Abstract
In studies on second language writing, linguistic complexity exhibited by learners has long been regarded as being indicative of writing proficiency. However, there are relatively scant studies focusing on the diversity and structural elaboration of complexity in L2 production data that are extracted from high-stakes tests [such as Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS)]. Using a large-scale learner corpus collected from a TOEFL (internet-based test (iBT), this study aims to explore the extent to which the three dimensions of linguistic complexity, syntactic, lexical, and morphological complexity, are associated with human scoring in high-stakes tests. In addition, we also tend to tap into within-genre topic effects on the production of complexity measures by learners. To this end, a total of 1,002 writing samples were collected from a TOEFL11 corpus, and six automated-coding instruments were used to investigate the variations of complexity among Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The results from the correlation analysis, multiple linear regression, and independent sample t-tests indicated that there was not a linear correlation between the majority of linguistic complexity and human-rated score levels and that proficiency among Chinese EFL learners did not signal a discriminative power in their language production. In the meantime, strong within-proficiency topic effects were found on the majority of measures in the syntactic, lexical, and morphological dimensions.
Highlights
As one of the two productive skills, writing constitutes an essential part of education
To explore what measures correlate with a human judgment of writing quality, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between the values on each measure and the human-rated score level
Only one morphological measure out of all the 15 complexity measures reflects a positive association between the groups medium and high, as a change in the use of V100 will have an effect on essay quality
Summary
As one of the two productive skills (the other is speaking), writing constitutes an essential part of education. There has been improvement in TOEFL holistic score from 77 points in 2010 to 81 points in 2019 (on a total score of 120), the average score of writing is 20 points (on a score scale of 30), a score which falls within the range of HighIntermediate level (17–23) and remains unchanged over the past 10 years (with the only exception in 2010, reaching 21 points). There has been improvement in TOEFL holistic score from 77 points in 2010 to 81 points in 2019 (on a total score of 120), the average score of writing is 20 points (on a score scale of 30), a score which falls within the range of HighIntermediate level (17–23) and remains unchanged over the past 10 years (with the only exception in 2010, reaching 21 points)1 This poses no optimistic prospect to their endeavors in pursuing further studies overseas as most programs, especially graduate programs in the United States, require a considerably higher level of English proficiency.
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