Abstract
Among other things, learning to write entails learning how to use complex sentences effectively in discourse. Some research has therefore focused on relating measures of syntactic complexity to text quality. Apart from the fact that the existing research on this topic appears inconclusive, most of it has been conducted in English L1 contexts. This is potentially problematic, since relevant syntactic indices may not be the same across languages. The current study is the first to explore which syntactic features predict text quality in Dutch secondary school students’ argumentative writing. In order to do so, the quality of 125 argumentative essays written by students was rated and the syntactic features of the texts were analyzed. A multilevel regression analysis was then used to investigate which features contribute to text quality. The resulting model (explaining 14.5% of the variance in text quality) shows that the relative number of finite clauses and the ratio between the number of relative clauses and the number of finite clauses positively predict text quality. Discrepancies between our findings and those of previous studies indicate that the relations between syntactic features and text quality may vary based on factors such as language and genre. Additional (cross-linguistic) research is needed to gain a more complete understanding of the relationships between syntactic constructions and text quality and the potential moderating role of language and genre.
Highlights
The importance of students’ writing skills is not overestimated
The current study aims to contribute to the existing knowledge on this topic by examining, in a Dutch secondary school context, the relation between text quality and syntactic features that have been investigated in other educational jurisdictions with a different L1
The current study explored the relation between measures of syntactic complexity and text quality in Dutch secondary students’ L1 argumentative essays
Summary
The importance of students’ writing skills is not overestimated. Writing plays a major role in modern society on so many levels, that Graham and Perin (2007, p. 445) conclude that ‘adolescents who do not learn to write well are at a disadvantage’ and that ‘in school, weaker writers are less likely than their more skilled classmates to use writing to support and extend learning in content classrooms.’ This means that teaching students how to write well should be an essential part of language education, especially because there are many concerns about the current level of students’ writing skills (Graham & Perin, 2007; MacArthur, Graham & Fitzgerald, 2016).As the influential models of Hayes and Flower (1980) and Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987) have shown, the process of writing calls upon various types of skills and knowledge, each of which important in its own right. 445) conclude that ‘adolescents who do not learn to write well are at a disadvantage’ and that ‘in school, weaker writers are less likely than their more skilled classmates to use writing to support and extend learning in content classrooms.’ This means that teaching students how to write well should be an essential part of language education, especially because there are many concerns about the current level of students’ writing skills (Graham & Perin, 2007; MacArthur, Graham & Fitzgerald, 2016). One question that emerges when thinking about the role of grammar in writing, is whether there are relationships between specific syntactic features and text quality If such relations exist, they could inform writing education. Grammatical and syntactic features should be seen as synonyms throughout
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