A Study On Syntactic Complexity Of Non-English Major College Students' English Writing Based On DST

Syntactic complexity is an important indicator of English writing.In recent years,the Dynamic System Theory(DST for short)has been introduced by Chinese scholars and widely used in the field of second language acquisition.At present,most domestic scholars' research on the application of DST to English writing has focused on exploring the teaching methods of English writing or studying the different dimensions in English writing,such as complexity,accuracy,and fluency,but few studies have explored the development of more microscopic syntactic complexity from a dynamic perspective.At the same time,there are few case studies on the development of non-English majors in different dimensions of syntactic complexity in English writing.But non-English majors have different levels of English,and there are quite a few learners who suffer from syntax problems in English writing.Therefore,in order to enrich the research perspective and content of syntactic complexity,as well as the applicability of DST,the author combines Selinker(1972)Interlanguage Theory and Skehan(1996)Three Aspects(CAF)of Language Production from the perspective of DST.Case tracking method,text analysis method,data analysis method and interview method were used to track the seven dimensions of syntactic complexity of 9 non-English majors' English writing.Based on this,this research raises three research questions: 1.What is the general trend of the development of the syntactic complexity of nine learners in English writing over a one-year period? 2.Are there significant differences in the development of syntactic complexity for learners at different levels in one-year English writing? 3.What are the development trends and causes of syntactic complexity for each individual learner in one-year English writing? In response to research questions,the author selected three non-English majors in Journalism,Chinese Language and Literature and Teacher Education from a University of Harbin based on their CET4 and CET6 scores as the objects of this study,and divided them into three groups according to each group of three: High-level group,better-level group,and general-level group.Writing texts were collected every three weeks with reference to the teaching progress,and 11 writing texts were collected in a school year.In this study,the Web-based L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA)developed by Lu Xiaofei's team(2010)was used to analyze the syntactic complexity of the learner's writing text on-line.The author used Microsoft Excel 2007 to visualize the syntactic complexity data obtained from the analysis and supplemented it with description and interpretation.Finally,the author conducted informal interviews with each learner.The author used Selinker(1972)Interlanguage Theory and Skehan(1996)Three Aspects(CAF)of Language Production,combining with data analysis and interview results,discussed the dynamic development trajectory of the learner's syntactic complexity in English writing over a one-year period and its causes.The study found that: First,on the whole,9 non-English major learners have an upward trend in the three length indexes(MLC,MLT,and MLS)of syntactic complexity in English writing for a school year,indicating that sentence length has increased significantly.Although the density indexes(DC / C,T / S,CP / C,and CN / C)have risen and fallen in fluctuations,there is no obvious development trend in general.The reason is that the development of the density index of syntactic complexity is lagging;or the learner's syntactic system reaches dynamic equilibrium;or different dimensions of language production compete for limited resources of the brain,and this competitive relationship leads to the imbalance in the development of the interlanguage system.Second,there is a significant difference in the syntactic complexity of learners at different levels.The length index of the first group and the third group of learners have the most significant differences,and only the index MLS of the second group of learners show significant differences from the first group.The reasons are as follows: The first group of learners who has a high starting point in English proficiency,has the inherent motivation for English learning.Their syntactic complexity has developed at a relatively high level.The second group of learners has clear learning goals and can realize the promoting role of English writing.The development of syntactic complexity is spiraling.The third group of learners has a relatively weak thirst for English learning.Their syntactic complexity is highly volatile,with repeated language loss and acquisition.Third,all 9 learners' syntactic complexity show a tortuous process,but each manifests a different development trajectory.During the process of language production,learners experienced regressions,stagnation,and jumps that were difficult to predict based on different dimensions.The development of interlanguage shows instability and unpredictability of DST.This is because the initial state of different learners determines different language resource allocation and organizational models.Thus,the variability of interlanguage systems varies from different learners,and the development of syntactic complexity follows different trajectories.This study traces the syntactic complexity of nine learners' one-year English writing from a diachronic perspective,and draws their overall,intergroup,and individual development trajectories and their causes,then explores several teaching suggestions exploratively.This study hopes to help frontline educators.Appropriate interventions can be adopted in teaching to enable learners to properly use complex sentence patterns according to the context and content needs,thereby improving the English writing skills of non-English major learners.The limitations of this study are that the range of learners selected is narrow.There are no trans-regional,so the observed samples are limited,making the research results insufficient.Therefore,subsequent research requires researchers to observe the developmental differences in syntactic complexity between multiple variables such as different professional categories,different genders,and different countries.