Nominal expansion in L2 adolescent writing: Functions and realizations of clausal embedding in argumentative texts

Abstract

This study investigated nominal group (or noun phrase) expansion in the writing of Hong Kong adolescents, the majority of whom have Cantonese as their L1. Three hundred argumentative texts were analyzed for the embedding of clauses in nominal groups, using tools from systemic functional linguistics. The texts were further analyzed for realization, or accuracy, of these embeddings, in order to distinguish cases where students were attempting expansion, but did not have full control of the language resources required. The texts were also rated, and relationship between score and use of embedding investigated. Higher scoring texts were examined for the roles the embeddings play in the texts, and less successful texts considered in terms of students’ difficulties with embedding, plus their strategies for overcoming limitations in language resources. Clausal embedding was found to facilitate text organisation and the development of argument. However, students had difficulty with nominalization of their messages, and used compensatory clausal strategies and a more spoken discourse style. Correlations were found between score and overall use of clausal embedding, and between score and fully-realized, i.e. accurate, embeddings. The paper makes pedagogical suggestions for focusing on clausal embedding in argumentative text.