L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer Research Articles

L2 English speaking syntactic complexity: Data preprocessing issues, reliability of automated analysis, and the effects of proficiency, L1 background, and topic

AbstractThe effects of learner‐ and task‐related variables on second language (L2) writing syntactic complexity (SC) have been extensively investigated. However, previous research has rarely assessed the reliability of computational tools for analyzing the SC of L2 spoken production, and we know less about the effects of such variables on L2 speaking SC. Using data from the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English, this study explores data preprocessing issues for preparing L2 English speech samples for automated SC analysis, evaluates the reliability of L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer on preprocessed L2 English speech samples, and examines the effects of proficiency, first language (L1) background, and topic on L2 speaking SC. Our manual analysis of 30 random speech samples identified several issues that can be addressed through preprocessing to improve the accuracy of automated SC analysis. Results from multiple linear mixed‐effects models revealed significant effects of proficiency, L1 background, and topic on the mean length of clause, the number of complex AS‐units per AS‐unit, and the number of dependent clauses and complex nominals per clause in L2 learners’ spoken production. Our findings have useful implications for L2 speaking pedagogy and assessment as well as future L2 speaking SC research.

It’s complicated: The relationship between lexis, syntax and proficiency

This paper explores the relationship between lexical and syntactic complexity measures and proficiency in L2 English argumentative essays written by L1 Czech high school students. Syntactic complexity is generally understood as referring to the “range and sophistication” (Ortega 2015) of grammatical constructions, whereas lexical complexity can refer to the range and frequency of the words used. The research used 100 essays written by final year high school students. Lexical complexity was analysed using the Lexical Complexity Analyzer (Ai & Lu 2010, Lu 2012), syntactic complexity using the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (Lu 2010, 2014) and Biber et al.’s (2011) hypothesised developmental stages for complexity framework. Despite a large number of measurements failing to produce any significant patterns, positive correlations were found between lexical diversity measures and vocabulary scores. Similarly, Mean Length of Clause (MLC) and Complex nominals per clause (CN/C) showed weak positive associations with grammar scores, as did Stage 5 of the developmental stages. The findings provide an insight into the kinds of complexity features that can be given more focus during instruction and underscore the potential of these measures as determinants of proficiency.

Effects of teacher, automated, and combined feedback on syntactic complexity in EFL students’ writing

Although studies on written feedback have confirmed the effectiveness of multiple sources of feedback in promoting learners’ accuracy, much remains to be discovered about its impact on other aspects of language development. Concerns were raised with regard to the possible unfavourable impact of feedback on the complexity of students’ writing which resulted from their attention to producing accurate texts. In response to this need for research, the study investigated the effects of teacher, automated, and combined feedback on students’ syntactic complexity over a 13-week semester. Our data collection included 270 students’ texts including their drafts and revised texts and pre-and post-test writing. Essays were analysed using the web-based interface of the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer. Regardless of feedback from multiple sources, paired sample t-test results indicate no significant differences between initial and revised texts, resulting in minimal variance between comparison pairs. Moreover, no significant differences were found between the pre-and post-writing assessment in all complexity measures. These findings suggest that providing feedback on students’ writing does not lead them to write less structurally complex texts. The syntactic complexity of their revised essays varied among high-, mid-, and low-achieving students. These variations could be attributed to proficiency levels, writing prompts, genre differences, and feedback sources. A discussion of pedagogical implications is provided.

Linguistic Features of Korean EFL Learners’ Writing: Based on Writing Quality and Genre

The present study examines the linguistic features of Korean college students’ English writings in terms of their writing quality and genre. Forty-eight Korean college students took part in the study, and their writing samples, comprised of narrative and exposition compositions, were collected to analyze on the basis of fluency and syntactic complexity. A total of 95 writings were entered into the computer program L2 syntactic complexity analyzer (L2SCA), and then statistical analyses such as ANOVA and t-test were performed to investigate how the linguistic features of the participants’ English writings are different depending on their writing quality and genre. The results showed that participants’ writing quality had a statistically significant impact on the text length of their writings, while it did not have a statistically significant effect on 13 measures out of 14 syntactic complexity measures. However, the results of genre differences indicated that the genre of writing had a substantial impact on 15 measures including fluency and syntactic complexity in the participants’ writing. Based on the results, some implications on how English writing instruction can better help Korean learners develop their English writing skills are discussed in the end.

Task complexity, task repetition, and L2 writing complexity: exploring interactions in the TBLT domain

Abstract Considering the increasing application of task-based frameworks to second language (L2) writing research, there has been a pressing need to examine TBLT views on the interactions between task conceptualization, task performance, and L2 writing outcomes. To address this need, the present study was designed to explore the synergistic effects of task complexity and task repetition on different facets of syntactic complexity as a key construct of proficiency and development in L2 writing. In doing so, 96 ESL learners performed written argumentative task versions with varying cognitive complexity in a counterbalanced fashion and then complete a task difficulty questionnaire. Afterward, they repeated the tasks in the opposite order at a one-week interval. The essays were analyzed using fine-grained syntactic complexity measures (reported by Lu’s L2 syntactic complexity analyzer, 2010). Linear mixed-effects models indicated significant main effects of task complexity and task repetition on different facets of syntactic complexity with robust effect sizes. However, no significant interaction effect between task complexity and task repetition was observed. These findings provide a reliable and accurate understanding of how syntactic complexity plays a role in the current accounts of connections between task features, implementation variables, and L2 writing task performance.

The Syntax of Climate Change: Syntactic Means in the Construction of Greta Thunberg’s Community Identity on Facebook

"The Syntax of Climate Change: Syntactic Means in the Construction of Greta Thunberg’s Community Identity on Facebook. It is argued that the identity of an online community (e.g., a Facebook community) is manifested by linguistic devices, such as syntactic means (Androutsopoulos 2015; Blumenfeld-Jones 2022; Kapranov 2019). This contention is explored in the study that is further presented and discussed in the article. The study seeks to identify syntactic means, in particular dependent clauses, which are involved in the construction of Greta Thunberg’s community identity on Facebook. Greta Thunberg, a famous climate change activist from Sweden, has a public account on Facebook that is followed by a substantial number of Facebook users, who, presumably, share her views on climate change, sustainability, and other environmental issues. It is assumed in the study that Greta Thunberg’s status updates on her public Facebook account could be characterised by syntactic means that facilitate the construction of the climate activists’ community identity. In order to verify the assumption, a corpus of Greta Thunberg’s status updates on Facebook was collected and analysed by the software program L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (Lu 2010). The computer-assisted analysis was supplemented by a manual procedure of identifying the types of dependent clauses in the corpus. The results of the corpus analysis revealed that Greta Thunberg’s community construction on Facebook was facilitated by such syntactic means as dependent clauses, in particular non-finite, adverbial, and relative clauses. The findings were further discussed in the article through the lens of the construction of community identity. Keywords: climate change, dependent clauses, Facebook, Greta Thunberg, identity, online community, syntactic means "

A Corpus-Based Comparative Study on Syntactic Complexity in University Students’ EFL Writing in Southwestern China: A Case of Pu’er University

Syntactic complexity is the variety and sophistication degree of the syntactic structures conveyed in written production. The syntactic complexity of general Chinese university students’ EFL writing has been studied previously, but the performance of university students in educationally underdeveloped Southwestern China remains unclear. Taking Pu’er University as a case, this study collected 400 EFL compositions from 100 university students in Southwestern China and compared them with 200 writing samples from the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays. Scores of 11 syntactic complexity indices were calculated using the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer. The independent samples t-test was conducted to investigate whether and the extent to which the two groups differed on syntactic complexity indices. The results showed that university EFL students in Southwestern China produce a similar length of linguistic units when compared to native English writers. However, the amount of subordination in EFL writing is significantly less than that of native English writers. For the amount of coordination, the university EFL students produced a lower proportion of coordinate phrases than that of native writers, but the proportion of coordinate sentences is not significantly different between the two groups. Finally, for degree of phrasal sophistication, university EFL students in Southwestern China produce significantly fewer complex nominals than native writers do. The results imply that university students in Southwestern China should write more subordinated sentences and complex nominals, such as nominal clauses, infinitives, or gerunds, in their future EFL writing, instead of writing long sentences just heavily relying on simple coordination.

Dynamic development of syntactic complexity in second language writing: A longitudinal case study of a young Chinese EFL learner.

The present study analyzes the English diaries written by a young Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learner over a 1-year period in an attempt to determine the developmental process of Chinese EFL young learners’ written language in terms of syntactic complexity. This study aimed to use a wide range of metrics to explore densely collected data based on Dynamic Systems Theory. The longitudinal study data were analyzed through eight large-grained measures related to sentential, clausal, and phrasal features by using L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer, as well as fine-grained measures related to seven modifiers, an adjective placed before a noun, ordinal numerals are indicated (ADJA), cardinal numeral (CARD), predicative adjective, adverbial adjective (ADJP), adverbs (ADV), prepositional phrases (PREP), subordinate (SUB), and relative clause (REL), through manual annotations. The results show that, first, the developmental process was not linear but spiral in terms of large-grained measures. The sentential level varied, and the development process of the young learner is different from Chinese English learners studying in colleges. Second, the dynamic features of fine-grained measures are also prominent in the seven indicators. ADJA, PREP, and REL showed a steady increase, ADJP showed an obvious decline, while ADV and SUB first increased and then declined. Third, the correlation analysis revealed a competitive interaction within fine-grained measures and between large-grained and fine-grained measures.

Text Complexity Analysis of Chinese and foreign academic English writing via mobile devices based on neural network and deep learning

Text Complexity Analysis of Chinese and foreign academic English writing via mobile devices based on neural network and deep learning

Syntactic Complexity of Online Opinion Articles Published in South East Asian Countries

The research investigated the syntactic complexity of opinion articles published in online newspapers from English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) countries in South-East Asia (SEA). The aims of the research were, first, to analyze the types of Syntactic Complexity (SC) of opinion articles in online news media. The second was to seek the difference in syntactic complexity in online opinion articles between ESL and EFL countries. The third was to seek whether there was a significant difference in terms of types of syntactic measurements between ESL and EFL countries. To answer the questions, the research applied both quantitative and qualitative methods. Twelve opinion articles from online news media in SEA countries were derived from Malaysia and Singapore, which represented ESL countries, and Indonesia and Thailand, which represented EFL countries. The data were analyzed by using an L2 syntactic complexity analyzer. The Second Language Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA) program displayed fourteen syntactic complexity measures divided into five types of measurements such as the length of production, sentence complexity, subordination, coordination, and particular structures. From comparing overall ESL and EFL countries and each of the opinion articles topics, the research results reveal that opinion articles of ESL countries show a higher score on the lengthof production, sentence complexity, subordination, and particular structures than EFL countries. Meanwhile, in coordination type, EFL countries display a higher number of a score than ESL ones. The research indicates there is no significant difference between ESL and EFL countries since the p-value of each type of syntactic complexity is higher than 0,05.

A Corpus-based Analysis of High School English Textbooks and English University Entrance Exams in Turkey

This study aims to explore the missing link between English textbooks used in high schools (9th-12th grades) and English university entrance exams (2010-2019) in Turkey on lexical and syntactic complexity levels by using corpus linguistics tools: AntWordProfiler, TAALED, and the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA). Official textbooks and complementary materials obtained from the Ministry of National Education have been compared against the official university entrance exams from the past decade. The results show that: (i) differences in lexical sophistication level can be observed between the two corpora, the lexical sophistication level of the exam corpus was higher than that of the textbook corpus, (ii) there is a statistically significant difference between the two corpora in terms of lexical diversity, the exam corpus has a significantly higher level of lexical diversity than the textbook corpus, (iii) statistically significant differences also existed between the two corpora regarding the syntactic complexity indices. The syntactic complexity level of the exam corpus was higher than that of the textbook corpus. The findings suggest that Turkish high school students who have to learn English with the official textbooks throughout their high school years will have to tackle low-frequency and more sophisticated words at a higher level of syntactic complexity at the time of taking the nationwide exam. This, in return, creates a negative backwash effect, distorts their approach to L2, and raises other concerns about the misalignment between the official language education materials and nationwide exams.

The effect of two feedback strategies on EFL writing quality from the perspective of syntactic complexity

This paper aims to present the results of the study investigating the efficacy of computer-mediated feedback on EFL learners' performance in writing with regard to syntactic complexity as an aspect of writing quality. The research design of the study took the form of a pre-test/post-test quasi-experiment with two comparison groups which received different treatments. The participants of the study were 65 advanced EFL learners of English for Specific Purposes who were divided into two groups. The first group (33 students) was provided with the treatment in the form of teacher-only multiple-draft feedback while the other group (32 students) was given the treatment in the form of combined peer-teacher multiple-draft feedback.The study investigated if there were any differences in syntactic complexity at a global, a clausal and a phrasal level between pre-test and post-test and what the implications of these differences for writing quality were in individual groups together with comparing the differences between the groups. Syntactic complexity was automatically measured by selected indices of L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (Lu, 2010), a freely available natural language processing tool. The study yielded four major findings. First, the results indicate some statistically significant improvements in writing quality with regard to syntactic complexity and with respect to the proficiency level of the participants in both groups. Second, syntactic complexity developed in both groups between the pre-test and post-test, but with no significant difference in post-test performance between the comparison groups. Third, teacher-only feedback seems to be more effective at the global and phrasal level of syntactic complexity while combined peer-teacher feedback is more effective at the clausal level. Finally, teacher-only feedback contributed to more homogenous post-test writing production.

Predicting the Item Difficulty of a Simulated CSAT English Test Based on Corpus Analysis

This study investigates the relationship between linguistic features and item difficulty of a simulated College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) English test, based on a corpus analysis. The test used for the present study was a simulated CSAT English test administered in June 2020. Item difficulty data was collected from 101,386 students who took the test. For the corpus analysis, lexical and syntactic variables were measured by the Lexical Complexity Analyzer (LCA) and the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA), the computational tool and were correlated with item difficulty (dependent variable) for 41 test items. According to the correlation analysis, one lexical variable and all syntactic variables were found to be significantly correlated with item difficulty. Also, the results of the multiple regression indicate that lexical sophistication and particular structures are related to item difficulty, explaining for approximately 55.1% of the variance in item difficulty. The results showed that the variables identified in the current study were explanatory in terms of predicting item difficulty of the CSAT English test. Therefore, the findings of this study have pedagogical implications for test developers and education policy makers in Korea, with regard to text characteristics and test difficulty.

Exploring request emails in English for business purposes: A move analysis

This study examined request emails written by Korean professionals (L2 writers) and American professionals (L1 writers) in the workplace. A total of 60 emails (30 from Korean and 30 from American employees) were collected using an online survey administered through Qualtrics. All emails were analyzed using NVivo, Lexical Complexity Analyzer, and L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer. Cross-cultural differences between the L1 and L2 writers’ request emails were examined focusing on 1) move frequency; 2) move sequence; and 3) move length and associated lexical and syntactic features. The results showed that while the L1 professionals tended to use supportive moves such as promising compensation and complimenting the addressee, the L2 professionals tended to make their request more concisely, using direct language. This study provides an intercultural understanding of request emails in the business English as a lingua franca context from cross-cultural perspectives, referring to relevant interpersonal communication theories, with implications for L2 business writing in the field of English for business purposes.

통사적 복잡성 분석을 통한 고등학생과 대학생 영어쓰기의 능숙도 비교 연구

This paper examines and compares the level of syntactic complexity of English Writing of Korean high school learners and college learners. For this study, 145 writing samples were gathered. Through the L2 syntactic complexity analyzer program, L2SCA, fourteen sub-measures in five categories were analyzed. The study found that college learners’ writing showed higher syntactic complexity in the length of production unit and coordination. All the indices of length of production unit and part of coordination, Coordinate Phrases per Clause, Coordinate Phrases per T-unit showed that college learners are more proficient than high school learners. Although college learners’ proficiency level was higher than high school learners’, college learners’ writing proficiency seems not to be an advanced level considering previous researches, which show the more syntactic complexity using noun phrases and verb phrases in advanced learner’s writing. The finding offers some pedagogical implications for teaching L2 writing in class.

Focused direct corrective feedback: Effects on the elementary English learners’ written syntactic complexity

This experimental study, using a pretest-treatment-posttest design, compared the effects of focused direct written corrective feedback and additional writing practice on L2 learners’ written syntactic complexity. The participants were 60 Iranian elementary EFL learners, whose L2 proficiency as well as L2 writing syntactic complexity and accuracy were controlled by administering the Oxford Quick Placement Test and a paragraph writing test. They were assigned to two groups: Focused direct corrective feedback (FDCF) and additional writing practice without feedback (No CF). The investigation included five sessions and lasted for three weeks. Every session, each participant wrote a paragraph of descriptive type in class. The experimental group received FDCF, while the control (i.e. No CF) group was provided only with additional writing practice. Lu's (2010) web-based L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer was utilized to calculate the five indices of syntactic complexity measures, including mean length of clause (MLC), mean length of sentence (MLS), mean length of T-unit (MLT), clauses per sentence (C/S), and verb phrases per T-unit (VP/T). The MANOVA test revealed no statistically significant difference between the two groups.

초등 영어 교과서의 학년군 내 분책 기준 탐색: 듣기 대화문 의사소통 기능의 계열성을 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to explore inter-grade dividing criteria of the 2015 grade group elementary English textbooks. Elementary English textbooks consist of two grade groups: the 3rd and 4th grade group and the 5th and 6th grade group. L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA) is utilized to investigate the dividing criteria of the communicative functions implemented in these textbooks. Subjects of the analysis were the listening dialogues for their structural sequencing of 3rd to 4th graders and 5th to 6th graders separately within their own grade groups. Data were processed and analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and independent sample t tests for inter-grade textbooks for 14 L2SCA statistical indices. The findings are: 6 indices out of the 14 L2SCA statistical indices turn out to be critical for dividing the 2015 grade group elementary English textbooks. The 6 indices are mean clause length, mean sentence length, mean t-unit length, mean complex noun phrasal number per phrase and per t-unit and mean number of verb phrases per t-unit. Based on the findings, it is suggested that a standardized criteria derived from these 6 indices can be provided as an inter-grade dividing criteria of the 2015 grade group elementary English textbooks.

Complexity, accuracy, and fluency as indices of college-level L2 writers’ proficiency

Abstract Several studies have explored complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) as an index of language development, as an index of language performance, and as an index of writing quality. Although there have been studies that dealt with complexity measures as an index of proficiency, none so far have examined it in the company of accuracy and fluency as indices of proficiency. Thus, this study investigates whether CAF measures differentiate the four proficiency levels of L2 writers and whether relationships exist among the 18 CAF measures. More than 5000 essays from the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE) were analyzed using the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer. Overall findings reveal that an interaction exists between language proficiency and CAF measures. Specifically, the length of production unit indices, degree of phrasal sophistication indices, weighted clause ratio, and words per text were found to best separate proficiency levels. The study also presents the patterns of relationship among the CAF measures which provided insights into how multiple measures may be selected and reclassified in so far as language proficiency is concerned. Implications for L2 writing assessment, pedagogy, use of automated text analyzers, and future studies are discussed.

2015 개정 초등 6학년과 중등 1학년 간 영어 교과서 의사소통 기능의 연계성 분석

This study analyses the communicative functions of listening scripts extracted from the 2015 elementary school English 6 and middle school English 1 textbooks in terms of continuity. Auditory data corpora were drawn from all five elementary school English textbooks and five most widely used middle school English textbooks. Each sentence of listening scripts was manually tagged based on the classification of communication functions presented in the 2015 Revised National Curriculum. The corpora were analyzed using 14 syntactic complexity measures with the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (Lu, 2010). The findings of this study show that the continuity between the elementary school English 6 and the middle school English 1 textbooks is relatively well-organized. However, concerning the sequence, the elementary school English 6 was found to be more complex than the middle school English 1 in terms of syntactic complexity. It is suggested that future textbook development should correct the reversed complexity in listening scripts found in this study.

Syntactic complexity in assessing young adolescent EFL learners’ writings: Syntactic elaboration and diversity

This study investigates the relationship between syntactic complexity and writing quality, measured by both syntactic elaboration and diversity, based on 410 narrative essays of adolescent beginner and intermediate Chinese EFL learners. Syntactic elaboration measures were analyzed by the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer. Syntactic diversity was measured by the corrected type-token ratio of dependency relations, a new metric proposed by this study. Three regression analyses were conducted, each with writing scores as an outcome variable, but the syntactic elaboration model employed traditional syntactic elaboration measures as explanatory variables; the syntactic diversity model employed the syntactic diversity measure; and the combined model used all of the measures. The results show that 1) syntactic elaboration measures account for 36.6% of the variance in writing scores, with mean length of sentence, complex nominals per clause, and clauses per T-unit as the best predictors; 2) the syntactic diversity measure alone could predict 32.1% of the variance in writing scores; 3) the combined model, including both syntactic elaboration and syntactic diversity measures, could explain 45.3% of the variance (the largest amount of variance in the study) in writing scores.