A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing
This study analyzes the compositions of Hong Kong English as a second language (ESL) learners and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Mainland China in terms of lexical and syntactic features. A program based on the CoreNLP was developed and used to analyze written language texts, and di...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090/full |
| _version_ | 1811333627338817536 |
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| author | Chao Zhang Shumin Kang |
| author_facet | Chao Zhang Shumin Kang |
| author_sort | Chao Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study analyzes the compositions of Hong Kong English as a second language (ESL) learners and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Mainland China in terms of lexical and syntactic features. A program based on the CoreNLP was developed and used to analyze written language texts, and differences in tags of parts of speech and syntactic dependencies between the two groups of texts were compared statistically to examine differences in the lexical and syntactic features of the learners’ written language. The results show significant differences in the lexical and syntactic features of learners’ writing. Specifically, in EFL learners’ writing, there is a salient group pattern of higher lexical diversity, whereas ESL compositions are more flexible in vocabulary use with higher information density, in that they use more syntactic phrases and content words. In terms of syntax, Hong Kong ESL students use more adverbials and adverbial clauses, which is advantageous in syntactic simplicity and readability over their counterparts, whereas Mainland China EFL students prefer using more specific expressions to demonstrate syntactic relations. Compared to EFL compositions, ESL compositions are more informative, coherent, and grammatical in lexical features and more readable in syntactic features, which require more attention and further improvements in terms of EFL teaching. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T16:55:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e9ff167f16e4eb49c75bb49d12b1c31 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T16:55:48Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e9ff167f16e4eb49c75bb49d12b1c312022-12-22T02:38:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-11-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.10020901002090A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writingChao ZhangShumin KangThis study analyzes the compositions of Hong Kong English as a second language (ESL) learners and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Mainland China in terms of lexical and syntactic features. A program based on the CoreNLP was developed and used to analyze written language texts, and differences in tags of parts of speech and syntactic dependencies between the two groups of texts were compared statistically to examine differences in the lexical and syntactic features of the learners’ written language. The results show significant differences in the lexical and syntactic features of learners’ writing. Specifically, in EFL learners’ writing, there is a salient group pattern of higher lexical diversity, whereas ESL compositions are more flexible in vocabulary use with higher information density, in that they use more syntactic phrases and content words. In terms of syntax, Hong Kong ESL students use more adverbials and adverbial clauses, which is advantageous in syntactic simplicity and readability over their counterparts, whereas Mainland China EFL students prefer using more specific expressions to demonstrate syntactic relations. Compared to EFL compositions, ESL compositions are more informative, coherent, and grammatical in lexical features and more readable in syntactic features, which require more attention and further improvements in terms of EFL teaching.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090/fullHong Kong ESL learnersEFL learners in mainland ChinaEnglish compositionssecondary school studentslexical and syntactic features |
| spellingShingle | Chao Zhang Shumin Kang A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing Frontiers in Psychology Hong Kong ESL learners EFL learners in mainland China English compositions secondary school students lexical and syntactic features |
| title | A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing |
| title_full | A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing |
| title_fullStr | A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing |
| title_full_unstemmed | A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing |
| title_short | A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing |
| title_sort | comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of esl versus efl learners writing |
| topic | Hong Kong ESL learners EFL learners in mainland China English compositions secondary school students lexical and syntactic features |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090/full |
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