Lexical complexity measures as indicators of essay quality
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| web | https://pdf.uhk.cz/hkjas/pi/pi_10-1-2023.php |
| Keywords | lexical complexity; writing proficiency |
| Description | This study explores how the results of lexical complexity measures can be used to indicate quality in argumentative essays written by L1-Czech L2-English high school students. Final-year students (n=104) from three local high schools participated in this study. The essays were manually graded to give a vocabulary score and automatically analysed for lexical features of density, sophistication, and variation using the Lexical Complexity Analyser developed by Haiyang and Lu (2010) and Lu (2012). The results indicated a strong correlation between the indices used and essay quality, verb-based measurements in particular. The study contributes towards understanding the connection between lexical complexity and quality in L2 argumentative essays. |