ABSTRACT
In Chapter 19, Gray et al. provide a detailed exploration of the Biber et al. hypothesized developmental sequence (see Chapter 14). The longitudinal corpus analysis focuses on TOEFL exam essays taken at two points by the same test takers. The linguistic features analyzed expand on the set of features considered in most previous studies, including the distinction between simple and multiple noun phrase pre-modifiers (both attributive adjectives and premodifying nouns). The study also distinguishes between prepositional phrases with concrete and abstract meanings, both of which were included in the 2011 paper but were minimally explored previously. Also novel is that the results are provided both for the aggregate Stage (e.g., Stage 1), as well as for individual complexity features. In TOEFL independent writing tasks, for example, there was a decrease in the use of Stage 1 features over time and an increase in Stage 2–5 features. The strongest increases were in Stage 4, which primarily focuses on the development of non-finite clauses and phrasal noun modifiers.
Note: In this chapter, we have excerpted findings primarily for written TOEFL responses due to space constraints. Interested readers are directed to the full research report for findings for spoken TOEFL responses.
