1. COHESION, CLARITY, AND COMPLEXITY: Comparing the Use of Referential Chains in L1 and L2 Writing Linnea Spitzer and Darby Smith IELP at Portland State University, Portland, OR http://refchainssslw2014.pbworks.com

2. Noun Phrase Referential Chains “Although it is by no means an absolute rule, repeated references to an entity tend to follow the same progression of noun phrase types… (representing) a gradual decrease in fullness of expression over the course of a text. First mentions tend naturally to be more elaborated, so as to establish the intended reference... Subsequent mentions become progressively more economical and reduced.” N + postmodifier > premodifier + N > simple noun > pronoun Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Biber et al. (1999)

3. Example When exchange students return home, they may feel a lack of validation from family and friends who have not experienced similar adventures. Students are often excited to share all of their stories and photographs. They want to describe the people they met and the things that they saw in expectation of positive validation from the people they come home to. Unfortunately, the returning student often finds that their experiences are only superficially interesting to their family and friends because of a lack of ability to relate by their loved ones.

4. Example When exchange students return home, they may feel a lack of validation from family and friends who have not experienced similar adventures. Students are often excited to share all of their stories and photographs. They want to describe the people they met and the things that they saw in expectation of positive validation from the people they come home to. Unfortunately, the returning student often finds that their experiences are only superficially interesting to their family and friends because of a lack of ability to relate by their loved ones.

5. Research Questions 1. What are the similarities and differences in usage of noun phrase reference chains between L1 and L2 writers in academic settings? 2. How does the use of noun phrase reference chains affect the cohesion and clarity of novice academic writing?

6. Data Set 30 L2 papers (69,793 words; 6533 types) ●Independent Research Writing class ○8-10 page library research papers ○Arguable thesis supported by outside evidence ○L1s: Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese 30 L1 papers (58,252 words; 8113 types) ●Portland State University Corpus of Student Academic Writing (Viking Corpus) (Albers, 2007) o 100 level classes o “Library Research” text type All papers between 1500-3500 words Variety of disciplines and topics (mostly soft sciences) Tagged for POS and Untagged

7. Methods 1.POS concordance search for features of noun chains o Post-modifiers: relative clauses, prepositional phrases, - ing and -ed phrases o Determiners: this, these, that, those, such 2.Analyzed 10 papers (5 L1 / 5 L2) in depth L1s: Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic Topics: ●Reverse culture shock ●Web security ●Child abuse ●War in the Middle East ●Welfare system in the US

8. Finding #1 In the 10-paper sample... L1 - 10,644 wordsL2 - 11,658 words 1.L2s had more chains and more links in chains than L1s. o L1 139 chains / average 3.5 links o L2 166 chains / average 4 links 2.L1 chains were almost two times more likely than L2 chains to progress from more to less elaborate grammar o L1 - 70% o L2 - 36%

9. Finding #2 ●For both populations, post-modification tended to happen in the first or second link of referential chains ■L1 (59/80 = 74%) ■L2 (43/61 = 70%) ●But the form of the structure was different

10. Grammatical Structure Frequency as post-modifier in reference chain in subset of 10 papers (per 100 chains) Frequency in general in corpus per 1000 words L1L2L1L2 Relative Clause 18.719.99.98.0 Prepositional Phrase 34.517.589.780.0 ed-phrase2.91.82.41.0 ing-phrase3.6.62.62.0

11. Finding #3 There are certain structures that L1s use more frequently in subsequent links in reference chains. Grammatical Structure Frequency as subsequent link in reference chain in subset of 10 papers Frequency in general in corpus L1L2L1L2 demonstrative determiners 38.121.79.86.9 such5.81.21.0.3

12. Lack of clarity and cohesion Many companies try to make up the mistake that they did, such as when the files crash. Also, the browsers do not scan viruses which adhere to the file. So, like the browser called Firefox which was designed by Mozilla blocks out the auto-download files. But when you open up a new page they will ask you to download a program to support the webpage you are trying to open. They tried to let the Firefox browser users become safer, but they did not do enough to clean the mess up.

13. The effect of modification If sojourners want to prevent getting reverse culture shock, they need to brace themselves for their return objectively. According to Martin (1984), sojourners expect different culture and some culture shock when they leave for a foreign country, so they can adapt easily. On the other hand, usually they do not expect any difficulty to return to their home country (as cited in Christfi and Thompson, 2007, p.54). That is to say, travelers should be notified that they might have a certain amount of shock not only for a foreign culture but also for their original culture before they return. If travelers returning to their home countries want to prevent getting reverse culture shock, they need to brace themselves for their return objectively. According to Martin (1984), these sojourners expect different culture and some culture shock when they leave for a foreign country, so they can adapt easily. On the other hand, usually they do not expect any difficulty to return to their home country (as cited in Christfi and Thompson, 2007, p.54). That is to say, returning travelers should be notified that they might have a certain amount of shock not only for a foreign culture but also for their original culture before they return.

14. Summary What are the similarities and differences in usage of noun phrase reference chains between L1 and L2 writers in academic settings? In the 10 paper sample, L2s have more chains and more links in chains than L1s but L1 chains are more likely than L2 chains to progress from more to less elaborate grammar. Both L1s and L2s tend to use post-modification with initial links, but L1s seem to use certain structures more than L2s at the beginnings and ends of chains. How does the use of noun phrase reference chains affect the cohesion and clarity of novice academic writing? When the grammar of noun phrase reference chains does not progress from more to less elaborate forms, it can be challenging to identify the antecedent of later pronouns. Adding modification to nouns in reference chains seems to increase cohesion and clarity.

15. Example Noticing Activity Underline all the other phrases in the text below that refer back to “family and friends who have not experienced similar adventures” When exchange students return home, they may feel a lack of validation from family and friends who have not experienced similar adventures. Students are often excited to share all of their stories and photographs. They want to describe the people they met and the things that they saw in expectation of positive validation from the people they come home to. Unfortunately, the returning student often finds that their experiences are only superficially interesting to their family and friends because of a lack of ability to relate by their loved ones. 1.Look at the grammar of the phrases that refer back to “family and friends who have not experienced similar adventures.” Does the grammar get more or less elaborate? o Why do you think the writer does this? 2.Now circle all of the phrases that refer back to “exchange students”. Do you notice anything similar or different about the grammar? Discuss.

16. Ordering and Fill-in-the-Blank A. Put the noun phrases in order from most elaborate grammar to least. o these difficulties o difficulty transitioning into a new culture o them B. Fill in the blanks with the noun phrases from A. Culture shock is when a student has _________________. Occasionally, ___________________ prove severe enough for the student that he or she is never able to come to terms with __________________.

17. Limitations and future research ideas Limitations ●small data set ●need more analysis about how students are using modifiers and referents (such as pronouns) “Burning questions” ●Are our findings generalizable? We need to look at more data. ●What is being referred to? (abstract vs. concrete concepts) ●Is there a relationship between these chains and development of ideas? ●What are the similarities and differences between how relative clauses are used in L1 and L2 writing?

18. Questions? Comments? Linnea Spitzer linneas@pdx.edulinneas@pdx.edu Darby Smith dlsmith@pdx.edudlsmith@pdx.edu Intensive English Language Program Portland State University http://refchainssslw2014.pbworks.com