中国英语学习者学术写作句法复杂度研究

Syntactic Complexity in the Academic Writings by Chinese EFL Learners

本研究采用10项句法复杂度指标,对比研究了英语学习者和本族语者硕博士论文句法复杂度。对比结果显示,不同水平英语使用者写作句法复杂度存在差异,部分测量指标无法反映书面语体裁特征,或可能与写作质量负相关。本研究还发现句法复杂度测量方法对写作经验的敏感度高于语言水平。

This study compared the levels of ten syntactic complexity indices in the MA theses and Ph. D. dissertations by Chinese EFL learners with those by their native English-speaking counterparts. The results suggest that while some of the complexity measures in the writings by Chinese authors are significantly different from those of their native English-speaking counterparts,some measures may not serve as good indices of written genres or are negatively correlated with the quality of writing. The analysis also suggests that syntactic complexity measures seem more sensitive to the amount of writing experience than to language proficiency.