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Volume 56, Issue 2
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Abstract

Abstract

The current study investigates whether the CAF (complexity, accuracy, and fluency) analysis framework, frequently used in L2 studies of English and other languages, may effectively analyze L2 essays in Chinese, a language typologically different from English. CAF measures were examined for both their discriminative and predictive effects for L2 Chinese writing quality. The results revealed that most of the measures captured linguistic differences between lower-score and higher-score essays. Similar to findings in other L2s, more advanced L2 Chinese learners achieved syntactic complexification increasingly through phrasal features in their essays, in contrast to lower-level learners. The predictive effects of the measures for writing quality differed between lower-score and higher-score essays. T-unit length, a syntactic measure successfully analyzing Indo-European languages, did not serve as an effective predictor for L2 Chinese textual quality. The current study provides implications for both L2 writing research and L2 writing curriculum.

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2022-02-04
2025-04-28

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The effects of linguistic measures in the analysis of L2 Chinese descriptive writing
Chinese as a Second Language. The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA 56, 118 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.21012.lia
/content/journals/10.1075/csl.21012.lia
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): accuracy; discriminative effect; fluency; L2 Chinese; lexical complexity; predictive effect; syntactic complexity; 准确性; 区分效果; 句法复杂性; 汉语二语; 流利性; 词汇复杂性; 预测效果

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