A Comparative Study of EFL Learners Syntactic Complexity.docx
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AComparativeStudyofEFLLearnersSyntacticComplexity
AComparativeStudyofEFLLearners’SyntacticComplexity
by
GuanJingjing
UndertheSupervisionofBaoGui
SubmittedinPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfortheDegreeofBachelorofArts
EnglishDepartment
SchoolofForeignLanguages
NanjingUniversityofTechnology
June,2011
Declaration
Iherebydeclarethatthissubmissionismyownworkandthat,tothebestofmyknowledgeandbelief,itcontainsnomaterialpreviouslypublishedorwrittenbyanotherpersonormaterialwhichhastoasubstantialextentbeenacceptedfortheawardofanyotherdegreeordiplomaatanyuniversityorotherinstituteofhigherlearning,exceptwheredueacknowledgmenthasbeenmadeinthetext.
Signature:
Name:
GuanJingjing
管晶晶
Date:
June11th,2011
TableofContents
Acknowledgementsi
Abstractii
中文摘要iv
1.Introduction1
1.1Needforthestudy1
1.2Researchpurpose2
2.Literaturereview3
2.1Conceptofsyntacticcomplexity3
2.2Measuresofsyntacticcomplexity3
2.2.1Syntacticcomplexityinsentencecombining…5
2.2.2Syntacticcomplexityinwriting6
2.3Problemsinpreviousstudies7
3.Methodology9
3.1Researchquestions9
3.2Datacollection9
3.3Dataanalysis10
4.Resultsanddiscussions11
4.1Results12
4.1.1Intra-groupdifferencesinsyntacticcomplexitybetweenEFLlearners’sentence-combiningandwriting11
4.1.2Inter-groupdifferencesinsyntacticcomplexitybetweenEFLlearners’sentence-combiningandwriting13
4.2Discussions14
4.2.1Significantdifferenceinsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwriting15
4.2.2LittleimpactofEFLlearners’proficiencyonthesyntacticcomplexityofwritingandsentence-combining15
5.Conclusions11
5.1Majorfindingsofthestudy16
5.2Implications16
5.2.1Theoreticalimplications16
5.2.2Pedagogicalimplications17
5.3Limitationsandsuggestionsforfutureresearch………………………...…………….17
References……………………………………………………………………………………..…………..19
AppendixⅠ…………………………………………………………………………………..…………..21
AppendixⅡ…………………………………………………………………………………..…………..22
Acknowledgements
ThewritingofthispaperisoneoftherealchallengesIhaveeverencounteredinmylifeanditisanoutcomeofsupport,encouragementandloveIreceivedfromsomanypeople.HereIwouldliketotaketheopportunitytoexpressmyheartfeltthankstothosewhohavecontributed,directlyandindirectly,tothecompletionofthispaper.
Mydeepestgratitudegoestomysupervisor,Mr.BaoGui,forhispainstakingeffortinguidingmethroughthevariousstagesofwritingthispaper.Duringmyworkingonthepaper,hehelpedmewithchoosingthetopic,collectingthesamples,andaccessingthesoftwarefortreatingthedata.Hisprofoundinsightsbroadenedmyhorizoninlinguisticstudies.Theworkwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouthispatientguidance,continuousencouragementandgeneroussupport.Furthermore,itismyhonortobenefitalotfromhispersonalitiesanddiligence,whichIwilltreasureinmywholelife.
Iwouldliketothankalltheotherteachersfortheirenlightenment,knowledge,encouragementandhelpthroughoutmyundergraduatestudyatNJUT.
Specialthanksgotomydearfriendsandfellowstudents,whohaveaccompaniedmethroughoutthefouryearsattheuniversity.
Lastbutnotleast,Iwouldliketoextendmysincerethankstomyparentsfortheirloveandsupportalltheseyears.
Abstract
Thisstudyfocusesonthesyntacticcomplexityofsentence-combiningandwritingamongEFLlearnersofdifferentproficiencylevels.Bystudyingthis,theresearchisaimedtoanswerthefollowingquestions:
1.Isthereanyintra-groupdifferenceinsyntacticcomplexitybetweenEFLlearners’sentence-combiningandwriting?
1.1Isthereanydifferenceinsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwritinginthelow-proficiencygroup?
1.2Isthereanydifferenceinsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwritinginthehigh-proficiencygroup?
2.Isthereanyinter-groupdifferenceinsyntacticcomplexityinthesentence-combiningandwritingperformancebetweenthehigh-andlow-proficiencygroups?
2.1Isthereanydifferenceinsyntacticcomplexityinthesentence-combiningbetweenthehigh-andlow-proficiencygroups?
2.2Isthereanydifferenceinsyntacticcomplexityinthewritingperformancebetweenthehigh-andlow-proficiencygroups?
Thesubjectswere52juniorsofEnglishmajorinNanjingUniversityofTechnology.Theywereaskedtowriteanargumentativeessayonthesametopicwithin30minutesandfinishthesamesentence-combiningexerciserightafterwritingtheessaywithin20minutes.Inthepresentstudy,syntacticcomplexityismeasuredbyC/T(clauseperT-unit).Thesubjectsweredividedintothelow-andhigh-proficiencygroups,dependingontheirTEM-4scores.
Fromtheanalysesofthedata,thefollowingconclusionshavebeenreached.Firstly,thereexistsastatisticallysignificantintra-groupdifferenceinsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwriting,withagreatersyntacticcomplexityinwritingthaninsentence-combining.However,theEFLlearnerstendtoadoptclausereductionswhenperformingsentence-combiningtask,thusleadingtoadeclineofC/Tinsentence-combining.Secondly,aninter-groupcomparisonofsyntacticcomplexityshowsthatthereisnosignificantinter-groupdifferenceofsyntacticcomplexity,bothinwritingandsentence-combining.TheEFLlearnerswithdifferentproficienciesdon’tdiffermuchintheirsyntacticcomplexity.ThishasshownthatwiththedevelopmentofEFLlearners’proficiency,syntacticcomplexityhasn’tgotmuchprogress.
ThisstudymayprovidesomeinsightsforEFLteaching.ResultsfromthestudyhaveshownstagnationinthedevelopmentofsyntacticcomplexityamongEFLlearners.Therefore,avarietyofcurriculacouldbedesignedtofacilitatesyntacticcomplexityofEFLlearnersofdifferentproficiencies.Moreover,atlatestagesofsyntacticdevelopment,techniquesofreducingsentencestolessthanclausesshouldbetaughtsincethisisasignofamoredevelopedsyntacticsysteminEFLlearners.
Keywords:
syntacticcomplexitywritingperformancesentence-combiningclauseratioclausereduction
中文摘要
本文旨在分析与比较不同水平外语学习者写作和组句的句法复杂性,主要回答两个问题,每个问题又可分为两个小问题:
1.外语学习者写作和组句中句法复杂性是否存在组内差异?
1)低水平组学习者写作和组句中句法复杂性是否存在差异?
2)高水平组学习者写作和组句中句法复杂性是否存在差异?
2. 外语学习者写作和组句中句法复杂性是否存在组间差异?
1) 学习者写作中句法复杂性是否存在组间差异?
2) 学习者组句中句法复杂性是否存在组间差异?
本研究中所用语料源于南京工业大学52名英语专业的大三学生在30分钟之内完成的命题议论文,以及紧接着议论文之后在20分钟内完成的组句练习。
本研究中选用T单位从句从属性(C/T)来测量句法复杂性,并依据学习者的专四成绩将受试分为高、低水平组。
从数据分析可以得出以下结论。
首先,不论是在高水平组还是在低水平组,作文表现的句法复杂性大于组句的句法复杂性。
但是二语学习者在组句练习中,常常将从句缩短成短语,所以导致了从句比率的下降。
其次,不同水平组句法复杂性的比较显示,无论是在组句还是在作文中,高低水平组句法复杂性差异不显著。
不同水平的二语学习者在句法复杂性上差异不明显。
这说明英语学习者的句法复杂性并没有随水平的提高而进步。
根据以上结论,此研究对英语教学有如下启示。
研究结果表明英语学习者在句法复杂性上发展较为停滞。
因此,可以考虑为不同水平的二语学习者设计一些提高句法复杂性的课程等。
其次,当二语学习者的句法能力发展已达到较成熟的水平时,应当开展一些将从句缩短成短语的训练,因为这也是英语学习者句法能力提高的表现。
关键词:
句法复杂性写作组句能力从句比率从句缩短
1.Introduction
Sentence-combiningabilityiscloselyrelatedtoanEFLlearner’swritingability.Sofarmuchresearchhasdoneonthesyntacticcomplexityofwriting(Hunt,1970;O’Donnell,1965;BaoGui,2009).Butlittlehasbeendoneontherelationshipbetweensentence-combiningabilityandoverallwritingability.Thisstudyisaimedtomakeacomparisonofsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwritingoutputamongdifferentgroupsofEFLlearnersinordertounearththerelativityanddiversitybetweenthetwo.
1.1Needforthestudy
Themotivesforsuchresearchincludethemotivesformuchscientificinquiry.Butinadditionthisknowledgeoftherelationshipbetweenwritingandsentence-combiningwouldhavepracticalconsequences.ItmightenablethediagnosticiantoperceivedeficienciesinEFLlearners’writingthatwouldotherwisegounobserved.Moreover,itmightenlightencurriculumdesignerstorefinetheteachingofsentence-combininginordertohelpEFLlearnerstoachievebetterwritingperformance.
Duringthepastdecades,manystudieshavebeenconductedonthesyntacticcomplexityofwritingofbothL1learnersandEFLlearners(Hunt,1970;O’Donnell,1965;Cooper,1976;Sharma,1980;BaoGui,2009).Astothesyntacticcomplexityofsentence-combining,Monroe(1975)andHunt(1970)haveconductedastudyoftherelationshipbetweenwritingandsentence-combiningrespectivelyonEFLlearnersandL1learners.Fromtheresults,Monroehasproposedthreestagesofsyntacticdevelopmentandpointedoutthatsentence-combiningabilityisanimportantindicatorofsyntacticcomplexity.However,sofarthesyntacticcomplexityofsentence-combininghasbeenrarelystudied,letalonethesentence-combiningperformanceofEFLlearners.Therefore,thisstudyisconductedtomakeacomparisonofEFLlearners’writingandsentence-combiningfromtheperspectiveofsyntacticcomplexityinordertoseehowwritingandsentence-combiningarerelatedinEFLlerarners’syntacticdevelopment.
1.2Researchpurpose
Theresearchisdirectedonacomparisonofsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwritingamongEFLlearnersoftwodifferentlevels.Thereforetheresearchcanbedividedintotwoparts.Firstofall,acomparisonofsyntacticcomplexitybetweensentence-combiningandwritingismadeamonglearnersofthesamelevel,andthendifferencesinsyntacticcomplexityaredetectedbetweenhigh-proficiencylearnersandlow-proficiencylearnersrespectivelyfromwritingandsentence-combining.Hencesomefactsabouthowwritingandsentence-combininginEFLlearningarerelatedcanbedetected.
2.Literaturereview
2.1Conceptofsyntacticcomplexity
Syntacticcomplexityismanifestinwritingprimarilyintermsofgrammaticalvariationands
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