Automated Discourse Analysis Techniques and Implications for Writing Assessment

Bibliographic Data

ID5900930
AuthorsTrisevgeni Liontou (0000-0003-1810-0598, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume8
Issue1
Pages3
Publication date2022-12-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages8010003
OpenAlexW4313209350
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited81

Analysing writing development as a function of foreign language competence is important in secondary school children because the developmental patterns are strongest at a young age when successful interventions are needed. Although a number of researchers have explored the degree to which specific textual characteristics in EFL students' essays are associated with high and low ratings by teachers, the extent to which such characteristics are associated with rater-mediated assessment under standard exam conditions remains relatively unexplored. Motivated by the above void in pertinent literature, the overall aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between specific discourse features present in the writing scripts of EFL learners sitting for the British Council's APTIS for TEENS exam and the assigned scores during operational scoring by specially trained raters. A total of 800 international EFL students aged 13 to 15 years old took part in the study, and 800 scored written essays on the same task prompt of the pertinent test produced under standard exam conditions were analysed. The results showed statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between the linguistic features identified in the essays produced by young EFL learners at different levels of language competence. The main text features that were repeatedly found to make a significant contribution to distinguishing scores assigned to texts both within and across levels were word frequency, word abstractness, lexical diversity, lexical and semantic overlap, all of which could be used to obtain a numerical cut-off point between proficiency levels. These findings support the notion that progress in L2 writing is primarily associated with producing more elaborate texts with more sophisticated words, more complex sentence structure and fewer cohesive features as a function of increased language competence. The findings of the study could provide practical guidance to EFL teachers, material developers and test designers as to the kind of linguistic strategies young EFL learners develop as a function of their level of language competence and suggestions to consider when designing EFL classroom curricula, writing skills textbooks and exam papers on written production

Competence (human resources · Lexical Diversity · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Scripting language · Vocabulary · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Psychology · Second Language Acquisition and Learning · Social Psychology · Writing and Handwriting Education

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