Effects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency : evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings.
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| Title: | Effects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency : evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings. |
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| Authors: | Michel, Marije1 m.c.michel@rug.nl, Murakami, Akira2 a.murakami@bham.ac.uk, Alexopoulou, Theodora3 ta259@cam.ac.uk, Meurers, Detmar4 dm@sfs.uni-tuebingen.de |
| Source: | Instructed Second Language Acquisition. 2019, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p124-152. 29p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Study & teaching of language composition, *Instructional systems design, *Second language acquisition, *Computational linguistics, Morphosyntax, Semantics (Philosophy) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of instructional design on (morpho)syntactic complexity in second language (L2) writing development. We operationalised instructional design in terms of task type and empirically based the investigation on a large subcorpus (669,876 writings by 119,960 learners from 128 tasks at all Common European Framework of Reference for Languages levels) of the EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT; Geertzen, Alexopoulou and Korhonen 2014). First, the 128 task prompts were manually categorised for task type (e.g. argumentation, description). Next, developmental trajectories of syntactic complexity from A1 to C2 were established using a variety of global (e.g. mean length of clause) and specific (e.g. non-third person singular present tense verbs) measures extracted using natural language processing techniques. The effects of task type were analysed using the categorisation from the first step. Finally, tasks that showed atypical behaviour for a measure given their task type were explored qualitatively. Our results partially confirm earlier experimental and corpus-based studies (e.g. subordination associated with argumentative tasks). Going beyond, our large-scale data-driven analysis made it possible to identify specific measures that were naturally prompted by instructional design (e.g. narrations eliciting wh-phrases). We discuss which measures typically align with certain task types and highlight how instructional design relates to L2 developmental trajectories over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Instructed Second Language Acquisition is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 139714841 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Effects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency : evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Michel%2C+Marije%22">Michel, Marije</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> m.c.michel@rug.nl</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Murakami%2C+Akira%22">Murakami, Akira</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><i> a.murakami@bham.ac.uk</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Alexopoulou%2C+Theodora%22">Alexopoulou, Theodora</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo><i> ta259@cam.ac.uk</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Meurers%2C+Detmar%22">Meurers, Detmar</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo><i> dm@sfs.uni-tuebingen.de</i> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Instructed+Second+Language+Acquisition%22">Instructed Second Language Acquisition</searchLink>. 2019, Vol. 3 Issue 2, p124-152. 29p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Study+%26+teaching+of+language+composition%22">Study & teaching of language composition</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Instructional+systems+design%22">Instructional systems design</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Second+language+acquisition%22">Second language acquisition</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computational+linguistics%22">Computational linguistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Morphosyntax%22">Morphosyntax</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Semantics+%28Philosophy%29%22">Semantics (Philosophy)</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: This study investigates the effect of instructional design on (morpho)syntactic complexity in second language (L2) writing development. We operationalised instructional design in terms of task type and empirically based the investigation on a large subcorpus (669,876 writings by 119,960 learners from 128 tasks at all Common European Framework of Reference for Languages levels) of the EF-Cambridge Open Language Database (EFCAMDAT; Geertzen, Alexopoulou and Korhonen 2014). First, the 128 task prompts were manually categorised for task type (e.g. argumentation, description). Next, developmental trajectories of syntactic complexity from A1 to C2 were established using a variety of global (e.g. mean length of clause) and specific (e.g. non-third person singular present tense verbs) measures extracted using natural language processing techniques. The effects of task type were analysed using the categorisation from the first step. Finally, tasks that showed atypical behaviour for a measure given their task type were explored qualitatively. Our results partially confirm earlier experimental and corpus-based studies (e.g. subordination associated with argumentative tasks). Going beyond, our large-scale data-driven analysis made it possible to identify specific measures that were naturally prompted by instructional design (e.g. narrations eliciting wh-phrases). We discuss which measures typically align with certain task types and highlight how instructional design relates to L2 developmental trajectories over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Instructed Second Language Acquisition is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1558/isla.38248 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 29 StartPage: 124 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Study & teaching of language composition Type: general – SubjectFull: Instructional systems design Type: general – SubjectFull: Second language acquisition Type: general – SubjectFull: Computational linguistics Type: general – SubjectFull: Morphosyntax Type: general – SubjectFull: Semantics (Philosophy) Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Effects of task type on morphosyntactic complexity across proficiency : evidence from a large learner corpus of A1 to C2 writings. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Michel, Marije – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Murakami, Akira – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Alexopoulou, Theodora – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Meurers, Detmar IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 07 Text: 2019 Type: published Y: 2019 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 23984155 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 3 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Instructed Second Language Acquisition Type: main |
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