Journal Article10.2307/3586142
An ESL Index of Development
TL;DR: This article used the T-unit performance variable to measure the learner's proficiency in a second language acquisition, and found that the percentage of error-free T-units and the average length of error free T units proved to be the best discriminators among the five levels of ESL proficiency represented in this population.
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Abstract: This paper is a report on the progress we are making in an attempt to establish a second language acquisition index of development. Such an index would be a developmental yardstick by which researchers could expediently and reliably gauge a learner's proficiency in a second language. Encouraged by the findings of an earlier pilot study, a more ambitious project involving the analysis of 212 compositions was undertaken. These compositions, written by university ESL students, were analyzed using several measures based on Kellogg Hunt's T-unit performance variable. Two measures applied in the analysis, the percentage of error-free T-units and the average length of error-free T-units, proved to be the best discriminators among the five levels of ESL proficiency represented in this population. In addition to a discussion of these results, included in this paper is a survey of L2 acquisition studies which have also employed T-unit length as a proficiency measure. Finally, an outline is offered of the studies currently being conducted in an attempt to further refine these measures.
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Citations
Writing Proficiency in Preservice EFL Teachers: A Discourse-Analytic Study in the Chinese Mainland
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Syntactic Complexity In Narrative Speech Produced By Prelingually Deaf Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants
01 Nov 2022
TL;DR: This paper examined the syntactic production performance of Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) in narrative speech and found that CI children were generally less productive than their normal-hearing peers.
The relationship of syntactic complexity and rhetorical move-steps in research article discussions: A comparative analysis of Chinese and native English writers
Abstract: This study seeks to identify the differences in syntactic complexity (SC) across rhetorical move-steps in the discussion section of research articles (RAs) written by Chinese and native English writers. The corpus consisted of 200 RA discussion sections from the field of Applied Linguistics. Each sample was manually annotated for rhetorical move-steps using the seven-move framework of RA discussion proposed by Yang and Allison (2003). The results revealed that distinct SC patterns across rhetorical move-steps, with differences most pronounced at the phrasal-level complexity. Chinese writers demonstrated greater SC performance in M2 Reporting results , M4S1 Interpreting results , M4S2 Comparing results with literature , and M4S3 Accounting for results , characterized by compressed noun phrases (NPs) through significantly more frequent use of pre-modifier sequences and multiple-level prepositional phrases. In contrast, native English writers presented greater SC in M3 Summarizing results , M4S4 Evaluating results , M5 Summarizing the study , M6S2 Indicating significance/advantage , M7S1 Making suggestions , and M7S2 Recommending further research , distinguished by more extensive use of complex NPs with both phrasal and clausal modifiers. Implications for L2 academic writing practice and pedagogy are discussed.
References
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Sentence Combining: Improving Student Writing Without Formal Grammar Instruction
Frank O'Hare
- 01 Feb 1973
TL;DR: The concentration of a radioactive substance in an effluent from a nuclear reactor is measured by counting total radiation in the effluent, filtering out the particular radioactive substance, counting total Radiation in the filtered effluent and combining the results.
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