Article In:
Journal of Second Language Studies: Online-First Articles

Linguistic complexity development in the writings of Chinese EFL learners across three proficiency levels

 | Ocean University of China, China
 | Ocean University of China, China
 | Ocean University of China, China
 | Ocean University of China, China
This study uses a corpus-based method to analyze the developmental paths of syntactic and lexical complexity in Chinese EFL learners across three proficiency levels. It examines six pieces of English essays written in one semester under school instruction. The goal is to identify both group results and individual developmental paths. The results show that both groups and individuals at the same level follow a dynamic, nonlinear development path, but with different trajectories. The development of syntactic complexity in their writings is marked by variability and interaction between different syntactic complexity subsystems. Chinese EFL learners at three proficiency levels are each in a different stage of L2 development. The study concludes with significant and practical pedagogical implications for L2 instruction.
Keywords: syntactic complexity development, lexical complexity development, Chinese EFL learners, three proficiency levels
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Conceptualizing and operationalizing L2 writing linguistic complexity
    • 2.2Syntactic complexity development
    • 2.3Lexical complexity development
  • 3.The present study
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Research questions
    • 3.3Measures and tools
      • 3.3.1Large-grained measures
      • 3.3.2Fine-grained measures
    • 3.4Corpus
    • 3.5Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Linguistic complexity development trends within each level
      • 4.1.1Beginner-level
      • 4.1.2Intermediate-level
      • 4.1.3High-level
    • 4.2Linguistic complexity development across levels
      • 4.2.1Large-grained syntactic complexity measures
      • 4.2.2Fine-grained syntactic complexity measures
      • 4.2.3Lexical complexity measures
  • 5.Findings and discussion
    • 5.1Developmental paths within proficiency levels
    • 5.2Developmental path across proficiency levels
    • 5.3Pedagogical implications
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (52)
References
Anthony, L. (2019). AntConc (3.5.9) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from [URL]
(2022). TagAnt (Version 2.0.5) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from [URL]
Baba, K., & R. Nitta. (2014). Phase transitions in development of writing fluency from a complex dynamic systems perspective. Language Learning, 6411, 1–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Biber, D., Gray, B., & Poonpon, K. (2011). Should we use characteristics of conversation to measure grammatical complexity in L2 writing development? TESOL Quarterly, 451 1, 5–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bulté, B., & Housen, A. (2012). Defining and operationalising L2 complexity. In A. Housen, F. Kuiken, & I. Vedder (Eds.), Dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency: Complexity, accuracy and fluency in SLA (pp. 21–46). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014). Conceptualizing and measuring short-term changes in L2 writing complexity. Journal of Second Language Writing, 26 1, 42–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Casal, J. E., & Lee, J. J. (2019). Syntactic complexity and writing quality in assessed first-year L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 44 1, 51–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Casanave, C. (1994). Language development in students’ journals. Journal of Second Language Writing, 3 1, 179–201. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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, 26 1, 66–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, J., Bi, P., & Liu, H. (2019). Syntactic complexity development in the writings of EFL learners: Insights from a dependency syntactically-annotated corpus. Journal of Second Language Writing, 46 1, 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Khushik, G. A., & Huhta, A. (2019). Investigating syntactic complexity in EFL learners’ writing across common European framework of reference levels A1, A2 and B1. Applied Linguistics, 414 1, 1–28.Google Scholar
Kyle, K. 2016. Measuring syntactic development in L2 writing: Fine grained indices of syntactic complexity and usage-based indices of syntactic sophistication. Georgia State University, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Kyle, K., Crossley, S., & Javis, S. (2021). Assessing the validity of lexical diversity indices using direct judgements. Language Assessment Quarterly, 18 ( 2 ), 154–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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, 27 1, 590–619. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lahuerta Martínez, A. C. (2018). Analysis of syntactic complexity in secondary education EFL writers at different proficiency levels. Assessing Writing, 35 1, 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lei, L., Wen, J., & Yang, X. (2023). A large-scale longitudinal study of syntactic complexity development in EFL writing: A mixed-effects model approach. Journal of Second Language Writing, 59 1, Article 100962. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, J. & Schmitt, N. 2009. The acquisition of lexical phrases in academic writing: A longitudinal case study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 18 ( 2 ), 85–102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Y., Nikitina, L., & Riget, P. N. (2022). Development of syntactic complexity in Chinese university students’ L2 argumentative writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 56 1, Article 101099. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lu, X. (2010). Automatic analysis of syntactic complexity in second language writing. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 15 1, 474–496. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011). A corpus-based evaluation of syntactic complexity measures as indices of college-level ESL writers’ language development. TESOL Quarterly, 45 1, 36–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). The relationship of lexical richness to the quality of ESL learners’ oral narratives. The Modern Language Journal, 96 1, 190–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McNamara, D. S., Graesser, A. C., McCarthy, P. M., & Cai, Z. (2014). Automated evaluation of text and discourse with Coh-Metrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Puran, P. (2004). Lexical diversity and language development. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mazgutova, D., & Kormos, J. (2015). Syntactic and lexical development in an intensive English for academic purposes programme. Journal of Second Language Writing, 29 1, 3–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Menke, M. R., & Strawbridge, T. (2019). The writing of Spanish majors: A longitudinal analysis of syntactic complexity. Journal of Second Language Writing, 46 1, Article 100665. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2009). Towards an organic approach to investigating CAF in instructed SLA: The case of complexity. Applied Linguistics, 30 1, 555–578. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ortega, L. (2003). Syntactic complexity measures and their relationship with L2 proficiency: A research synthesis of college-level L2 writing. Applied Linguistics, 244 1, 492–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). Interlanguage complexity: A construct in search of theoretical renewal. In B. Szmrecsanyi & B. Kortmann (Eds.), Linguistic complexity: Second language acquisition, indigenization, contact (pp. 127–155). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H. (2008). Theorizing advancedness, setting up the longitudinal research agenda. In L. Ortega and H. Byrnes (Eds.), The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ortega, L. & Iberri-Shea, G. 2005. Longitudinal research in SLA: Recent trends and future directions. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25 1, 26–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Palfreyman, D. M., & Karaki, S. (2019). Lexical sophistication across languages: a preliminary study of undergraduate writing in Arabic (L1) and English (L2). International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22 ( 8 ), 992–1015. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Read, J. (2000). Assessing vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spoelman, M. & Verspoor, M. 2010. Dynamic patterns in development of accuracy and complexity: A longitudinal case study in the acquisition of Finnish. Applied Linguistics, 314 1, 532–553. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
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, 33 ( 2 ), 149–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Storch, N. 2009. The impact of studying in a second language L2 medium university on the development of L2writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 182 1, 103–118. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second Language Acquisition (pp.235–253). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Taguchi, N. 2007. Chunk learning and the development of spoken discourse in a Japanese as a foreign language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 11 1, 433–457. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Geert, P. (1991). A dynamic systems model of cognitive and language growth. Psychological Review, 981 1, 3–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, M., Lowie, W., & Van Dijk, M. (2008). Variability in second language development from a dynamic systems perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 92 1, 214–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, M., Schmid, M., & Xu, X. (2012). A dynamic usage-based perspective on L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21 1, 239–263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, M., Lowie, W., & Wieling, M. (2021). L2 developmental measures from a dynamic perspective. In B. Le Bruyn, & M. Paquot (Eds.), Learner corpus research meets second language acquisition (pp. 172–190). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vyatkina, N. (2012). The Development of Second Language Writing Complexity in Groups and Individuals: A Longitudinal Learner Corpus Study. Modern Language Journal, 96 1, 576–598. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vyatkina, N., Hirschmann, H., & Golcher, F. (2015). Syntactic modification at early stages of L2 German writing development: A longitudinal learner corpus study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 29 1, 28–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolfe-Quintero, K., Inagaki, S., & Kim, H. (1998). Second language development in writing: Measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. Honolulu: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.Google Scholar
Wu, X., & Lei, L. (2018). A meta-analysis of L2 writing proficiency and syntactic complexity (二语水平与句法复杂度研究元分析). Chinese Modern Language Journal (现代外语), 41 1, 481–492.Google Scholar
Yang, W., Lu, X., & Weigle, S. C. 2015. Different topics, different discourse: Relationships among writing topic, measures of syntactic complexity, and judgments of writing quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 28 1, 53–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yin, S., Gao, Y., & Lu, X. (2023). Diachronic changes in the syntactic complexity of emerging Chinese international publications writers’ research article introductions: A rhetorical strategic perspective. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 61 1, Article 101205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yoon, H. (2017). Linguistic complexity in L2 writing revisited: Issues of topic, proficiency, and construct multidimensionality. System, 66 1, 130–141. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yoon, H., & Polio, C. (2017). The linguistic development of students of English as a Second Language in two written genres. TESOL Quarterly, 512 1, 275–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Y., & Casal, J. E. (2023). Navigating complexity in plain English: A longitudinal analysis of syntactic and lexical complexity development in L2 legal writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 62 1,101059. DOI logoGoogle Scholar