中外应用语言学期刊摘要句法复杂度对比研究

A Comparative Analysis on Syntactic Complexity of Abstracts in Applied Linguistics Journals

句法复杂度是衡量学习者语言产出水平和质量的重要指标。现有研究多聚焦中级或较高级学习者,以限时写作或非学术文本为研究对象,对更高级英语学习者期刊论文句法复杂度的关注较少。本研究以国际应用语言学旗舰期刊Applied Linguistics论文摘要为参照,使用L2SCA句法复杂度分析工具及其14个测量指标,对比分析中外应用语言学期刊论文英文摘要的句法复杂度。研究发现,在语言产出长度层面,国内学者与国外学者无显著差异;在从属结构使用层面,国内学者显著低于国外学者;在并列结构和特定短语结构使用层面,国内学者仅在动词结构使用上显著高于国外学者。本研究建议国内学术英语写作教学应高度重视从属结构的习得,从而提高学术论文的句法多样性。

Syntactic Complexity is an important index to measure L2 learner’s writing level.Previous studies mainly focus on time-limited writing tasks or non-academic texts written by college English major students,while little study pay attention to the syntactic complexity of research articles written by more advanced L2 learners.Using L2SCA and its 14 indicators of syntactic complexity,this study compares the syntactic complexity of abstracts from Applied Linguistics and Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics.The results showed that:1)In terms of sentence length,there is no significant difference between domestic and foreign scholars.2)In terms of the use of subordination structures,domestic scholars are significantly lower than foreign scholars.3)In terms of the use of coordination and particular structures,domestic scholars are significantly higher than foreign scholars merely in the use of verb phrases.This study finally suggests that the teaching of English for academic purposes should attach great importance to subordination structures,so as to improve the syntactic diversity of academic writings.