Measures Of Linguistic Complexity Research Articles

Illuminating the Impacts of Contextual Diversity on L2 Writing Proficiency: A Corpus-Based Analysis in the Measures of Linguistic Complexity

Abstract The present study attempted to investigate the writing proficiency differences between the two groups of EFL and ESL writers considering the lexical, syntactic, and morphological complexity measures. Additionally, it aimed to disclose the association between writing proficiency and the utilization of the New General Service List (NGSL). To these ends, a corpus of 1331 argumentative essays accumulated from EFL and ESL writers on a single topic was examined. The findings of the analysis in the measures of linguistic complexity showed that the writings of the ESL group scored slightly higher than those of the EFL group in every corresponding sub-construct; that is, ESL writers were found moderately more proficient than EFL writers concerning the lexical, syntactic, and morphological complexity of their writings. However, the outcomes showed that EFL writers utilized more NGSL words in their essays, leading to the consideration that NGSL use may be negatively associated with proficiency levels. Hence, contextual diversity leads to distinct levels of proficiency, and lexical coverage can be considered a great indicator of writing skill and quality.

A corpus-based developmental investigation of linguistic complexity in children's writing

Writing proficiency is associated with linguistic complexity. We used measures of linguistic complexity to investigate the development of children's narrative writing using a large corpus of short stories (N>100,000) written by children aged 5–13 in the UK. Linguistic complexity was assessed using both lexical (N = 30) and syntactic (N = 14) measures. Most measures were associated with age, with writing by older children showing greater lexical density, sophistication, and diversity than writing by younger children. Older children also used longer sentences, and longer T-units and clauses, and the density of smaller syntactic units inside larger units was also higher. Principal Component Analysis identified a number of dimensions associated with complexity, with the first two dimensions capturing nearly 50 % of variance. Lexical diversity was mainly represented on the first dimension and syntactic complexity on the second. Across the age range, there was wider variation in syntactic complexity than in lexical diversity, suggesting that syntactic development is subject to more individual differences than the ability to use a diverse set of lexical items. Our findings quantify the nature and content of children's writing through mid-childhood, and we discuss the utility of analysing children's writing using a computational, data-driven approach.

Linguistic complexity measures of short narrative writings for modeling overall Chinese proficiency

This study investigates whether linguistic complexity measures of short narrative writings can model overall proficiency in Chinese as a second language. A sample of native Japanese undergraduate students with intermediate (n = 34) and advanced (n = 43) levels of Chinese proficiency, and a sample of native speakers of Chinese (n = 43) altogether provided 240 short narrative essays in Chinese, with a minimum length of 30 characters and an actual grand mean length of 45 characters. Linguistic complexity measures, as discussed in relevant literature, were identified and coded in the essays. Multivariate analyses of variance tests suggest that learners across proficiency levels performed significantly differently on 11 complexity measures of short narrative writings. Multinomial logistic regression further revealed that six of these measures (lexical diversity, high-difficulty vocabulary, complex noun phrase ratio, average sentence length, error-free T-unit ratio, and the first-person singular pronoun) could collectively distinguish student writers’ general Chinese proficiency levels, with an overall accuracy rate approaching 0.80. The implications of the findings of this study for writing assessments and writing instruction are discussed.

Does Complexity Mean Quality? Association between Popular Automatic Linguistic Complexity Measures and L2 Writing Quality Features

Does Complexity Mean Quality? Association between Popular Automatic Linguistic Complexity Measures and L2 Writing Quality Features

Increase in Linguistic Complexity in Older Adults During COVID-19

ABSTRACT The reported psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures included a decline in cognitive functioning in older adults. Cognitive functioning is known to correlate with the lexical and syntactic complexity of an individual’s linguistic productions. We examined written narratives from the CoSoWELL corpus (v 1.0), collected from over 1,000 U.S. and Canadian older adults (55+ y.o.) before and during the first year of the pandemic. We expected a decrease in the linguistic complexity of the narratives, given the oft-reported reduction in cognitive functioning associated with COVID-19. Contrary to this expectation, all measures of linguistic complexity showed a steady increase from the pre-pandemic level throughout the first year of the global lockdown. We discuss possible reasons for this boost in light of existing theories of cognition and offer a speculative link between the finding and reports of increased creativity during the pandemic.

Writing development in Spanish as a second and heritage language: a corpus study on complexity

ABSTRACT Few studies have analyzed the writing features of second language (L2) alongside heritage language (HL) learners of Spanish. Focusing on the development of writing complexity, we collected data from students at the beginning and at the end of a composition sequence. Comparing the groups at the outset revealed HL students’ greater mood complexity. After 14 weeks, both groups improved in tense complexity, mean essay length, and lexical sophistication. Our findings suggest that, given sufficient time, both HL and L2 students can progress in similar ways in at least some measures of linguistic complexity. Nevertheless, they might gain from instruction that facilitates new and diverse vocabulary, and the construction of longer sentences. L2 students specifically would benefit from greater emphasis on the subjunctive. Our study supports the claim that achieving writing complexity takes time and comes in stages, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of L2 and HL writing development.

Assessing linguistic complexity features in L2 writing: Understanding effects of topic familiarity and strategic planning within the realm of task readiness

Using Bui’s (2014) task-readiness framework, this study investigates the interface between topic familiarity as a task-internal factor and strategic planning as a task-external factor in the TBLT field and explores how the two forms of task preparedness affect L2 learners’ writing complexity in assessment tasks. To this end, 64 L2 learners enrolled in a two-month intensive EAP program at an American university were randomly divided into planning and no planning groups and asked to perform a familiar and an unfamiliar task determined via a survey at the onset of the study. The sequence of the tasks was counterbalanced. The participants’ writing performances were analyzed using 11 finer-grained measures of linguistic complexity gauging L2 written syntactic and lexical complexity. Results revealed that topic familiarity had positive and substantial effects on syntactic complexity and some effect on lexical complexity. Strategic planning also promoted syntactic complexity at the phrasal level, but it had limited effects on lexical complexity. Furthermore, interaction effects between topic familiarity and strategic planning showed increases in general complexity, syntactic structure similarity, verb variations, and semantically similar words. These results are discussed in terms of the task-readiness framework, and pedagogical implications of the findings are provided for L2 writing assessment and complexity measurement in the EAP classrooms.

Linguistic complexity in teachers' assessment of German essays in high stakes testing

In national educational standards, linguistic complexity is one of the core aspects characterizing the demands of reading material and student writing quality. In Germany, teachers are supposed to consider linguistic complexity in their assessment of language arts Abitur examinations, the high stakes test qualifying for higher education admission in Germany. In the present study, we investigated if and how teachers consider linguistic complexity in their assessment of writing quality. To systematically identify a range of linguistic complexity aspects, we conducted computational linguistic analyses of student essays (N = 344) written during Abitur examinations in the subject German. Experienced teachers (N = 33) then regraded a subsample of the essays (n = 16) and rated their linguistic complexity. We used mixed-effects models to study the relationships between computational measures of linguistic complexity, teachers’ assessment of writing quality (language, content, and overall grade), and their linguistic complexity rating. Results confirm that teachers’ complexity rating and their assessment of the language aspect of writing quality is related to the computed linguistic complexity features, primarily measures of syntactic complexity and language use (word frequency measures). But findings also show that teachers have difficulties in separating linguistic complexity from aspects of content and language accuracy.

The effects of topic familiarity on emotionality and linguistic complexity in EAP writing

Focusing on the relationship between linguistic, cognitive, socioemotional factors in writing English for academic purposes (EAP), this study investigated whether topic familiarity as an important cognitive factor of task complexity influences different levels of emotionality and linguistic complexity in EAP writing and whether there are relationships between emotionality and linguistic complexity. To do so, 64 international graduate learners enrolled in EAP writing courses participated in the present study. Each wrote on familiar and unfamiliar topics determined via a questionnaire at the onset of the study. Their writings were then measured for textual emotionality and linguistic complexity using automatic assessment tools. Results showed that EAP writings differed systematically in terms of both emotionality and linguistic complexity due to the influence of topic familiarity. Unfamiliar topics led to writing performance with a significantly higher level of emotional negativity and significantly lower linguistic complexity levels as compared to familiar topics. A follow-up correlation analysis also revealed significant relationships between emotionality and linguistic complexity measures, indicating complex interactions between linguistic and socioemotional factors. Implications of these findings are discussed relative to deploying writing topics with varied levels of cognitive complexity for encouraging classroom engagement and improving L2 learners’ writing performance by effective task sequencing.

A comparative analysis of the linguistic complexity of Grade 12 English Home Language and English First Additional Language examination papers

It is expected that English Home Language (Eng HL), as a subject, is more complex than English First Additional Language (Eng FAL). This article aims to uncover the reality of this expectation by comparatively investigating the linguistic complexity of texts used for reading comprehension and summaries in the final school exit examinations. The Coh-Metrix online platform was used to analyse a combined total of 24 Grade 12 final examination texts for Eng HL and Eng FAL ranging from 2008 to 2019. Five main indices relating to the word level, sentence, readability, lexical diversity and referential cohesion linguistic complexity were explored. The findings illustrated that the linguistic complexities of the texts used for reading comprehension and summary writing in the two subjects differ significantly, with Eng HL being more linguistically complex than Eng FAL texts. Furthermore, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level measure indicates the Eng FAL texts as two grades below the overall grade for Eng HL texts. Nonetheless, the linguistic complexity measures used in this article confirm the expectation that texts used in Eng HL reading comprehension and summary writing are more complex than those used in Eng FAL.

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses of L2 Linguistic Complexity Measures

This study investigated the latent structure of L2 linguistic complexity as a multidimensional construct and analyzed the relationship between the sub-constructs of L2 linguistic complexity by employing exploratory and confirmatory analyses of a set of linguistic complexity measures indexing different sources of L2 linguistic complexity. Based on relevant theories and empirical studies, 11 automated measures indexing distinct sources of syntactic and lexical complexity were selected and used to assess the linguistics complexity of 930 EFL argumentative essays, which were then equally divided into two subsamples. Sample 1 was used for exploratory factor analysis while sample 2 was used for confirmatory factor analysis. The results show that L2 linguistic complexity is a multi-dimensional construct composed of clausal subordination, phrasal elaboration and lexical complexity. Furthermore, regarding the relationships among the three sub-constructs, it was found that lexical complexity and phrasal elaboration are moderately correlated; while clausal subordination employs rather different means of complexification than that employed by phrasal elaboration and lexical complexity. Findings of the study provide empirical evidence for the multidimensionality of L2 linguistic complexity in L2 argumentative writing and lend support to the hypothesis that lexical complexity and grammatical complexity constitute separate, independent dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency, and that there was a certain level of trade-off effect between them.

Laplacian spectrum approach to linguistic complexity: A case study on indigenous languages of the Americas

How to computationally describe the fascinating diversity of indigenous languages of the Americas? This work provides a large-scale and quantitative approach to these languages through the proposal of a novel measure of linguistic complexity based on co-occurrence graphs. Linguistic complexity is measured using the set of eigenvalues obtained from the Laplacian matrix of graphs. The results suggest first that our graph-based definition of linguistic complexity is positively correlated with previous approaches. Second, we were able to describe some structural differences between indigenous languages. We argue that our approach might suggest another application of graph-based techniques to the study of language.

Integrated Reporting and the Readability of Annual Reports. Do Investors Care?

This study examines the role of textual coherence in making annual integrated reports in South Africa more informative for investors. Using Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) to measure coherence, I demonstrate that informativeness of integrated reports is positively associated with their coherence. Further analysis reveals that coherence mitigates the negative effects of linguistic complexity, captured by Fog Index, on report informativeness and stock price delay. My findings contribute to the growing literature on IR by documenting a potential benefit for investors, and also suggest that Fog Index or other traditional measures of linguistic complexity may not be sufficient to gauge the consequences of IR adoption on the informativeness of annual reports.

Examining Cloze Tests as a Measure of Linguistic Complexity in L2 Writing

Examining Cloze Tests as a Measure of Linguistic Complexity in L2 Writing

Structure-based or dynamic usage‑based instruction

This classroom study aims to explore the instructional effects of structure-based (SB) or dynamic usage-based (DUB) instruction with free response, communicative writing tasks after three years of L2-French instruction on linguistic complexity measures in (morpho)syntax and lexicon. We investigated data from forty-three young high school beginner learners of L2-French after three years of instruction with similar amounts of L2 exposure. The SB treatment included a traditional focus on explicit grammar; the DUB group was taught using the Accelerated Integrated Method, a highly communicative, meaningfocused method without explicit instruction, but with a great deal of exposure and repetition to induce frequency effects. Results after three years show that DUB instruction leads to more linguistic complexity in terms of various (morpho)syntactic and some lexical measures (multi-word sequences coverage). On other lexical measures (such as Guiraud index and average word length), no differences were found. The results are discussed using insights from the dynamic usage-based perspective.

Shareholder Litigation and Readability in Financial Disclosures: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

We use a natural experiment to weigh conflicting theories on the impact of shareholder litigation risk on the readability of corporate financial disclosures. In response to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that unexpectedly reduced litigation risk, we find that firms in the Ninth Circuit significantly improved the readability of their financial disclosures relative to control firms. This supports the idea that litigation risk discourages firms from providing financial disclosures with greater readability. Our finding is robust to different linguistic complexity measures and matching techniques, fixed effects for both time-invariant and time-varying unobservable confounders, and an alternative natural experiment.

The Influence of Linguistic Demand on Symptom Expression in Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia

Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia (ADSD), a form of focal dystonia, has been defined as a neurogenic, task-specific disorder characterized by abrupt spasms of intrinsic laryngeal muscles that result in phonatory breaks. Voice breaks are typically isolated to propositional speech, and reported to increase in severity as speaking demand or complexity increases. Research to date has focused on variations in phonologic contexts and their influence on voice breaks. The influences of variables at lexical and syntactic levels of analysis have been less well-researched and yet may provide insight into observed variability of symptom manifestation in this rare voice disorder. This study investigated frequency of voice breaks over 20 standard sentences in 38 individuals with ADSD according to linguistic complexity measures including lexical density and a four-level lexical frequency and type paradigm. Two research questions about linguistic influences and ADSD symptom manifestation were posed: (1) does the frequency of voice breaks vary according to the lexical density of a string? and (2) does the frequency of voice breaks vary according to a measure of lexical frequency/type? Results revealed a nonsignificant relationship between string length and voice break frequency, whereas a significant relationship was found between lexical density and voice break frequency (P = 0.029, r = 0.488). Lexical analysis results revealed a significant relationship between lexical frequency and voice breaks, with words within technical/academic classes relating to the highest rates of voice break across 38 subjects with ADSD. Results from this secondary analysis provide support for the hypothesis that variation in linguistic demand may modulate symptom expression in SD. Specifically, lexical density and lexical frequency modulated the frequency of symptom expression in classic forms of SD in this purposive sample.

On cross‐linguistic variation and measures of linguistic complexity in learner texts: Italian, French and English

The paper investigates possible effects of cross‐linguistic variation on measures of syntactic complexity in 60 texts from Swedish L1 learners of English, French and Italian as foreign languages at CEFR level A and CEFR level B. A previous study on the same learners and texts, showed significant differences between proficiency levels for two length measures of complexity in English and French, but not in Italian. In this paper we hypothesize that due to the Null Subject property of Italian, the developmental prediction for some complexity measures might be different in Italian compared to French and English. In fact, previous research has suggested that beginner learners of Italian overuse overt subjects which might lead to higher scores, relatively speaking, of length measures in Italian at the lowest levels of proficiency. However, contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find more Null subjects at CEFR level B than at CEFR level A, but we did find clear restrictions on their distribution. We conclude that we are a long way from understanding how cross‐linguistic differences interact with other variables such as tasks and language combinations and what the effects might be on measures of syntactic complexity.

Correlations and Potential Cross-Linguistic Indicators of Writing Style

In this paper, we present preliminary results on how an individual’s writing style persists even across languages. In other words, what aspects of an individual’s writing will persist irrespective of the language in which he or she writes? We argue that cognitive and social traits are likely to persist and demonstrate this by two separate analyses of bilingual corpora using the same individuals. We show that for various measures of linguistic complexity (which we consider to be a cognitive variable) and participation in specific social conventions (a social one), the correlation between scores on the two languages studied is significantly higher than would be expected by chance. We argue that this type of correlation may permit cross-linguistic authorship attribution.

Does more complex language in FOMC decisions impact financial markets?

This paper is built around a simple premise that is based on the theoretical models of Harris and Raviv (1993) and Kandel and Pearson (1995). Complex statements are more difficult to interpret and may be construed in different ways by different agents. This creates heterogeneity of beliefs among market participants that manifests in increased market activity. We introduce novel measures of linguistic complexity (readability and word count) for the FOMC statements that accompany monetary policy decisions. The empirical evidence shows that monetary policy surprises have a significant impact on financial markets, and clearly demonstrates that more complex language significantly increases the trading volume, and volatility of returns, in stock, bond, and currency markets. We also establish that financial markets are more responsive to monetary policy decisions (and the language of those statements) during recession.