Analysis of changes in L2 writing over the time of a short-term academic English programme

  1. Lahuerta, Ana Cristina 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Oviedo
    info

    Universidad de Oviedo

    Oviedo, España

    ROR https://ror.org/006gksa02

Revista:
Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras

ISSN: 1697-7467

Año de publicación: 2023

Número: 39

Páginas: 111-127

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.30827/PORTALIN.VI39.22842 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

Otras publicaciones en: Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras

Objetivos de desarrollo sostenible

Resumen

The present study investigated what aspects of academic writing improved, if any, at the completion of one semester of studying an EAP course titled Advanced Academic English, which was specifically designed for undergraduate students from the degree in English Studies at a Spanish university. This study aimed to ascertain the nature and extent of the development of the English L2 writing proficiency of 59 college-level EFL learners at an advanced level of English proficiency over the time of a short-term academic English language programme by means of quantitative measures targeting different components of the syntactic complexity of the learners’ writing performance (global, clausal and phrasal). Results point to a significant increase in coordination and clausal and phrasal elaboration, at the expense of subordination. Results also suggest a tendency towards greater use of more complex phrasal constructions by more competent writers. Overall, these results underscore the importance of syntactic complexity, particularly nominal complexity in producing successful academic writing, and highlight the pedagogical attention that should be paid to the production and meaning of such structures in EAP courses and in L2 English writing instruction in general.

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