The trajectory of syntactic complexity development in L1 Chinese narrative writings of primary school children: A systematic 5-year longitudinal study

Abstract

The present study contributes a systematic 5-year longitudinal investigation of the syntactic complexity development patterns in the L1 narrative writings of mainland Chinese primary school students. By adopting the longitudinal systematic approach, we aim to: (1) depict the specific trajectories of syntactic complexity development in L1 Chinese writings, (2) investigate whether, how and to what extent students’ proficiency levels influence syntactic complexity development in terms of different indices, and (3) study the effectiveness of indices and possible relationships between them. Hierarchical linear and nonlinear models and pairwise comparisons were performed to depict both the overall developmental trajectory and the detailed statistical differences between grades. All the indices have demonstrated a general growth of syntactic complexity but with different growth patterns. Similar subordination development but different coordination development trajectories were found when comparing the present findings with those previously reported in English. Evidence suggests that students’ proficiency level significantly influenced four out of the five indices in different ways. Unexpected inconsistencies between the length- and density-based indices and a possible topic limitation effect were also reported. Implications for L1 and L2 Chinese writing assessment, acquisition and instruction were provided.