Linguistic Analysis of Source-Based Writing of Developmental College Writers

• In Event: From Adolescence to College Ready: Literacy Learning and Teaching of Older Students

Abstract

In this secondary data analysis study, we examined the source-based argumentative essays written by college developmental writers who participated in a strategy instruction intervention. We used natural language processing (NLP) tools to build models of writing quality with latent linguistic variables of academic language, connectives, global cohesion, source overlap, and syntactic complexity. CFA and SEM models indicated that academic language and global cohesion were significantly and positively associated with writing quality, while syntactic complexity was negatively associated with quality. Partial mediation effects were found for instructional condition on global cohesion with and without controlling for text length.

Authors

• Andrew Potter, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Charles A. Macarthur, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joshua Wilson, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author