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Cited by 11Second Language Acquisition and LearningEFL/ESL Teaching and LearningDiscourse Analysis in Language Studies

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A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing

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Zhang, Chao, Kang, Shumin·2022·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090PMC PMC9664217
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Abstract

This study analyzes the compositions of Hong Kong English as a second language (ESL) learners and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Mainland China in terms of lexical and syntactic features. A program based on the CoreNLP was developed and used to analyze written language texts, and differences in tags of parts of speech and syntactic dependencies between the two groups of texts were compared statistically to examine differences in the lexical and syntactic features of the learners’ written language. The results show significant differences in the lexical and syntactic features of learners’ writing. Specifically, in EFL learners’ writing, there is a salient group pattern of higher lexical diversity, whereas ESL compositions are more flexible in vocabulary use with higher information density, in that they use more syntactic phrases and content words. In terms of syntax, Hong Kong ESL students use more adverbials and adverbial clauses, which is advantageous in syntactic simplicity and readability over their counterparts, whereas Mainland China EFL students prefer using more specific expressions to demonstrate syntactic relations. Compared to EFL compositions, ESL compositions are more informative, coherent, and grammatical in lexical features and more readable in syntactic features, which require more attention and further improvements in terms of EFL teaching.

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Metadata

Authors
Zhang, C., & Kang, S.
Affiliations
Qufu Normal University (CN)
Corresponding author
Kang, Shumin
ORCID
Zhang, Chao
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2022-11-01
Volume
13
Pages
1002090-1002090
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090
PMC
PMC9664217
OpenAlex
W4308009568
Cited by
11
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1
FWCI
2.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Discourse Analysis in Language Studies
Keywords
ESL learners, EFL learners, learner writing, lexical features, syntactic features, lexical diversity, syntactic dependencies, part-of-speech tagging, adverbial clauses, readability

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090
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Zhang, C., & Kang, S. (2022). A comparative study on lexical and syntactic features of ESL versus EFL learners’ writing. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1002090