Earticle

Research on the relationship between syntactic complexity and linguistic proficiency in writing, rather than speaking, has been conducted mainly until recently. The main concern of the current research includes: first, are the five factors presented by Lu (2010; 2011) consistent with the results obtained from a factorial analysis of the spoken corpus used in this study? Second, which measures are significantly related to English speaking proficiency?, Third, how much is the explanatory power of the selected factors for the regression model developed based on the proficiency in this study? To this end, the 14 syntax complexity indices from the corpus were measured as independent variables, and as dependent variables, holistic ratings of learners' overall L2 speech were used. As a result, the factorial analysis categorized the indices into four factors, which was virtually consistent with factors by Lu (2010; 2011) (i.e., with one exception in that two factors, Sentence complexity and Subordination, were integrated into one factor). Stepwise multiple-regression analysis shows that the factors affecting a learner‘s speaking ability were Subordination and Length of Production Unit, which explain 9.8% of the model. The results suggest that educators should design curriculum to better encourage students to use a larger variety of clauses and to try to create more complex sentences. Educators should also be aware that it will eventually affect L2 proficiency in an EFL context.

The purpose of this study is to explore inter-grade dividing criteria of the 2015 grade group elementary English textbooks. Elementary English textbooks consist of two grade groups: the 3rd and 4th grade group and the 5th and 6th grade group. L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA) is utilized to investigate the dividing criteria of the communicative functions implemented in these textbooks. Subjects of the analysis were the listening dialogues for their structural sequencing of 3rd to 4th graders and 5th to 6th graders separately within their own grade groups. Data were processed and analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and independent sample t tests for inter-grade textbooks for 14 L2SCA statistical indices. The findings are: 6 indices out of the 14 L2SCA statistical indices turn out to be critical for dividing the 2015 grade group elementary English textbooks. The 6 indices are mean clause length, mean sentence length, mean t-unit length, mean complex noun phrasal number per phrase and per t-unit and mean number of verb phrases per t-unit. Based on the findings, it is suggested that a standardized criteria derived from these 6 indices can be provided as an inter-grade dividing criteria of the 2015 grade group elementary English textbooks.