This study examines the role of the syntactic complexity of the text in the reading comprehension skills of students.Utilizing the qualitative method of research,this paper used structured interview questions as the m...This study examines the role of the syntactic complexity of the text in the reading comprehension skills of students.Utilizing the qualitative method of research,this paper used structured interview questions as the main data-gathering instruments.English language teachers from Coral na Munti National High School were selected as the respondents of the study.Finding of the study suggests that the syntactic complexity of the text affects the reading comprehension of the students.Students found it challenging to understand the message that the author conveyed if he or she used a large number of phrases and clauses in one sentence.Furthermore,the complex sentence syntactic structure was deemed the most challenging for students to understand.To overcome said challenges in comprehending text,various reading intervention programs were utilized by teachers.These interventions include focused or targeted instruction and the implementation of the Project Dear,suggested by the Department of Education.These programs were proven to help students improve their comprehension as well as their knowledge in syntactical structure of sentences.This study underscores the importance of selecting appropriate reading materials and implementing suitable reading intervention programs to enhance students’comprehension skills.展开更多
The rhetorical structure of abstracts has been a widely discussed topic, as it can greatly enhance the abstract writing skills of second-language writers. This study aims to provide guidance on the syntactic features ...The rhetorical structure of abstracts has been a widely discussed topic, as it can greatly enhance the abstract writing skills of second-language writers. This study aims to provide guidance on the syntactic features that L2 learners can employ, as well as suggest which features they should focus on in English academic writing. To achieve this, all samples were analyzed for rhetorical moves using Hyland’s five-rhetorical move model. Additionally, all sentences were evaluated for syntactic complexity, considering measures such as global, clausal and phrasal complexity. The findings reveal that expert writers exhibit a more balanced use of syntactic complexity across moves, effectively fulfilling the rhetorical objectives of abstracts. On the other hand, MA students tend to rely excessively on embedded structures and dependent clauses in an attempt to increase complexity. The implications of these findings for academic writing research, pedagogy, and assessment are thoroughly discussed.展开更多
This exploratory study examines whether genre has an impact on syntactic complexity and holistic rating in EFL writing. Over 300 sample texts produced by intermediate learners were collected from a test and some regul...This exploratory study examines whether genre has an impact on syntactic complexity and holistic rating in EFL writing. Over 300 sample texts produced by intermediate learners were collected from a test and some regular after-class assignments for English writing courses. Each participant completed two writing tasks, one argumentative and the other narrative. Results show that genre type has a significant impact on L2 syntactic complexity. Genre effect is found stronger with timed writing tasks. L2 holistic ratings show correlation with syntactic complexity on the different measure(s) depending on genre type and planning conditions. Regression analyses reveal that for timed writing tasks, clausal density(clauses per sentence) is a reliable predictor for holistic assessment on intermediate EFL learners’ writing quality. It is found to account for 6% of the score variance for timed writing and 10% for timed argumentative writing. Genre is evidenced to be related to EFL writing holistic ratings. Closer examination indicates that while syntactic complexity is predictive of holistic writing scores for argumentative writing, it does not correlate with holistic scores for narrative writing. Other linguistic features rather than syntactic complexity may be accountable. Overall, the study lends support to genre effect in the relationship between syntactic complexity and L2 writing quality holistic rating.展开更多
Purpose:This article aims to investigate the longitudinal Syntactic Complexity(SC)development of English as a Foreign Language(EFL)learners and the variations by grade level.Design/Approach/Methods:This study conducts...Purpose:This article aims to investigate the longitudinal Syntactic Complexity(SC)development of English as a Foreign Language(EFL)learners and the variations by grade level.Design/Approach/Methods:This study conducts a longitudinal analysis of SC development among 199 high school EFL learners in eastern China.The corpus contains 920 argumentative essays on scientifically and socially contentious topics.We employ the Second Language Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA)to examine syntactic features in these essays through II computerized indices measuring different dimensions of SC(i.e.,coordination,subordination,phrasal complexity).Multi-level regression analyses are used to depict SC development and crosslevel interactions are investigated to examine variations by grade.Findings:Results suggest that all SC indices except T-units per sentence exhibit varying growing trends.The results align with Biber's hypothetical stages of syntactic development,indicating learners'progression toward greater subordination and phrasal complexity.Negative cross-grade interactions suggest that lower-grade students show heightened improvements in phrasal sophistication over time.Originality/Value:The study portrays the developmental patterns of SC within and across grade levels,highlighting both group trends and individual variability in language development.It conceptualizes SC as a multidimensional construct and informs more precise measurement of SC features inwritingassessmentand instruction.展开更多
Nowadays,collaborative writing has gained much attention of many scholars.And task complexity is a crucial factor that influences second language(L2)writing.However,little research has explored how task complexity aff...Nowadays,collaborative writing has gained much attention of many scholars.And task complexity is a crucial factor that influences second language(L2)writing.However,little research has explored how task complexity affects the quality of L2 collaborative writing.This study investigates the impact of task complexity on syntactic complexity,lexical complexity,and accuracy of the second language collaborative writing.English learners(N=50)in a Chinese university were required to complete two writing tasks collaboratively:a simple task and a complex task.Through analyzing their compositions,we found that task complexity has a significant impact on syntactic complexity and high complexity writing tasks help increase the syntactic complexity of second language collaborative writing.However,task complexity has little impact on lexical complexity and accuracy.The accuracy of writing tasks is largely influenced by the task requirements.The research results may enhance the understanding of collaborative writing and task complexity and provide valuable guidance for the second language teaching.展开更多
Health communication is critical component of effective health delivery. While there are studies on the readability Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) around the world, so far, there is only one Ghanaian study that e...Health communication is critical component of effective health delivery. While there are studies on the readability Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) around the world, so far, there is only one Ghanaian study that explored the language of patient information leaflets for malaria. The present study explores the language of PILs of seven common ailments in Ghana. In all, 68 leaflets were purposely sampled for the study. Using SMOG and Flesch Kincaid grade level readability formulae, the researcher measured the readability of PILs and discovered that the readability of all the PILs was difficult to read except the dewormer leaflets that scored standard reading score. Further statistical analysis reveal that the lexical and syntactic complexity of the leaflets were not statistically different. Finally, an interview with 20 patients confirmed that the leaflets are difficult to read due to the complex words and long sentence structures. It is recommended that the PILs be revised to make the leaflets readable.展开更多
文摘This study examines the role of the syntactic complexity of the text in the reading comprehension skills of students.Utilizing the qualitative method of research,this paper used structured interview questions as the main data-gathering instruments.English language teachers from Coral na Munti National High School were selected as the respondents of the study.Finding of the study suggests that the syntactic complexity of the text affects the reading comprehension of the students.Students found it challenging to understand the message that the author conveyed if he or she used a large number of phrases and clauses in one sentence.Furthermore,the complex sentence syntactic structure was deemed the most challenging for students to understand.To overcome said challenges in comprehending text,various reading intervention programs were utilized by teachers.These interventions include focused or targeted instruction and the implementation of the Project Dear,suggested by the Department of Education.These programs were proven to help students improve their comprehension as well as their knowledge in syntactical structure of sentences.This study underscores the importance of selecting appropriate reading materials and implementing suitable reading intervention programs to enhance students’comprehension skills.
文摘The rhetorical structure of abstracts has been a widely discussed topic, as it can greatly enhance the abstract writing skills of second-language writers. This study aims to provide guidance on the syntactic features that L2 learners can employ, as well as suggest which features they should focus on in English academic writing. To achieve this, all samples were analyzed for rhetorical moves using Hyland’s five-rhetorical move model. Additionally, all sentences were evaluated for syntactic complexity, considering measures such as global, clausal and phrasal complexity. The findings reveal that expert writers exhibit a more balanced use of syntactic complexity across moves, effectively fulfilling the rhetorical objectives of abstracts. On the other hand, MA students tend to rely excessively on embedded structures and dependent clauses in an attempt to increase complexity. The implications of these findings for academic writing research, pedagogy, and assessment are thoroughly discussed.
文摘This exploratory study examines whether genre has an impact on syntactic complexity and holistic rating in EFL writing. Over 300 sample texts produced by intermediate learners were collected from a test and some regular after-class assignments for English writing courses. Each participant completed two writing tasks, one argumentative and the other narrative. Results show that genre type has a significant impact on L2 syntactic complexity. Genre effect is found stronger with timed writing tasks. L2 holistic ratings show correlation with syntactic complexity on the different measure(s) depending on genre type and planning conditions. Regression analyses reveal that for timed writing tasks, clausal density(clauses per sentence) is a reliable predictor for holistic assessment on intermediate EFL learners’ writing quality. It is found to account for 6% of the score variance for timed writing and 10% for timed argumentative writing. Genre is evidenced to be related to EFL writing holistic ratings. Closer examination indicates that while syntactic complexity is predictive of holistic writing scores for argumentative writing, it does not correlate with holistic scores for narrative writing. Other linguistic features rather than syntactic complexity may be accountable. Overall, the study lends support to genre effect in the relationship between syntactic complexity and L2 writing quality holistic rating.
基金supported by the Shanghai Institute of Educational Science(Grant number:C2023155)awarded to Dr.Wenjuan Qin at Fudan University.
文摘Purpose:This article aims to investigate the longitudinal Syntactic Complexity(SC)development of English as a Foreign Language(EFL)learners and the variations by grade level.Design/Approach/Methods:This study conducts a longitudinal analysis of SC development among 199 high school EFL learners in eastern China.The corpus contains 920 argumentative essays on scientifically and socially contentious topics.We employ the Second Language Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA)to examine syntactic features in these essays through II computerized indices measuring different dimensions of SC(i.e.,coordination,subordination,phrasal complexity).Multi-level regression analyses are used to depict SC development and crosslevel interactions are investigated to examine variations by grade.Findings:Results suggest that all SC indices except T-units per sentence exhibit varying growing trends.The results align with Biber's hypothetical stages of syntactic development,indicating learners'progression toward greater subordination and phrasal complexity.Negative cross-grade interactions suggest that lower-grade students show heightened improvements in phrasal sophistication over time.Originality/Value:The study portrays the developmental patterns of SC within and across grade levels,highlighting both group trends and individual variability in language development.It conceptualizes SC as a multidimensional construct and informs more precise measurement of SC features inwritingassessmentand instruction.
文摘Nowadays,collaborative writing has gained much attention of many scholars.And task complexity is a crucial factor that influences second language(L2)writing.However,little research has explored how task complexity affects the quality of L2 collaborative writing.This study investigates the impact of task complexity on syntactic complexity,lexical complexity,and accuracy of the second language collaborative writing.English learners(N=50)in a Chinese university were required to complete two writing tasks collaboratively:a simple task and a complex task.Through analyzing their compositions,we found that task complexity has a significant impact on syntactic complexity and high complexity writing tasks help increase the syntactic complexity of second language collaborative writing.However,task complexity has little impact on lexical complexity and accuracy.The accuracy of writing tasks is largely influenced by the task requirements.The research results may enhance the understanding of collaborative writing and task complexity and provide valuable guidance for the second language teaching.
文摘Health communication is critical component of effective health delivery. While there are studies on the readability Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) around the world, so far, there is only one Ghanaian study that explored the language of patient information leaflets for malaria. The present study explores the language of PILs of seven common ailments in Ghana. In all, 68 leaflets were purposely sampled for the study. Using SMOG and Flesch Kincaid grade level readability formulae, the researcher measured the readability of PILs and discovered that the readability of all the PILs was difficult to read except the dewormer leaflets that scored standard reading score. Further statistical analysis reveal that the lexical and syntactic complexity of the leaflets were not statistically different. Finally, an interview with 20 patients confirmed that the leaflets are difficult to read due to the complex words and long sentence structures. It is recommended that the PILs be revised to make the leaflets readable.
