RESEARCHING SIMPLICITY AND SOPHISTICATION IN STUDENT WRITING

Authors

  • Ruth Breeze
Keywords: WordSmith, VocabProfile, L2 writing, lexical variation, lexical range, academic lexis

Abstract

The programs WordSmith and VocabProfile were used to research lexical differences between essays written in English by Spanish undergraduates and a set of essays independently judged as being of TWE grade 6 standard. The results indicated that writing by this group of students was generally characterised by low lexical variation, a preponderance of high-frequency words and under-use of academic vocabulary in comparison with the target style. Reasons for the apparent lexical simplicity of this sample of student writing are discussed.

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Author Biography

Ruth Breeze

Instituto de Idiomas. Universidad de Navarra.
How to Cite
Breeze, R. (2008). RESEARCHING SIMPLICITY AND SOPHISTICATION IN STUDENT WRITING. International Journal of English Studies, 8(1), 51–66. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/ijes/article/view/49091