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

• Lahuerta, Ana Cristina ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Oviedo

     Universidad de Oviedo

     Oviedo, España

     
• Localización: Porta Linguarum: revista internacional de didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras, ISSN 1697-7467, Nº. 39, 2023, págs. 111-127
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.30827/portalin.vi39.22842
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Análisis de los cambios en el corto plazo en la escritura académica en L2 tras un período de instrucción en un programa de escritura académica
• Enlaces
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• Resumen
  • español

    Este estudio investiga los aspectos de la escritura académica que mejoran al final de un semestre de un curso de Inglés para Fines Académicos titulado Inglés Académico Avanzado, diseñado para estudiantes universitarios de un Grado en Estudios Ingleses en una universidad española. El estudio intenta determinar la naturaleza y medida del desarrollo de la competencia escrita en L2 de un grupo de 59 estudiantes universitarios con un nivel avanzado de conocimiento de la lengua inglesa durante el corto período del programa lingüístico por medio de medidas cuantitativas de distintos componentes de la complejidad de la escritura (global, clausal y frasal). Los resultados indican un aumento en la coordinación y la elaboración clausal y frasal, aunque no en la subordinación. Los resultados sugieren además un tendencia hacia un mayor uso de construcciones frasales complejas por parte de escritores más competentes. Estos resultados subrayan la importancia de la complejidad sintáctica, especialmente la complejidad nominal en una buena escritura académica así como la atención pedagógica que debe darse a la producción y al significado de estas estructuras en los cursos de Inglés para Fines Académicos así como en la enseñanza de la escritura en inglés como lengua extranjera en general.

  • English

    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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