Lexical Richness, Syntactic Complexity and Writing Performances of Chinese EFL Learners
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초록
This study aims to investigate the relationship between lexical richness, syntactic complexity and writing performances of Chinese EFL learners based on the writing corpus, WECCL 2.0. The compositions used in this study are 108 expository writings finished by junior English major students. Lexical richness and syntactic complexity of writings were calculated automatically by an online tool, the lexical complexity analyzer. SPSS was used in data analyses and the results showed that first, Chinese EFL learners' writings showed different lexical and syntactic characteristics. Second, lexical richness has significant correlations with learners' writing performances while syntactic complexity did not. Third, the number of word tokens, lexical variation and lexical error ratios had influences on writing performances while other elements did not. Further research on the role of lexical richness and syntactic complexity in writing is suggested.
Abstract
This study aims to investigate the relationship between lexical richness, syntactic complexity and writing performances of Chinese EFL learners based on the writing corpus, WECCL 2.0. The compositions used in this study are 108 expository writings finished by junior English major students. Lexical richness and syntactic complexity of writings were calculated automatically by an online tool, the lexical complexity analyzer. SPSS was used in data analyses and the results showed that first, Chinese EFL learners' writings showed different lexical and syntactic characteristics. Second, lexical richness has significant correlations with learners' writing performances while syntactic complexity did not. Third, the number of word tokens, lexical variation and lexical error ratios had influences on writing performances while other elements did not. Further research on the role of lexical richness and syntactic complexity in writing is suggested.
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