What Linguistic Features Are Indicative of Writing Quality? A Case of Argumentative Essays in a College Composition Program

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 420-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoko Taguchi ◽  
William Crawford ◽  
Danielle Zawodny Wetzel
Keyword(s):  
College Composition ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Beyond Differences: Assessing Effects of Shared Linguistic Features on L2 Writing Quality of Two Genres

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaopeng Zhang ◽  
Xiaofei Lu ◽  
Wenwen Li
Keyword(s):  
Latent Variables ◽  
Moving Average ◽  
College Level ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Test Corpus ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Complex Nominals

Abstract This study explored the relationship between linguistic features and the rated quality of letters of application (LAs) and argumentative essays (AEs) composed in English by Chinese college-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. A corpus of 260 LAs and 260 AEs were analyzed via a confirmatory factor analysis. Latent variables were EFL writing quality, captured by writing scores, and lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and cohesion, each captured by different linguistic features in the two genres of writing. Results indicated that lexical decision times, moving average type-token ratio with a 50-word window, and complex nominals per clause explained 55.5 per cent of the variance in the holistic scores of both genres of writing. This pattern of predictivity was further validated with a test corpus of 110 LAs and 110 AEs, revealing that, albeit differing in genre, higher-rated LAs and AEs were likely to contain more sophisticated words and complex nominals and exhibit a higher type-token ratio with a 50-word window. These findings help enrich our understanding of the shared features of different genres of EFL writing and have potentially useful implications for EFL writing pedagogy and assessment.

scholarly journals The Usage of Cohesive Devices by High-Achieving EFL Students in Writing Argumentative Essays

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Andri Saputra ◽  
M. Arif Rahman Hakim
Keyword(s):  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
Good Writing ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
High Achieving ◽  
Argumentative Essays

This study aims to investigate types of cohesive devices frequently used in writing argumentative essays by high-achieving college students in Indonesia and to analyse their awareness of usage of these. Participants were asked to write an essay on a pre-determined topic; analysis was then conducted to investigate the most frequent cohesive devices used. Data on the second study question, understanding of the usage of cohesive devices, were gathered though semi-structured interviews. The data indicate that students effectively used various types of grammatical cohesive devices, particularly reference devices. However, some claimed not to know that they were using other cohesive devices. They believed that conjunctions were the only type that functions to connect ideas across sentences and paragraphs, and did not realise that this, that, the, and other reference devices are cohesive devices. In terms of the use of lexical cohesive devices, participants used synonyms more than other sub-types of lexical cohesive devices. The most frequently used device was the, which functions both as a cohesive device and an article. All participants agreed that though links or cohesive devices are necessary to achieve coherence, two claimed that these are not determining factors in producing good writing quality. They argued that high-quality writing needs to contain linguistic features related to sophisticated language and text difficulty. The first suggestion is that focused programs should be adopted to teach the writing of argumentative essays to help lower-achieving students attain the same writing level as high-achieving students. Second, a teaching programme integrating the use of sophisticated grammar, lexical diversity and cohesive devices should be a curriculum priority. 

Linguistic Features of Writing Quality

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle S. McNamara ◽  
Scott A. Crossley ◽  
Philip M. McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Writing Quality

scholarly journals Exploring syntactic complexity and its relationship with writing quality in EFL argumentative essays

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
Farzaneh Shadloo ◽  
Hesamoddin Shahriari Ahmadi ◽  
Behzad Ghonsooly
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Development Scheme ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract To predict syntactic complexity in second/foreign language writing, some studies have advocated the use of T-unit and clausal subordination measures while others have argued for the use of phrase-based measures. This study seeks to identify syntactic features that can be regarded as discriminators among different levels of writing quality. For this purpose, a corpus of argumentative essays by EFL learners was compiled and then the essays were rated and placed into three groups of high-rated, mid-rated, and low-rated essays. The corpus was then coded and analysed for both phrasal and clausal features. The phrasal features were manually coded based on the development scheme hypothesized by Biber, Gray and Poonpon (2011) for academic writing, and the clausal features were analysed using the online L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer developed by Lu (2010). A separate ANOVA test was used to compare the three groups of essays for each of the phrasal and clausal features. The findings of the current study demonstrated that subordination and dependent clauses were not good indicators of different writing qualities in our corpus. Also, the pattern of noun phrase complexity predicted by Biber et al. (2011) was not observed across argumentative essays from three different levels of writing quality.

scholarly journals Developing A Framework For Writing Skill: A Corpus-Based Analysis Of The Written Argumentative Essays

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Kanestion ◽  
Manvender Kaur Sarjit Singh ◽  
Sarimah Shamsudin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Writing Skill ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Most scholars have studied written discourse both in academic and professional setting within the scope of genre-based analysis, which demonstrate an increase interest in analysing the rhetorical structure of written texts. Conversely, there is a dearth of research in Malaysia that explains the rhetorical structure of argumentative essays from a genre analysis perspective. This paper introduces a genre-based corpus analysis using a compiled representative corpus of the argumentative  essay for developing a rhetorical structure, also known as , an analytical framework to enhance the students’ writing skills. The compiled representative corpus was consisted of 24 argumentative essays.  As a qualitative study, a corpus–based analysis is employed to explore  the distinguished move patterns used in the argumentative essays. Using Hyland’s (1990) 11 move pattern as an analytical framework of the argumentative essay, this study revealed a list of moves and steps which were signaled by the linguistic features. Consequently, there were altogether 9 moves and 14 steps were identified in the three stages, namely Introduction, Argument and Conclusion. However, the moves used by the pre-university students in the study did vary from the model as new moves were marked in each stage. Pedagogically, the findings of this study were expected to guide in developing a framework for writing skills.  

Beyond proficiency

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-289
Author(s):  
Stuart G. Towns ◽  
Richard Watson Todd
Keyword(s):  
Writing Development ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Development Studies ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Interpretive Methods

Abstract Many studies have investigated the correlations between linguistic features and human judgements of writing quality. These studies usually investigate either proficient student writing or exceptional literary writing. The current study attempts to bridge these two perspectives by comparing proficient writing to award-winning exceptional writing using movie reviews written by bloggers and Pulitzer Prize winners. A range of linguistic features representing syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and lexical cohesion were analyzed using both automated and interpretive methods. It is found that some, but not all, of the trends seen in writing development studies continue on to exceptional writing, with lexical sophistication and lexical cohesion through conceptual associations making the largest contributions to the differences between proficient and exceptional writers.

scholarly journals Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Xue ◽  
Liyan Zheng ◽  
Xiaoyi Tang ◽  
Banban Li ◽  
Esther Geva
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Main Verb

Traditionally, writing quality is measured by human ratings, either holistically or analytically. The present study aimed to investigate the locus of human ratings by analyzing the linguistic features that are predictive of writing quality. One hundred and 44 argumentative writing samples from Chinese learners of English as a foreign language were evaluated by human ratings and quantitative measurement of writing quality indexed by Coh-Metrix. Holistic and analytic human ratings had significant correlations with quantitative measures related to syntactic variety and transformation. Moreover, linear and logistic regressions revealed that syntactic simplicity, words before main verb, syntactic structure similarity in all sentences and across paragraphs, incidence of passive voice and temporal connectives were five valid indices that can consistently differentiate writing quality indexed by human ratings. The present findings have significant pedagogical implications for human ratings on writing quality in the foreign language learning context.

Engagement in high- and low-rated argumentative essays: Interactions in Indonesian students’ writings

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-24
Author(s):  
Anis Handayani ◽  
Nur Arifah Drajati ◽  
N. Ngadiso
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Explicit Teaching ◽  
Data Validity ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Persuasive Arguments

This study reports the use of engagement in high-rated and low-rated EFL undergraduate students’ argumentative essays. The engagement here refers to one of the aspects in interacting with the readers, which is called metadiscourse (Hyland, 2005a). The data in this study were ten highest-rated and ten lowest-rated argumentative essays written by first-year undergraduate students. The data were coded manually by two raters to maintain data validity. The results reveal that high-rated essays contain less engagement than low-rated ones. However, it also shows that the engagement in high-rated essays was more varied and grammatically sophisticated than those in low-rated essays. Furthermore, while this study reveals that the higher number of engagement used in argumentative essays does not always coincide with the improved quality of the writing, it implies that the writing quality and score do not depend on the number of engagement expressed but more on the ways students use the engagement effectively. Thus, the explicit teaching on how to use engagement effectively in persuasive writings may be useful for the students to build more persuasive arguments as well as to improve their writing quality.

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