A Study Of Linguistic Complexity In The Abstracts Of Theses By Chinese Graduates

Linguistic complexity is an important indicator of the quality of L2 academic writing.It has received more attention in the field of L2 writing,whilst there is scarcity of research on linguistic complexity in thesis abstracts by Chinese graduates.This study collects 240 thesis abstracts by Chinese NNS graduates in Harbin Institute of Technology and 400 thesis abstracts by NS graduates as a reference corpus,and it employs six lexical complexity measures supported by LCA and ten complexity syntactic measures supported by L2 SCA to make a comparative analysis of linguistic complexity differences in the dimension of disciplines(aerospace engineering,physics,applied economics,sociology)and that of native language(Chinese as a native language,native speakers).On the basis of the identification and analysis of the collected data,this study draws the following conclusions: Firstly,the abstracts of Chinese graduates demonstrate divergent aspects of linguistic complexity features across disciplines.For instance,from the perspective of lexical complexity,aerospace engineering is marked by higher scores in lexical density and lexical sophistication;physics features better in lexical sophistication and lexical variation;economics demonstrates a higher degree of lexical density;sociology uses less sophisticated vocabulary.Besides,as for syntactic complexity,the mean length of sentences of economics is relatively longer;and contrasted with aerospace engineering and physics,it employs more subordinate clauses and larger amount of complex nominals structures among the four disciplines.Social science,on the other hand,shows significant difference in the use of coordinated phrases,which are used to enhance clarity,exemplify objects,and indicate sequences.Secondly,the abstracts of Chinese graduates feature less linguistic complexity than those by NS graduates.It is found that,regarding to lexical complexity,the thesis abstracts by Chinese graduates show a lower level of lexical sophistication and lexical variation compared with the counterparts by NS graduates,but there is no significant difference in terms of vocabulary density.Besides,with respect to syntactic complexity,the value of the measure MLS and MLT is higher,reflected in the lengthy sentences.In addition,Chinese graduates use fewer subordinate structures and complex nominals,representing a lower degree of syntactic diversity.However,no difference manifests in the use of coordinate phrases.This research provides enlightenment for teaching L2 academic writing,as the disciplinary characteristics of linguistic complexity should be underlined in L2 academic teaching with a goal-based instruction.For example,the teacher should improve the vocabulary mastery of graduates in science and engineering through discipline-specific word list.Through class teaching and revising tasks,the graduates in economics and social science are expected to have a better mastery of subordinate structures and coordinate structures respectively.It is also necessary to make up for the distance in linguistic complexity with NS graduates in terms of dimensions of complexity via training with respect to L2 academic writing.