a dynamic systems perspective. Modern Language Journal, 92(2), 214–31.
Wells, R.
1960 Nominal and verbal style. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Style in language (pp. 213–220). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Yan, X. & Staples, S.
(2019, early view) Fitting MD analysis in an argument-based validity framework for writing assessment: Explanation and generalization inferences for the ECPE. Language Testing.
Yang, W., Lu, X., & Weigle, S.
2015 Different topics, different discourse: Relationships among writing topic, measures of syntactic complexity, and judgments of writing quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 281, 53–67.
Cited by
Cited by 6 other publications
Bychkovska, Tetyana
2021. Effects of explicit instruction on noun phrase production in L2 undergraduate writing.
Journal of English for Academic Purposes 54 ► pp. 101040 ff. 
Crawford, William J. & Meixiu Zhang
2021. How can register analysis inform task-based language teaching?.
Register Studies 3:2 ► pp. 180 ff.
Larsson, Tove, Magali Paquot & Douglas Biber
2021.
In Corpus-based Approaches to Register Variation [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 103],
► pp. 235 ff.
Naismith, Ben, Na-Rae Han & Alan Juffs
2022. The University of Pittsburgh English Language Institute Corpus (PELIC).
International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 8:1 ► pp. 121 ff.
Sarte, Kayla Marie & Ksenia Gnevsheva
2022. Noun phrasal complexity in ESL written essays under a constructed-response task: Examining proficiency and topic effects.
Assessing Writing 51 ► pp. 100595 ff.
Zhang, Meixiu & Wenting Chen
2022. Assessing collaborative writing in the digital age: An exploratory study.
Journal of Second Language Writing ► pp. 100868 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 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.