Crosslinguistic Influence in the Development of Written Syntactic Complexity in Instructed L2 Contexts

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Cross-Linguistic Analyses of Language and Literacy Development

Abstract

This paper explores possible crosslinguistic effects on developmental patterns of L2 written syntactic complexity in an EFL setting: Turkey. Data included a corpus of 852 writing samples by 284 EFL learners over the period of three semesters. Three writing samples were collected from each student at the elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate levels. The research questions include: How do complexity levels of 14 indices change over time as the learners progress from elementary to intermediate levels? How do crosslinguistic differences (English and Turkish morphosyntax) moderate the developmental patterns of these indices? Results of pairwise comparisons (unstructured var-cov structure), based on a computerized analyzer, reveal several nonlinear developmental trajectories of these indices, some of which seem to be moderated by crosslinguistic influence.

Authors

• Nihat Polat, Texas State University

• Laura J. Mahalingappa, Texas State University