Development of syntactic complexity in Chinese university students' L2 argumentative writing

This study examines how syntactic complexity evolves in argumentative L2 writing by Chinese first-year university students (N = 102). The participants were at either a low-or upper intermediate level of English language proficiency, like the majority of the first-year non-English language major undergraduates in China. Notably, there has been little research on L2 writing development among such learners of English. The present study addresses this gap. The participants produced three argumentative essays throughout a semester-long academic L2 academic writing course. Drawing on a multidimensional perspective on syntactic complexity, the analysis employed twelve holistic complexity measures of three types. The data were analyzed with the aid of the Second Language Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA) and Stanford Tregex. The findings showed a non-linear trajectory of syntactic complexity development. Notably, there was less of the coordinated clausal complexity and more of nominal complexity in the students' L2 writing. The upper-intermediate group showed greater progress in employing complex nominal types, and there were statistically significant differences in the measures of pre-adjective, post preposition and nominal clauses between the two groups. Pedagogical implications are drawn from these findings.