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

J 2023

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

WILLIAMS, Christopher

Základní údaje

Originální název

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

Autoři

WILLIAMS, Christopher (826 Velká Británie a Severní Irsko, garant, domácí)

Vydání

Discourse and Interaction, Brno, Masarykova Universita, 2023, 1802-9930

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Článek v odborném periodiku

Obor

50301 Education, general; including training, pedagogy, didactics [and education systems]

Stát vydavatele

Česká republika

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

URL URL

Kód RIV

RIV/00216224:14410/23:00133184

Organizační jednotka

Pedagogická fakulta

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/DI2023-2-124

Klíčová slova anglicky

syntactic complexity; lexical complexity; writing proficiency

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

Změněno: 14. 2. 2024 11:58, Mgr. Daniela Marcollová

Anotace

V originále

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.

Návaznosti

MUNI/A/1335/2022, interní kód MU

Název: Výzkum v didaktice cizích jazyků

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Výzkum v didaktice cizích jazyků

Citovat

WILLIAMS, Christopher. It’s complicated: The relationship between lexis, syntax and proficiency. Discourse and Interaction. Brno: Masarykova Universita, 2023, roč. 16, č. 2, s. 124-144. ISSN 1802-9930. Dostupné z: https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/DI2023-2-124.

@article{2364982,
   author = {Williams, Christopher},
   article_location = {Brno},
   article_number = {2},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/DI2023-2-124},
   keywords = {syntactic complexity; lexical complexity; writing proficiency},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {1802-9930},
   journal = {Discourse and Interaction},
   title = {It’s complicated: The relationship between lexis, syntax and proficiency},
   url = {https://doi.org/10.5817/DI2023-2-124},
   volume = {16},
   year = {2023}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 2364982
AU  - Williams, Christopher
PY  - 2023
TI  - It’s complicated: The relationship between lexis, syntax and proficiency
JF  - Discourse and Interaction
VL  - 16
IS  - 2
SP  - 124-144
EP  - 124-144
PB  - Masarykova Universita
SN  - 18029930
KW  - syntactic complexity
KW  - lexical complexity
KW  - writing proficiency
UR  - https://doi.org/10.5817/DI2023-2-124
N2  - 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.
ER  -

WILLIAMS, Christopher. It’s complicated: The relationship between lexis, syntax and proficiency. \textit{Discourse and Interaction}. Brno: Masarykova Universita, 2023, roč.~16, č.~2, s.~124-144. ISSN~1802-9930. Dostupné z: https://dx.doi.org/10.5817/DI2023-2-124.

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