A Study of Syntactic Complexity via Coh-Metrix: Similarities and Differences of Ph.D. Dissertations Written by Iranian University Students and English Native Speakers
Subject Areas : Research in English Language PedagogyMasoud Azadnia 1 , Ahmadreza Lotfi 2 , Reza Biria 3
1 - Department of Foreign languages, Isfahan (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University
2 - Department of Foreign languages, Isfahan (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University
3 - Department of Foreign languages, Isfahan (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University
Keywords:
Abstract :
Bachman, L.F. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford etc.: OUP.
Bardovi-Harlig, K. & Bofman, T. (1989). Attainment of syntactic and morphological accuracy by advanced language learners”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11(1), 17-34. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100007816
Biber, D. (1993). Representativeness in corpus design. Literary and Linguistic Computing, 8, 243-257. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/8.4.243
Biber, D., Gray, B., & Poonpon, K. (2011). Should we use the characteristics of conversation to measure grammatical complexity in L2 writing development? TESOL Quarterly, 45(1), 5-35. Retrived from
Buckingham Jr, H. W. (1979). Linguistic aspects of lexical retrieval disturbances in the posterior fluent aphasias. Academic Press.
Bulté, B., & Housen, A. (2012). Defining and operationalising L2 complexity (pp. 21-46). Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
Brett, P. (1994). A genre analysis of the results section of sociology articles. English for Specific Purposes, 13, 47-59.
Connor, U., & Johns, A. M. (1990). Coherence in Writing: Research and Pedagogical Perspectives. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Inc., 1600 Cameron Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314.
Crossley, S. A., & McNamara, D. S. (2009). Computationally assessing lexical differences in L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(2), 119-135. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2009.02.002
Crossley, S. A., & McNamara, D. S. (2011). Understanding expert ratings of essay quality: Coh Metrix analyses of first and second language writing. International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 21(3), 170-191. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1504/IJCEELL.2011.040197
Crossley, S. A., & McNamara, D. S. (2014). Does writing development equal writing quality? A computational investigation of syntactic complexity in L2 learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 26, 66-79. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2014.09.006
Crossley, S. A., McCarthy, P. M., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). Discriminating between second language learning text-types. In D. Wilson & G. Sutcliffe (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th international Florida artificial intelligence research society (pp. 205-210). Menlo Park, California: AAAI Press.
Gilquin, G. (2003). Causative get and have: so close, so different. English Linguistics, 31 (2), 125-148.
Giv ́on, T. (1991). Markedness in grammar: distributional, communicative and cognitive correlates of syntactic structure. Studies in Language, 15(2), 335-370.
Grabe, W., & Kaplan, R. B. (1996). Theory and practice of writing: An applied linguistic perspective. New York: Longman.
Ferreira F. (1991). Effects of length and syntactic complexity on initiation times for prepared utterances. Journal of Memory and Language, 30(2), 2110-2233.
Ferris, D. R. (1994). “Lexical and syntactic features of ESL writing by students at different levels of L2 proficiency”. TESOL Quarterly, 28 (2), 414-420. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/3587446
Foster, P. & Skehan, P. (1996). “The influence of planning and task type on second language performance”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18 (3), 299-323. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100015047
Field, Y., & Oi, Y. L. M. (1992). A comparison of internal conjunctive cohesion in the English essay writing of Cantonese speakers and native speakers. RELC Journal 23(1), 15-28.
Flowerdew, L. (2000). Investigating errors in a learner corpus. In Burnard & T. McEnery (Eds.), Proceedings in the teaching and language corpora conference, (pp. 145-154).
Foster, P. & Tavakoli, P. (2009). Native speakers and task performance: Comparing effects oncomplexity, fluency and lexical diversity. Language Learning, 59(4), 866–896. Retrived from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00528.x
Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M., & Cai, Z. (2004). Coh-Metrix: Analysis of text on cohesion and language. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(2), 193-202. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195564
Greenbaum, S & Quirk, R. (2010). A Student’s grammar of the English language. Harlow: Longman.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1991). Language as system and language as instance: The corpus as a theoretical construct. In J. Svartvik (Ed.) Directions in corpus linguistics: Proceedings of nobel symposium (pp. 61-78). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Henry, K. (1996). “Early L2 writing development: A study of autobiographical essays by university-level students of Russian”. The Modern Language Journal, 80(3), 309-326. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1996.tb01613.x
Hinkel, E. (1995). The use of modal verbs as a reflection of cultural values. TESOL Quarterly, 29, 235-343.
Hinkel, E. (1997). Indirectness in L1 and L2 academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 27 (3), 360-386.
Hinkel, E. (1999). Objectivity and credibility in L1 and L2 academic writing. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in second language teaching and learning. (pp. 90-108). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hinkel, E. (2001). Matters of cohesion in L1 and L2 academic texts. Applied Language Learning, 12, 111–132.
Hinkel, E. (2003). Simplicity without elegance: features of sentences in L2 and L1 academic texts. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 275-301. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/3588505
Indrasuta, C. (1988). Narrative styles in the writing of Thai and American students. In A.C. Purves, Writing across languages and cultures: Issues in contrastive rhetoric. Newbury Park: SAGE, 206-226.
Jalilifar, A. R. (2010). Research article introductions: Sub-disciplinary variations in applied linguistics. The Journal of Teaching Language Skills (JTLS), 2(2), 29-55.
Jalilifar, A. R., Hayati, A. M., & Namdari, N. (2012). A comparative study of research article discussion sections of local and international applied linguistic journals. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 9(1), 1-29.
Johns, A. M. (1984). Textual cohesion and the Chinese speaker of English. Language Learning and Communication, 3, 69–74.
Johnson, P. (1992). Cohesion and coherence in Malay and English. RELC Journal, 23(2), Retrieved from 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1177/003368829202300201
Khalil, A. (1989). A study of cohesion and coherence in Arab college students’ writing. System 17(3), 359-371. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251X(89)90008-0
Kyle, K. (2016). Measuring syntactic development in L2 writing: fine grained indices of syntactic complexity and usage-based indices of syntactic sophistication (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) , Georgia State University.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2009). Adjusting expectations: The study of complexity, accuracy, andfluency in second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 579-589. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amp043
Lim, J. M. H. (2006). Method sections of management research articles: A pedagogically motivated qualitative study. English for Specific Purposes, 25, 282-309.
Lu, X. (2010). Automatic analysis of syntactic complexity in second language writing.International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 15(4), 474–496. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.15.4.02lu
Lu, X., & Ai, H. (2013).A corpus-based comparison of syntactic complexity in NNS and NS university students’ writing. Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 59, 249-264. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.59.15ai
Mauranen, A. (1996). Discourse competence: Evidence from a thematic development in native and non-native texts. In E. Ventola & A. Mauranen (Eds.) Academic writing: intercultural and textual issues (pp. 195-230). Amestrdam: John Benjamins. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.41.13mau
McCarthy, P. M., Lehenbauer, B. M., Hall, C., Duran, N. D., Fujiwara, Y., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). A Coh-Metrix analysis of discourse variation in the texts of Japanese, American, and British Scientists. Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes, 6, 46–77.
McCarthy, P. M., Lewis, G. A., Dufty, D. F., & McNamara, D. S. (2006). Analyzing writing styles with Coh-Metrix. In G. Sutcliffe & R. Goeble (Eds.), Proceedings of the Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society International Conference (FLAIRS).
McNamara, D. S., Crossley, S. A., & McCarthy, P. M. (2010). Linguistic features of writing quality. Written Communication, 27(1), 25-43.
Ortega, L. (2003). Syntactic complexity measures and their relationship to L2 proficiency: A research synthesis of college-level L2 writing. Applied Linguistics, 24(4), 492-518. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.4.492
Perkins, K. (1980). Using objective methods of attained writing proficiency to discriminate among holistic evaluations. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Quarterly, 14(1), 61-69.
Parkinson, J & Musgrave, J (2014). Development of noun phrase complexity in the writing of English for academic purposes students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 14, 48-59. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.12.001
Qi, D. (2014). Syntactic complexity of EFL, ESL and ENL: evidence of the international corpus network of Asian learners of English(Unpublished master’s thesis), National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Ramanathan, Vai & B. Kaplan, Robert. (2000). Genres, Authors, Discourse Communities: Theory and Application for (L1 and) L2 Writing Instructors. Journal of Second Language Writing, 9, 65-85. Retrieved from 171-191. 10.1016/S1060-3743(00)00021-7.
Reid, J. R. (1992). A computer text analysis of four cohesion device in English discourse by native and nonnative writers. Second Language Writing, 1, 79–107.
Shirani, S., & Chalak, A. (2016). A genre analysis study of Iranian EFL learners’ master theses with a focus on the introduction section. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(10), 1982-1987. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0610.13
Swales, J. (1990). Non-native speaker graduate engineering students and their introductions: Global coherence and local management. In U. Connor & A. Johns (Eds.), Coherence in writing (pp. 189-207). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Wolfe-Quintero, K., Inagaki, S. & Kim, H. Y. (1998). Second language development in writing: Measures of fluency, accuracy, & complexity. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
