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Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in Learner Corpus Research
Edited by Agnieszka Leńko-Szymańska and Sandra Götz
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 104] 2022
► pp. 81–114

Development of L2 writing complexity

Clause types, L1 influence and individual differences

| University of Oslo

Recent research on complexity development has demonstrated the need to distinguish between specific types of subordinate clauses and consider L1 influence and individual variation. The present study combines these factors and makes finer distinctions between clause types than usual in complexity research. A case study following five Norwegian learners of English over four years shows that individual clause types have different developmental trajectories and that learners may develop in syntactic diversity even when showing little change in amount of subordination. A lack of specific clause types in the L1 can lead to late development of these in the L2, and higher uses of subordination in particular areas may boost complexity in the L2. Individual differences were found mainly in pace.

Keywords: subordinate clauses, diversity, cross-linguistic influence, individual variation, second language acquisition
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A move toward more fine-grained distinctions in syntactic complexity research
  • 3.Individual variation and cross-linguistic influence in syntactic complexity development
  • 4.Contrastive differences between English and Norwegian
  • 5.Previous studies of L2 English complexity in the Norwegian context
  • 6.Research questions and method
    • 6.1Design and material
    • 6.2Coding and analysis
  • 7.Results
    • 7.1Clauses with adverbial function
    • 7.2Clauses with nominal function
    • 7.3Clauses with adnominal function and clauses modifying adjectives and adverbs
    • 7.4Cross-linguistic influence
    • 7.5Discussion
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 December 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.104.04dir
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