An Empirical Study on Syntactic Complexity in Writings of English Majors ——A Case from A Normal Uni文献综述

 2022-08-19 09:43:04

Literature Review on Syntactic Complexity in Chinese English Majorrsquo;s Writing

Abstract: Syntactic complexity has been recognized as a significant indicator evaluating L2 learnersrsquo; writing proficiency and language development (Chen, 2010). Studies on syntactic complexity in L2 writing abroad could date back to 1970s, mainly focusing on the features of syntactic complexity in writing, while such researches in China comparatively lagged behind which have been the foci of L2 learning in the past twenty years. However, most domestic studies failed to adopt multidimensional range of syntactic complexity measure and few studies explored the interplay of different factors of syntactic complexity. Therefore, it leaves space for the present study. This paper l firstly introduce the theoretical basis of syntactic complexity measures and then reviews the related studies abroad and at home to provide some implications for both L2 learners and teachers.

Key words: Syntactic complexity; syntactic complexity measures; English writing level; English majors

  1. Syntactic complexity and L2 writing proficiency

Syntactic complexity, manifested as the variety and sophistication of language production units (Ortega, 2003), has been recognized as a significant indicator evaluating L2 learnersrsquo; writing proficiency and language development (Chen, 2010). Simultaneously, it entails the acquisition and production of frequent syntactic features along with the use of a greater variety of syntactic features (McNamara, 2014). Syntactic complexity measures are reliable and valid indexes significantly discriminating the language level of L2 learners. In other words, the correlation between L2 writing proficiency (L2 output) and syntactic complexity is very close. It can be assumed to be “valid measures of writing proficiency or performance” (Lu, 2011: 38).

    1. Definition of Syntactic Complexity

Syntactic complexity is an important factor of L2 acquisition and one that has received considerable attention in the past research (Lu, 2010) in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. It refers to the sophistication or the range of syntactic forms either in writing or speaking (Lu, Ortega, 2003). Variety is the rangeability of sentence structures, namely, the usages of different sentence patterns (Ortega, 2003). Sophistication refers to the diversity of sentencersquo; structure, including the complexity of clauses and sentences. Researchers have focused on L2 syntactic development under the notion that the ability to arrange words syntactically into phrases and phrases into clauses demonstrates the capacity to manipulate a languagersquo;s combinatorial properties (Hawkins, 2001).

    1. Assessment of Writing Quality

There are a variety of methods which to assess writing quality or proficiency. Also, different ways of assessment can greatly affect the writing quality.

One of the major assessments of writing proficiency in the early days was impressionistic judgement, i.e. assessment based on the ratersrsquo; general evaluation or overall impression. Larsen-Freeman (1978), Perkins (1983), Thomas (1994) et al. adopted this way to assess the writing quality of L2 learners. However, the biggest problem of this assessment is that judgement based on explicit evidence may go wrong at times due to external factors. For instance, in comparative studies, researchers tend to consider senior students are more advanced in L2 learning than junior students. It is ratersrsquo; subjective impression which makes the results not so reliable. In order to gap the limitation mentioned before, the assessment of using standard test (e.g. TEM-4, CET-6, etc.) scores has gradually owe its overwhelming popularity. To a great extent, the results of standard tests tend to have comparatively high reliability and validity since it is subject to ongoing investigation and consistent with the research purpose. Therefore, many researchers nowadays tend to choose assess writing quality in this way. Apart from the assessments mentioned before, the forgoing assessment is easier to obtain. In-house assessment of proficiency proposed by Thomas (1994) makes judgement on the learnersrsquo; writing quality by relying on locally developed and administrated tests, e.g. mid-term exam and final-term exam. Bai Lifang and Ye Shufei (2018) explored the nonlinear trajectories and individual differences in syntactic development and the dynamic interaction of complexity, accuracy and fluency based on nine times of compositions written in administrated tests by Chinese English majors on computers with keystroke every two weeks. The advantage of it is time-saving, since this type of tests is usually involved in learnersrsquo; academic program. However, the assessment content might not have strong correlation with research targets

  1. Syntactic Complexity Measures of L2 writing

Syntactic complexity measure has been a crucial research tool in the field of L2 acquisition in the past half century (Ortega, 2003). Although the definition of it changes from field to field, the main function of it remains similar.

Wolfe-Quintero et al. (1998) conducted a synthesis study of developmental index, which was regarded as the first most comprehensive syntactic complexity measures. He came to the conclusion that these measures adopted in previous researches can be categorized into three dimensions, namely complexity, accuracy and fluency, which were famous as CAF Model. See Figure 1. It facilitates a more accurate and precise characterization of L2 learnersrsquo; language level and an objective assessment of language use. To be more specific, L2 learners at higher levels can produce more fluent, accurate and complex language with fewer errors within the same time.

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