Abstract
The correlation between phrasal complexity and L2 writers’ writing proficiency has been confirmed by numerous studies, among which the empirical studies on measuring of L2 writing have attracted much attention in English for academic purposes. Based on the hypothesized developmental indices of noun phrase modifications, this study examines, from the corpus-driven approach, the linguistic realization of phrasal complexity on abstracts written by international advanced academic writers and Chinese graduate L2 writers of computer science. The results show that while both groups illustrated the developmental stages of academic writing, many complexity measures of noun phrase modifiers significantly distinguish L2 learners from expert writers, especially in post-modifiers. The findings thus support previous studies on writing developmental stages, presenting a thorough understanding of graduate L2 writers’ and advanced writers’ of EAP writing through analysis of pre-modifiers and post-modifiers.
Highlights
Conventional wisdom on abstracts demonstrates that an abstract contains a crucially important content of an already existing text (Kilborn, 1998)
Based on the hypothesized developmental indices of noun phrase modifications, this study examines, from the corpus-driven approach, the linguistic realization of phrasal complexity on abstracts written by international advanced academic writers and Chinese graduate L2 writers of computer science
In order to investigate whether abstracts written by novice L2 writers and advanced writers follow the developmental writing stages hypothesized by Biber et al (2011), in-depth analyses on five developmental stages were applied
Summary
Conventional wisdom on abstracts demonstrates that an abstract contains a crucially important content of an already existing text (Kilborn, 1998). As an indispensable screening and indexing tool (Huckin, 2001), free access to complete full-text of research article abstracts blurs or breaks the boundaries of interactive exchange between academic communities (Koltay, 2010). Concerning abstract composing, it lies in the writing strategies and linguistic devices that. S. Ge urge writers to compose a remarkably compact text with relatively few words, and brief, concise, and objective previews that assist readers in gaining convenient access to information. Ruan (2018) has pointed out that constructing such highly condensed texts requires authors to wield a sophisticated repertoire of linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
