Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing

Traditionally, writing quality is measured by human ratings, either holistically or analytically. The present study aimed to investigate the locus of human ratings by analyzing the linguistic features that are predictive of writing quality. One hundred and 44 argumentative writing samples from Chine...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jin Xue, Liyan Zheng, Xiaoyi Tang, Banban Li, Esther Geva
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/0b62f7053da5479297ac12f38d008f92
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:0b62f7053da5479297ac12f38d008f92
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:0b62f7053da5479297ac12f38d008f922021-11-17T09:08:06ZHuman Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing1664-107810.3389/fpsyg.2021.660796https://doaj.org/article/0b62f7053da5479297ac12f38d008f922021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.660796/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078Traditionally, writing quality is measured by human ratings, either holistically or analytically. The present study aimed to investigate the locus of human ratings by analyzing the linguistic features that are predictive of writing quality. One hundred and 44 argumentative writing samples from Chinese learners of English as a foreign language were evaluated by human ratings and quantitative measurement of writing quality indexed by Coh-Metrix. Holistic and analytic human ratings had significant correlations with quantitative measures related to syntactic variety and transformation. Moreover, linear and logistic regressions revealed that syntactic simplicity, words before main verb, syntactic structure similarity in all sentences and across paragraphs, incidence of passive voice and temporal connectives were five valid indices that can consistently differentiate writing quality indexed by human ratings. The present findings have significant pedagogical implications for human ratings on writing quality in the foreign language learning context.Jin XueLiyan ZhengXiaoyi TangBanban LiEsther GevaFrontiers Media S.A.articlevalid indicesCoh-Metrixforeign language contextratingqualitative measuresPsychologyBF1-990ENFrontiers in Psychology, Vol 12 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic valid indices
Coh-Metrix
foreign language context
rating
qualitative measures
Psychology
BF1-990
spellingShingle valid indices
Coh-Metrix
foreign language context
rating
qualitative measures
Psychology
BF1-990
Jin Xue
Liyan Zheng
Xiaoyi Tang
Banban Li
Esther Geva
Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing
description Traditionally, writing quality is measured by human ratings, either holistically or analytically. The present study aimed to investigate the locus of human ratings by analyzing the linguistic features that are predictive of writing quality. One hundred and 44 argumentative writing samples from Chinese learners of English as a foreign language were evaluated by human ratings and quantitative measurement of writing quality indexed by Coh-Metrix. Holistic and analytic human ratings had significant correlations with quantitative measures related to syntactic variety and transformation. Moreover, linear and logistic regressions revealed that syntactic simplicity, words before main verb, syntactic structure similarity in all sentences and across paragraphs, incidence of passive voice and temporal connectives were five valid indices that can consistently differentiate writing quality indexed by human ratings. The present findings have significant pedagogical implications for human ratings on writing quality in the foreign language learning context.
format article
author Jin Xue
Liyan Zheng
Xiaoyi Tang
Banban Li
Esther Geva
author_facet Jin Xue
Liyan Zheng
Xiaoyi Tang
Banban Li
Esther Geva
author_sort Jin Xue
title Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing
title_short Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing
title_full Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing
title_fullStr Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing
title_full_unstemmed Human Ratings of Writing Quality Capture Features of Syntactic Variety and Transformation in Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing
title_sort human ratings of writing quality capture features of syntactic variety and transformation in chinese efl learners’ argumentative writing
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/0b62f7053da5479297ac12f38d008f92
work_keys_str_mv AT jinxue humanratingsofwritingqualitycapturefeaturesofsyntacticvarietyandtransformationinchineseefllearnersargumentativewriting
AT liyanzheng humanratingsofwritingqualitycapturefeaturesofsyntacticvarietyandtransformationinchineseefllearnersargumentativewriting
AT xiaoyitang humanratingsofwritingqualitycapturefeaturesofsyntacticvarietyandtransformationinchineseefllearnersargumentativewriting
AT banbanli humanratingsofwritingqualitycapturefeaturesofsyntacticvarietyandtransformationinchineseefllearnersargumentativewriting
AT esthergeva humanratingsofwritingqualitycapturefeaturesofsyntacticvarietyandtransformationinchineseefllearnersargumentativewriting
_version_ 1718425652328136704